The Big Lie

Taking you to when the greatest lie took root with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Here's Dr. Michael Youssef. Thank you for joining pastor and author, Dr. Michael Youssef, for leading the way. Today, travel by way of God's Word to the Garden of Eden.

Not the setting for a children's bedtime story, but a real place, with real people experiencing the reality of temptation. People who fell for the greatest lie. Join me in listening to Dr. Michael Youssef on this episode of Leading the Way Audio. Who is the true authority on cancer? The cancer sufferer or the cancer specialist? The patient knows cancer experientially.

The sensation, the frightening dread and anxiety, the dilapidating effect of the disease. The cancer specialist, on the other hand, knows the cancer clinically. He or she have studied the pathology of cancer, its diagnosis, its treatment, its prognosis.

He or she has examined the cancer cell under a microscope and they can identify, they can identify its type and they surgically have removed the cancer from human body. So in reality, the answer is both are, both know cancer. They both, the patient and the specialist know cancer well. Ah, but they know that dreaded disease very differently from each other. The patient's knowledge and the specialist's knowledge are different types of knowledge. The patient and the specialist have very different experiences with the disease.

The patient knows it as a sufferer of the disease, but the specialist knows it as an authority on the subject. And beloved, I could not help but think that when Eve was tempted by Satan in the Garden of Eden, when Satan lied to her, big bold lie, and the lie was that she can become an authority on the disease. That she can become an expert on the disease or deadly disease overnight. That she can be so knowledgeable of the disease just like the great specialist on the disease. And she fell for it. And when she fell for the big lie, she became a sufferer of the disease instead of an expert.

She became a patient instead of a specialist. He sold her the big lie by telling her that she can become an authority on good and evil. That she can become an expert overnight. That she can become a talking head on CNN and all of the networks. That she could become a spiritual equivalent to the great specialist on the disease. That she could become an overnight sensation. That she could sell 20 million copies of her book on the subject. And when Eve took the bait, far from becoming an expert, she became a sufferer of the disease. She caught the disease to the destruction of her soul.

But that's exactly what happens with us. I don't want you to miss this. Don't miss this. Now, for Eve, there were several things she could have done. First, and I think probably the most important thing she could have said, two words to Satan.

Buzz off. That's very simple, isn't it? God said it, I believe it, that settles it. But then there was something else that has happened here that led her to buying into the big lie. When Satan brought doubt to her mind about what God said, she misquoted God.

Did you get that? Be very careful of misquoting the Scripture to support whatever you're doing or trying to do. Be very careful of misquoting the Word of God. I want you to see for yourself how she misquoted the Scripture, okay? So, Genesis chapter 2, here's what God said to Adam.

I'm going to explain to you why God held Adam accountable, too, in a minute. But here's what God said to Adam in Genesis chapter 2, verses 16 and 17. He said, feel free to eat from any tree in the garden, except for this one.

You notice the emphasis where? All of the trees in the garden, okay? Now, flip the page to 3-3, Genesis 3-3, and I'll show you exactly how Eve misquoted God to Satan.

Here's what she said. God said, you must not eat from the tree in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you'll die. Where's her emphasis? The tree. Where was God's emphasis?

All of the trees in the garden. You see, she added something that God did not say. She twisted.

She changed the emphasis. And that moment, Satan knew he's got her. He knew that she's in her mind and in her heart, she's questioning God.

She's questioning what God says. God said, every tree in the garden is yours to enjoy. But she became fixated on that one tree.

Satan must have literally been watching her for a long time. He probably was watching her walking around the tree, looking at that tree from every angle. He saw her curiosity about that tree.

He observed her longing and wondering what it would be like to taste this tree, to eat the fruit of that tree. He tempts us in the same way. He watches and sees areas of our weaknesses. He's watching and seeing at the inclination of our hearts. He's watching to see where we are vulnerable.

You don't believe me? This is how he tempts husbands and wives to abandon the marriage vows and their families and their kids. That's how he works it. You see, he knows our weaknesses. He knows our personalities. He knows our longing, the longing of our hearts. He knows our curiosities. He knows our imagination and he reads them.

And once he drags you away from fellowship with God, he is ready to move for the kill. Ah, you deserve a better spouse than the one you've got. Oh, surely this one would be much better than the current spouse.

You are better off with this one. Surely, you know, God wants you to be happy. The dreaded happiness. And you haven't been happy for a long time. Poor thing. He comes as sympathetic.

He is not sympathetic at all. And on and on and on and on until he destroys a marriage. There was a comedian back in the early 80s, Erma Bomback. Do you remember that name? And she was fond of saying, Be careful because the grass is always greener on the other side of the septic tank. You see, when Satan moved for the kill, he appealed to Eve's pride. Hear me right.

He does that with us too. If you eat from the forbidden tree, you're going to become an expert on the subject of good and you're going to be an expert overnight. Who doesn't want to be an expert, right? We've got so many of them right now, God delivers from experts. I mean, you're going to have your own television show. You will be worshipped by millions.

You'll be adored by many church-going people. And the lie continues today unabated across the television screens and radio and yes, even church pulpits. I would say, give the devil his due. When he did tempt Eve, he did tell her half-truth.

He always does. You see, in disobeying God, Eve became knowledgeable of sin, but not as an expert like he promised, but as a sufferer of sin. Not as a specialist on the disease, but as a sufferer of the disease. She became a victim of the disease in the most horrible way. Far from becoming an authority on the disease, she was hit by it.

She caught it. And today Satan has been misleading millions upon millions of people in church pews in exactly the same way. He's offering the big, shiny lie again and again and again. One form of lie says, all religions will get you to heaven. A special denominational ritual may get you to heaven. Belonging to a certain church may get you to heaven.

Doing some good, and I'm not against doing good, but it will not get you to heaven without Jesus. Or this one, Jesus is my Savior, but He's not everybody's Savior. Well, what you're saying is that I have a Savior who's a liar. And that's what they're saying.

They never think. When Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and they say, no, no, He's my Savior. And they say, my Savior is a liar.

That's what they're saying. The truth is, none of that stuff will get you to heaven. And that is why it is the big lie. Satan always, as I said, appeals to our pride.

Do you know why? Because he knows that our pride will keep us from God's only plan of salvation. From God's only way, from God's only Redeemer, from God's only Savior. And of course, the next scene in the garden, we see Eve offering the fruit to Adam.

Misery loves company. And the moment Adam ate it, they both knew experientially the difference between good and evil. Do you know why? When she ate it, nothing happened until Adam ate it. And that is why the Bible, from beginning to end, holds Adam accountable. God is the one who spoke to him. If his wife came and said, look, I tasted this, he said, let's go to God and ask for His forgiveness. But he didn't. He ceased to be the spiritual head of his home.

He ceased to be the leader of his home. And that is why the Bible said by one man sin came into the world, by Adam. And that is why sin is transmitted through Adam. And by one man, the Lord Jesus Christ, there is forgiveness of sins.

Hear me right on this one. Because choosing the evil of do-it-yourself religion will always make you lose the good. You know, when you use the word evil, everybody thinks, you know, we're talking about the serial killer and the terrorists. But listen to me, the Bible uses the word evil for everything and anything that is contrary to the word of God.

That is in disobedience to the command of God. And as a result of this evil of disobedience on the part of Adam and Eve, all of humanity came to know sin experientially. It is in our genes. It's in our DNA. And the fact is that we must accept the fact that none of us are authority on sin.

None. No one is an authority on sin. We all are sufferers of sin disease.

We all know sin experientially because we've experienced it. But then a skeptic might come as someone said to me, I don't believe in this magic fruit of a magic tree that causes magic harm. He said that's for the primitive people.

It's for kids. I'm a sophisticated guy. I said I hate to burst your balloon, but the Bible does not say anything about magical fruit or magical trees or magical knowledge. People don't read the book. There is nothing in the Bible to remotely suggest that the issue is the fruit.

That's not the issue. It is the eating of the fruit that caused Adam and Eve to become aware of the difference between good and evil. By eating they lost their innocence. It is the act of eating of disobedience in itself that opened their eyes to realize the difference between good and evil. The moment they chose to disobey God's command, they moved into do-it-yourself religion. There are a lot of people preaching today. That moment a profound and comprehensive change took place. Profound change affected their minds, affected their hearts, their bodies, affected their soul.

What is it? They ceased to believe that God is the final authority, but they were. Isn't that what people want today?

Isn't that what everybody wants? I mean they want to be in control. They want to have final authority, not God. And that is the message that is preached from many a pulpit across the land. And they're preaching the stuff that you're the captain of your ship, that you're the master of your domain, you're the savior of your soul, you're the lord of your life. And that, my beloved friends, is Satan's big lie preached today. And sometime in our lives, we have fallen for this temptation. We really have.

If God really wise and perfect, if God really wants the best for you, if God really loves you, if God's commandments are really good, if He's even real, if His commandments are not only meant to just ruin your enjoyment of life, if God really even understands you, if Jesus is the only way to the Father of heaven, is there a real heaven and real hell? And such questions are really tempting. Young men, young women, listen to me. These questions are very tempting. They're enticing. Such questions can lead us away from the truth. You'll be tempted.

It's what you do with the temptation that matters. Some of the best-selling books worldwide preaches this pure poison. One of the best-selling authors today describes Jesus as a savior, not the savior. That Jesus embodied the highest level of enlightenment. That many preachers are preaching that stuff in pulpits. They tell us that Jesus did not come to save the world from sin.

They said, no, no, no, no. He came to point the way to the God consciousness. What a bunch of hogwash. I mean, what does that mean? Do you know what that really means? This is what the God consciousness means. That your eyes will be open and you'll be like God.

That's really what they're saying. And that is the same message as Satan's message to Eve in the garden. And that is the biggest of the biggest of all lies.

Millions of copies, tens of millions of copies are sold. And this author is on televisions, on radio, and even in some Christian pulpits, some church pulpits, he is quoted by many, thousands of preachers and is sought after by world leaders. Listen to me, books like The Third Jesus, A Return to Love, A Course in Miracles, A Power Now, The New Earth, The Secret, they all proclaim the big lie.

That human beings can become like God and enjoy limitless health and wealth and love and sex and eternal youth. Many are deceived by these people. And many of those people are deceived.

They are your neighborhood, they are your friends, they are your co-workers, they are your classmates. And they buy these books believing that they're hearing the new truth. When in the reality what they're hearing is the old lie. It is the oldest lie ever told.

What is it? That you can get it all your way. Listen, I know I'm going to get it all.

I'm going to reign and rule with Him in glory across the entire universe. But only because of Jesus. You know, when you think about it, for them, this life is all there is. That's the best they're going to get.

For us who know Jesus, this is the worst it's going to be. And that is why I'm challenging you to take these truths seriously. To communicate these truths regularly. To be proactive. Not sit back and let people say untruth and let them get away with it. Beloved, the next generation will be lost forever unless this generation, you and me, the young people, the middle age, every one of us, take this truth seriously.

This is our last chance. See, when God created Adam and Eve, He gave them the freedom to choose. Choose either God's only way or the greatest lie. One way would have brought them life everlasting in the most pristine environment with intimacy with God. The other brought them death and destruction and a disaster.

They disobeyed with all of its misery. In that moment, the genetic code became permanently tainted by naked self-will. And all the subsequent humanity became infected by this genetic code. And today's millions and millions and millions of people following in the footsteps of Adam and Eve.

While in reality for 2,000 years the cross has been standing there as God's invitation for everyone who would listen. That there is only one way out of self-will. There's only one way out of the foolishness of life. There's only one way for healing from this insidious disease. There's only one way for deliverance out of that selfishness. There is only one way of escaping eternal death and destruction.

Stop believing the greatest lie and come to Him. The only one, the only truth, and His name is Jesus. The reason Satan threw his cohorts in the media, in government, in the courts. The reason in the schools and the school administrators. The reason Satan threw his cohorts are working hard, trying so desperately to outlaw the mention of the name of Jesus in public.

See there's a reason for that. Is because the author of the greatest lie himself, Satan, he knows and he fears and he trembles at the name of Jesus. And so he doesn't want to hear that name in a public square. He wants to eliminate it from public life. He wants to get it out of school so a whole generation will grow and not know the name of Jesus.

He wants it out of people's ears and out of sights. And so today let us name that name so loud that the very gates of hell will shake. What is that name? Jesus.

What is that name? Jesus. Thank you for listening to Leading the Way audio with Dr. Michael Youssef. Did today's message prompt spiritual questions? Maybe you'd like to talk to one of our pastoral team members. If so, begin by filling out a quick contact form at ltw.org slash Jesus.

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Again, that's Post Office Box 20100, Atlanta, Georgia, 30325. Now here's the truth. Listen carefully. God is not going to send anybody to health.

You must understand that. God is not going to send anybody to health. He's not going to take people to heaven against their will either. People take themselves to health. That was just a preview of what Dr. Yousef will be teaching next time on Leading the Way. Make plans to join him for this powerful message when he digs further into this thought. Today's program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Yousef. Passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth around the world for more than 30 years. Learn more at ltw.org.