Chapter # 3 Paragraph # 4 Study # 1
April 30, 2006
Lincolnton, N.C.
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<244> Thesis:  God's method of victory is the sacrifice of the physical and visible while incrementally building the immoveable foundations of Final Life. Introduction:  In the beginning, after God created the visible world, He set before the man whom He had created for life, a challenge to Live by Faith in the integrity of His words. He did this in a setting in which man would have to juggle several issues of "faith". The first issue would be this question: shall I simply accept the apparent meaning of the words of God as the guide to my actions? If he answered this question in the affirmative, he would live as long as he had a legitimate grasp of what God meant. If, however, he did not answer in the affirmative, the second issue he would face would be this question: shall I determine the truthfulness of God's words by what I "see"? If he answered this question incorrectly, the words of God would be subjected to, and subverted by, the physical world. If he refused to make "sight" his foundation, the third issue would be this question: shall I determine the truthfulness of God's words by what I "feel"? If he answered this question incorrectly, the words of God would be subjected to, and subverted by, his emotional world. But, if he rejected the emotional world, the fourth issue would be this question: shall I determine the truthfulness of God's words by what I "want"? If he answered this question incorrectly, the words of God would be subjected to, and subverted by, the spiritual world. It was into this "juggling act" that the Serpent came. Man was thus "tempted" to subvert a God-given understanding of Truth, with sufficient plainness of meaning to prevent Death, by the sophistry of an appeal to set himself in opposition to God and reject His "Truth". Since then, it has been the Plan of God to bring His creation to a full blown, solidly mature, loyalty to Truth by using the very activities of the evil one that are designed to create a full blown, determinedly wicked, opposition to Truth. This morning, we consider Luke's transition from John to Jesus, in Luke 3:19-20, in the light of this Master Plan of God.