TRANSCRIPTION | Sunday, December 05, 2021 | A Wise Christmas Series | There’s Something You Don’t See 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And I know that today and possibly even next week, I'm going to just be in a vein entitled, a wise Christmas, a wise Christmas.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

I think we all want wisdom. Amen? I want to talk about how that we can experience that through the help of the Lord. I think they've got a picture that they can put up for me. You guys got the... You guys see anything there? Yeah, it's just a trail. It's just a pathway. Some fallen leaves. Would you guys show me the next slide? Do you see it now? If not, you're going to want to be careful going out in the woods during hunting season. Or get your lens, eyewear checked because within that red rectangle is a copperhead. And he is fully blended in with the leaves.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

I think the point that I'd like to make this morning is that there's something you don't see. Could you just help me preach for a minute? Look over somebody and just tell them there's something you don't see. There's something you don't see. Genesis 3:6, what I'd like to do is share three verses of scripture with you. And with the help of the Holy Spirit, we're going to weave those together this morning, and we're going to leave this place a little wiser than we walked in through God's help. Genesis 3:6. So "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and she ate, and she also gave to her husband, and he ate."

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

James 1:5. "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him." Matthew 2:1, we lean into the Christmas side of this. "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east, and we have come to worship Him.'" Just one more time in the vein of a wise Christmas, tell somebody, there's something you don't see.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Father, help me to preach, help me to teach, help me to share Your word. And, God, I pray that I would have an anointing, that I have an unction. God, this would be a moment that provokes every single one of us to our next step in You, let it not be a moment of vanity. Let it be a moment of kingdom advancement in our lives, Lord, in Jesus' name. And this church said... Amen. I think one of the things that we cannot miss when we begin to talk about Christmas in the realm of Christianity is that God sent His Son to the world through a manger, fully aware that His Son would exit the world through across.

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

God knew how His Son would exit the world when He chose the way in which that He would enter the world. There has never been a moment where that God has had to react to the devil. For every plot of the enemy, God has already, always had a plan. In fact, Scripture tells us that before the foundation of the world the Lamb of God was slain. What that says to us is that the decision for Christmas and the decision for Easter was already made before God formed the first thing in the creation process. Now with that in mind, as we navigate our way to the Christmas story, I want to step back for a moment into the creation story.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And what I want you do is just think with me how those first two or three chapters of the Book of Genesis unfold. And we see God in a creation process over the course of six days, and then He rests on the seventh day. And as God is making things, He ultimately, He has the highlight of His creation, when He makes man and He makes woman in His image, they are Adam and Eve. And then Adam and Eve are told that they can partake of anything in the world. It's all theirs, whatever they want. There's just one thing that they're not supposed to eat of. And that is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Well, wouldn't you know that Satan fallen from his perch in heaven, formerly the Archangel Lucifer would take on the form of a snake, a serpent, and he would maneuver his way into this garden, this paradise environment that Adam and Eve are living in. And there he would strike up a conversation with them.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Now when the Bible gives us the biographical sketch of the conversation between the snake and Eve, it is really intriguing to me to consider that the Bible only records two statements that are made by the snake. Isn't it something to think that the whole world could be wrecked by two statements? That the enemy can be that convincing that two statements in the wrong conversation can wreck somebody's life. I tell you, what it teaches me immediately is that if you are going to exemplify wisdom, you are going to have to be careful who you talk to. Maybe just help me preach one more time and we'll get this thing started. Come on, tell them. Be careful who you talk to. Because they were talking to a snake. But the snake was hosting Satan.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Are you following me? They're talking to a snake. But the snake is hosting Satan. The Bible tells us that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers of the air. And one of the ways that Scripture teaches us that that battle, that warfare is going to unfold is that there will be people who will become spiritual host to those principalities, to those powers, and they will bring the darkness of high places into Earth, that there will be spiritual host of Satan's agenda, Satan's ambition, and Satan's attack against us. Therefore, you might be talking to Beulah or Freddie. But the truth of it is that their personality is the manifestation of the Spirit that is in them.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And Scripture teaches us that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And so when you're in a conversation, and suddenly there's an accusatory tone that comes to it. When you're in a conversation, and it seems like you leave it feeling a little darker than you did, when you went into it, there's a conversation and you feel a little further from God than you did when you began it, there's probably a good chance that you're talking to a snake. That is hosting a darkness, that God does not intend to mess with the light that He has put in your life. You have to be careful who you talk to if you're going to live a wise life.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Another thing I believe about living a wise life, and we are going somewhere so give me just a moment, is don't look for the right thing in the wrong place. You do realize that's possible to look for the right thing in the wrong place. And the enemy has a way of setting us up for that. As he persuades us many times to give up what we've got in order to gain something we already have. There's a marriage and the bed of marriage is undefiled, but the enemy will try to get you to tap into the lust of the eye and the lust of the flesh, and you'll give up what you got. He takes something you already had.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

The enemy has a way of deceiving us and distorting us and trying to get us to look for the right thing in the wrong place. I want you to see this, Genesis 3:6, "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, a tree desirable to make one wise." A tree desirable to make one wise, it is not a bad thing to be wise, it is definitely not a bad thing to desire wisdom. But what happened is the enemy persuaded her to begin to search for wisdom at a source other than God.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And the thing that the New Testament teaches us in the Book of James 1:5 is that, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all men liberally, and it will be without reproach." What that teaches us is that it is possible to gain wisdom with reproach. The reality is that there are two types of wisdom. There is the wisdom of this world and then there is the wisdom of the word. There is the wisdom of God, and then there is the wisdom of man. There is the wisdom that comes from just life experience, and then there is the wisdom that comes through relationship with the Holy Spirit. And so what happens is that they're looking for a good thing. But the problem is, they started to look in the wrong place. That's one of the things that enemy teaches us about the snake. The Bible teaches us that the snake was crafty. That's how the snake is described, crafty. And that word is not a negative word, it actually means wisdom. It's used eight times in the Book of Proverbs alone, to describe someone who is operating in wisdom.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And so what's happening is that this enemy shows up and he's crafty. And that's what some of you all been messing with is a crafty snake. Because he'll come like an angel of light. That's Bible. He'll come and he'll set a trap, and it will be like a snare of the fowler, that's Bible. He'll come like a wolf that's dressed in sheep's clothing, that's Bible. Scripture says that in the last days, he would deceive the very elect if it were possible. That's Bible. So the thing that we come to understand is that when the enemy walked into the life of Adam and Eve, He didn't come ugly, the Bible says he came beautiful. In fact, he was the beautiful of all the creatures. So the thing that the enemy was looking for to host him was something that was attractive, something that was attraction, and something that you would be drawn to so that he could draw you away.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Looking for the right thing in the wrong place. It's amazing to me today how that when we search for wisdom, not much has changed in all these thousands of years. You got to be careful searching for your wisdom on Google. You got to be careful allowing your wisdom to come from Wikipedia. And whether Fox or CNN as your flavor, you better be careful where you get your wisdom from. Because then more often than not, and the hour in which we live the snakes voice is growing in decibel level. You got to be careful getting your wisdom from your social media feed and the people who are influencing you with their actions, their behaviors, and their lifestyles.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Because if you're not careful, you'll start looking for the right thing in the wrong place. I tell you third thing about living a wise lifestyle and it is this, you never see it all. I want to show you Adam and Eve. They're hanging out with God. And the Bible says that God has made the earth and the moon and the stars and He's made the living creatures and He's made the trees and He's put the water in its place and there are rivers and there are oceans and there are lakes and there are seas. And God looks at every single bit of it. And He says, "It is good." Everything is made at the conclusion of every day, He says, "It is good." He gets to Adam and Eve, makes them in His own image, and says about them, "They are very good."

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Adam and Eve are surrounded totally by good. And yet they can't see at all. It's amazing sometimes how the enemy blinds us to everything that God has given us. And we don't see it all. We don't see all these good things God has done for. All these good things God has put in our life, all these good things that God has put around us. But we also don't see the things that the enemy is hiding. And so since we can't see all these good things that God has already done, and likewise, we can't see these things that the enemy is hiding, we forget that we can't see it all. And we fall prey to the same thing that Eve fell prey to. Genesis 3:6, "When the woman saw that the tree was good," wait a second. That's what you're going to point out. Eve, God said the cow was good. God said, the apple tree, and peach tree. It's all good. God said everything that He's made is good. And you mean to tell me that the one thing you're going to walk over and point out about the thing the snake is talking to you in regards to is the fact that it's good? Are you kidding me?

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Isn't it amazing how the enemy only shows you what's good about the thing you shouldn't have. Because she is forgetting to acknowledge one thing. And that is that when she walks up to this tree, it's not just good. It is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But she doesn't point out the evil. She doesn't acknowledge the evil. She doesn't say to anybody about anything regarding the evil. All she wants to talk about is it's good. And the reason she's so focused and infatuated on the fact that it's good Genesis 3:6, again, is because it was pleasant to the eyes, and it was a tree desirable. You want to know why so many marriages end bad? Because going into them, all people can see is what's good, what's pleasant, what's desirable. And we forget to pray, "God, show me what I can't see?"

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

So one of the reasons that I encourage people to date for extended periods of time because what will happen is you'll see them many times navigate through different seasons of life. And as you go through those different seasons of life, you'll begin to be exposed to things you didn't know was there.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Sometimes, you'll see something that you didn't even know the enemy was hiding from you. Good and evil. How many times in our life as the enemy led us into something we should never have partaken up? Because all we can see was it's good, it's pleasant, it's desirable. "I want more of that, I'm desiring that, I'm longing for that. I don't just want that I'm now convinced that I think that I need that." And we ignore the fact that hiding in those branches is not just good. There's evil.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

But she didn't acknowledge the evil. Even though both were present on the tree, she became focused on something she already had and was about to look for the right thing in the wrong place. Because she forgot that she couldn't see everything. A great prayer to pray. God, help me to see what I can't see. The Bible, it tells us that sin can be defined in several different ways. One of the ways that sin is defined is by missing the target. Another way is by falling short of a standard. Another way is by transgressing boundaries. There's even more definitions, but even if you just take those three, the thing that we learned is that when Adam and Eve made their mistake, they did every one of those. They missed the target God had set for them. They fell short of the standard God had for them. And they transgressed the boundaries that God had for them all because they were looking for the right thing in the wrong place, ignoring the fact that they couldn't see everything they should be seeing. Because they're having a conversation with somebody they should not have been dialoguing with to start with.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

You wonder what you're not seeing? What I'm not seeing? Is it possible that we've been talking to some snakes? Is there a possibility that we are reaching for what we think is good, ignoring the fact that there's evil in it? The Bible says that in the last days, people will call good, evil and evil, good. That's how blind we will become, that's how distorted we will become. The Bible tells us that where there is no vision, the people will perish. The direct translation of that is where there is no prophetic revelation, people will perish. What it's saying is the enemy will blind you, and you won't see what's really there. And it will lead to the enemy stealing, it will lead to the enemy killing, it will lead to the enemy destroying. Jesus said, "When you pray, here's how you got to pray, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done," fast forward, it says, "and deliver us from evil."

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Why? Because we can't see it. And we have to have Him show us. I've talked to so many people who struggle with addiction. And over and over again, they have told me that when they took that first hit, when they experienced that first peel, when they took that first drink, they never dreamed that 20, 25 years later that they would still be searching for answers at the bottom of a bottle. Because when it all got started, it was just something that was pleasant. It was something that was desirable, it's going to make me feel good, it's going to make me have comfort, I'm not going to be in so much pain, it's going to give me a little bubble of warmth for a moment, but it seemed good.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

But the enemy disguised the evil that was in the branches. And so we understand something, the Bible says, "He that winneth souls is wise." The wisest thing you can ever do is to allow your own soul to be one. And a decision to learn something from the Christmas story. There's some men and they are labeled as wise. They have an understanding of the ways of the world and the waves of the sky. They're accustomed to studying light in darkness. One day, something appears and they realize that it is associated with a manifestation of heaven and earth.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And so some believe that for two years that they've sought after Jesus, many believe the star appeared at the time that Jesus was born. And then that's the reason they don't show up at the manger, they show up at the house it's because they've been looking, they've been searching, they've been chasing coming to realize we need a relationship with God. And we are going to have to reposition ourselves in order to have that and experience that. And when they roll into Israel, they don't wind up at Bethlehem first, they stopped by Jerusalem. And when they go into Jerusalem, the King Herod comes out, and he's a snake. And he's hosting the enemy. And he starts to tempt them. And he starts to try to draw them away from God's agenda and God's ambition. And he starts to try to set them up for something they don't see.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

But these men are not after the wisdom of this world. They are not after the cares and the riches of what Jerusalem or a palace could offer them. They are searching something that only heaven can bring to Earth. And they leave all of that behind in the dust and say, "That snake can stay in its tree, I got something waiting for me in Bethlehem. And that place may not even have a stoplight. And it may not have a five-star resort for me to hang out or to put my feet in when I'm sitting in the hot tub. But I desire a relationship with God made manifest in the earth and I'm going to seek Him, I'm going to draw after Him, I'm going to go after Him. I want more of God today than I had yesterday." And they kept seeking, they kept pursuing. My challenge for you is, are you still hanging out with the snake?

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Are you still allowing Herod to seduce you with his words, trying to set you up to take a hold of something that's not seen? You know what happened those wise men is because their hearts were pure, God gave them a dream in the middle of the night. And God showed them what they could not see. And they escaped the plot of the enemy because they had the plan of God in their life. And I believe God is going to give some of you dreams, he's going to give some of you visions because you're coming to realize there's some people I'm done talking to or some folks I'm done seeking for the right thing in the wrong place, I'm ready for God to show me what I can't see even if it hurts my feelings. I don't know who I'm trying to help.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Wise men still seeking. And it's cliche. And it's been unveiled by far greater preachers than myself. There's no greater wisdom that you can ever exemplify in this world than going hard after God. Humanity's greatest mistake was to seek wisdom from a source other than God. You just ponder for a moment the world we live in. Humanity's first sin directly connected to two wrong statements. Only two. And it's all it took to unravel paradise. You better be careful who you talk to and where you search for wisdom. That bell that's my timer to tell a joke. They're going to play some music, though seriously. And here's the deal. Can I share one last thing with you? Okay, I got three people who's going to let me, the rest of you heard the bell and you know it's over.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Can we go here? The tree... We'll just use this as an example. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So if you were to try to define what the fruit of a tree of the knowledge of good and evil would be, what is that fruit? If you possess the ability to have knowledge of what is good, and what is evil, then you possess the ability to judge. So the reason you can bring judgment is because you can discern the difference between good and evil, you have that knowledge. One of the things that God was trying to protect Adam and Eve from was judgment. As long as they only had good, they were not subject to judgment. But now that the knowledge of evil comes into the equation, they not only can judged but they must be judged. Judge not lest you be judged.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Notice in the text, the very first thing that Adam and Eve do after eating the fruit, they judge one another. And it becomes one judgment after the other. They look at each other and they judged that they are different. Adam recognizes he's a man. Eve recognizes she's a woman. And for the first time, they are now ashamed of the fact that they're different. And they start trying to cover up their nakedness and trying to hide their nakedness because they're now operating in the realm of judgment. It has such an effect on them, the shame and the guilt that the Bible says they start hiding. They go and they literally hide from God. And then God shows up and He says, "Adam, where are you?" And if you think God didn't know where Adam was at...

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

When God asked a question, he's trying to prove a point to humanity. He was letting Adam know there's distance, there's separation, there's something that has come between us. And Adam steps out, brings Eve with him. And God observes the fig leaves that they've adorned themselves with. And He asked, "Is that the best fashion you can come up with for the fall season?" Sorry, it's the best I got. And then God goes into His closet. And He brings out animal skins. There's only one way you get the skin off of an animal. Something's got to die. Blood has to be shared. And God let Adam and Eve know right then and right there only one thing can fix this. And it's blood. And in that moment, in creation, God painted a picture of Christmas and Easter.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

That He would send His Son to be the ultimate sacrifice of blood so that humanity would be freed from its judgment. It's shame, it's condemnation. Man, what a hope we have in Jesus to escape the wrath that would have been our own and find the grace that He has made available. I wonder today if you would finally be willing to lift a hand and surrender? And say, Jesus, be my savior. Be my Lord. I'm done hiding from you. I'm done dialoguing in the wrong conversations. God, I'm done looking for the right thing in the wrong place. I am ready for true grace to come into my life. And you will discover that as you seek heaven, heaven is far more seeking you. And heaven will always be reaching further down than you can reach up because God has already told us, where sin abounded, grace will much more abound.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Come on, every head bowed, every eye closed, I want you to just take a moment. And I want you to contemplate and think with me about the goodness of God's grace and the victory that is available in His mercy if today you would simply decide, "God, I'm ready for a fresh start. God, I don't want to hang out in the palace and talk to Herod any longer. I don't want to hang out at the tree and talk to the snake any longer. God, I'm ready. I'm ready for a salvation experience, a born-again experience."

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

I would challenge you to throw a hand up in the air and not hold back not hesitate. But right now like instantaneously say, "God, I'm ready." For some of you, you're coming to Jesus for the very first time, for others of you, you're rededicating your life to Jesus. But you recognize that there is a need for His blood to be applied like an eraser to the record books of your life in heaven. You need salvation, and that it can only come through Him, through His grace. Your answer is only going to come out of His closet. It doesn't matter how many fig leaves you try to stitch together. Self-righteousness will never be enough to restore us to reconcile us, to relationship with God.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Father God, we lift our hand to You as a sign of surrender, a sign, God, that we're done, living by the wisdom of this world. God, I thank You that You will not only save us, but that, God, You will regenerate us, You will transform us. That old things will be passed away that everything will become new again. God, right now there's some of us that were just confessing the mess that's in our life. We're confessing, God, that the conversations with the snake that we've been having. For some of us, God, it's been the whispers in the nighttime, our moments, God, where the enemy just whispered in the darkness over and over and over again, God, trying to draw us away from Your will for our life. God, for somebody else, it's been the struggle with an addiction. God, wanting warmth and wanting to have the feeling of something good, but at the same time, God, it's been the wrong place. It's been the wrong source. And right now, Lord, thank You that You're even showing us all the other stuff that the enemy has been up to in our life, and we call him for what he is. God, you snap the traps of the enemy and set us free today. Thank You, Lord. Thank You for grace. Thank You for salvation. Thank You, God, for seeking us that what You would allow us to seek You.