Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the ongoing spiritual warfare that believers face, highlighting the importance of faith in overcoming the attacks of the wicked one. He draws parallels between the deception of Eve in the Garden of Eden and the modern-day challenges Christians encounter, urging them to recognize the subtle ways in which the enemy seeks to undermine their faith. The preacher stresses that genuine faith must be active and reflected in one's actions, warning against complacency and the dangers of living in contradiction to God's Word. Ultimately, he calls for a deepening of faith, encouraging believers to trust in God's authority and to resist the temptations that lead to spiritual decline.

From the power to set us free, the power to set us free. First of all, I'd like to invite you, if you would please, to turn your Bible to 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5. And I'd like to read verse number 19. We'll begin in verse number 17. 1 John chapter 5 verse number 17. All unrighteousness is sin. And there is a sin not unto death. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not. But he that is begotten of God keepeth himself. And that wicked one toucheth him not. Verse 19 in particular. Listen closely. And we know that we are of God. And the whole world lieth in wickedness. Another translation says the whole world is under the power of the wicked one. Beloved, we are in a war this morning. And Jesus said in the book of John that we are in the world but we are not of the world. The scripture here very definitively tells us that the whole world is in the power, under the power of the wicked one. And you and I are in the world but we're not of the world. But I want you to know, beloved, that being in the world, the influences of the wicked one, the influences of this evil and perverse generation are constantly, constantly, constantly barraging us, seeking to defile and to destroy that which God has done in our life. I want to talk this morning about a war, a holy war, that you and I are in. A holy war that you and I are in. It all started back in Genesis chapter 3. You and I know Genesis chapter 3 is the story of Satan and his power in seducing Eve. But I would like to just reread a few verses to refresh our memory so that we can be aware of the beginning of this war that we're in. Then, after we see the beginning of the war and the nature of this war, I want to focus upon the object of attack. There is something that Satan is seeking to destroy in your life today, right today. I don't care what you're going through, what trial you're in, what difficulty you are looking at from the past, what difficulty you foresee in the future. There is an object of attack that Satan has and he is wanting to destroy something in your life today. We're going to look at that in a moment. Genesis chapter 3. We know in Genesis chapter 2 that the crown of God's creation had just occurred. That God created Adam and then he said that it wasn't good that Adam should be alone. And therefore, he did an operation on Adam and he took out of Adam something of Adam's own self. That's important to remember. Something from Adam and out of that thing he formed a woman. And he made Adam and Eve and joined them together. So here we find the crown of God's creation, man, mankind. And God planted Adam and Eve in the garden and it was God's intention for Adam and Eve, listen, it was God's intention for Adam and Eve to realize that the whole sum total of their existence was to enjoy intimate communion with their creator. They were created that they might come to know the unspeakable, unsearchable benevolence and goodness and kindness of their creator God. God's intention was never, ever, ever that mankind would become what he is today. Never was it God's intention. But interestingly we see that as soon as we find the scriptures in Genesis 2 speaking about God placing Adam and Eve in the garden and there they were naked and they were not ashamed. In Genesis 3 we see now the serpent. As soon as God finished the crown of his hands, the crown of his work, the beauty of his creation and placed man, the serpent shows up. The serpent shows up. It is important that we recognize that whenever God is doing something, whenever God is working in your life, whenever God is seeking to bring about something good in your life, the devil is nearby. The devil lurks round about the very thing that God is doing that God says is very good. Don't ever, ever, ever put down your arm guard. Don't ever put down your defense against the enemy when God's doing something. Supposing that because God is moving in such a wonderful way, the enemy must be so far away, not so. The enemy is not far away when God's doing something. He's right there on the peripheral view seeking a way to get in and defile what God's doing. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord had made. And he said unto the woman, the serpent speaks to the woman. Beloved, listen closely. It's important for us to understand this morning that the enemy does not only come and inspect what God is doing in your life. He doesn't only come and look at what God is doing in your life, but he seeks to somehow communicate with you so as to influence what you do. The serpent came and spoke unto the woman. The greatest problem in the church today is the serpent is speaking to the woman and the woman is listening to what he's got to say. That's the biggest problem. The serpent is coming and seeking to seduce the church because the church is the fulfillment of the type of Adam and Eve. Just like God took Eve out of Adam and made Eve a helpmate for Adam, so Christ, the last Adam, is the one who we have gotten our origin from. God has taken part of Christ's life. The very life of Christ has taken it out from him at Calvary, spilled his blood to provide the forgiveness of sin, and as a result of that, he has given us the life that was in his son. So that when Christ looks at the church, he says the same thing that Adam said. Adam looked at Eve and said, Lo, this is bone of my bone. Lo, when I look at her, I see something of myself in her. When God looks at the church, he sees something of his very son in the church. So therefore, the church is that good and perfect thing that God has in the world today. So as a result of that, the devil, the serpent, is there seeking to do the same thing that he did to Eve to the church. Seduce us and deceive us and speak to us. Let me ask you a question today. Are you giving heed to the voice of the serpent today? You say, of course not. Don't answer that question until I finish reading this. Let me make another statement. You are giving heed to the voice of the serpent if he is accomplishing in your life today the very thing that he accomplished in Eve's life. You say, well, what did he get Eve to do? I'll show you. Now you be careful to see now is this very thing happening to you because this truth is going to bring us to the next section of this message this morning which is what we're going to focus on for a short time. Now it says, the serpent came and he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? He began to question what God has said. Okay, next. 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 hath said ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it lest ye die. Now here's what's happening right now. There's a discourse going on between this woman called Eve and the serpent who is the devil. A discourse is going on. A conversation is going on. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. Now what did God say to Eve? You will die if you eat of the knowledge of the tree of the fruit of good and evil. Is that correct? God said you will die. And what did the serpent say? Hath God said? In other words, did God really say that? The first thing the devil did was got Eve to reconsider what God had said. Reconsider it. It might not be what you think, Eve. God might not really have said what he said. God might be like a man. God might be double-tongued. You know, we're double-tongued. We say one thing and mean another thing. Satan was trying to lower God from the dignity of who he is as God in heaven to something other than that. He planted a thorn in Eve's mind. This is going to be called The Life of Faith Part 2, Norman. Last Sunday we preached on The Life of Faith. This is another message on The Life of Faith. And this gets down into the meat of what we were talking about last Sunday. So he questions the authority of God and then he downright lies against God's word and he says you shall not surely die. But listen, before he finishes his statement, he has to try, listen, he has to try and convince Eve that God has an ulterior motive in giving her a commandment. Listen to what he says. For God knows that on the day that Eve thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as God's 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. And the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day and Adam his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. They hid themselves from among the Lord God. So when I asked you the question a little bit earlier, is Satan accomplishing in you what he accomplished in Eve? Most of us would have said no, he's not. But now that we've seen exactly what he has done, let me ask you another question. Is there any area in your life where you are downright living in rebellion against God's word? If there is and you are aware of it and you continue to do it, then you have been beguiled and deceived just like Eve. Because remember, the devil came and said, Hath God said? And then he said, You will not die. And then he basically was saying, You're a lot better off if you take things into your own hands and do it your way because you're going to be able to get something that you can't get if you go God's way. You're going to be able to get something. What are you grasping for right now, thinking that you're going to make yourself better, but it's in direct opposition to the word of God? If there's something you're grasping for, then the serpent is not only talking to you, he's done beguiled you. Hath God said that you shall not gossip? Hath God said that you cannot indulge in soft pornography? Hath God said that you cannot drink from time to time? Hath God said that you can't be ugly and belligerent sometimes? Hath God said that covetous, greedy people shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Hath God said? Did God really say that? Nay. God doesn't mean what he says. God doesn't mean what he says. Hath God given us a book called the Bible that ought to be the final authority of all that we do? You shall not surely die. You shall not surely reap bad consequences if you do what you want. God knows that if you do what you want, you're going to get something for yourself. God knows that if you do what he says not to do, you're going to feel good about yourself. You're going to become wise. You're going to have your need met. God knows that. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food. Beloved, when you see temptation to disobey God's word as something good for food, something that you think is going to feed you, you are being deceived. Again, hear the word of God. And the woman saw that the tree was good for food. What was happening? She was actually seeing what God made forbidden to her as something good for her. Are you seeing temptation as food? Good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes. Oh, Lord, have mercy. When temptation to take things into our own hands and to disobey God's word not only becomes food to us, but it becomes what? Pleasant to our eyes. You see the poison? You see the poison that is being injected into the mind of Eve right now? And it all started because the devil said, Half God said? And she said, Hmm, maybe not. Beloved, we are being called this morning by God, a clearing call from the word of God to get in and know that we know that we know that we know that God has said. And when the devil comes and says, Half God said? We're to say, Yes, God has said it. And I have nothing more to say. I have nothing more to talk about, devil. Get thee behind me. I am not carrying on a discourse with you. I am not going to discuss it with you. The issue has been settled in my heart. Thank you. Unless you develop on your knees before God a faith and a tenacity and a trust in what God has said like that, you will end up having a discourse with the devil. He will persuade you that God doesn't really mean what he says, and you will begin to look at temptation as desirous, as food, as pleasant to the eyes, and as that which can make you wise. And once that begins to happen, you pretty much have sold yourself out, and you're going to reap the consequences. Now, if you're a Christian, God will forgive you if you confess your sin, but he might not undo the consequences. God forgives adulterers, but the consequences are with them the rest of their life. God forgives alcoholics, but the consequences might be with them on their deathbed when they're dying of cirrhosis of the liver. God might forgive you if you're a gossiper, but the consequences will be with you when you see all the people that you defiled with your gossip. He'll forgive you, but the consequences are going to be there, and they're going to be grieving. So, this is the beginning, brothers and sisters, of this war that we're called in. Remember, we read 1 John 5, verses 13 through 19. The whole world lies in the power of the wicked one. Listen closely. The reason why the world lies under the power of the wicked one is because the world has bought the lie that God hath not said, and that I am a sovereign being who based on my own sinful desires and my own sinful reasonings will make my own choices based on what will satisfy my needs, and I don't need to consult with and acknowledge a God in heaven because as far as I'm concerned, God hath not said anything to me that I need to listen to. I can run my life my own way. Rebellion is not wrong because I like to be rebellious. Pride is not wrong because I like to be proud. It's not wrong to knock someone down because that's the way of survival. That's the world, beloved. And that's why the whole world lies in the power of the wicked one because the world has said, God, you're not relative to me. You're not relative, God. I don't want your word in my life. I don't want to submit to you. Now, you say, well, brother, I don't do that. I'm a Christian. You might not do it like that, but if there's something in God's word and you're living a life that contradicts it and you're not on your knees praying, Oh, God, have mercy on me. I want you to change me in this area of my life. I want you to give deliverance, Lord. I see that I'm supposed to be like this, and I'm not, and I'm confessing. If you're not doing that, and you're not praying earnestly that God will change you, beloved, you might not be telling God openly, but you're telling him through your actions that you don't want his authority in your life. And you're setting yourself up for a fall of some kind. You're setting yourself up for a fall of some kind. If you take things into your in hand, don't do it your way. If you know your way is not God's way, don't do it your way. Have God said, take your way and offer it to God, and by faith, oh, there you go, that's the word, faith. All of what we just said to say this, the object of attack that right now is under horrendous fire, the object of attack in the church that is under a great battle right now is faith. Satan is right now going to and fro throughout the whole known professing assembly of God, those who claim to know God, and he is seeking to destroy and defile and weaken and make of no effect the faith that's within the hearts of God's people because it is only when we have faith in God that affects our actions and our decisions in that we believe God's word in spite of our circumstances and in spite of how we feel that we please God. Beloved, it is faith in your life that is affecting your will, enabling you to say, I believe God and His word and will live by the authority of God's word. It is that faith alone that will provide the victory that you need to be an overcomer. It is that faith that overcomes the world. It is that faith that enables me to live in the joy of knowing that my sins are forgiven, that I am justified and cleansed for by faith through grace you are saved. It is therefore we are justified by faith. It is this faith in God and His word that the devil is trying to attack right now in the life of the church. Listen to this. From Hebrews chapter 10 verse 19 to Hebrews 11 verse 40. That's only one chapter, one and a half chapters. The word faith is mentioned no less than 30 times. Maybe more because I could have counted wrong. Do you think God's trying to give us a message? I was taught in Bible school that if there's ever a word or a phrase that is mentioned over and over again in the Bible, most likely God is trying to tell us something. You know? You know the word sin is mentioned a whole lot in the Bible. You think it's because God's trying to tell us something about sin? Of course. Well the word faith is jam-packed in just one and a half chapters so that 30 times or more it's mentioned. The reason why it's mentioned so frequently is because if you go to Hebrews chapter 11 verse number 3, you will see that faith is a very, very important spiritual gift that God wants His people to earnestly contend for and preserve with all the power that grace provides. According to the word of God in Hebrews chapter 11 verse number 6, it says, but without faith it is impossible to please Him. You cannot please God today unless you have a faith that is working in you. Listen, I'm not talking about a profession of faith. Anyone can profess faith in God. You must have a faith working in you that affects what you do. Faith without works is dead. Show me your faith without your works and I'll show you my faith by my works. That's what James says. You must have by God and you must have nurtured by God and sustained by God and God's word a faith that is affecting your will, it's affecting your decision, it's affecting your actions, it's enabling you to make an open confession and to back it up with actions. I believe God. I believe His word. I'm going to hang my life upon God and I'm going to govern my life around the authority of God's word in spite of the consequences, in spite of what it does to me. I believe God and I'm going to go God's way. Hallelujah to God. A faith that makes me stand in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation and say, I believe God. I trust in the authority of God's word. I'm going to live my life by the power of the word of God and faith enables me to do that. A person who has faith believes God and obeys God in spite of the personal consequences that it might have on them. So therefore, might we conclude that if faith, a living faith, nurtured by the word of God and made real in us by the Holy Spirit, if a living faith enables me to hang my life upon the word of God, what will happen to me if I don't have that faith? Logical. Who will I trust in then? Me. Who will I depend upon then? Me. Everything about our life with God hangs upon a living faith that is affecting our decisions and our actions and our will. And so therefore, beloved, may I say that whatever you're going through right now in your life, God's intention is that your faith in Him will grow. Satan's intention is that your faith will wax weak and will begin to wane. Amen. Thank you. Satan wants to rob your faith and calls you to take things into your own hands and not live according to the word of God. God wants to take what you're going through and calls your faith to grow and grow so that through whatever you're going through, you are developing a stronger faith, a stronger confidence, a stronger dependence upon the word of God, and you are more and more and more renouncing anything in your life that is not lining up to the authority of God's word. Strong faith in God results in strong opposition against whatever's in me that's not like God. Strong faith does not produce passivity. Strong faith produces an active, diligent seeking after God, knowing that God is a rewarder toward all those who seek Him in such a way. Your faith and my faith is under attack this morning. It's under attack because Satan knows, as he did in Eve, if he can get us to question God, if he can get us to question the authority of God, and if he can get us to start trusting in ourself, he has got us where he wants. So therefore, in light of this, Genesis chapter 6, verse 9 through 13. We're about to close. What happens when men forsake God and forsake faith and stop trusting in God and stop looking to Him as sovereign Lord? Genesis chapter 6, beginning in verse number 9. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation, and Noah walked with God. Verse number 11. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt. For all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth, and God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Whenever Satan succeeds in destroying the faith of an individual or the faith of a denomination or the faith of a company of people, violence and evil and corruption will inevitably set in and control those people. It is impossible to live a life before God and please Him without faith. And it's impossible to say, I have faith and not have the actions and the obedience to God's word to back it up. One cannot say, I have faith in God and live their own life without any conscience or any desire to want to pray and get the word of God in the heart so that my life is in obedience to God's word. You can't do it. That is a false faith. Genuine faith produces a lifestyle of active, diligent pursuit after God. Backsliders have a faith, a profession of faith, but their life is full of all the works of the old man, all the works of sin. And they continue to profess faith, but they deny God in their actions. That's a backslider. A backslider, the book of Proverbs says, is full of his own ways. God help the church when we are content with professing faith in God, when our life is a mess and there's all kinds of inconsistencies in our life and we just live in that mess and don't take any action to straighten it out. God help us and preserve us from being deceived. The Bible says in James, now I don't want to come across, everybody knows me well enough here, everybody's known me for years, I don't want to come across as being harsh or mean this morning, but I do want to do justice to what I feel God has put in my heart. And part of what God has put in my heart is a warning of love. This is a warning in love, but it's a warning, take heed. Living faith does not allow contradiction in the moral life to continue. Living faith doesn't. A professing dead faith does, but living faith doesn't. Living faith will cry and weep and seek God and seek out godly counsel and get help. James, chapter 1. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, verse 19, let every man be swift to hear and slow to speak and slow to wrath. For the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God. Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness. All that means is lay apart all filthiness and malice and evil and that which is not like Jesus Christ. That's what all those words mean. Listen, lay it apart and receive with meekness. Beloved, we can stop right now and go for one whole hour on this word meekness. We're not going to do it. Until we're prepared to repent of pride and pray, God, give me a meek spirit. You'll never know living faith. You'll never know the power of Jesus Christ in your life unless God gives you a meek spirit. A meek spirit. Lay apart all these things and receive with meekness the engrafted or the implanted word that is able to save your souls. Listen, be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. A lot of Christians take a lot of pride in sermons they hear, in books they read, in theology they know. And God says, I don't want to hear about what you know or what you hear or what you've heard or what you've read. I want to see what you're doing. Be doers of the word and not hearers only. If you hear the word and your life contradicts what you hear or there's not a constant desire within your life to line up your life to what God's word says, it's better that you don't even hear. Because the more you hear and the less you see your own life lining up to it, the more in danger you will be of judgment. Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man beholding his natural face in a mirror. For he beholds himself, goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man he was. But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. The war of faith. God wants to fill our hearts with faith and nurture that faith and cause that faith to grow. Because by it, we overcome the world. By it, we please God. And by it, we obtain a good report. But without it, we fail. We trust in ourself. We go our own way. And ultimately, we find our lives in ruin, chaos, destruction, havoc, and what a mess things are. So in closing, I want to pray and I want to ask everybody to join together with me and pray that God will preserve in you faith. That God will put faith in you. Preserve the faith that you have and help the faith that you have to grow. And that you will guard by the power of God's word and the spirit of God against the devil robbing you of your faith. Anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, resentment, envy, jealousy, and contention are the building blocks the devil uses to slowly destroy our faith. Don't let those things live in your life. Your faith will disappear. It will weaken. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the word of God. Thank you for the Holy Spirit. Thank you for the word of deliverance. I pray this morning, oh God, that you would by the word reveal to us the power of faith. That you will preserve us from the devil's tactics that he is implementing against us that are intended to destroy our faith. Lord, give us the power to say no. I will not stop trusting in God. I will not take my life into my own hands. I will trust in God almighty. I believe God's word. Father, I pray the Holy Spirit will give each one faith. Living faith. Lord, I'm asking that you'll give us meekness and humility so that we can receive the engrafted word and thereby grow in our Christian life. God, preserve everyone who's going through a trial right now. A difficult trial. Preserve them, Lord, from the devil's poison that would cause them to become angry or bitter and thereby abandon their faith in God. Abandon their trust in God. Abandon their confidence in God. Lord, preserve everyone from doing that. I pray, Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen.