In this sermon, the speaker discusses the existence of a powerful and real spiritual being behind the conflicts and suffering in the world. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the supernatural and suggests that the Bible provides the most accurate insight into this realm. The speaker refers to Genesis chapter 3 as a crucial chapter in understanding the origin of evil in the universe. He highlights a verse in which a being desires to exalt himself above God, suggesting that this being is a demon. The speaker also mentions the ability of demons to understand physical laws and their intention to use supernatural phenomena to gain worship.

Men in various fields of science are being forced to admit that there are spirit beings in this world beyond human comprehension. And as we have seen yesterday, there is a tremendous and growing assortment of evidence to indicate that not only are there spirit beings in the world, but that they are increasing their assault upon mankind. I'd like to quote an article that is one of the most startling I've ever read. It's from the Columbus, Ohio newspaper, and it's dated April 20th, 1970. On the headline, as you can see, it says, inventor of Xerox copier got idea from ESP. Quote, the Xerox copier, the machine that has made millions and millions of dollars, is not an earthly invention. The idea came to Chester Carlson, founder of the Xerox company, from the world beyond. Few people know that records in trust at Duke University reveal beyond a shadow of a doubt that Carlson was one of the world's leading psychics. Now, a few months after his death, Carlson's own last will and testament discloses the astounding news that the Xerox machine is founded on a brain wave. While members of the American Society for Psychical Research praised Carlson for his contribution to the psychic research, the millionaire's deathbed confession astounded ESP experts in London. Carlson poured millions of dollars into psychic research to repay a debt, claimed Lester Otis, 55, a long-time friend of the late tycoon. He owed his entire fortune to ESP. Before his death, he realized that the dilemma, the dilemma posed by any psychic discovery, if he revealed the source of the invention to the public, the Xerox company could be discredited and lose business. So he did the best thing. He tried to make ESP into a reputable science. In this way, he could reveal his secret as being legitimately scientific and not the half-baked notion of a crackpot. But ESP had long been in the hands of a con, of con men eager to astound in clever profits, hungry for money. Carlson countered with huge donations to the Duke University parapsychology laboratory in Durham, North Carolina. Just before Chester died last October, he wrote me a long letter describing how he discovered the Xerox machine by conversing with a spirit from the future. Otis said his wife, who had convinced Chester of the validity of ESP experiments, taught him how to meditate and communicate with the spiritual realm. One night while working late in his home, Chester suddenly heard voices. They instructed him on the principle of making carbon jump to a charged drum and imprint copies on other sheets of paper. When Chester asked the voice to identify itself, the spirit said he came from the second millennium. Rigging up a machine recording to the extrasensory specifications proved an easy matter, but convincing the patent office that the machine actually worked was quite another story. I think they refused patent on the Xerox machine three times, Otis said. The fourth time around, Chester brought the machine with him and shocked the patent office into giving him the patent. After that came the story of a million dollar empire. Looking back, I think it was I who drew my husband into the field of psychiatry, I should say parapsychology, his wife said. The psychic phenomena definitely occurred. There were many aspects of them. They came one after the other. During one of these visions, Chester Carlson received the vision of an empire, for without the existence of ESP and his utmost faith in the little understood science, the world might yet be without Carlson's fabulous invention. So there is something that is recorded in documents, which our own trust in Duke University, assigned to the parapsychology department there, which show beyond the shadow of a doubt that this man received a scientific invention from a spirit, an invention that was so radical in design that the patent office said it couldn't work. And yet it did. I believe that this spirit from another world was a demon. We're going to see tonight that they have great insight into the physical laws behind the physical existence that we have here on earth and have that ability to give information about a phenomena such as a Xerox machine. What was the purpose? Well, I believe the purpose was just another one of the many plots of this arch spirit being called Satan to set up a respectability for his supernatural phenomena in order that he can begin to bring the world over to supernatural phenomena that will bring them to finally worship him. Plus the fact that a machine like this and Mr. Carlson's dedication to repaying the debt that he owed made it possible for large sums of money to be given to a godless parapsychology study. I say godless, not because I feel that these men are necessarily immoral in the parapsychology departments, but because they reject in the main the idea of God and yet are trying to experiment in the field of the supernatural. Another thing that just came today, and those from UCLA, I'm indebted to them for bringing it, this came out in the Daily Bruin today. It's called Barbara the Gray Witch, and it's an article telling about her radio station and her broadcast. This is what it says. It's an advertisement to the students, and obviously there are enough interested to make an advertisement like this worthwhile. Says this, Barbara tells the truth about modern witchcraft. This is the first album that gives you a series of tests to tell if you were born a witch or a warlock. Many of the authentic prayers and chants that help you call forth spirits, achieve prosperity, beckon and pay homage to Satan and exercise evil spirits. Barbara tells you what you can gain today from practicing witchcraft. She introduces you to witches and warlocks who will describe everything from the appearance of a demon to the everyday problem of witchcraft in a modern society. Barbara will tell you how to develop and practice your witchcraft ability, even if you're only a mortal." Some of you may think that's a lark, but I'll bet you that she gets plenty of responses from UCLA. Because as I quoted yesterday from the article in the Los Angeles Times by a man who has a PhD from Harvard, there is virtually an epidemic in the United States of turning to witchcraft. I'd like to read something else that will point out the existence of spirit beings and particularly how these spirit beings have played a role in the shaping of history. Particularly, this has relevance to modern history. As we're going to see tonight, Satan is in control of a vast world system that is made up of all of those who are not believers in Jesus Christ. But this is a startling revelation from a great scholar, William Elshower, and it comes from the rise and fall of the Third Reich. Now he shows in this statement what was really behind how Adolf Hitler got the idea of a super race and racial supremacy. I'd like to quote this because it's so startling. Quote, it is probably no exaggeration to say, as I have heard more than follower of Hitler say, that Chamberlain, that is Houston Stuart Chamberlain, was the spiritual founder of the Third Reich. Hypersensitive and neurotic and subject to frequent nervous breakdowns, Chamberlain, a famous English scholar, was given to seeing demons who, by his own account, drove him to relentlessly seek new fields of study and get on with his prodigious writings. One vision after another forced him to change from biology, to botany, to the fine arts, to music, to philosophy, to biography, and then finally to history. Once in 1896, when he was returning from Italy, the presence of a demon, he said, became so forceful that he got off the train at Gardone, shut himself up in a hotel room for eight days and, abandoning some work on music that he had contemplated, wrote feverishly on a biological thesis until he had the germ of the theme that would dominate all of his later works. The theme, race and history. Since he felt himself goaded on by demons, his book on Wagner, Goethe, Kant, Christianity, and Race were written in the grip of a terrible fever, a veritable trance, a state of self-induced intoxication, so that, as he says in his autobiography, Lebenswege, he was often unable to recognize these writings though they were his own works. But it was on the Third Reich, which did not arrive until six years after his death, whose coming he foresaw, that this Englishman's influence was the greatest. His racial theories, his burning sense of the destiny of the Germans, and Germany were taken over by the Nazis, who acclaimed him as one of their prophets. During the Hitler regime, books, pamphlets, and articles poured from the presses extolling the spiritual founder of the National Socialist Germany as Chamberlain." So here's a remarkable thing from the rise and fall of the Third Reich, where by Chamberlain's own testimony, he received the inspiration for the writings about racial supremacy and about the supremacy of the German people as a super race from a demon. And by his own testimony, the chief work which Hitler used almost as his bible, was written while almost in a trance-like state, which after it was finished, Chamberlain himself could hardly recognize it as being his work. That's how much he was under the control of a foreign spirit. And we all know how history was changed and how many destinies were changed by the fact that a demon was able to inspire Chamberlain to do this and to then put it into the hands of a madman like Adolf Hitler. This more than any other thing shaped the thinking of Hitler and drove him to become the tyrant that he became. Now, I believe that there is all kinds of evidence in history, and I'll be bringing out more as the week goes on, to indicate that there are spirit beings that are behind the scenes in history. And as we look at the history of man, we can see that there has just been one thing after another. Even if a man doesn't believe in God, he's driven to explain why is there such suffering? Why is there such evil? Why does war persist when if there's anything in history that man should learn, it's the utter futility and uselessness of war? But yet, why does it continue? In the little over 6,000 years of recorded history, there has been less than 280 years where there was not some clash of arms somewhere in the world. All of this done under one system after another, and yet man still has not learned to live without war. I believe that in back of all of this is an archfiend, a super being, a spirit being to be sure, but one who is very real and an actual person, not just an influence. And I believe that as we begin to look into the supernatural, and as we look in back of the scenes, that the only way we can really understand the phenomenon that is more and more coming out into the open today is to look into the Bible. Because the Bible looks into the realm of the supernatural with the same ease that it looks at any phase of history. And it gives us the only authenticated and accurate way of discerning what is in the spirit realm. The schools of parapsychology, which reject the Bible, have no chance of really discovering what is in the realm of the spirit. I believe that as we look into the Bible, we can find where all of these things really got their start. Where was the start of evil? Where did evil really begin? Why is evil? Why is man unable to live with his fellow neighbor? Why does he continue in war? Please turn to Ezekiel chapter 28. Here, God, through his prophet Ezekiel, projects the light of his understanding into eternity past. We're actually going to reach back before the creation of man to see about a being of super power and super intelligence. Now, this is couched in a very interesting way in Ezekiel chapter 28, because the passage starts off by talking about a historical ruler, the Prince of Tyre, who was a mighty ruler of a great empire. And it talks about how this man had great intelligence. He had aspirations of being like God and so forth. He was a ruthless ruler. But then in verse 11, there's a whole new scope and dimension added to this analysis of the Prince of Tyre. So it says in verse 11, moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, take up a lamentation upon the King of Tyre. First of all, we need to look at what this word lamentation means. A lamentation is a song of sadness. A lamentation is a heart-rending song of sorrow about something. It is a lamentation is a song that you sing in grief over someone that you love. And what this is, is God pouring out his sorrow and his grief over the greatest created being that ever came from his hand. And he has to take up this song of sorrow over the King of Tyre. Now there's a difference between what is said in verse two and verse 12, obviously in verse two, the prophet Ezekiel is talking about the Prince of Tyre. In verse 12, he's talking about the King of Tyre. And the two words are very significant because the word used in verse 12 means to have superior authority and rule over the one that is called the Prince. And what Ezekiel does here is show us who is really behind the ruler of Tyre, where he got his inspiration, where he got his wisdom as a man. And it's really an angelic being that is described here. Let's read on and you'll see. Ezekiel 28, verse 12, son of man, take up a lamentation upon the King of Tyre and say unto him, thus saith the Lord God, thou sealest up the sum full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Now this phrase in the Hebrew seal is up. The sum means to be the epitome of perfection. So what God is saying of this being being described is that you are the epitome of perfection. And he says, you're full of wisdom, which means to have super intelligence and perfect in beauty. Now, when God describes something as being perfect in beauty, you can rest assured it's beautiful. He goes on, he says, thou has been in the, in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering. The Sardis, Topaz, the diamond, the burrow, the Onyx, the Jasper, the Sapphire, the Emerald, the carbuncle and goal, the workmanship of that tablets and thy pipes was prepared in the, in the day that thou was created. Thou art the anointed cherub that cover it. All right, right there. We know this is not talking about a human being because in the scripture, a cherub is the highest order of a, of a sphere of spiritual beings called angels and cherubs are the highest among those beings. And it goes on to say that not only is he in the highest order of these spirit beings, but he is the anointed cherub, which means he has a, the greatest station among them. It goes on to say, I have set these. So thou was upon the Holy mountain of God. Thou has walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. That was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created. All right, let's step back and take a look at this. This is describing the greatest created being to ever come from the hand of God. And he is described as being full of wisdom, the epitome of perfection, perfect in beauty. And in verse 13, where it says you have been in Eden, the garden of God, this is talking about the place of the personal presence of God. And this creature had apparently free access at any time into the presence of God. And it talks about every precious stone being his covering. Now this would indicate that this creature had the highest honor. These stones depict degrees of honor, and he had all of the precious stones, which would indicate the highest level of honor that God could bestow on a created being. In the latter part of verse 13, it says the workmanship of your tablets and of your pipes was prepared in you in the day that you were created. Now, in other words, it says this creature is a created being. And tablets and pipes refer to the same thing that you see up there. It's something that's used of a pipe organ. And it's describing the fact that this creature had the most beautiful voice and apparently the greatest musical ability of any creature that's ever been created. And it's describing this creature as being the first and the greatest of musicians. Apparently his voice would be like a thousand pipe organs going at one time, modulated in perfect unison and harmony. Now in verse 14, we get something that's extremely important about this person. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth. Well, this tells us something very important about this creature. When it says the anointed cherub, the word anointed is the same word that's referred to Messiah. Messiah in Hebrew means the anointed one. And to be anointed in the sense of this Hebrew word means to be appointed as the sovereign ruler over something. And when it says the anointed cherub that covereth, the word cover really means to rule. And so what it's saying here is this was the anointed ruler over all of God's creation, that this was the highest created being in wisdom, intelligence, beauty, musical ability, apparently had all kinds of talents of art. And not only that, this creature was appointed as the co-regent of God. This created being was second only to God in power and in authority and apparently ruled over all of God's universe. Given the greatest authority, authority second only to that of God. And God says, and I set thee so. In other words, God said, I'm the one that gave you this great authority. And you know, Hebrew, the original Hebrew of this passage, Hebrew is capable of expressing emotion. It's a language that's very emotional. And through here, you can almost feel the tears and the sobs of God as he grieves over this creature. Now, why does he grieve over this creature? Why does he grieve over this one that was the greatest and the most magnificent work to ever come from the hand of God, the one that had the greatest authority? Because it says in verse or it says in verse 15, thou was perfect in thy ways from the day thou was created till iniquity was found in thee. In other words, this most perfect of beings rebelled against God, the one who was closest to God and was God's fellow rebelled against him. And you know, it's been well said, no one can hurt you like someone who is closest to you. And it grieved the heart of God. And even here, he expresses the song of sorrow over this creature. This is written in beautiful poetic language. And so he tells us that this creature was perfect in all his ways. Apparently, this person is called Lucifer, and we'll see that name in just a moment in Isaiah. But this this great spirit being who had authority over all of God's creation was named Lucifer. And apparently he was perfect in all of these ways. He walked in perfect unison with God and he led all of the angelic realm. He led them in their worship of God. He led them in rulership over the vast universe of God's creation. And he was perfect in all of his ways until iniquity was found in him. Now, this tells us something extremely important here. Many people say, well, if God knows all things and if God has all power, why did he create the devil? Why did he create evil? Well, the answer to that is right here. He didn't create evil and he didn't create the devil. He created Lucifer, but he did not create the devil. And here's what I mean by that. This was a perfect creature. It was created perfect, but God took a calculated risk. God created Lucifer, along with all of the angelic beings, what is called the image of God. And God took a calculated risk because in the image of God, he gave will, intellect, and emotion. These are the factors of personality. Now he gave these creatures, and particularly Lucifer, he gave these creatures free will or choice. Now the reason God took that risk, there's always, when you give free choice, free will, volition, there's always the chance that the created being would use it against God. But God made the calculated risk because he did not want robots. He wanted creatures that could respond to him in love. He wanted creatures that could love him back. And unless there is freedom of choice, there can be no genuine love. You would just have robots who would have to do what you told them to do, and there would be absolutely no spontaneity. They can only move when commanded. Well, God wanted creatures that could fellowship with him and that could, of their own free choice, have genuine love and love him back. And so God took this risk for that reason. Not only did he give them freedom of choice, but he gave them intellect and apparently much higher intellect than the measure that he has given to man. These angelic beings have vast and high intellect, and we'll see this as we study these creatures throughout the week. He gave them intellect because he wanted them to understand his character and his perfection. He wanted them to be able to have intelligent fellowship with himself. And so he gave them the ability to discern and understand and to comprehend. He gave them emotion so there could be fervor in love, so there could be an aesthetic quality to their personality, so they could appreciate the beauty of God's creation and appreciate the beauty of God's plan. They also had moral reason, and this is part of the image of God. They had the ability to discern the evil of rebelling against God. And God apparently lavished all kinds of love and gifts upon all of these creatures, but none received such a display of love and affection and of honor and gifts as Lucifer did. And yet, in spite of all of this, it says iniquity was found in this creature. Now, I want you to turn to Isaiah chapter 14 where we will see what iniquity was found. By the way, hold your place here in Ezekiel because I want to turn back in a moment. Page 765, Ezekiel 28. Hold your place there and turn to Isaiah chapter 14. That's page 634. Page 634, Isaiah chapter 14, verse 12. Now, once again, this is in a context that is talking about a real ruler of history. This was talking about the King of Babylon. It was predicting the licentious and unbelieving King of Babylon who would be in charge of Babylon when it fell. In other words, Belshazzar as Daniel chapter 5 reveals him. But this prophet, once again, looks behind the dynamic of this world ruler. He looks behind the scenes to the spirit being who is inspiring and motivating this licentious world ruler. And he says in verse 12, and here is another lamentation. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations? In other words, God raises another song of sorrow. He says, O Lucifer, son of the morning, how have you fallen? The Hebrew word, Lucifer, by the way, is a word for radiant light. It means radiant brilliance. In other words, even the name of this highest of angelic beings means something of beauty and honor. He says he is called the son of the morning. He says, how are you fallen? And then in verse 13, God reaches back into eternity past and he gives us an insight into how evil started in the universe. You want to know where all of the suffering and all of the murder and the evil that is in the heart of man started? Here it is. Here is the origin of sin in the universe. Verse 13, for thou has said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. Five I wills. This is when iniquity entered the heart of Satan, our Lucifer, and he became known as Satan, the devil, the evil one, Apollyon, the destroyer. Up until this time, he was perfect in all of his ways, but he became lifted up in his heart with his importance and his authority. And it says that behind the first sin was the desire of this highest of created beings to exalt his throne above the stars of God. That's very significant. In other words, this being wasn't satisfied with being co-regent with God, with being second in command, but as he became impressed with his importance and inflamed with his beauty and intelligence, it says he wanted to have it all. He wanted to have his throne above the throne of God. And then the last faithful I will, I will be like the most high. And this has ever been the ambition of this spirit being this highest of all created beings. This is how evil entered the universe. This is how the devil was born. This is where Lucifer became the devil, the arch enemy of God. From that time on, he's been in a relentless war against God, seeking to make his throne above the throne of God and seeking to be like the most high, to be worshipped. Now back to Ezekiel 28 for a moment. Verse 17, what was the motivation behind Satan's actual sin in his heart? Now notice the first sin in the universe, by the way, happened inside the mind and the heart. It was a mental sin because you see, there's where sin starts in human beings as well. In verse 17, here is the dynamic behind the first scene. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty. Thou has corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness, literally by reason of thy brilliance. It's a word for super intelligence. In other words, Satan began to cease to be thankful that God had created him with that beauty and created him with that intelligence. And he began to use this very gift of God as something to say to himself, I am worthy to be better than God. In first Timothy chapter three, verse six, there's a very interesting statement. It says, as it talks about appointing men elders in the church, it says, do not appoint a novice or a young believer to a position of leadership lest he be lifted up with pride and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Now that tells us what was really behind all of this. It was pride that came out of his great beauty and his great brilliance and intellect. Well, that's how evil entered the universe. Now, after this occurred, apparently God, who is love and he is justice throughout his character, apparently God gave this creature opportunity to repent, to change his mind. And I believe that this is why God allowed Lucifer who became Satan, which means the, the resistor or the adversary. It means he's the adversary of God and of all those who follow God. I believe this is why God let him run loose. And yet, instead of taking the opportunity to change his mind about his sin against God and throw himself upon God's mercy, what this creature did was begin to run rampant through the whole angelic realm. And he began to lead the highest of the angels after him in a great rebellion against God. You see these angelic beings were used to following the leadership of Lucifer because he had been the highest arc ruler. And so he began to lead them off into a rebellion against God. Now, what would he have said that would have caused these super intelligent beings to follow him? Well, I believe that he used the same temptation that had swept him off. And that was, you will be like God if you follow me, you'll be like God and you'll have the intoxicating feeling of independence. And so in revelation chapter 12, we're told that a third of the angelic realm called the stars of God, this is another title for angel, a third of them followed Satan in his revolt against God. Two thirds of these angelic beings remained loyal to God. Now, apparently, Satan was trying to gather enough angelic beings to follow him to where it would be impossible for God to bring judgment upon him. But two thirds of the angelic realm remain loyal. And we just have to project what we know of scripture into this unknown area and simply deduce what must have happened after the, after Satan led this third of the angelic realm in rebellion. We know from the scripture that God has already judged Satan and his followers. Now we know this from Matthew chapter 25, verse 41, where it says, hell was created for the devil and his angels. We also know this from other passages in the gospels. Jesus spoke directly to a spirit being that he called a demon that was inside of a man. And this demon said to Jesus, we know who you are. You're the Holy one of God. And then it said, have you come to torment us before the time? Now this indicated that this demon knew that there was a time set when it was going to be judged and put away. Now also it's obvious that Satan knows that his, his doom has been sealed by what is said in revelation chapter 12. It says that he knows his time is short when it grows near the second coming of Christ. Now we know then that Satan was judged. And as we look into the scripture, we find that apparently what happened was that God rounded up all of the angels that had followed Satan and he brought Satan into judgment with them. And sentence was passed upon these rebels. And apparently when God told Satan and his followers that they were banished from the presence of God forever, and they were going to a place of torment forever and ever, apparently Satan said to God, you're not just, and you have no love. And because at that moment, God wanted to bring about a plan that would have much greater implication. God chose to set forth another plan that would demonstrate not only to Satan and his angelic beings, but to all of the angels called the angels of God and the elect angels, that he was both just and that his love was incomprehensible. It was so great. And so this was the point when God elected to start a whole new program, God elected to create a whole new realm of beings. And he started what we might call operation man, because God elected to create man in his own image, just as he had created angels. There would be a difference in this in that man would have will intellect and emotion, just as the angelic beings have. They would not have as much intelligence as the angels, but they would have the same capacity for understanding and for making choices. The difference would be in the area of their corporal being. Man would be mortal, that is subject to physical death, whereas angels are not subject to physical death. He would have the limitation of having a physical body. Now, angels apparently have a form of being, but it is not the kind that limits them to the planet earth or limits them to the things of physical existence. And so man was created with this limitation and he was created with the image of God in himself. Now the test was set up. God created man in his own image. We read about this in Genesis. I'd like for you to turn to Genesis chapter one for a moment. Page one. Genesis chapter one. And we read of how God created man. We know at this time that probably there were many galaxies in the universe that existed before Genesis chapter one. We know this from Job chapter 38 verses one through seven, where it talks about a sequence of creation. And it talks about the fact that God created the material universe and the angelic beings called the sons of God shouted for joy when this occurred. So we know that there were, there was a created universe before the creation of man. And it happened at some time after the angels were created, but apparently God created the galaxy in which the earth dwells. And he set apart one of the planets in this galaxy to be the stage of testing. And in a sense, this would become like a giant, well, like a giant Super Bowl where man was going to be tested under certain conditions. And God was going to demonstrate certain things about himself to both the good angels and the fallen angels. And so we read of the acts of creation. God chose to create the world in six days. And on the sixth day, we read about the crown of his creative, creative activity. And this galaxy, he says in verse 26, and God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image in the image of God created. He, him male and female created, he, them and God blessed them. And God said unto them, be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. All right. Now God created man in his own image. And the important part of this statement here is that in man, immaterial being, he had the very image of God. He still has it. He has the factors of the image of God, which is will, intellect, emotion, moral reasoning power, and everlasting existence. Once man comes into existence, his immaterial part will always exist. It will always live. And so in that sense, man is in the image of God. Now, one of the tremendously important statement here is how God tells us that he gave man authority over himself and also over all of the earth, over every created thing. And God gave him the legal right over himself and over all the created things, over the earth itself. Now that's very, very important to keep pegged up here. All right. After God had given man the power of attorney legally over himself, because he had freedom of choice, and God had committed to him the legal right of ownership of the earth, the legal right of having dominion over every living thing on earth, he was put into a garden where God gave him every conceivable need that he could ever experience. When God created man, he saw that he was going to need companionship, and so God created the most beautiful creature that he could create in the form of a woman. God saw that man would have that need, and so he created. And Eve must have been the prototype of the most beautiful of female existence. And he brought her to Adam and gave her to him. And he gave this pair a garden that was a paradise. There was nothing that God held back from them that would be necessary for their pleasure and enjoyment, for their well-being, for their satisfaction and feeling of completeness and so forth. Everything was provided. And God himself came to have personal fellowship with these two every day. And so they had the highest conceivable fellowship with God. Now, into this situation, God allowed Satan to test man. Because God ordered that there would be one test, and that is that in the midst of this paradise there was one tree that God told man and woman they were not to partake of, they were not to eat of it. And this would be the test as to whether man and woman would want to continue in fellowship with God or not. Now, the test here was to set the stage for God to demonstrate his justice and his love to the angelic realm. And yet Satan misunderstood what was the nature of the test. Satan thought that if he could get man to fall and follow him, that this would be to win the whole battle with God, and God would no longer be able to judge him because this great undertaking that God had set forth in man would be proven to be phony, and that man would prove to be a rebel just like Satan was, and therefore Satan would win the battle and God would be proven to be unwise in what he had done, and he would show that any created being under certain temptation would rebel against God. And so Satan thought that was the test. And actually, in Genesis chapter 3, when Satan comes to test man, Satan was actually unwittingly playing right into God's hands and setting up the thing God had planned all along. We begin to see the tremendous wisdom of God in all that takes place here. Because you see, it was only after man rebelled against God and fell that God could really demonstrate the unimpeachableness of his justice and the unfathomable love that he has. Because it would be only then that God could bring his real plan into action and show how that an absolutely unworthy creature, such as a man that had rebelled against God in spite of all that God had given him, was still going to be the object of God's love and God himself would come down and bear the consequences of that sinful act. God himself would bear the full brunt of his own justice upon himself. Well, let's look at it for a moment. Genesis chapter 3 is probably one of the most important chapters in the Bible, and you must understand this to even have a clue to history. You must understand this chapter to have a clue of what is really behind the conflict that's going on in the world today. So let's take a look at it. We probably won't be able to finish it tonight, but we will at least get into it. It says in verse 1 of Genesis 3, Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. All right, there are many things behind what is written here. First of all, it's obvious that Satan began to study man and woman very carefully. He began to study them to see how he could make them fall and rebel against God, thinking that he would win the battle against God. And as he analyzed the situation, he saw that the weakest of the two was the woman. She was more emotional. The second thing that Satan apparently saw was that Adam loved Eve so much that if he could get Eve to fall, Adam would probably choose Eve and follow after her rather than follow God. Now those things seem to be at the base of what happens here in Genesis chapter 3. Also, it's obvious that Satan waited for the perfect moment to spring his temptation. It's obvious that he is a super intelligent being because he knew that if he fired his temptation on these creatures, on man, and it didn't work, it would be twice as hard to fool them the second time. And so he waits until just the right moment. And another thing that Satan shows his great intelligence on is the fact that he didn't come directly to tempt Eve, but rather he used what was apparently her pet. The serpent at this time, according to Genesis 3, was not in the form that it is today. The serpent apparently could stand on its two legs because it's only after the curse that it was made to crawl on its belly. And it's indicated here by the name serpent, which in Hebrew is related to the word Lucifer. It means the radiant, beautiful one. It's a word which means something of great beauty. And apparently this was the highest of the animal kingdom because it says the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field. Now, the word subtle simply means intelligent. It was more intelligent than any beast of the field. So apparently this had become a very endeared pet to the woman. And apparently it could talk. At least it could talk in a vein that a minor bird or a parrot could, only probably much better. And so Satan waits until Eve departs from her husband and goes with her pet to take a look at that strange tree in the midst of the garden, which God said they couldn't eat. That tree that God said that if you eat of it, you'll die. And so Satan waits until she goes alone because he knew that if Adam was there, they might strengthen each other. But he waits until he gets the woman alone with her pet. Shows great intelligence. And so the woman is there staring at the tree. And I'm sure by what is said here, that one of the most powerful drives of human nature was set into operation. She began to be curious. Women have often gotten in trouble by curiosity as well as men. But I'm sure she was standing there wondering, I wonder why God won't let us eat of this tree. What's so, what's so bad about this tree? I'm sure she was trying to figure out what was behind all of this that God said. And it was in that, just that opportune moment that Satan came in and took possession of her pet. And she unwittingly couldn't see what was probably a new and sinister glint in the eye of her pet. And it wasn't surprising to her that this creature could speak. So apparently it could speak. But now it starts speaking in ordered thought. And she should have been wary of that. And little did she know that all of the angelic realm were breathlessly watching as this test began to unfold and take place. Now look at how Satan using an indirect method, which would catch her off guard, comes in with just the right degree of question. You know, a question is one of the most powerful ways to inflict doubt. And so Satan doesn't come in immediately with a frontal attack. He comes in with a question and he says, Yea, hath God really said, ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden? Now I'm seeking to bring out the inflection that's in the original. It literally says, yea, hath God really said? Because he intends here to inflict doubt by the very question. And so Satan using this creature says, yea, hath God really said, ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden? How clever. How adroit. Because you see, by saying, has he really said, he's beginning to capture her curiosity that's already there. And begin to put a sinister motive behind what God had said. And furthermore, look how clever it is. He says, of every tree. Now, he is beginning to focus on the one prohibition. He is beginning to focus all of her attention, not on the fact that she could eat of every other tree, but the fact that there's one that she couldn't eat of. And Satan has ever used that tactic. How he likes to use questions that bring about doubt, and how he likes to focus our attention on the one thing that we can't have. And Satan likes to take the children of God, those who really belong to Christ, and focus on the fact that God hasn't let you have this one thing, and make you forget all of the wonderful blessings that God has given you, and begin to make you think, oh, isn't it awful that I can't have everything that I want? Well, he focuses the woman's attention on that. And the woman said to 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 has said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. Now, the woman shows that she doesn't quite understand the command of what she says in verse 3, because she adds to what God had said. God had said, ye shall not eat of the tree, lest ye die. He did not say, neither shall ye touch it. He didn't say anything about touching the tree at all. He just said, ye shall not eat of it. So she shows that she doesn't quite understand the command. She shows that she thinks there's something materially evil about the tree. You see, the evil was not in eating of the fruit. The fruit in its material form was not evil. It was the choice of rejecting God's word that was evil. She didn't quite understand that. Now, by this time, Satan sees that he has got her at the right place, and so the serpent said to the woman, ye shall not surely die. He comes in with a bold, outright denial of the word of God. And this is something that Satan will follow all the time. Here is some of the stratagem of Satan, and we can see it here at the very beginning. And you will see it in your life, and we're going to go through a lot of this in the next couple of nights, because I want you to know the strategy of Satan and the plan he's got for your life. But first, Satan waited until the woman had the wrong thing on her mind, until she was thinking about something that she shouldn't have. And so he comes in with a powerful suggestion and a powerful question, which caused her to begin to doubt. And after he had gotten her disturbed and confused and doubting, then he came in with a bold attack on the word of God itself and denied it. Now, after he did that, then he attacked the very character of God, and you can see that Satan follows the same pattern over and over again. Look at how he attacks the character of God. He said, ye shall not surely die. Then he gives the reason why they wouldn't die by attacking the character of God. In verse 5, it says, For God does know that in the day that you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil. It's not God's plural. It's the word Elohim, which is the same word for God everywhere else in the Old Testament. What Satan was saying here is, look, you're not going to die. The reason God has told you not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is because he knows that your eyes will be opened, and you shall be as God, knowing good and evil. In other words, God's holding out on you. The reason God doesn't want you to eat of this tree is because it's going to give you knowledge of good and evil, and that will make you like God himself. And God's jealous. He doesn't want you to be like him. You can see the philosophy that brought about the fall of Satan himself and his tempting of man. Well, you see, there's truth mixed with error here, and that's where Satan is hardest to find. He's an angel of light. It is true that their eyes would be opened if they ate of this fruit, and that they would know good and evil, experientially. Now, they knew theoretically about good and evil, but the word used here, knowing good and evil, means to come to know it experientially. And that, God never wanted man to know experientially. So it's true that their eyes would be opened. They would experientially come to know good and evil, but it is not true that they would be like God. And so Satan flicks in the barb, he puts in the bait to make her think that God is not really trustworthy, that he really wasn't looking after her best interest, and that he was holding out to keep her from being like God himself. What a tremendous fiendish intelligence this creature with whom we deal has. Now, you know, Satan uses this same thing today. How many religions today are based on a lot of truth, but just enough fatal error to lead people straight to hell? Think of the tremendous influx of false religions today that have a lot of truth, but just enough error to lead people straight to hell. I think of religions like Jehovah Witnesses. There's quite a bit of truth, but just enough error about the person and work of Jesus Christ to send people to hell. The Mormon Church, which has mixed some truth with a lot of error, and they even got their Bible from the angel of light, and even Joseph Smith admits that, sure, I believe he really did have a vision. I believe that he really did see an angel of light appear to him. But it was Satan. That shouldn't be surprising to anyone today with the invasion of spirit beings that we're seeing come about today. But injected in that was the venom of error. And so we see that Satan hasn't changed. He's still the father of lies. The woman was far enough along now to where the passions of her own flesh could take over. Says, when she saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eye, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat. Now, you know, that's not nearly as staggering to me that she ate as the next statement. It says, and gave also unto her husband, and with her, and he did eat. And you know, the scripture says that Eve was deceived, and even though she's in the transgression, even though she is guilty of sin, God did not hold Eve legally responsible for sin, because she was deceived. But in 1 Timothy chapter 2, it says man was not deceived. He knew exactly what he was doing. Why did he then, with his eyes wide open, probably already seeing what sin had done to his wife, why did he eat? The only thing that I can see, with such abruptness of following after here, is that this beautiful woman that God had given man had become so dear to him that he would rather follow her in the disobedience than the loser. Apparently, he did what so many of us do today. We take the gifts of God, and the gifts become more important than the giver to us. And so he rebelled, and he did eat too. Well, when this happened, man brought about a tremendous dilemma for God, which we will take up tomorrow night. But I would like to just summarize what happened at that point. The instant that man sinned by disobeying God, he died instantly. Spiritually, that basic part of his being, the most important part of his being, died. That sphere of existence, that higher order of life, which was at the very center of man's being, called spiritual life, died. That's what God meant when he said, in the day that you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will die. He died instantly in his spirit. And he lost that dimension of life by which alone he could know and understand and fellowship with God, because the spirit had its own sense, its own means of perceiving God. And man instantly lost this. In its place, he received the nature of the one that he had followed. He received a nature of self-centeredness and rebellion against God. And all of us, since that time, have been born without a spiritual life and with a nature that's in rebellion against God. Now, this is why you see the tremendous evil in the world throughout the history of man. Because we are spiritually dead, cut off from communication with God, cut off from the ability of fellowshipping with God, separated from God because of sin, and we have a nature that is self-centered. And rebellious. And that nature is capable of all kinds of evil. That's why it says in Jeremiah 17.9, the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can understand it? That's why the scripture says there's not a just man upon earth who does good and sins not. Now, the third thing that happened immediately was that man gave the legal right of himself over to Satan. And Satan became his master. Acts 26 verse 18 tells us that Satan is the master, the slave master of all of those who haven't believed in Jesus Christ. You see, Adam had power of attorney over himself. And when he followed Satan in his lie against God, then he put himself in the complete authority of Satan. And he cut himself off from help from God because sin now made it impossible to have fellowship with man. The fourth thing that happened immediately was that the world and all of the living creatures in it were handed over to Satan, and Satan became the legal owner of the world. This is brought out in many passages. One of the most clear passages on it is in Luke chapter 4, verses 4 and 5, when Satan offered to Jesus ownership of the whole world. He bragged that he had all of this. He said, it's been turned over to me, and I'm able to give all of the world to whomever I please. Well, Jesus never disputed the fact that Satan owned it. And so we see then that the legal ownership of the world was turned over. And beside that, Satan is called the God of this world in 2 Corinthians 4.4. He is called the ruler of this world in John 14, verse 30. And he is called the prince of the power of the atmosphere in Ephesians 2, verse 2. So these are all things that man turned over to Satan. When this happened, man became the Benedict Arnold of the universe because he betrayed God. God had entrusted man with the legal right over himself and over the world and over all of the descendants that he had because he turned over all of his descendants that would be born to him. To Satan. And that includes us. And God had to honor that legal transaction. It's just like if a man would today, let's say that here's a man that owns great property, and he turns over this property to his son, and he goes on a long trip abroad. And he turns over the legal jurisdiction and the legal rights to all of his property to the son. And he gives him the power of attorney while he's gone. And while he's gone, let's say that this son begins to commit adultery with a woman. And she, through this adulterous relationship, brings him to sign over legally all of his father's property. Well, when the father gets back, what's the case? All of his property is gone. He can't take the property back because the son had legal authority to sign it over. And so the father comes back and finds he's been betrayed by his son, and a prostitute owns all of his property, and it's legally binding because the son had the legal authority to do it. Well, in a much greater sense, that's what man has done. He has turned over the whole world and himself and all men in it to Satan. And this set up the stage for the greatest act of God that God would ever bring into action. Because God then was in a position to demonstrate that he is absolutely just and that he has love beyond all understanding. Tomorrow we're going to see how that what God did at the cross taught the whole angelic realm the fantastic lessons about himself. Because you see, God was so just that he wouldn't compromise his justice in order to just forgive man and let bygones be bygones. God is so just that he has to judge the sin of man. And yet God is so much love that he was willing to come into this world and become a man just like you and I. But he was born of the seed of the woman, and he wasn't legally culpable for the sin of Adam because he had no human father, and the legal culpability for sin was passed on through Adam and through man. And so God took a form of a man, became a true man and was born as a free man, not under the dominion of Satan because he had no sin. He was born without a human father, that's the importance of the virgin birth. And so therefore here was another man for the first time since the creation of Adam who was free of Satan's dominion. Satan had no legal authority over Jesus. And then he showed the greatness of his justice and his love by living a perfect life. Never did he yield to Satan, although Satan tried relentlessly to get this man to follow him as he had all other men. And yet here was one that Satan couldn't make fall. And Satan was beside himself because he was trying so desperately to make this man fall because he realized if he couldn't make him fall that this man could qualify to bear the sins for all of the human race. Because he had no sin of his own, this man would be able to bear the wrath of God against the sin of the rest of men and pay for it and bring about forgiveness. And that's why it says in John, chapter 15, Jesus says, I will not speak much more to you because the ruler of this world is coming and he has nothing in me. In other words, he said he has nothing that he can lay hold in me. He has nothing on me, but he's going to try. And that's when Jesus went out and swept blood in the garden. Why? Because he was under such tremendous and relentless pressure from Satan trying to break him as a man, trying to make him fall so that he could follow him. So that he would never get to the cross and take the wrath for the sins of mankind. And yet Jesus said before he went, he said, now is the ruler of this world going to be cast out. Now is he going to be judged. Why? Because at the cross, Jesus, as a sinless and perfect man, took upon himself the full unbridled fury of a holy God against the sin of every man who had ever lived. Now in that he showed the greatness of his justice and the greatness of his love. You see, God showed his justice there because he did not let sin go unpunished. God showed that he was absolutely just and he bore the wrath himself in the person of Jesus Christ. All of the just punishment that was due to the rebellion against God, he took upon himself. Now can you find any greater love than that either? There is where justice and love met together and flowed together as the blood of Christ streamed down that cross that he shed for us. And when he did that, he wrested from Satan's control the legal authority and the legal right to have control of the world and to have control of any more men. And it was there that Jesus broke the power of Satan. He demonstrated to all of the angelic beings the greatness of his justice and his love. Now, do you know what happens, and we'll see this tomorrow, there are all kinds of scripture which say that angels, both good and bad, watch every move that human beings make. You're on candid camera, let me tell you. A secret sin on earth is an open scandal in heaven, because angels watch every move we make. And that's why it says in Luke 15, verses 7 and 10, that there is rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner that comes to repentance. Why? Because every time anyone believes in what Jesus did for him at the cross, he is adding to God's case that he was absolutely just in sentencing Satan to eternal banishment. And he is showing that here is a vastly inferior creature to angels, man, who yet will respond to the love of God. Something that Satan should have done because he was given an opportunity to repent and he didn't. And so God is demonstrating to the angelic realm that he is perfectly just and he is perfectly loved. Now, there is another reason why God is doing all of this, because he wants the possibility of any further sin and eternity future put away forever. The angelic realm that followed God is seeing, through the demonstration of sin, the utter folly of walking independent of God. The utter folly of sin. The history of the world will be proof positive of how foolish it is to walk independently of God. And there is one final reason that God is permitting all of this. Satan led the rulers of the universe among the angelic realm in rebellion against God. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 3 says that of everyone who believes in Jesus Christ, they are going to be kings and priests with Christ forever. And it says, know you not that you shall rule over angels. In other words, what God is doing, he is not just using the human race as pawns to show something. He also had the purpose from the beginning to take those who would believe in him and to put them in the place that Satan and the angels that followed him had once kept, and that is to be co-regents with him forever. And now we are lower than angels, Hebrews chapter 2 says, but there is a day coming when we will be even higher than the angelic realm and be co-regents with God, ruling this vast universe. And I'll tell you, it's going to be a lot more exciting than just sitting around playing a harp on a cloud somewhere. I'm very sorry that I've gone so long tonight. I got into this and I just didn't know where I could break it. But in closing tonight, I would just like to say this, that what the great conflict that's gone on down through the history of man is a great conflict that began in eternity past, and Satan brought it into the realm of man. And it is a conflict which continues today and the temple of the conflict is greatly accelerating in this generation. And you and I are going to see open warfare with Satan. And I want you to know what's behind all of it. I want you to know that Christ has defeated Satan, that we don't have to be afraid of him, and that every time we choose to depend upon Christ in our daily life as a Christian, we're bringing glory to God. We're showing here's a creature with freedom of choice who will choose to depend upon Christ. And that further strengthens the case against Satan. That's why he constantly tries to get Christians to sin. And every time someone believes in Jesus Christ, they're adding to the case, and that's why the God of this world blinds the minds of those who believe not, lest they see the glorious truth of the gospel. He doesn't want anyone to see what Christ has done. He doesn't want us to respond to this, and he's jealous. He doesn't want anyone to be put into the place that he wants held. And he knows that everyone who believes in Jesus Christ is going to be a ruler where he once was. You think all of this is far-fetched? The Bible says it's true, and I believe it. Right now there's a lot going on in this auditorium. Some of you have not believed in Jesus Christ. Some of you are probably bewildered by all of these things. All I can say is that God has revealed in his word a realm of existence that we can't know by human intelligence. And I believe that he speaks the truth in everything he tells us. And I believe that if you're having trouble right now accepting Jesus Christ, it's because the God of this world is trying to blind your mind, lest you believe in the wonderful good news of Jesus Christ. But you can fox him. Right where you sit in the quiet of your heart, you can believe in Jesus Christ. Right where you are, you can accept the gift of forgiveness which Christ gave his life to make a free gift to you. And as we close in prayer, you can make that decision. For all of us who are Christians, let me say that Ephesians 3.10 says that the principalities and powers, referring to the leading, ruling angels, that they're learning the manifold wisdom of God through the way God is dealing with us, the Christians. And every time you choose to depend upon Christ in any daily situation, that you are doing something for God, you're teaching angels the manifold wisdom of God, and God is going to give you great rewards for it. So I believe it's a time when we need to realize that there are no insignificant decisions that we make, and that living by faith is a very important and precious thing to God. Let's bow and close in prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have revealed things in the eternity past that we could not have known. We thank you for showing us where the conflict began. But most of all, we thank you for Jesus. We thank you for that greatest of all demonstrations of your unimpeachable justice and of the unfathomable love that you have for all beings, and especially for us who have rebelled against you. Father, I pray that if there's one here who has never received Jesus Christ, that he might right now pray a prayer with me like this. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for dying for my sins. Thank you for forgiveness. Come into my life. Make my life what you want it to be. May that one that prayed that prayer know that according to the word of God, right now he has forgiveness, and he's entered into the family of God. He has been wrested out of the authority of Satan. As he depends upon Christ, he continues to be delivered from that authority. For us who know you, Father, we pray that we might live a life of utter abandonment to you. And as Satan begins to up his activity, may we hold forth as lights in the midst of a perverse generation. May we bring many to know Jesus Christ. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Reproduction of this tape for the sole purpose of building up the body of Christ is encouraged. For additional copies of this tape or information on other tapes that would minister to you and your friends, write to Firefighters for Christ at the address on the back side of this tape.