00:00  music by fresh piano . com
00:22  Welcome back to another week of the Bible Classroom, and I'm your host, Reid Ashbaucher.
00:27  Last week, we were talking about Genesis chapter 1. We're beginning to start into some scripture,
00:34  starting in Genesis, and we'll work our way all the way through the book of Revelation.
00:39  And we're going to be touching on concepts and ideas and hopes that will come to an understanding
00:46  about ourselves, humanity, what truth is, and why things are the way they are.
00:52  So, last week, we talked about creation and how God did that, how that was all related
00:58  to how this week, in chapter 2 and 3, we'll talk a little bit about man and how he was created
01:06  and how the concept of sin and the concept of good and evil came into the world. Why is
01:14  that important? Well, we see a lot of things in the world that are evil, and we see things
01:20  that seem to be good. And where do we get this concept of good and evil? We have the ideas
01:27  in the world and philosophies being taught that there is no God in some cases. There's philosophies
01:34  that there is no good and evil, and there is no heaven and hell, and there's all kinds of
01:40  philosophical discussions on those topics. And so, in order to understand truth and to
01:47  give any idea or recognition to what is truth in reality of mankind, we're going to talk about
01:55  what the scriptures teach. Because obviously, somewhere along the line, there has to be some
02:01  kind of knowledge provided, and there has to be some kind of proof given to that knowledge.
02:06  And so, what I'm trying to say is that instead of just listening to everyone having their philosophy
02:15  and viewpoints, we're recognizing that the scriptures is the inerrant word of God, and it is a revelation
02:22  from God, who is then telling us where our world came from, who he is as God, and where man came from,
02:30  and where the concept of sin, good and evil, has come from, and where that takes us into the future.
02:37  Genesis chapter 2 reflects on how God created man, and that God finished creating all of the earth
02:44  in six days, and then out of the dust of the ground, he formed man. And then it says that after all of this,
02:53  that God brought the creatures and the animals to Adam to name them all, he wanted to see what Adam
03:00  would name all of the creatures and animals and birds and so forth, and so Adam did that. And then
03:06  through that process, Adam found that there was no mate for him. All the animals had mates, all the animals
03:13  had kind of relationship with male and female, and so, but Adam, there was no female counterpart. And so,
03:20  God put Adam to sleep, took a rib out of his body, and formed, the scripture says, a woman and named her
03:28  Eve. And so, now we have Adam, and we have Eve, and they're both in a sinless state. They're both made
03:35  perfect in the image and likeness of God, both of them, and they're made in male and female. If you look
03:42  at that, there isn't male, female, and then there's 16 other genders. God didn't create that. That was a
03:49  concept that came from mankind. Much, much, much later down the road, probably not, those concepts
03:57  really didn't even come into fruition into our society until the last probably 15 years. Getting
04:04  back to our main subject of creation, Adam and Eve are then created male and female, and then comes along
04:12  Satan, who has already fallen. And, of course, we need to talk a little bit about who is Satan. Satan is
04:20  the devil, or is a fallen angel that God created. And you can find his fall in Ezekiel chapter 28.
04:28  But then, Satan presents himself as a serpent in the garden that God created for Adam and Eve to tend
04:36  and care for. And God created two trees, tree of life and the tree of good and evil. And he told them
04:42  not to eat of the tree of good and evil, because if you eat this tree, you're going to surely die. And we've
04:48  talked about that in the past. And Satan tricks Eve into eating the fruit, and she gave to Adam. And so,
04:56  they both sinned against God, and that's recorded in Genesis chapter 2 and 3. And the end result is,
05:04  is that we now have the concept of good and evil. And that concept, then, it has to be understood.
05:11  What is good and what is evil? And basically, I've described in my books, and I've talked about in
05:18  other podcasts. Good is basically anything that God has created, or anything that God does on behalf
05:26  of his creation, is good. So, God created marriage for his creation, and that is good. He created
05:32  government, that is good. He created things for man to eat, that is good. And so, how do we define evil?
05:40  Well, evil is anything that stems from the nature of Satan. And we're told in the scriptures that Satan's
05:47  attitudes is that of death and destruction. Satan is out to kill and to maim and to destroy God's
05:56  creation and the people that he created. In other words, Satan is basically man's enemy, even though
06:03  Satan comes along like an angel of light and pretends he's your friend. But that's not the case. And so,
06:10  anything that Satan produces or creates through his nature is then evil. And because man,
06:17  man fell from grace and is now a sinner, whatever man does is then also, because it's come from the
06:25  nature of Satan, is also evil. So, the acts of man can be evil, and the acts of Satan are evil,
06:32  and the acts of God is what is good. And so, whatever God is doing in the world is the good
06:39  side of what is happening. And the things that Satan is doing in opposition,
06:45  So then, eventually, God, over time, puts in place, after the flood, a concept of the law and creates the Ten Commandments. And so, man then violates the Ten Commandments, and any time we are in violation, that is all considered evil. Murder is evil. Raping of women and children is evil.
07:11  And these concepts of what is good and evil comes from the Scriptures. It doesn't come from man. It doesn't actually come from certain kinds of churches. The concept of good and evil is something that we learn from the Scriptures, and only from the Scriptures, as far as a true definition and a true understanding of its nature. And that's important in our everyday lives.
07:36  We see things in the news, and we say, oh, well, is that good or is that evil? And we can define those things according to how the Scriptures sees it and defines it.
07:47  It's not according to our opinion, or according to a church opinion, or a secular opinion, or a government opinion, or a news opinion. It's the Scriptures and its opinion.
07:58  And unless we understand and know the Scriptures and study to show ourselves approved of the Scriptures, then we truly can't understand that which is good and evil. And that's how we make our judges.
08:09  It's judgments, isn't it? We see things and we say, well, that's good. I'm going to support that. Or, that is evil. I'm going to oppose that.
08:17  But we don't know what is good and what is evil in the sight of God unless we read the Scriptures, unless we understand what God is telling us and teaching us.
08:28  So, there are philosophies in the world that says, well, man is naturally good. He's born with a blank slate. And he leads and moves forward on his own destiny. When in reality, the Scripture says, man is born a sinner.
08:42  And he tends to then lean towards doing that which is evil in the sight of God. And so, there are two views and philosophies in the world. And that's how we get our world and life view. And everything stems out of that.
08:58  So, that's why it's all important to know your doctrine. That's why it's important to know what is truth and what is a lie and what is good and what is evil. And we learn all that from the revelation of God.
09:11  We don't learn that, as I have stated, from the revelation of man or what man thinks or what man's opinions are. It doesn't matter what source that is. It only matters what God presents to us in his revelation. And from that, we learn as God teaches us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
09:35  So, that's basically all I wanted to cover for today. I just want people to understand that good and evil stems from Genesis and its explanation.
10:03  And Satan produces that which is evil and God produces that which is good. And man then is a sinner and can be redeemed and saved by the grace of God, which is what the whole purpose of sending Jesus Christ was all about.
10:19  And we can get into all that and will eventually. But next week, we'll get into Genesis chapter 3 and talk about God's plan for salvation and where that shows up in Genesis chapter 3.
10:32  You may be surprised. And from the very beginning, God had a plan to save his creation from the death and destruction that came from the, as a result of Adam and Eve's choices that they made.
10:44  So, until the next time, may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely.
10:50  And may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
11:00  And the music you hear at the beginning of this podcast is through brushpiano.com.