FTGC-02 – Fall Of Humanity, Satan’s Playbook & Your Life Today – The Key To Understanding Life Today

Transcript

Welcome again to the second week of the survey of the Bible, that I call the 52 greatest chapters of the Bible. Bonnie and I have been recording. We’re actually here in a remote studio and have already done three classes today. I don’t want those of you that are joining us in this year long study through each of the key chapters of the Bible, I don’t want you to miss a week. So, I’m going to give you a quick overview of the second week, just to get you started. I’ve gotten so many notes from you saying that you’re eager and ready and don’t want to get behind. So, that’s what we’re going to do.

Look here at the slides. As you look at the slide, you’ll notice that we’re in the second week of the 52 greatest chapters or passages in the Bible. It’s Genesis chapter 3 that we’re going to cover. The title that I’ve given to the section is, the fall of humanity: Satan’s playbook. In other words, looking at how he lured Adam and Eve into sin and then my life, how to apply that to my life.

Now, this is where we are, right here, on the 52 key chapters. Right here, we’re on week two. Genesis 3 is the portion of scripture. The fall into sin and Satan’s temptations. Now, some of you say that you want to know where to get this chart. You might be just joining us today. One place you can find it is right there on our Facebook site, the 52 greatest chapters of the Bible. Another place you can find it is if you go to our website discoverthebook.org. In both places, under resources at discoverthebook or down in the upload section of Facebook you can find it there. This, week one we started in Genesis and week two we’re now in Genesis chapter 3.

Now basically, what I want to remind you is as we go through this, the elements that you need are of course, a journal. This is just my plain old journal. You can see I’ve already done, I’ve started, I’m in the midst of working through this week’s study with you. It’s what I do for my personal devotional time. As I go through each of the sections, I write it down.  If you can see close enough, you can see different colors of ink because whatever pen I have available I’m working on it. Also, while we’re working on this, I am taking notes on my Bible.

Let me just help you see, what’s going on by looking at this slide. You can see the devotional method. That’s how we’re actually studying through the whole Bible, using the devotional method. The first thing I do, and I’m actually going to show you this in my journal, I write down the title and I read the passage. Then, I summarize in one sentence just what this chapter is about. Now, this is for me personally.  I’m titling every chapter of the Bible.

I already have done this. I constantly do this as my daily Bible study. I read at least one chapter of the Bible and I write down after I read it, the title to this slide. After I do the title, then I, jot in my Bible little marks and I put arrows and underlined stuff, noting as many lessons, truths, or doctrines as I can find. I look at the MacArthur Study Bible or you can use an online Blue Letter Bible.  I actually use Logos and have the MacArthur Study Bible as a part of Logos when I’m on the road. Then I write an application prayer.

Now you say, what does this journaling look like? This next slide, I’d like to actually take you looking at my journal to show you just how simple it is. So right here, I’ll move the camera… this is handheld so don’t get motion sick… but Genesis 3, my title is: The Fall of Man, it’s week two, you see there. I write a summary. This is if there’s more here than just a title. I put: Satan, sin and death are introduced with the universe wide impact and then I see the promise of Christ.

Then, you notice I’ve jotted down all the lessons. Satan can use neutral objects to carry out his deceptions. Satan wants to make us doubt God’s word. Number three, doubt God’s goodness. Number four, doubt God’s authority. Doubt God’s plan. You see, I just go through all this and then I write a prayer out. Lord protect me from the evil one. Help me trust.

Then I keep noting, like this is what I did when I had a little extra time and had my different color pens. I wanted to study more in depth about Satan, how he got to be the tempter there, temptation in general, what else the Bible says, sin, the types of sin, effects of sin. These are all things that came to my mind.

Verse 15, I saw the gospel. So, it just spurred me to say, I just want to study how God describes salvation. Clothing, God invented clothing in verse 21 of chapter 3. Then we see the cherubim. So, those are just all parts of it, my journal.

I typed this out so that it’s easier for you to read because the shaky handheld there, but my title in the journal is: The Fall of Mankind Into Sin. My summary of this whole chapter I wrote, there’s the first mention of sin and God. It’s God talking to Cain about sin. Then it says in verse 7, sin desires to rule over us, but we should limit our giving into sin. We have a choice to rule over our spirit. Genesis 4:7 is a warning, don’t let sin master you. Proverbs, I just jotted this because it reminded me of a verse, and I looked it up. It was Proverbs 25:28 and it says that if you don’t have any rule over your spirit, you are like a city broken down. You’re giving into sins rule.

Verse 8 has the first murder. First lie in verse 9. This is interesting, God says the blood of those who have been murdered cry from the ground. Now, for just a second, think about what that means. It means anywhere in America that someone has been murdered there is a constant cry to God for vengeance.

Now, this is a little bit of what we see about the coming judgment, that Revelation describes. That Jesus introduced Himself as the one who’s going to lead that judgment of every human being. They’re going to stand in front of Him and answer for their sin. Except for those of us that Jesus has taken our sin upon Himself, and He paid the debt for it on the cross. So, sin is very powerful, and murder is something that God never forgets, until the judgment of Jesus Christ and the cross erases the record of it.

Look at this, these are the lessons. So, I went all the way through, in my journal, and typed out 10 lessons. That’s what I found just now. This is just one day, maybe 20 minutes to a half hour looking at this chapter, jotting things down, marking them in my Bible, and then typing out.

In verse 1, I saw moral relativism, doubting God’s word. Verse 4, doubt God’s authority. Satan said you’re not going to die, and that leads to what we call, the error of reincarnation. Doubting God’s plan. Satan said your eyes will be open. Then I started noticing that guilt and sin bring a self-righteous response. Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves. Sin brings conviction, verse 8, they hid from God. It brings fear. They actually said that we heard your voice and were afraid. Sin brings blame. What’s the first thing that goes on? Adam said the woman and the woman said the serpent.

Then, wow, look at this. Sin brings consequences. There were struggles in Adam and Eve’s perfect marriage. It resulted in pain in childbirth. For Adam, work became toilsome. Here’s some, do you remember they were created naked and were not ashamed, et cetera? We saw that last week in chapter 2, but look at verse 21. After they fell into sin, they felt shame. God ordained modesty. He said, I’m going to cover you. So actually, God created clothing and that’s something I’m going to think about and study through this week. Then finally, sin brings separation from God.

Now, next slide, here’s my Bible. So, what I’m going to do is, I’m going to actually take you, and again I apologize for the camera. This is chapter 3 and notice what it says. “Now the serpent…” and you see that I wrote right there in my Bible? Revelation 12:9, because that verse identifies the serpent in the garden of Eden as Satan. “…the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said’…” Now look up here, I wrote in my Bible, Satan wants us to doubt God’s word. Then later I thought about, that’s like moral relativism, that God can’t have the last word on anything.

Then, “You shall not eat” ” has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” I wrote doubt God’s goodness. See what Satan did? He said oh God’s trying to withhold something from you, He’s not a loving God. Do you see what Satan’s doing? Doubt the goodness of God. Doubt the very word of God.

Then, the woman answers. She adds a little bit, “but of the fruit of the tree […] we shall not eat or touch it.” It never says that God said that, but she added a little bit. That’s often a problem. We have many people add to the word of God. They don’t even know what God said, like Ben Franklin sayings. They say things God didn’t say. Look at verse 4. “Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die.’ “ Doubt God’s authority. That is huge. I’ve been thinking about that all day. Also, this introduces eastern religions reincarnation, we don’t die, we just cycle through. I starting to write ideas about that over there in the margin. Then it says, look what Satan says, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.” Wow. What Satan is saying is doubt God’s plan. God knows that you’re going to be like Him, and His timing is off. Get into a hurry and get ahead.

But then verse 7, sin. They took the fruit, and they sin. So, look at verse 7. “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves covering.” Now look what I wrote there. Sin brings self-righteousness, they’re trying to cover up. Then I wrote in the top here, man only tries to cover the consequences, not the problem. They weren’t saying that they disobeyed God, they’re saying the consequences, they wanted to cover up their nakedness.

Then look at this, Adam and his wife hid. Sin brings conviction, I wrote in my Bible. “He said, ‘I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid.” Sin brings fear, verse 12.  See, I noticed that. I have a highlighter with me. I have my pen with me. I always have my Bible. That these marks, if you back up, look at all those marks all over in every page. Every time you come back to this page; you’ll think of these things because you’ll remember discovering them. So, I’m a big advocate of mark in your Bible.

Then the blame game starts here in verse 12. “She gave me of the tree..”  Sin brings blame, I wrote. Now look at this, here’s the indictment, the Lord God said to the serpent, verse 14 and 15 is God speaking to the serpent. Notice what happens in verse 15. “And I will put enmity between you,” the serpent “and the woman, and between your seed,” the serpent’s seed “and her Seed.” Now, this is a promise. This is called the protoevangelium I wrote that there.  Women don’t have seed; this is a virgin birth promise. This is the first mention of the gospel.

Basically, what it says is “He shall bruise your head.” Who is He? The seed of the woman. That’s Christ. Christ is going to crush Satan’s head. “And you shall bruise His heel.” So, Jesus on the cross was destroying the devil as the devil was getting Jesus to be crucified. Remember, Paul said that if Satan would have known what was going to happen through that crucifixion, he would have not followed through, but he doesn’t understand God’s plan.

Then to the woman, here’s another element… and by the way this is just a survey this is just my first day. Look at this, I’m going to look deeply into all these things.  I’ll show you using the study Bible I will, in fact I have my study Bible open right here. Look at this, there is my MacArthur study Bible where it talks about the serpent.

The woman, “don’t touch it” is an addition. See, all these things? There’s so much more you can do after you go through your initial discovery and getting it over here in your journal. So, let me finish. Sorry again about this handheld portion. To Adam to Eve, He says that, “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, he shall rule over you.” By the way, this isn’t positive. This is part of the fall. In future lessons, I’ll talk about this. The whole conflict between husbands and wives is contained right here.

Then verse 17 “to Adam He said, ‘because you’ve heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree…. cursed is the ground.” “In toil you’ll eat of it all the days of your life.” Thorns and thistles come to the earth. By “the sweat of your face you’ll eat bread.” In other words, work became toilsome, and hard, and grueling. “For dust you are and to dust you shall return.”

Now look some more, this is why it’s one of the key chapters of the Bible verse 21.

“For Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” God-ordained modesty, but also God showed them that the only way that they could be covered up is through the sacrifice of the life of an animal. Do you see? An animal had to die for them to get their clothes. A Substitute had to die to truly cover them up. So, there’s not just modesty here. There’s an insight into the sacrificial shedding of blood.

Now, look at verse 24. “So He,” that’s the Lord God from verse 23, “He drove out the man; and placed cherubim…” remember for further study I wanted to study that… “and a flaming sword […] to guard the way to the tree of life.” That’s sin is horrible. That’s looking at my Bible and that’s what that slide means.

Now really quickly, tips on how to mark your Bible. This is just my quick survey for you, of this the second week.  All week long, by the way I spend all week long working on this chapter and you’ll find out you can’t exhaust it, even if you work every day, you won’t exhaust all that you’re going to find in here. Why should we mark our Bible? I’m going to explain that to you in just a second.

Then I write a prayer. Remember over here in my journal? I typed out whatever I wrote. Lord, sin wants to spring upon me. That’s actually looking at what continues to happen in chapter 4.

In verse 7, in fact let me show you that because just in my reading I looked down and just get on that. “If you do well, will you not be accepted?” Chapter 4, verse 7. “And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you shall rule over it.” So, sin is crouching like a wild lion and wants to spring on me and devour me. Look at what I added in my notes. See, 1 Peter 5:8 says, Satan is like a roaring lion wanting to devour us. So, that’s this devour me and Genesis 4.  Verse 7 is this spring upon me, but you said I should resist. That’s what it says in 1 Peter, here. So, by your grace I want to say no to sin.

More often they say, wait. What is this prayer? This is me. This is just when I got done with my 25 minutes. I just reflected on it and wrote out a prayer because I want to apply, every day, the word of God to my life. I want to hear God speak to me.  So, I said, Lord by your grace I want to say no to sin more often, because we struggle with sin every day. I want to say yes to you all the time. I want to hear your voice. That’s what happens every time you read the word. I hope that you realize you’re listening to God’s voice. I want to walk. Remember Adam and Eve were afraid of the voice of God in the garden? That’s because of sin. If we say no to sin more often, we more and more want to walk and fellowship with God every day. I worship you, my Creator and Redeemer.

So, what are the long term blessings of this devotional Bible study method? My Bible slowly gets marked up through daily study. Then, it’s time to copy the best of all the truths to a new Bible. During my pastoral years, I had to copy my Bible every year. Now that I’m on the road and more electronic it’s about every two or three years, but I constantly want to keep the best of my lifetime of study. Every time I see my notes marked and noted in the margins, and in these journals, it reminds me. It’s a trigger to my memory. The result, every day in the word stirs all that I’ve ever learned in a lifetime of study.

That brings us to this, this is the whole goal.  If you remember in the introduction to this entire 52 chapter study, I told you this is the plan. When we study the Bible, “your words are found.” That’s my devotional study time. Then I write them in my journal and begin the meditation process. That’s me chewing and digesting them. This is what happens. Your word becomes the “joy and rejoicing of my heart.” That’s transformation. Then, I grow in this, and this is the best part… I’m assured that I belong to the Lord. I’m assured of His love for me. I have His joy. It’s supernatural. I rejoice. I’m called by His name. That’s the ultimate identification. I want to identify with God. I want to know Him. I want to follow Him and that all comes by starting to memorize.

The bottom line is this, as you study the Bible, you find great verses. This is my current passage I’m working on. Titus 2:1-8. I want to hear God’s voice rumbling through my mind all the time, conform myself to His word. See, I want to find His words, eat them. That’s my daily devotions, going through these 52 chapters. As I do that, He transforms me on the inside with joy and rejoicing. I get this deep closeness, fellowship with God. I identify with Him.  Then, the best of all the verses I’ve found, tape them on the back of my phone. Everywhere I go and I just learn to share it. That’s why I’m a missionary.

Bonnie and I by the way, we’re out at the Pacific Rim, that’s where we’re teaching. I started this morning at 6:30 am. Now, it’s late in the afternoon. I’m trying to get this off to you because I want you to get an overview of the Bible. So, week two we’re looking at Genesis 3 the fall of humanity, Satan’s playbook, and what I need to do to protect my life. Before we go, let me just read this prayer and give you a challenge.

Here’s my challenge. I would encourage you to not be a solo Christian. In other words, a little island floating out there. I would encourage you to find someone. If you’re going to go through this study with me and with everybody else, that’s in it, find someone to share what you’re learning. Actually, we’re on the road and we travel 125,000 miles a year. COVID has slowed us down, but we’re back on the road as much as we can be right now. I share these with my wonderful wife, Bonnie. She is my best friend. She’s my wife, but she’s my best friend. She’s my spiritual partner through life in ministry.  I share these truths. So, I would encourage you, after you do this week’s overview, find someone to say I have an assignment. I’m in this class. I’m surveying the whole Bible for one year. I’m looking at the key chapters. Could I read to you what I found, and can I read my application prayer?  Will you listen to me as I pray and ask God to do this in my life? You’ll overwhelm them. Most people don’t even know how to do devotional Bible study. Most people aren’t asking the Lord to change them. Most people don’t know how to find something in the Bible and to actually communicate it by way of prayer and asking God to work in their life. So, you, by finding a partner to share this with are going to change someone’s life.

I, for about two years of my life, I had 36 men I met with every week. 10 small groups. Some were large, some were just me and one other fellow, sometimes me and two other fellows, sometimes me and 10 fellows. We went through this study, the 52 chapters. It was the most life changing time in my life and you know what every one of them, over the years I’ve heard back from every one of them, you know what they all said? That changed my life permanently. I never look on the Bible the same. I now look at the Bible as a mirror that I look at and say, God, this is what I want you to change in me. I want to look more like Christ today.

Let’s close this time by me praying from our shared study we just did, Genesis 3. I’m going to pray this, so bow with me and listen to these words.

Bow your head and listen as I pray.

Lord, I’m asking you to protect me from the evil one. Especially here where we are, help me Lord. I want to trust and obey your voice. Don’t let Satan make me doubt. Help me to know your goodness. Help me to bow to your authority. Lord, I want to follow your plan. Thank you for coming to seek and find me every time I fail you. Most of all, for finding me and giving me salvation, and paying my debt of sin. Thank you that you live within me. I love you Lord, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Thanks for joining us. I’m going to be posting more of the in-depth studies of the topics like I wrote here. Satan. Temptation. Sin. This is just to get you started with this initial going through this chapter, just a quick half hour.  Let’s see how long, we’re on our 26th minute of this video. So, you see, the whole reading and writing and thinking you can do it in less than a half hour. Find someone to share it with.

God bless you.

John Barnett, challenging you to get in the word, write it down, to meditate on it, identify with Christ, find the joy and rejoicing in your heart, and then share it with someone.