The Garden and the Deceiver
About this sermon
Pastor Dean Odle uses the Garden of Eden to warn that the deceiver’s oldest lie still promises that sin carries no final consequence. Moving through Genesis 3, Titus 2, Hebrews 10, Jude, and other passages, he argues that salvation is God’s unearned gift while believers remain responsible to obey Christ, reject habitual sin, and continue in sound doctrine. He contrasts the Spirit’s transforming grace with teachings that excuse lawlessness, addresses contemporary religious deception and disputed end-times claims, and urges listeners to stay in Scripture, prayer, humility, and fellowship with Jesus. The message closes with a call to step away from the tree of sin, repent when one falls, and keep choosing Christ to the end.
Chronological teaching outline
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After worship and prayer, Odle introduces the sermon with concern about apostasy, public turmoil, and Jesus’ warning that false prophets, betrayal, hatred, and lawlessness would accompany the end of the age.
Odle contrasts an encouraging testimony with online accusations against his preaching. He identifies once-saved-always-saved teaching, serpent-seed claims, the so-called little-season view, and appeals to a Gnostic Gospel of Philip as examples of deception that must be tested by Scripture.
Beginning in Genesis, Odle presents the garden as a gift Adam and Eve did not earn but were commanded to tend and keep. He argues that obedience did not earn the gift and that repentance is a ceasing from sinful works rather than a meritorious work.
Odle says the serpent’s promise that disobedience would not bring death reappears in teachings that detach faith from conduct. He interprets grace as the Holy Spirit’s influence teaching believers to deny ungodliness and warns from Hebrews and Jude against willful sin and turning grace into license.
Reading Hebrews, Revelation, and other warnings, Odle emphasizes Christ as the author of eternal salvation to those who obey Him. He applies the garden image to temptation, urges listeners to reject the deceiver’s minimizing voice, and points to Christ’s promise of the tree of life for those who overcome.
Odle links obedience to the gospel with doing God’s will, especially sanctification and abstaining from sexual immorality. He calls self-control a fruit of the Spirit, encourages believers to seek God’s promised help in temptation, and contrasts serving Christ with serving the flesh, the devil, or money.
Addressing anti-Jewish claims tied to little-season and preterist teaching, Odle argues that modern Israel’s existence is prophetically significant while explicitly rejecting blanket approval of its government. He recounts visiting Israel, distinguishes individuals from governments and occult groups, and calls Christians to desire Jewish people’s salvation.
Odle connects contemporary violence and sexual immorality with Jesus’ comparisons to the days of Noah and Lot. He discusses claims about Noah’s ark, Pompeii, current crime, nuclear tension, artificial intelligence, and global government as signs that the world is moving toward judgment.
Using a guitar-tuning analogy, Odle urges listeners to remain humble, prayerful, and immersed in Scripture so they can recognize doctrinal error. He reads Paul’s charge to Timothy and John’s warning that departing from the doctrine of Christ means not having God.
Odle closes by contrasting the Lord’s voice with the devil and the flesh. He calls listeners to choose Jesus daily, repent and rise again when they fall, endure to the end, and ask the Holy Spirit to help them step away from sin and walk in truth.
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- 00:10
Jesus have my heart, my will, my soul. Jesus have my ways, my dreams, my world. With joy I lay at them. With joy I cast my crowns. Jesus have it all. To you I bring my praise, my lips, my song. A living sacrifice as one reborn. Your life is now mine. Your will is what I want. Jesus have it all. Oh Jesus have it all. Jesus have it all. To you belongs the glory, the praise of all the world. Jesus have it all. Jesus have it all. Blessing and all honor, majesty and all. Jesus have it all. Jesus have your church, your love, your pride, the joy for which you freely gave. Your life radiant in white, washed and purified. Jesus have us all. Jesus have your worth, your due, your song, the praise of every nation, tribe and tongue. Let all that has been made glorify your name. Jesus have it all. Well, Jesus have it all. Jesus have it all. To you belongs the glory, the praise of all the world. Jesus have it all. Jesus have it all. A blessing and all honor. Oh majesty it all. Oh Jesus have it all. Jesus have it all. To you belongs the glory, the praise of all the world. Oh Jesus have it all. Jesus have it all. Blessing and honor. Oh majesty it all. Jesus have it all.
- 03:10
Jesus have it all. Jesus have it all. Jesus have it all. Oo. Yeah. All my days, all my life. Have it all. All my days and all my life. Have it all. Have it all and all my knees make all my life. It all my days and all my life. have it all. Oh, Jesus. Yes, Lord. We worship you this morning. We want you to have all of our lives, everything. Lord, we surrender to you, God. We hold back nothing for ourselves. None of our own plans, none of our own will. We want your kingdom to come and your will to be done in us and through us. We want to be your light. We want to truly be a people who deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow you. Lord, I thank you for your mercy and your grace. I thank you for your power that you give us to live this life. I thank you that there is forgiveness when we confess our sins and we repent. Lord, we do fall short many times, but we want to walk with you in holiness, purity. We want to walk with you in obedience, God. We don't want to drift away. We don't want to fall away. We don't want to be deceived and commit the great transgression
- 06:04
of apostasy. Lord, we pray this today for your strength and your help and your guidance in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. You may be seated this morning. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Welcome everybody. Good to see everybody here today. Looks like we're going to have some storms and rain here shortly. So, uh just in case if we lose power, something like that happens. Um we'll uh we'll upload things later on. Um I sent you guys some stuff. I hope you got it just a few minutes ago. Um I've entitled this today. I'm just going to simply call this the garden and the deceiver. Um, you know, the last few weeks and I have to say even today, I've every time I've gotten up here to preach, I've had to share how I've had a heaviness on my heart. And uh, I feel it again today. And I guess sometimes I guess maybe it's because we see so much now because of social media and the internet and everything else. It's like uh Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, he that increases wisdom or knowledge increases sorrow as well. Um it seems like the more we know uh the more we see, the more we understand, the more um sorrow and troubled we are. Um, I don't know if anybody's been watching what's been happening in France over the last few days, but uh, France is gone. France is being overthrown by Muslim immigrants and left-wing crazies. Uh, but it's exactly what they're doing in France. They're going to do in England and then other countries in Europe. And then they want to do it here. I mean, that's the ultimate goal. That's why wicked people like uh the Bushes and the Clintons and the Bidens and the Obamas uh allowed so many illegal aliens into our country. Um because that's actually part of the evil agenda is to overthrow Christian western culture. That's just it. And so the only way you do that, the way Rome fell was uncontrolled immigration. And uh that is you're watching it. You're watching it happen. Um now, as somebody wisely said, I don't know if it was on X or if it was on Facebook or where I saw this, but one of the reasons it's not happened here yet like it's happening in France and uh and in
- 09:00
England is because we have the Second Amendment and a lot of us Americans carry guns, me included. So, uh, you know, some of that foolishness would end real quick in certain parts of this country. But I guess I what I'm really upset about today, besides just the craziness going in the world, it just seems like um exactly what Jesus told us in Matthew 24, we're seeing happen. Um, in fact, let's just turn there. I want to I can't get away from it. I'm gonna hold my spot in Genesis, we're gonna go back to Genesis 3 in a second. But a part that's really been standing out to me this week, and I'll share with you why in a second, but Matthew 24, if I can get there, where of course they ask him, "What will be the sign of your coming, the end of the age?" And verse eight, all these are the beginning of sorrows. Then he said, "They shall deliver you up to be afflicted. They shall kill you. You shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." Um, I tell you the truth, I don't think there's any more hated group of people in the world right now than Christians. Um, when you think about all the groups that hate true Christians, it's it's unreal. But as we keep reading in this, he says, "And many false prophets, and I'm going to add in there, false teachers as well, shall rise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold, but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." And again, there's the endurance to the end, being saved. Uh that's who's going to be saved. But then he goes on to say, and let's um well, I'm going to back up. I'm going to see here where uh verse 10 though, when he said, "Many shall be offended. Many shall betray one another, shall hate one another." Man, I'm going to tell you if that ain't true right now. Um and the betrayals too, the people, you know, you can't betray somebody unless you gain first their confidence and trust, right? There's no such thing. So the betrayal right now is really from other Christians. Um who, you know, we we tend to receive people. We tend to accept people. You know, we try to be nice and accepting as we can be, especially when we hear people tell us, "Well, yeah, I'm a Christian, too. I believe in Jesus." Blah, blah, blah. But really, the betrayal is coming from these people, uh, the deceived. Um, now I'm going to share this and I'm not going to share who this person is because I don't want to draw any more attention. I don't want to help build their platform. Okay? Some people if they got a really big platform, I'm
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