Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: But how beautiful and glorious it is when a husband is in submission to the Holy Spirit and he's a true head of his home and he prays with his wife, he prays with his children, he's a man of the word, he's a man of prayer, he's a man full of the Holy Spirit. That really makes a difference in the home, and that makes a difference in the marriage.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Well, as we move through our marriage series, Raul will challenge you and your spouse to face trials and temptations with a strong, united front.

Your relationship will inevitably be tested by hardship, but when you communicate, pray together, and spend regular time in God’s Word, you’ll find the fortitude you need to overcome. Today’s lesson is titled, "Marriage Must Be Tested." Join us in Genesis chapter 3, verse 1.

Raul Ries: I really believe that every marriage goes through a time of testing because God allows it so that we, each individual, can become better persons and at the same time be useful to other people that things that we have faced and we can minister to them and help them to share with them. I believe that God uses every situation, every circumstance, everything that we go through.

And yet at the same time when the devil comes along and begins to come into the marriage, at the same time we know from scripture that the devil is actually working for God and God will use the devil, the old serpent, to really mold down your marriage and to smooth it out and to really test you to see what that marriage is really made of as we see in the scripture. But it's always by permission, always by permission to mold, to shape the lives of the husband and the wife as they have children.

God knows what He's doing. I really believe that every marriage has to go through the fire and be tested. Remember in the book of Daniel, Daniel's friends were thrown into the fire by King Nebuchadnezzar. And when King Nebuchadnezzar saw them inside of the fire, he said, "Did we throw three men into the fire? Why do I see four, and one like the Son of God?" Imagine that. That tells you what? That in the fire was Jesus with the three Hebrew children of Israel.

Even as Jesus is with you and with me in every one of our trials when we are going through the fire. Now here in chapter three of the book of Genesis, now the word of Satan, the deceiver, is going to be seen. This is the first time in the Bible where Satan comes into the picture. The first time, here in the Garden of Eden.

Behind the serpent, the shining one. And what's really amazing, we'll see in a moment that there are three areas—if you want to mark this down, there are three areas where Satan attacks always. Number one, he always attacks the Word of God. "Did God really say?" to bring doubt. Secondly, he attacks always the deity of Jesus Christ. And thirdly, he always attacks the work of the Holy Spirit.

Now who is the devil? The world gives us a different view and a different picture of the devil. The world lies. Why? Because this world belongs to Satan. He governs, he rules over it. And I think it's really wise for us to understand that Satan, number one, is a serpent that deceives. A serpent that deceives.

In 2 Corinthians 11:1-3, this is what Paul said. He says, "Oh, that you would bear with me in my little folly, and indeed you do bear with me, for I am jealous for you with godly jealousy, for I am betrothed to you as to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Jesus Christ."

The man wasn't deceived; the woman was deceived. But my question is, where was her husband? And I say to you this morning, where are you as a husband in your relationship with your marriage? Very important. We're going to see a lot in this chapter. Real important to understand and to identify the enemy, who he is. He always, always is scoping out and going after the weaker vessel, especially when her husband is not the head of the home and he's nowhere to be found to defend his family. Very important point here.

Secondly, he is called a serpent because he lies and he's a murderer. He's a liar and he's a murderer. In John 8:44, Jesus said, "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks, he's always lying, and he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it." Notice that, and the father of it.

Thirdly, he is a serpent that disguises himself. He takes upon himself another form. In 2 Corinthians 11:14, he says, "And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light or into a serpent." He takes the form of light, but he's in darkness. He's a deceiver.

And yet we have it all here in the book of Genesis, which is amazing to me, the story of the fall of Adam and Eve. To me, that's amazing how the Holy Spirit places it all down here before us. Look now at Genesis chapter 3. We'll deal with verses one through six this morning. Notice here what it says.

Because here Adam and Eve have been in a perfect environment up to this point, and now the serpent enters the scene. This is the first time. And by the way, in the Garden of Eden, the serpent didn't crawl on its belly. The serpent stood upright, upright. And it was one of the most beautiful creatures God had created, the serpent. Interesting.

It's amazing the word here in chapter three, verse one, where we come in verses one through six, the voice of deception in the Garden of Eden. That says, "Now the serpent..." The word serpent here is the word "the shining one" in the Hebrew. The shining one. Who's that? Satan.

Because we have reference to 2 Corinthians 11:3, which makes it clear that Satan's target was Eve, the woman. And it was Eve's mind that he was after to deceive. And what was his weapon? His weapon was deception to be used against her. Imagine that, in a perfect state there in the Garden of Eden. Think of your own home today with your husband and your wife being in that home.

And when finally Satan enters that home and begins to bring confusion, begins to bring chaos in the home of that marriage. Because up to this point their marriage was complete, it was perfect. But now they were going to be tested. God would allow testing to come.

And what's interesting here is that the introduction to the serpent here is the first time in the book of Genesis, first time in the Bible. And then as we have the whole Bible written out for us, we can go around the Word of God and we can see that again in Isaiah chapter 14, in verses 12 through 17, he gives you the beginnings of Satan when he was in heaven before he was thrown out. Listen to what he says about Satan in Isaiah chapter 14, beginning with verse 12.

He says, "How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How are you cut down to the ground, you have weakened the nations! You have said in your heart: 'I will ascend unto heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God'"—that's the angels—"'I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farther sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'" Notice, "yet you shall be brought down to hell, to the lowest depths of the pit. Those who see you will gaze at you and consider you, saying, 'Is this the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms, and who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed the cities, who did not open the house of the prisoners?'"

One day when we see Satan, we're going to go, "That's him? I cannot believe it." Satan doesn't have two horns, a pitchfork, and a long tail, and he's not red. Wrong description. Satan is a beautiful angel like Michael, Gabriel. He was one of the archangels at one time before he took with him one-third of the angels of heaven and they were cast out of heaven.

And then Ezekiel actually gives us another picture of Satan in chapter 28 of Ezekiel. Let's look at it. Ezekiel 28, and we can begin reading about verse 11. Look what he says. He says, "Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man"—speaking of Ezekiel—"take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, 'Thus saith the Lord God...'" And here the king of Tyre is Satan symbolically here. Look what he says.

"You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden"—here it is, chapter three—"you were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, the beryl, onyx, and jasper, the sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you in the day you were created." Wow, did you hear what he said?

Full of instruments, he's the one that literally was doing worship. "You were anointed, you were the anointed cherub who covers; and I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created until..." what? "...sin was found in you." What was his sin? The sin of pride, that he wanted to take over the throne of God, kick God out, and then he himself sit in the throne of God. It didn't work.

Guest (Male): You’re listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Visit somebodylovesyou.com for marriage-focused resources that will help you ground your home in God’s Word. If you have prayer requests that you would like to share with Raul, his email address is pastorraul@somebodylovesyou.com. Let’s continue with the final part of our study today: Marriage Must Be Tested.

Raul Ries: He says, "By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings and the mighty gazed at you."

"You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading; therefore I brought fire from your midst and it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you among the people were astonished at you; you have become a horror and shall be no more forever."

Interesting. Satan's going to be done away with one day. Right now he's running out of time, and as a matter of fact, he's working for God. He can never come back to heaven, but he is a destroyer of the world. And here God says, "This is who Satan really is." So now we get a better picture in the book of Genesis chapter 3. And now the serpent, the dragon, the shining one was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.

And check this out. And he said to the woman. The first thing we see in chapter three concerning married couples is this, that as a married couple, Satan is always going to challenge the woman concerning the Word of God. He's going to challenge the Word of God. "Has God indeed said?" Did your husband really teach you that? It's a lie from the pit of hell. Notice this. Watch what he says.

And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" Now, Eve, your husband went fishing. He's not here. We don't even know where he's at. But are you sure that you're getting the right information about God? Imagine that. When did Satan come to the woman? When she was alone, alone. Her husband was not to be found.

When does a woman commit adultery? When her husband neglects her, doesn't love her, doesn't pay attention to her. At her weakest point, she looks for companionship. She looks for someone to talk with her, communicate with her. So this is an old story, but it's an ongoing story today as we see it here. That the husband's not to be found, he's somewhere we don't know where he's at.

But here's the woman all alone, and when Satan sees the woman all alone, knowing she's the weaker vessel, what does he do? He comes to tempt her and to put doubt first of all in her mind. "Did God really say not to eat of every tree of the garden?" Imagine that, playing with her mind.

And here is the victim's answer to his enemy. And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden." That's correct. "But of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat of it.'" True. But here is her fall and here is her lie. "Nor shall you touch it, lest you die." God never said that. What did she do? She added to the Word of God. She didn't stay with the context.

That's a serious offense when you add to the Word of God. In Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32, Proverbs 30:6, and Revelation 22:18-19, we have a warning. Whoever adds to the Word of God will be added the plagues of this life. Whoever takes away will be taken away his name from the Book of Life. There's a big restriction here that God has given. And what does she do? She didn't even have to do that, but she did. She added to the Word of God.

So what happens when Satan sees the woman's action in adding to the Word of God? He sees a big door open. She becomes his prey because her husband's not there to defend her and to stand for her. What happens? Verse 4, notice the second thing that Satan brings about. "And then the serpent said to the woman, 'You shall not surely die.'" What is he doing? He contradicts the Word of God. He contradicts the Word of God. You're not going to die. Oh man, you're going to have life. You will not die, Eve.

It's amazing how the enemy seizes the opportunity upon the weaker vessel. Upon the weaker vessel. Why? Because her husband is supposed to be the priest of his home. The husband is the one supposed to be doing the devotions, reading the Word of God to his wife, to his children, taking care of business spiritually in the home.

But when the husband is not the head of the home, there's a lot of problems because then the wife has to take the headship of the home. And God never intended that to happen. It's really important that we understand that God has set the rules. And the man is to be the head of his home spiritually speaking in every way, not lording over his family or his wife or his children, but as Christ loved the church, the husband's supposed to love his wife as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it.

But when Satan sees the open opportunity, what does he do? He begins to contradict the Word of God. "You shall not surely die. You won't die." Verse 5, third problem. "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." What does he do thirdly? He defames God's character.

"For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God." That's not true. That's what the Mormons say. When you die, if you become a good Mormon, you'll be like gods. You'll have your own planet. How sad. But this is the lie of Satan in every cult.

And yet here the woman is being deceived, deceived by Satan. And then what happens? Notice the fourth thing. The woman listens and disobeys God's Word. Look what it says. "And so when the woman..." Three things here. Number one, "...when the woman saw that the tree was good for food." What does that bring up? It brings up 1 John chapter 2:15-17. Why? Because in verse 6 we see the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life in her sin. Three things.

First of all, the lust of the eyes and when the woman saw the appeal of the flesh when she saw the tree, that it was good for food. Secondly, that it was pleasant to the eyes, it was appealing to the eyes. Notice that. And thirdly, a tree desirable to make one wise. The pride of knowledge, the pride of being smart. Think of how many people that's been their downfall that Satan has used. Pride. "Desirable to make one wise." What does she do? She took of its fruit and ate. And then what happens? Her husband comes into the scene all of a sudden and she gave to her husband with her and he ate. He didn't have to eat, but he ate. And what happened now? They both fall. From heaven, in a sense, they're now falling.