The Devil’s Doctrine; Genesis 3:1-13
Did you know that from the beginning of Genesis through Revelation the bible speaks about the two religions of the world? I know there’s Muslim – Hindu – J.W. – Mormon – Jews – Buddhist – Christian – and many more, but they all fall under one of two categories. God’s way or man’s way.
I think it’s interesting to note that these are not only different, but exact opposites. The scripture says, Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” 1 Peter 1:18-19, “you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ.” In John 14:6 Jesus said of Himself, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father except through me.”
All other religions of the world say, “I have to live a good life, be a moral person, go to church, I have to do this or that, in other words, I have to earn my own way to heaven.” All those are good things and we ought to live in such a way that pleases our Father in Heaven but grace saves us not good works.
Every non-Christian religion is based on one major doctrine, “Salvation by works.” The religions of the world are trying to put themselves in a position of equality with God. That’s exactly what Satan attempted to do in his fall, and that is exactly what he got Eve to do in this passage.
I want to share with you some of the devils doctrines. And I believe you will see that these same doctrines are still being preached today and the motive is to deceive mankind.
I. Truth is Relative
You can create your own reality or transform your own consciousness. This doctrine is becoming more & more prevalent in our society today. It is being taught to our children in school, especially college students. It’s being portrayed as truth by Hollywood, it’s being accepted by men and women from all kinds of different backgrounds and walks of life.
This belief says what’s true for you may not be true for me, what true in the U.S. may not be true in other parts of the world, what was true 50 years ago may not be true today… Truth is relative, truth changes… If truth is relative… 1). Nothing is true… 2). Nothing is knowable… 3). Nothing matters – there is no such thing as good & evil, all is good (murder, rape, abuse)… 4). No authority.
In this passage Satan begins his attack on Eve by raising a question, and in doing so he lays doubt at her feet. Vs. 1, there are many trees, and look here is one of them. It is a tree in the garden and God said you may eat of every tree in the garden, so that means you can eat of this tree. Deductive Reasoning begins…
If you try hard enough you can almost reason away your sin. If you try hard enough you can twist God’s word and try to make it say what you want it to. WHY? Because the devil says truth is relative, it’s all in the interpretation. But God says His word is truth.
But we hear what we want to hear. (We have selective hearing). There are parts we don’t like so we ignore them. We like it when the Bible speaks about peace, purpose, joy, Heaven, eternal life, God’s grace, forgiveness of sin and the like. But we don’t like to hear about judgment, death, self-sacrifice, repentance, or hell.
But 2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Rightly divide the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”
Truth is truth whether we like or not, whether we believe it or not, whether we accept it or not. What we like, believe or accept does not alter truth. Truth is absolute and we ought to accept it whether we like it or not because it is truth.
Billy Graham, “Truth is timeless. Truth does not change from one age to another, from one people to another, from one geographical location to another. Men’s ideas may differ, men’s custom’s may change, men’s moral codes may vary, but the great all prevailing truth stands for time and eternity.” What we believe to be true may be relative, but the TRUTH is absolute…
II. There Is No Death
Vs. 2-4, Satan said, “You will NOT surely die.” One of the greatest doctrines of a lot of the middle eastern religions and of the new age movement is that of reincarnation. That after you die you will come back again possibly in a better life form or a worse life form depending on how you live this life. But the point is you never really die, you keep on living.
Hebrews 9:27 says, “It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment”. Satan said they would not die, but look at Ch.5.
But before that there was spiritual death – separation from God. Every one of us has been spiritually dead, because we gave in to the temptation to sin. And as Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Through faith in Christ you can be “Born again.” You can become a “New creature” you can inherit a “New nature”. Jesus died in your place…
But without Christ everyone will die and face the judgment. We all have family members that have died, friends, maybe even someone very close to us, and one day we too will die. We don’t know how, we don’t know when, but one day we too will die.
After Jamie Smith died her husband left this tombstone, “Here lies Jamie Smith, wife of Thomas Smith, marble cutter. This monument was erected by her husband as a tribute to her memory and a specimen of his work. Monuments of the same style 350 dollars.”
Every hour 5417 people die. Your hour will come and so will mine. The important thing is that we are spiritually prepared our time is at hand.
III. You Can Be Your Own God
Vs.5, The more knowledge you have, the more you will be like God. How deceptive, Eve was created in the image of God, but she was about to mare that image by giving in to the lies of the devil. Notice what she does… Vs.6
This is the root of sin, the desire to be equal with God. Within Mormonism there is a saying that goes like this, “As man is God once was, as God is man will be.” One of the sayings within the New Age Movement is, “Everything is God and God is everything.”
This teaching has made its way into children’s books and movies, The Lion King, “The Circle Of Life.” This is called “Pantheism,” and it is very prevalent in our society today and the devil’s goal is for mankind to set himself up in a place of equality with God. Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction.”
Isn’t it strange that salvation came by the One that humbled Himself?
Philippians 2:5-8 NLT, “Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross.”
IV. You’re Not Responsible
Vs. 9-12, Adam blamed Eve and ultimately God. The homosexual community – “God made me this way!” The Bible says we were created in the image of God, but because of sin that image was marred, because of sin we received a depraved nature, in other words we are given to sin, we have a bent to sin, but God by no means created us to be sinful, but He did give a free will and we have the right to choose to sin or not to sin, choose to believe or not to believe, choose to accept or choose to reject. But whatever choice we make it is our personal responsibility.
But isn’t it easier to blame God than to take personal responsibility for our own failures? It’s been that way ever since Adam blamed Eve. CREATION STORY – God created light, the heavens, earth, sun, moon, stars, beast of the field, fowl of the air, fish of the sea, and the creeping things, and man – then he rested – then He created woman and neither God nor man has rested since. (Men like to blame women – women like to blame men).
Vs. 13 Eve blamed Satan. How many of you have heard someone say, “The devil made me do it!”
I am amazed that when someone does something wrong and you confront them about it, they get mad at you like it’s your fault, you’re to blame, you’re being intolerant. I get so irritated when people say, “Well that’s just the way I am,” or “That’s the way God made me,” or “The devil made me do it.”
No, you choose whatever action you took and you’re responsible for it. James 1:14, “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” You are responsible for your actions…
Isn’t it time we all take responsibility for ourselves and stop pointing fingers at everyone else.
These are just four of the doctrines the devil preaches that are very prevalent in our society today and he wants you to accept these things as truth and if you don’t he’ll have others call you intolerant, bigoted, homophobe, hypocrite, ignorant, unenlightened along with other names that aren’t so nice.
Conclusion: Memorize this verse, John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father except through me.” This is the great all prevailing truth that all men need to hear, believe and receive.
