Knowing Is Half The Battle Series

Remember the cartoon series, Peanuts? In one of the scenes, Linus and Charlie Brown are walking along and chatting with one another. Linus says, “I don’t like to face problems head on. I think the best way to solve problems is to avoid them. In fact, this is a distinct philosophy of mine. No problem is so big or so complicated that it can’t be run away from!”

Isn’t that great? A distinct philosophy, claims Linus. I don’t think it is too distinct or too unusual for many of us to have that same philosophy. In fact, I think a great many people, Christians and non-Christians alike, have this same distinct philosophy when it comes to our number 1 enemy – satan. Just watch the following video in which various people of various walks are interviewed on the street about their view of the devil.

Did you hear the key words or phrases spoken in the video? “I don’t worry about”, “I prefer God over the devil”, “There’s nothing in the Bible about the devil”, “I believe in the presence of evil”, “He is scary looking”, “He exists to bring balance”, “I have better things to worry about”.

The existence of the devil is exactly what I will be talking about today. In fact, get ready, because over the next three weeks I will be talking about the great spiritual conflict in which the whole world, whether you believe it or not, is caught up in. This spiritual conflict is greater and more gruesome than all the wars this world has witnessed because this conflict relates directly to the outcome of eternity. People are spiritually dying literally left and right and if we are to live an abundant life free from the wounds that the enemy’s weapons attempt to inflict upon us, then I submit to you that we need to know the enemy with whom we fight. This is what we will attempt to do this morning – to know and understand our enemy as best as we can according to scripture and then on the following two Sundays we will discover victory and learn how to be prepared.

If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, turn with me to Genesis 3:1-7. Today we will be reading the account of the fall to sin of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. We’re in chapter 3 of Genesis, verses 1-7.

3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

I recently came across a song called “Know Your Enemy” by the alternative rock band “Green Day”.

Do you know the enemy?

Do you know your enemy?

Well, gotta know the enemy

Silence is the enemy

Against your urgency

So rally up the demons of your soul

The insurgency will rise

When the bloods been sacrificed

Don’t be blinded by the lies

In your eyes

Do you know the enemy?

Do you know your enemy?

Well, gotta know the enemy

Lead singer, Billie Joe Armstrong, comments that the song is about liberating one’s self from the lies which are fed to us through the media. I couldn’t agree more with the lyrics of his chorus – Do you know the enemy? However, I think his conclusion is misguided a bit on who the enemy truly is. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, 20th century pastor and author, writes that, “A man who does not understand the nature of the problem he is confronting is a man who is already doomed to failure.”

Likewise, if we don’t get this crucial question right, which Mr. Armstrong poetically wrote, “Do you know the enemy?”, we too are doomed for a certain failure.