Don't Believe The Hype

DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE

GENESIS 3:1-19

I believe that we’re living in a time where acceptance plays a big part in our society… We’re living in a time where everybody is looking for an excuse to do what they want to do… We’re living in a time where everybody wants the green light to act according to their will and their way… We’re living in an ‘anything goes, just let it flow’ society… We want what we want so bad, that we’ll do just about anything and listen to just about anybody to get it… And nowhere is this more evident, then here in our text for tonight…

For in our text we see that in spite of the fact of what God had already said (Gen 2:16-17), mankind (Adam & Eve) had already set his sights on what he wanted and all he needed was justification to act on it… But I need to tell you tonight, that it doesn’t matter who’s trying to convince you move contrary to what God has already said, don’t do like Adam & Eve…Don’t get caught up in the madness… Don’t get caught up in the drama… IOW, Don’t Believe The Hype…! You can’t get caught up in The Hype: (Half-truths, misinformation)…You can’t get caught up in what the enemy would have you to be in… (3 Reasons…) When you start to Believe The Hype, you’ll find yourself in the midst of…

I. THE SET UP (Gen. 3:1-6)

Satan is subtle (cunning: crafty, calculating, shrewd, and sly)… (John 8:44) “For he is a liar, and the father of it.” One of his main objectives is to convince you to do something you shouldn’t do… (v 1b) And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, ’You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

When you listen to the devil, he does two things:

1. He makes you question God’s Word…

2. Makes God look harsher than He is…

You need to understand that in the Garden they had only one rule: don’t eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil … There were hundreds of trees to eat from but they passed them to get to this one... The devil will try to set you up for a fall but (Title)… (Hype is nothing more than Deception…)

Eve begins to make her conscience feel better by justifying her actions: “He (God) said don’t eat of it he didn’t say not to touch it…(v3)” The enemy will convince you to think negative about God… He’ll make it seem like a burden to follow God… “I can’t do _____, my parents, my church, or God will not let me…” Instead of saying, “that would not glorify God so that’s why I can’t do that...”

Understand that it’s all a Set Up… And the problem is that when subtlety stops working the devil flat out calls God a liar…!

(v 4) Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 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…” The enemy will entice you and hook you with half-truths... He wasn’t lying, he just showed Eve the pleasurable things but left out the end results… (Point) Sin may be pleasurable for a season but the end thereof is death… And the truth of the matter is that the devil will show you:

The pleasures of drinking, but not the results of… Alcoholism

The pleasures of illicit sex, but not the results of… HIV/AIDS

The pleasures of drugs, but not the results of… Addiction

But I need to tell tonight, (Title)… Don’t get caught up in the trap… In the Set Up… Because one who gets trapped in the Set Up will eventually Sell Out…!

(v 6) They make a moral decision based on physical lusts instead of spiritual law… In essence they said, “If it feels good do it…!” A recent survey stated that High school teens found that 16% said they make moral decisions based upon what God or the Bible says they should do, but 45% said they make theirs based on their experience… But Don’t Believe The Hype… Because when you decide to make your own moral rules based on what you think and not what God says, it’s like making yourself God…

Understand that as human beings we have appetites: For things like: food, power, money, popularity, and sex… These appetites aren’t wrong to have but we must control them… (Picture) Every time I go into a restaurant I know I don’t need the dessert but I want it any way… But it’s up to me to control my appetite… But the Bible says, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it…(1 Cor. 10:13)” (Point) Don’t Believe The Hype… Because the hype will do nothing but led you to a Set Up…