Trusting God's Word: The Battle Against Doubt

The test of our parents in the garden of Eden was a test on the veracity and the truthfulness of the Word of God. And I want to stress that, because in the time that we have here, as we look at what unfolds in the drama in Eden, I want us to compare it with a similar test and probation that is put upon the second Adam, the new Adam, who is whom? Jesus. [00:03:11]

In our day, in the twentieth century, one of the great attacks on Christianity has come from the philosophy called atheistic existentialism. And some of the existentialist philosophers have stressed as their central thesis the importance of absolute freedom for human beings. Jean-Paul Sartre, for example, a French philosopher, said that unless man has autonomy…, what’s autonomy? What does that word "autonomy" mean? Auto means self, and the Greek word nomos means law. [00:05:31]

To be autonomous means to be a law unto oneself, to be answerable or accountable or responsible to no one but to yourself. It is to have freedom to possess freedom in the absolute degree. And what Sartre says is, unless man has autonomy, he does not really have freedom. That's exactly the suggestion that we're getting here from the serpent. [00:06:18]

Now Satan discards the subtleties. His contradiction of what God had said becomes open and direct. God said, "If you eat of this tree you will surely die." Satan says, "You will not die." Now, one lesson that I want us to learn from this is that here we have the first contradiction in sacred Scripture. [00:08:54]

The contradiction is not the hallmark of truth; the contradiction is the hallmark of a lie. How can you even discern the difference between truth and falsehood, godliness and ungodliness, Christ and Antichrist unless you assume the workability of the test of contradictions? The fall of the human race centered upon a contradiction. [00:12:24]

There are certain similarities between the test of Adam and the test of Jesus. But before we look at the similarities, I want us to look at the differences. First of all, when Adam and Eve are tested, where are they tested? What is the location of their temptation? In the garden of Eden, in paradise. [00:13:15]

Jesus is hungry, Satan comes and says, "If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread." Now, why doesn’t Satan come and say, "Since you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread." Do you realize that the way Satan speaks to Jesus, notice the way the serpent spoke to Adam and Eve, "Hath God said…" There’s a question about what God had said. [00:14:55]

The last words in His ears, the Father has said, "This is My Son." And Satan comes, subtly suggesting that perhaps Jesus isn’t the Son of God. What father would allow his son to have to spend forty days in this desolate wilderness? What father would withhold from his beloved son nourishment and food for forty days? [00:17:24]

My life is based on the truthfulness of the Word of God, and don’t you try to undermine them. So then, the next thing he does is he takes Jesus and he says…takes him and said, "Look Jesus, you just bow down once for me, okay, and I’ll give you all of the kingdoms of the world. Just bow down once." [00:19:44]

The Father has promised me that I will rule over every tribe and tongue and nation. "Yes, I know," says the serpent, "but what’s the price tag, Jesus? First, you have to die, you have to suffer. You have to be humiliated. You have to set your face like a flint toward Jerusalem. You have to be delivered to the Gentiles." [00:20:27]

The church has been exposed to over two hundred years of concentrated criticism and skepticism leveled against the credibility of the Scriptures. So that now even Christians are divided with respect to their confidence in the Bible, in the Word of God. And I remind you that this is our greatest point of vulnerability. [00:26:44]

And it’s not believing in God that makes the difference whether you’re Christian or not; it’s believing God. Do you believe God when He speaks? And I think that’s the test that we’re going through today, the test of whether or not we live in trust of the Word of God or whether we’re willing to negotiate it with unbelief. [00:27:24]