It's Tempting, Isn't It?

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Hey, welcome.

If you're new, my name's Ryan.

Absolutely thrilled to have you join us today.

Now, each year we choose a theme as a church of like, okay, here's where we're gonna grow, develop, what we're longing for.

This year, the theme was biblical literacy.

Like, we as a church want to get to know God's word and get God's word into our hearts and lives.

Um, and we began the year with uh in January series called Cultivate.

And how do we cultivate a relationship with God in his word?

And I did this little kind of like um third grade project, science project, where we had the dirt and the seed and the sunflower seeds.

And here's what's great is you guys send me pictures of your sunflower still.

I love it.

I get DMs, I get texts, it's awesome.

Here's one that I just recently got right here.

Isn't that beautiful?

That's amazing.

Someone else just sent me one that has grown uh taller than them, so please keep sending me those.

I love them.

They're great.

Now, as part of biblical literacy, we're going through and teaching through the very first book in the Bible, the book of Genesis.

Genesis just means beginnings, and it lays the foundation for everything else that comes next, even the foundation of Jesus.

And so we started a series, Genesis chapter one called Foundations, and then Genesis 2, we just completed before Easter called Unalone.

Today we're beginning a new series teaching through Genesis chapter 3 called Where in the World Did We Go Wrong?

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

So go ahead and say to your neighbor, where in the world?

And then go, I don't know.

Because you can't help but when you look at the world around us.

When you look at what's happening on a global scale, on a social reality in our nation, just in our area, and then just the fabric of relationships and what you're personally walking through.

You can't help but ask this question how did we get here?

How in the world did we get here?

I mean, think about this.

How did we get in this world where beauty and brokenness live side by side?

Pain and progress.

We scroll through war zones and wetty photos on the same feed, where laughter and loneliness sit at the same dinner table, where we're more connected than ever, yet more disconnected.

We live in a world that's never been more advanced, yet we have we never had more anxiety.

We're surrounded by information, starving for meaning, we're chasing progress, but something still fills off.

How did we get here?

And what if the real issue isn't just out there as we look at the world, but it was in each of us?

And could the story of where it all went wrong actually show us how to begin to put it back together?

Here's something that uh we all know and understand.

If you misdiagnose the problem, you'll miss the cure.

And so, what we must do in our time, the reason we ask this is we have to diagnose the problem really well.

Because if we misdiagnose it, we'll end up with the wrong solution.

And I just want to argue, we've been misdiagnosing the problem.

And we think if we just have more technology, if we just have more education, then we'll see this cure that will solve everything else.

And the problem is, is we have more of all those things, and we still have more of all the problems.

Genesis 3 tells the story of where it all went wrong and how we got here, which is really good news because it also points us to how in the world we can finally be put right again.

If you got your Bibles, would you open up to Genesis 3?

It's at the very beginning.

If not, you open up your phones, um, but it's right at the very beginning, right here.

You can flip open.

Genesis chapter 3 begins this way.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?

Like you're surrounded by all these incredible trees, and God said, You can't have any of them?

Well, the woman said to the serpent, uh, we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden.

But God did say, You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it.

Well, he didn't actually say you shouldn't touch it, which is interesting as we kind of add on to what God said, that's a whole nother problem.

Or you'll die.

You will certainly not die, the serpent said to the woman.

For God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

When the woman saw the fruit, it we don't know that it was an apple, by the way.

It's historically gone down that way, and I tried to research it, and I'm not even sure why.

Because apples are great.

When the woman saw the fruit, that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.

She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

Adam's sitting there the entire time listening to this conversation and says, Nothing.

That is another sermon for another day.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized to get that they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Where in the world did we go wrong?

And how do we and how did we get here?

Our problem today actually is we love self-diagnosis, don't we?

About five, six years ago, I had this really heavy shelf.

I was doing some work uh on a room, and a heavy shelf fell and hit me in the head.

It like knocked me silly, like scary silly.

And um and and then it's the day before my wedding, or not wedding, my birthday, uh, and so that's how knock silly I was.

I didn't know what day it was.

And Jenny's like, you should go to the doctor.

And I'm like, I'm fine.

She's like, You got hit in the head.

Do you know you maybe you have a concussion?

And I'm like, I did my own cussion protocol.

I called my buddy who used to play in the NFL, asked him some questions.

He knows a lot about head injuries.

I'm fine.

Five days later, I go to the doctor and like, oh no, you have a concussion.

We love self-diagnosis, don't we?

Oh, the other thing that we love is also friend diagnosis.

Hey, tell us, tell us what's going on.

You know what?

We have WebMD, we have ChatPTT, chat PTT, chat PT, there you go.

G P T.

That's it.

And so as a result, we miss out and we misdiagnose, and we're wondering why we're struggling, and we keep asking the question, how did we get here?

Genesis 3 gives us where in the world did we go wrong and the diagnosis for the human condition.

How did we get here?

And the first thing that it tells us, the first area that we have to understand is that we have a very real spiritual enemy.

That text begins with this serpent.

Now, the goal wasn't to tell us the where the serpent came from, the nature or the origins of it.

That's a whole series in and of itself.

Maybe we'll do a you know a school of faith on this.

Serpents in the ancient Near East, it was deeply symbolic, used all over the some snakes were to be worshipped, others were to be considered incarnations of evil.

They were associated with both wisdom and death.

How in the world did we get here?

First thing we have to recognize is that we have a very real spiritual enemy.

What's interesting is you go, like, aren't we in the age of intellect?

Aren't we in the age of technology?

This whole spiritual thing, Ryan, that's under a rock, you know, spirits everywhere.

Isn't that gone?

Well, no, actually, did you know 70% of Gen Z believe there is something supernatural beyond the world?

76% of those in America believe in a God and a universal spirit.

60% of people embrace at least one new age belief.

40% of people believe in psychics.

40% of people believe that spiritual energy comes from objects, specifically uh crystals, which has been on the rise.

44% of those between the age of 13 to 25, 44, almost half, engage with crystals to access power beyond themselves.

First thing when we're asking where in the world do we go wrong, we have to recognize we have a very real spiritual enemy.

Scripture is clear that there is a spiritual unseen realm that's just as real as the physical realm.

Just as the wind, though we cannot see it, we see its effects, and when you show up into the backyard and the, you know, the canopy got blown over or the umbrella got blown over, you don't go, I have no idea how that happened.

You recognize, no, when blew that out, that there is a spiritual and a physical reality.

Jesus would say it this way: the thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy.

An enemy isn't just someone that dislikes you or disagrees with you.

They're out to get you, they hate you, they want to destroy your identity, your purpose, and your calling.

Have you ever wondered why it is when you finally like want to start working on your marriage that you get into the biggest argument?

Like when you're finally ready to get help for that addiction, the wave of shame and hopelessness just floods in like a tidal wave.

When you finally are ready to really follow Jesus, life gets busier, temptations get louder, doubt gets heavier.

Why does it feel so hard to move forward towards what's good?

There's two temptations when it comes to this spiritual realm.

C.S.

Lewis unpacked it well for us.

He says there's two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils.

One is to disbelieve their existence, the other is to believe and feel an excessive, unhealthy interest in them.

They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.

The way the apostle Paul would say it was finally be strong in the Lord.

And in his mighty power.

Like there's a strength that you need that you do not possess that he possesses.

And when you lean on your own strength, you will not have what you need to stand strong.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Therefore, take your stand against the devil's schemes.

Like there is a standing that we do, and as followers of Jesus, we recognize we have a spiritual enemy, but we are not defeated, and we do not fight for victory.

We fight from victory because we have a risen, conquering king who has defeated Satan and his enemies.

And so there is no fear.

He has power and he has control, but he does not have power over you.

Then he says, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Our battle is against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

You know what the word devil means, by the way?

We should throw that word around there.

It's just, it's actually not really a proper name so much as it is a description.

It means slanderer.

The enemy wants us to believe all kinds of false and damaging things.

Namely, that you're not really lovable, God doesn't want you, that you're a failure.

What are the devil's schemes, his tactics, his uh and you'll notice that when uh the serpent showed up into the garden, he didn't show up with weapons or force.

What did he show up with?

A whisper.

A word.

First thing that he wants to do is he wants to cast doubt on God's word.

Did God really say?

Is he really trustworthy?

And the answer is he lied, bold faced lied.

No.

God really did not say you can't eat from any of the trees, but it begins to sow a seed of doubt.

Is it really reliable?

Is he really trustworthy?

Is this really good?

One of his primary tactics is to twist truth.

Cast doubt on God's word and then question God's goodness.

Did God really say?

And then, for God knows that when you eat of this, when you take this, do you see this right here?

When you eat of this, oh my goodness, you'll be like God.

Why?

Why did he say not to eat of that tree?

Why would God withhold from you?

See, that's our fundamental belief about God is that somehow we he's holding out on us that like there's something good, it's over here, but God's like trying to keep us from that.

Every sin originates from the belief that God is not good.

Question God's goodness, and when you begin to question God's goodness, you begin to refine what is good.

You'll be like God.

The tragedy is Adam and Eve were made in the image of God.

He already made them like God.

They're running after and searching for something they already had, trying to get it in their own way.

We would redefine good this way.

God, just follow your heart.

Live your truth.

If it feels good, do it.

It can't be bad or wrong if it feels good.

Why?

Because following your heart has never led you astray.

See the enemy tactics.

Wants you to doubt God's word, doubt his goodness, and redefine what's good on your own terms.

And the truth is, is if we're gonna understand how we got here, first we have to recognize and understand we have a very real spiritual enemy that hates you.

That his enticement and his words aren't for your good, they're for your harm.

And he's a liar, and he's been a liar since the beginning.

The second thing, and the problem with this, is then we believe the lie that we could be better without God.

That we can be happier without God.

That we can have what is good without God.

See, we didn't, humanity didn't fall because we wanted to be bad.

Humanity fell because we wanted something better without God.

In fact, I like how John Piper talks about temptation.

He says it this way.

He says, The power of all temptation is the prospect that it will make me happier.

Isn't that true?

It's like, you know what?

I have access to everything, but I don't have that.

What is it about that one thing that you're like, oh, I just want that one thing.

If you say I can't have it, oh, it's off limits, I really, really want that.

But you can have all these other things, but not that thing.

And that thing will make me happier.

The power of all temptations is the prospect that'll make me happier.

He goes on to say, no one sins out of a sense of duty.

It is my duty to do this.

And at the core, since the very beginning, there are three temptations that the enemy has been using to entice us away from the goodness of God.

It happened all the way back in the garden.

Jesus, when he was one in the wilderness for 40 days, the enemy showed up with these three primary temptations.

Then John, the disciple of Jesus, would later expound on these and identify these.

He would say, uh, in John 1, there you go, thank you very much.

For everything in the world, now when he's talking about the world, he's talking about a system, a way, a culture, an ethos, not just like, oh, this world, this planet, physical.

Everything in the world, the world system that there is the God of this age, the demonic forces, and there's a world system that is anathetical and against God Himself.

Everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life comes not from the Father, but from the world.

These three core temptations.

First is the area of pleasure.

It was good.

Notice it said it was good for food.

The lust of the flesh.

Pleasure, the desire to feel good and satisfies cravings on our terms.

Not just physical pleasure, but the escape from pain, loneliness, boredom, or limits.

It's the story of every addiction.

This will make me feel better.

Pleasure and possessions.

Pleasing to the eye.

To chase what looks good or impressive.

The sense that if I just had that, I'd be enough.

If I could just drive that.

If I could just wear that.

Maybe you're a shoe person.

Maybe you're a watch person.

If I could just own the house.

If I could just have this type of relationship.

It's going around God's ways to get it for ourselves that brings destruction and harm.

I'm only as valuable as I have.

Pleasure, possessions, and then power or prestige, the desire for gaining wisdom, the pride of life, the desire to be in control, to define what's right and wrong for ourselves, the deep need to be in control, to look like we have it all together.

If I can just be important enough, successful enough, admired enough, then I'll be secure.

Isn't that the God of this age, Silicon Valley?

What we're striving after, what we're running after, why you work the long hours.

These are the same three from the very beginning.

The enemy, by the way, he's not.

Creative, but he is good.

I was gonna, you know, oh boy.

Oh yeah, there we go.

Oh no, let's not even try.

I was gonna try it.

I don't know.

I don't know.

Oh, you think so?

All right, let's try it.

Woo! All right.

Don't clap for that.

That was terrible.

The desire for prestige.

How did we get here, friends?

We first must realize that we have a spiritual enemy, and we miss that.

We live as if it's not true.

And so we live vulnerable.

And then we believe the lie that we could be better without God.

That God's somehow holding out on us.

His goodness is not good enough for us.

And I want something else that promises it now.

And then finally, we underestimate the consequence of sin.

We underestimate the consequence of sin.

We don't use that word anymore.

We don't talk about it.

It's got lost from our vernacular, sin.

No, that's yeah, yeah.

Sin.

Sin simply is the refusal to trust God and the decision to live life on our own terms.

That's it.

The serpent said to the woman, you will not certainly die, take, and eat.

And that was a lie.

See, we underestimate the consequence of sin.

Sin doesn't make us bad, it makes us dead.

We're so confused, like concerned about moralism in the church.

We should be far more concerned about dead people.

Like the reality is, is what scripture says is that the wages of sin is death.

What is a wage?

I mean, I go to work, I clock in, I punch in, however, you do it at your work, I come back, and then all of a sudden I get a wage.

They pay me according to what I've earned.

And what scripture says is there is a wage, there's a payment according to what we've earned, and it's actually death.

Death biblically, and just in reality, just means separation.

When Adam and Eve first took that bite on their own accord to get good without God, first and foremost, it brought death spiritually.

Separation from God.

We were intended and designed to flourish in the presence of God, to walk with Him, to know Him, to be in personal relationship with Him.

And that is what so many of us are walking around wondering what we can't fix and the ache and the hole in our lives.

You wonder why you feel like you're just existing but not really living.

Why you feel like sometimes, you know what?

I just feel like I'm sleepwalking through life.

And what you need is you need an awakening to new life that only God can bring.

Why?

Because you're spiritually dead, you're physically alive, but you're spiritually dead.

But sin brings death relationally, doesn't it?

It brings separation.

If I lie to you, it brings separation.

If I gossip about you, it brings separation, it brings destruction to our relationships.

It brings death emotionally.

Separating you from your true self.

And we talked about this before, like the core of spiritual formation.

Spiritual formation is just the way we talk about how do we grow and become more like Jesus.

The core of spiritual formation is not behavior modification.

How do I stop sinning?

Stop asking that question.

The core of spiritual formation is aligning and coming to understand what's already true of you in Christ Jesus, your identity.

When you understand your identity, that I'm a son, I'm a daughter of the King Most High, every spiritual blessing is mine in Christ Jesus.

I am fully forgiven, I am adopted, and so I have a new last name, and as a result, I have access to everything that my father has, and he has given me the very Spirit of God to live and dwell inside of me.

And so I walk today, empowered, son of the King Most High, and my identity as beloved.

Now I step into this day.

That is when you begin to see the transformation.

But we settle.

Separation of our body, doesn't it?

Death, the great equalizer, whether you're rich or poor, we all will experience it.

And the great violator, too, isn't it?

It's so unnatural.

Because you were made for eternity.

I was made for eternity.

See, sin isn't just something we've done.

Here's the other part about sin.

Sin is actually something we carry.

It's in us.

It infects us.

It's like cancer that is at work within us that is just constant.

It may be in the background, it may be just working on the inside, it may be dormant for a little bit, and then it suddenly explodes.

But it is something that we carry, and eventually it brings about death.

In every facet.

Well, welcome to church.

I'm so glad you joined us.

Have a great Sunday.

We'll see you next week.

Be encouraged.

The diagnosis, our problem.

Is if we miss the diagnose of the problem, we'll never get the cure.

Only Jesus can.

We hate this.

We're too smart to be told we can't.

We're too sophisticated to be told we can't.

Gosh darn it.

Yes, I said, gosh darn it, I'm really getting feet heated up here.

We have AI.

Can't we fix, can't we solve everything?

And the answer is no.

The fundamental human condition is you can't.

And until you understand that, embrace that, you will stay stuck.

And you'll constantly look for solutions that will look shiny, that will offer a promise, but it will not satisfy, and it will leave you in worse condition than when you first begun.

See the problem, we don't like that word sinner, and I'm a sinner.

And the truth is, isn't we want to be a mistaker?

No, I'm a mistaker, and I can fix a mistake, but you cannot fix the condition that we live in, that we breathe in, that we walk in.

That's why the apostle Paul said it this way.

You see, at just the right time when we were still what?

Try it again.

That was a little weak.

I don't mean to shame you, but that was a little weak.

While we're still what?

Powerless.

Unable to change the condition you're in.

While we're still powerless, Christ died for who?

I know it's not fun to say.

I am powerless to change.

By the way, that's where all AA begins.

That's where all healing begins.

That's where you begin.

I am powerless to change.

I need a power greater than myself.

And by the way, I recognize I'm ungodly, which just means I think I can do better without God.

That's all it means.

Which I've taken thousands of millions of times in my life.

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die.

Yeah, I'll die for my kids, but I ain't dying for you.

But God demonstrates his own love for this.

In this, while we're still sinners, while we're still enemies, while we're still in a condition that we can do nothing, we have nothing to offer.

He died for you.

He died for me.

He took on our greatest problem.

Sin.

Nailed to the cross.

The cross that I should have died on, we should have died on.

And he defeated our greatest foe, death, and Satan himself in the grave.

And the grave could not hold him.

No, we celebrated that last week, didn't we?

He's alive, and as a result, I'm forgiven, and heaven's gates are open wide.

When I was in college, I um I woke up and I had this just excruciating pain in my stomach.

I didn't know exactly what it was.

I thought maybe it was food poisoning, maybe it was the stomach flu.

I it's hands down, probably the most painful time of my life I've gone through.

I've never been pregnant, so I don't know that pain.

That's a whole nother pain.

All night long I'm just like trying to figure out how to solve this.

I don't know what's going on, but it hurts so bad.

It's so bad.

I'm trying to find some comfort.

I've taken whatever I can take, and uh, I'm like literally laying on the ground of the dorm showers, the nasty floor of the dorm showers with the hot water.

That's all I can do is just curled up trying to get something that would just like take the pain away.

And I I don't really know how I ended up at the hospital.

I remember someone saying, gosh, you probably need to go to the doctor, and you know, you're like 1920, you don't know what to do, you're on your own, and it's middle of the night, and finally it's early in the morning and it's downtown Chicago.

Maybe somebody drove me, we didn't have cars, maybe it was a cab, I don't know, but I ended up at Northwestern Hospital.

Wonderful hospital.

And here's the amazing part I couldn't fix me, and I didn't know what was wrong with me.

But the minute I stepped into that hospital, gosh darn it, yeah, there it goes again.

Gosh darn it, they knew exactly what was wrong with me.

They saw me and instantly knew, oh, we know what's wrong.

They ran two tests and they rushed me to the OR.

Because I had a acute pendixitis.

I'm telling you, this moment is etched in my brain.

I don't remember a whole lot, but I remember laying on that gurney waiting to be, you know, uh operated on in that nervousness as a young college kid, and like I'm all on my own and no family, nobody around.

And in walks this doctor.

It was as if he came out of like um the old school days.

He had the leather doctor's bag, he had the long overcoat, the hat, and he walks in and he puts his arm on my hand.

He says, It's gonna be okay.

I got you.

I've done thousands of these.

We're gonna help you get well.

And he explained what I had appendicitis, and then I'm gonna take it out.

I was in a moment that I couldn't fix me, but there came a doctor who had to take out of me the very thing that was killing me.

We're gonna celebrate baptisms in just a second, and as people who recognize the reality, I can't.

I need help.

I'm tired of the ache, I'm tired of the pain, I can't fix my marriage, I can't fix my addiction, I can't fix that internal world that is just chaos, I can't fix the loneliness.

Jesus, would you help?

Would you come and do surgery in my life?

And would you take out the brokenness and would you fill me up with your spirit?

That is his invitation, that is what he longs to do in each and every one of us.

And so if you're here and you've never said yes to Jesus, I want to invite you to experience his healing, his life.

Would you just pray after me this prayer?

Jesus, I can't.

I can't.

I can't fix myself.

And I'm tired of trying.

And honestly, I have tried to get better and happier and good without you.

And I realize I need you.

I believe that you came for me.

You died for me.

You took my sin, my shame, my pain on the cross, and you rose to life that I might have life with you.

Would you come into my life and make me new?

And as we just keep our heads bowed, would you if you prayed that prayer, you stepped into a new relationship with Jesus, would you just raise your hand just so I can know and just pray with you?

Just raise it up high.

Amen.

Amen.

And Jesus, Father, we can be saved, and yet we still go back to trying to fix our life.

Today in this moment, would you freshly affirm I can't?

Jesus, would you step in?

Jesus, would you bring healing?

Jesus, would you meet me in my heart?

Jesus, would you bring uh life to my marriage?

Would you bring life to that relationship?

In Jesus' name.

We hope you are blessed by this message.

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