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Houston's First Baptist Church is a relevant biblical community where we gather our hearts, grow our souls and give our lives as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). This podcast provides weekly messages from Pastor Gregg Matte and others. Visit us at HoustonsFirst.org to learn more about HFBC, and visit us in person the next time you're in Houston!
Unfortunately, down through history, there have always been problems of the scriptures at the point of women theologians. One very famous denomination today, founded by a woman with three names, disbelieves the word of God, disbelieves the virgin birth, disbelieves the doctrine of salvation, disbelieves the bodily resurrection, disbelieves the reality of heaven and hell, disbelieves personal conversion, and disbelieves the vicarious suffering, the blood atonement of Jesus Christ, and his blood on the cross. I think it is wonderful and important to note that until recently, until as recently as two years ago, there have been no purely great denominations that have allowed women preachers. I'm not after the women today. We're not chasing women. We honor them. But we realize that it was through women that sin entered the race. I want you to keep your Bibles open there to Genesis chapter 3, and let's see some very wonderful and important truths. The individual who is going to make serious his effort at living the Christian life needs to have a very conclusive comprehension of the doctrine of sin. Someone wrote me and said it is just like you, to ignore the issues of the day, and preach a series of sermons irrelevant and antiquated from the book of Genesis. I wrote them and reminded them that in Genesis we find the first riot, the first world war, the first democracy, the first home, the first poverty, the first society, the first murder, and the first sin. And anyone who is seriously going to solve any problems today is going to have to go to the root of the problems revealed in the book of Genesis. Number one, look with me in Genesis 1. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. The first problem was that Eve was discussing the word of God with Satan. I raised the question, what was she doing even talking it over with him? Jesus wouldn't do it. The apostles wouldn't do it. The apostles didn't do it. There are some people with whom you had best say out of a spiritual conversation. I raised another question. What was she doing away from the side of her husband? Religion begins at home. The husband is to be honored as the head of the home. Now I believe that if Adam and Eve would have had the joint power together that came from the spiritual relationship and the spiritual mutual giving of strength that marriage is supposed to be, that the problem of sin might, possibly might, not have ever arisen in the human race. But the home was divided. The husband should have been the theologian if anybody was the theologian. But this woman was away from her husband's side. They should have been together. They should have been praying together. They should have been reading the Bible together. But they were divided and she was open bait, susceptible to the problems of sin and temptation that came through the subtle servant to her, Mother Eve. In Oklahoma City, I shall never forget an experience. A man and woman came to my office that were having serious marital problems. More than any other couple with whom I ever dealt, I suppose, I carefully cultivated and counseled and ruled and warned that couple to faith in Christ. They became co -runners. They became tithers. We were considering ordaining him as a deacon in the church. But she began to go to one of her neighbors that didn't happen to be a Baptist. And they were setting one of the screw ballast, off -brand religious sense of nothing you've ever heard. And she began to believe it. She began to fall for it. The husband refused to let her continue. She disobeyed him and continued to go anyway. She joined this particular heresy, was baptized into its fellowship. They have been divorced over this point for nearly two years. You are better off if you do not even discuss religion with some people and under some conditions. You will remember that our Lord made the entire study, the entire heart of all of his conversations on the subject, less than three minutes with creation. He continually rebuked him with the word of God. He would not discuss it. He said what the Bible said and dropped it at that. And then he said, Get thee behind me, Satan. And it was a closed issue. Eve had no business discussing the Word of God with Satan. I want to be very strong at this point. In any major city, there are a lot of persons who go door to door spreading heresy and spreading doctrines that are contrary to the Word of God. Now there are some of us who think that we are very lies in trying to bring them in and win them to Christ. I don't believe that. I don't agree with that. The Bible says if an angel from heaven, and that's exactly what some prominent denominations say happen today. They have new books and new religions that they equate with the Word of God. And they say an angel from heaven dropped it out of heaven to them. I remind you that the apostle said if an angel from heaven preach any other gospel than the faith once delivered to the saints, let him be a Nasa, a curse. Just believe him. Just credit him. Now that's what they say happens. The Bible also says that when a false prophet comes to your door, dressed in cheap clothing with his venomous therapy, disbelieving salvation, the blood of Christ, the economy of the church, the independence of the Word of God to stand on its own, the finality of the revelation of scripture, in other words, heretical doctrines of works and scuba religion, the Bible says if you so much as say God bless him, you are a partaker in his evil deeds. One man, a member of a certain group, came to my door one day. I was more in the backyard. He said, how do you do? I'm Reverend so -and -so of so -and -so and so -and -so. I said, how do you do? I'm Reverend Samuel, pastor of the local Baptist church. Oh, he kind of talked and spit and gurgled a little bit. And he said, well, I just thought you might want to have a little conversation about what the Bible says. I said, I know what the Bible says, and I know what you think it says, and you're of the devil, and what you think it says is of a devil. You've got sin suckers to get out of my yard. Yeah. And he did. Or you say, that isn't gracious. That isn't kind. Let me tell you something. I do not think it is wise. I do not think it is very intelligent for you to do what the apostles and the disciples and Jesus Christ and self refused to do. The Bible says they are wolves and chiefs pervert. I'm getting as close as I can to some problems without calling any names. But I want you to realize that there is much heresy that's going around the city of Houston, and Baptists need to keep their knees down and their chin up and their minds in the Word of God and stand for what's right and not be sucked in by hereties and lies of Satan. The Bible tells us that Eve got in trouble by just entering into a little light conversation with Satan. Believe you me, and it is most unfortunate, but 99 out of 100 Baptists who would get in a religious discussion with most heretic groups would come out, chewed up, and spit out and lose every time. And until and unless you are probably much more qualified than most of us are, we would be better off just to forget it. Let me tell you something else. I do not favor, and I am not going to have people coming to our purpose to visit us, to lead us in discussions as to what they believe, just so we can expose our people to the ideas of every heresy and every religion like we would expose them to the measles and the chicken pox. These bricks, these structures, these windows, these seats have been given by the people of God and are dedicated to the blood of Christ, salvation by grace, the infallibility of the Word of God, and if a man doesn't believe that, then he can go somewhere else and preach. Now, I may not be the best shepherd in all the world, but I am the only one you've got. And as long as that's the case, I'm not going to invite the wolf in for a friendly little discussion and the best way to eat my sheep. I just don't think that makes any kind of sense. Now, the Bible tells us that this woman got in trouble, listen to me, by even discussing the Word of God with Satan. Number two, he, after she discusses the Word of God, doubts the Word of God. Look again in that verse. Satan said, watch the subtlety of the subtle serpent. He does not say, God hath not said. Not yet he does. He does not say God's word is not true. He does not say God is a liar, not yet he doesn't. He merely raises the question, Why can't God said? Are you sure what God has said? Now Eve should have reported, I certainly am, I know what my God has said. But she reeled, beneath the staggering, doubting blow of the assumption that God's word might not be true. You see, God and his word are synonymous. And it is always at that point, at the point of the final authority of God's word, that sin enters heart. Is God going to be God, or am I going to be God? That's what sin is. And the psychologists tell us, is an attitude that really wishes God were dead. That really wishes authority did not exist. That I could really be God myself. That my word is law. That I can do what I want to do. Satan raised the question. Yea, that God said. Young people, let me suggest to you, as you go through college and high school, that remind you that the great apostle himself said, Beware, lest any spoil you through philosophy. Now it is at that point, that a lot of young people get spoiled and ruined. I want to say very honestly, that if you are taking courses in philosophy, and philosophy of religion, and psychology of religion, that you need to keep your eyes in the book. Keep your heart in the word of God. And measure philosophy, which comes and goes and changes, by the unalterable word of God, which changes not. And not vice versa. She began to doubt the word of God. Second, thirdly, having discussed and doubted it, she discredits the word of God. Now how does she do so? She discredits the word of God in a negative way, by following the assumption that it is not sufficient of itself. More is required. There are very prominent religions today, who have new revelations from God. New revelations from heaven. Why, an angel of heaven came 150 some years ago, and dropped down a new theology. And it is co -equal with the book. Not so. The Bible says, If any man add to the book, God will add unto him the plague in the book. If any man take from the book, God will take from his name, the book of life, his name. These scriptures are the final, authoritative, ultimate revelation of the will of God in relationship to men on this earth. Now she adds to the word of God. She makes something else equal with what God has said. I want us to follow carefully now. The subtle progression of Satan in Eve's six steps toward moral disaster. She discusses the word of God with Satan, with the wrong one. She doubts the word of God, and then she discredits the word of God. Now look over here. In verse 3 -3, she says, Here's what God has said, she tells Satan, 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 true. God had not said that. Now let's go back and see what she was misquoting. Look in chapter 2, verse 17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. God had not said, Either, neither shall ye touch it. She said that. She added that. That was her idea. That was her addition to the finality of God's word. And when you begin to add to the word of God, when you begin to make other souls... Now the fourth thing is this. She disbelieves the word of God. She didn't in the first verse. It took her clear down to verse 4 to do that. Verse 4. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. And she believed it. She agreed with it. There was an obvious agreement in her life with what Satan had said. Now Satan did not come along to begin with and said, God is a liar. You won't die if you eat of that tree. He began by saying, Are you sure that's what God said? And he got her all confused and raised a question and she was so bewildered and ungrounded in the word of God. She didn't know what God had said. So she made up her own interpretation and added to it. And then when Satan ripped off the mask and buried who he was and what he was and his obvious distortion of the word of God and calling God a liar and casting it in his teeth, she fell for it, hook, line, and clinker. Oh, how subtle is Satan. The fifth word. She disenfranchised the word of God. Now she had not seen God. All that she knew about God was what God had said. And the word of God is synonymous with God himself. That's why it's so important what a church, a denomination, a religion, a preacher, believes about the book. If he disbelieves the book, he's not worth killing. If he disbelieves the scriptures, he's no preacher at all. He's a false preacher. He's a false prophet. Thus saith the Lord. Beware, the Bible says, for even Satan himself shall come transformed as an angel of light. And believe you me, Satan has false churches and false preachers and false theologies and false religions today. And he does not rip off the mask and expose his identity and his position in open, blatant opposition to God and his word until he subtly works his way in. Oh, so many sugary, coated, syrupy, tongue preachers on the radio today with high -sounding jargon. You cannot tell what they believe. You write for their materials and you'll find out what some of them believe. I am trying this morning to keep you from being exposed to a lot of heresy and aboundable teaching and false preaching and false prophets that discredit salvation by grace, the revelation of God in Christ, the resurrection of Jesus, personal salvation, blood atonement. They are scattered far and wide in this world. Now, having subtly approached that place where what God has said, synonymous with God, God and his word, must ultimately have a choice made, and she chooses Satan. She chooses to disbelieve God's word, and so she disenthrones God. Now, ladies and gentlemen, remember this. The original proposition behind which Satan made the first appeal to sin was the proposition that God was withholding from man's spiritual good. You see, God is not your friend. God doesn't want you to live. He's your enemy. God's suppressing you. There's a better way to fly. You follow me and we'll really live. This is the way to fly. This is the way to live. God is against you. God doesn't want you to be happy. But Satan says, I want you to be happy. I'm your real friend. You follow me and we'll really fly. You follow me and we'll really live. She agrees with him. She disenthrones God. She follows him. She eats of the fruit. She makes him the master of her life in opposition to God and his will. I said a moment ago, the Christian psychologists tell us that the definition of sin is that sin is an attitude which really wishes God were dead. Which really wishes there were no authority over my life. I'll be my own God. I'll be my own authority. I'll make my own rules. I'll be God. I'll make the decision. And in the ultimate analysis, the only final decision you have to make, from which every decision of life will properly flow, is this. Who's going to be God in your life? Will your word be law or will God's word be law? Eve swallowed hook, line, and sinker the proposition that to follow God was a bad deal, that God was against her, that God wanted unhappiness for her, and that by setting herself up as God, listen, ye shall be as God. I'll be a God. And she fell for it. You know, it's nothing new. It is the basic proposition behind so much of life today. There's so many churches, so many civic clubs, so many organizations, so many fraternities, so many sororities and parties and groups that exalt man. You know, I tried to win a man to Christ one time to inform me that in his little group he belonged to, he was the high, grand, exalted, popcorn potentate, or something like that, of the whole business. Well, I almost had to kow, kow, and pack out of there on my knees. I thought I was in the presence of deity. Why is it that a lot of that really appeals to mankind? Because there is something in all of us that says, Exalt thyself. Be a God. It's the better way to fly. God would suppress you. God is against you. God would destroy you. He doesn't want you to live. I'm the way to live. Be a God. Be a God. So much of our advertisement is like that. Mickey Mantle smokes Lucky. So by a negative psychological inference, If I smoke Lucky, I can swing the bat like Mickey Mantle. Here's a beautiful woman drinking a cocktail. So if I drink that same brand of whiskey, Then I will be in the same social strata as she. All of life says, Exalt thyself. Exalt thyself. Disenthrone God. Be your own God. You know, One day a woman came to Jesus. She had the same problem. She had eye trouble. She said, Lord, I have two sons. Let one of them sit on your right hand. Let one of them sit on your left hand. Let them be the first and second ruler in your kingdom. And I will be the mother of the first and second life president of the kingdom of God. There are so many subtle inferences in life, in society, in organizations, in religions, that exalts man. Oh, man loves that. How a human nature grabs for anything that exalts sinful flesh. You know what Jesus said? He said, I'm not at war with human nature. I want you to be somebody. I want you to find fulfillment. I want you to rule. But he said, The way up is not up. The way up is down. He that would find his life must first lose. Strange about life. But to live, you must die first. To keep life, you must lose. To stand, you must first fall. To live, you must first die. Oh, the conflict that comes in the human heart. When God and Satan die for control of our life, everything in human nature crawls out, Exalt thyself, exalt thyself, be somebody. Jesus says, I will exalt you. I want you to be someone. But he that exalt thyself shall be abased. He that unbeleth himself shall be. Now, this woman and her two sons were told by Jesus Christ himself, He who would be great among you, what? Let him be the servant of all. Now, the last word is this. She ultimately experienced Satan's original dilemma. She went on. She fell for the proposition that God was withholding from her good, that God would suppress her, that religion was a dose of salt, that God's word was a bunch of bad medicine, and that if she would do her thing and exalt herself, she would really live. But in trying to live, she died. In trying to climb, she fell. And immediately, she lost the glory of the presence of God. Immediately, she was unclothed. She lost the kind of glory of God, which was her covering. Lost and alone, she fell. Seven times in Isaiah, Lucifer had said, I will rise above God. I will exalt myself above the stars of the north. I will, I will, I will, I will. Yet the Bible says, Thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. In trying to exalt himself in time life, he had lost it, and he had fallen and died. She experienced the very same thing. Now, realizing her awareness that she was a sinner, that she had lost everything good, trying to go up, she had gone down, trying to live, she had died, trying to win, she had failed, rather than doing God's way, of discipline and control and obeying God and living by his word so that she could live. She took the shortcut and tried to live, and she died, and then, in desperation and frustration, she does what people do today. In frantic frustration, she grabbed for the first thing that came along. She grabbed a pig leaf from a pig tree and attempted to cover her own nakedness, the destituteness, the sinful awareness, the knowledge of wrong which had come by trying to do what she thought was right when God said it was wrong. What a perfect picture of society. You know, we live in a crazy, crazy world. But would you have believed it 15, 20 years ago? The black community desperately wants integration. They begin to get integrated and now they want segregation. Now they want black identity. They don't know what they want. They pay preachers for not believing. They pay mothers for not having children. They pay farmers for not planting crops. They pay laboring men for not working. It is a crazy, messed up world. And our confused society is grabbing for every frustrated pig leaf that comes along trying somewhere to put the pieces of the disoriented personality back together. They're failing. We're in chaos and frustration. Why? Because our race, our society, still has the same basic problem, the basic problem of human nature of sin. And until men get right with God, the black people, the white people, the red, the yellow, the brown, who don't know what they want, who really want God, who really need God, but don't know, are going to continue in an abysmal whirlwind of sociological disorder that will ultimately end in despair and total annihilation. The poor want to be rich, and the rich, when they get rich, commit suicide and wish that they didn't have the problems that they have and wish they were back like they were with the peace of mind they had when they were poor. No world, no society has ever been as jangled and frustrated as ours today. Now, let's go back to the original proposition. God loved Eve. He loved Adam. He loved us. He says, follow me. Play by the rules. Freedom comes by discipline. This is the way to live. Satan says, oh no, God doesn't want you to have a good time. God is your enemy. God would suppress you. He is withholding from your good. You follow me and we'll live. This is the way to live. And man does it and he dies. And with a thousand frustrating, frantic gyrations, he desperately grasps for anything that comes along, any new religion, any new philosophy, any new advertisement, any new way of life that would exalt himself. And he continues to die trying to live. He will never solve one of his sociological problems. Never one. One divorce will never be solved. One frustrated psychotic will never be healed. One difficulty never be solved in any single human heart. Until men's hearts are first rightly related to God. Ten, ten, ten, ten!