Introductory Comments
1."The devil made me do it." Many of us are familiar with these words. They were made famous by comedian Flip Wilson who recently passed away. Whenever Flip got caught doing something wrong, he would flippantly say "the devil made me do it."
2. But with all respect to Flip, these words did not originate with him. For we hear them already in the first days of creation. For when God approaches Eve and asks her what it is she has done, her answer is "the devil made me do it."
3. Today we consider the word of God as in comes to us in the Jan. 2 readings of the Year Of The Bible. On New Year's Day considered the readings for Jan. 1. We focussed on God - our Creator, Provider, on His goodness. On His intended relation with mankind, with us. And it was all very good.
4. I liked those readings much more than those we will consider today. For that perfect, that intended, that eutopian relationship with God is shattered. Things are not the same and will not be the same again. Why? Because the devil made us do it? Yes, partly because of him, but also because of us.
Teaching
1. As we look at what happened we will be able to see what it is that destroys or at least, hampers, our relationship with God.
2. In our passage we are introduced to Satan. He was an angel who was jealous of God. He led a rebellion against God, hoping that he would be able to sit in the throne of God. He wants to destroy God’s kingdom and His followers. He does not want anyone to have a right relationship with God. That is why he led A&E against God. That is why he led Herod to fear Jesus and try to kill Him. He did not want Jesus to come and die for our sins. He even tempted Jesus to try and stop Him from dying for our sins.
3. Well, this is the first time that Satan becomes active in God’s creation. The first time that he seduces us to rebel against God. And as we will see, his ways have not changed.
4. Satan tries to affect the way we think about God. W will look at 4 ways he does this. Ask yourself, "Do I ever think like this about God? Does Satan affect my view of God?" Remember he is deceptive and we need to be aware of his ways. Jesus tell us in John 8:44 for "he is a liar and the father of lies." And many of his lies are lies about God.
5. Satan wants us to have negative thoughts about God.
vs. 1 - "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
"Did God place all these things in the garden, these beautiful trees with delicious fruit on them, and then tell you that you cannot eat of them?
6. And I believe that’s how many people think of God today. "God is not fun. If you want to have fun and enjoy life, forget about God. He is all about rules, all about thou shalt nots."
7. Do we ever feel that way? Restricted because of God? Young people get free from home when they go to college. Some stop going to church and start the party life. They want to live, to have fun. And so they forget about God for a while. I have a feeling that some of us have gone through times like this. And maybe we still do.
8. Well, there are two things we need to consider:
a. First is God as restrictive as He is made out to be? Satan lied. A&E could not eat of one tree - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He said they could not eat of any tree. So often Satan exaggerates the rules that God places before us.
b. The Pharisees did it in their day and many still do this today. I think of Jesus - who went to the home of sinner and dined with them. He enjoyed Himself, He like a good meal and a glass of wine with His friends.
c. We must be careful that as a church, as believers we do not send the wrong message to the unbelievers around us. I heard what is supposed to be a true story:
A woman in a church had been listening to a message by her pastor by evangelizing the neighbours people have. The next week she proudly told her passage that she had done just what he had suggested. The week before, when she came home, she saw her neighbour out on the driveway washing her car. So she went out to him and told him that he should not be washing her car on Sunday. Too bad she wasn’t there to see Jesus and his disciples picking grain on Sunday. She could have set them straight as well.
d. There are many things that we as a church should speak up against. But we should spend more time telling people about who God is, why we need Christ and sharing the good news. We are sinners but our approach to convince people should not be based on things like washing cars on Sunday but rather on the deeper struggles we have with sin. About our call to love God with all our hearts and our neighbours as ourselves
e. Do we sometimes make it easy for people to think negative about God? Or perhaps we show that following God’s law is a burden. "I can’t do that, my parents, my church or God won’t let me," instead of saying "That would not glorify God and I do want to glorify Him"
f. And we need to remember that when God tells us to do, or not do, anything it is for our own good, whether we understand it or not. God did not just sit in heaven, make man, and then randomly decide one thing would be sin and another would not. Sin is sin because it is wrong in the sight of God because He knows it is not in our best interest.
Mark 2:27 Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath
g. God’s law are not to take the fun out of life but to enable us to get the most out of life.
9. Satan tries to make us question God, to make us sceptical of Him. After Eve did not fall for Satan’s first lie, he said, (Gen 3:4) "You will not surely die." Here is the father of lies calling God a liar. He is questioning the word of God. He is saying we cannot really trust God.
10. Friends we must be careful that we know what God says to us and that we believe what He says. Satan will give us all kinds of lies. Even with the church. Those who say that all will be saved and that Jesus is not the only way to God, are really telling us to be sceptical of the word of God.
2 John 1:7 Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.
In other words, they are of the devil.
11. Many say they are speaking the truth, even in the name of Christ. The Mormon church today is one of the fastest growing religious groups in the world, yet it is a cult. It does not preach, nor teach what this Bible teaches. But you would never know that from the deceptive advertisements this cult produces. They will tell you they believe in the Jesus of the Bible, but they don't. This cult does not believe what this Bible teaches, yet they advertise on television, day after day, they will give a Bible to anyone who will call their toll-free number. When you call, they get your name and address and in a few weeks one of the Mormons will come to your door and deliver the Bible you requested. But only after they try to get into your home and talk to you about the Mormon church and the book of Mormon. It is ironic that the Mormon church has probably done more to violate scriptures than any other cult, yet they give Bibles away.
12. Satan tries to make us not take God too serious. "You won’t die." "Don’t worry about it, God is just making an idle threat. Sin is not really that bad."
13. Don’t we hear that today? "If God loves us He will forgive us. He will not punish sin. He’s like that loving grandfather who talks tough but is really a softy."
14. People want to hear and they need to hear that God loves them. But they need to know that God is the author of tough love. It is because He loves us that He cannot tolerate evil. We live in a tolerant world and the only thing not tolerated is God’s intolerance with evil. But as we have seen in Revelation, God is too be taken seriously. We cannot ignore Him and His word. One day all will stand before Him to be judged.
15. Satan told Eve to be suspicious about God.
Gen 3:5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
"You can’t trust Him. He has some ulterior motive. This is a power struggle." Remember, as we said before, God has our best interests at hand.
16. But Satan did give a half truth. Their eyes would be opened and they would know God and evil. But they would be different than God. Movie (Jack Nicholson) "You want the truth, you can’t handle the truth." God can handle the truth about sin, we cannot. Once we knew of sin we were overcome with it. And God knew that.
17. Friends, we need to decide who we will believe. Satan or God? The answer should be simple but it is not. Because of our own sinful nature and because of his deceptive ways.
18. How is he deceiving you? Do you see God as God of no-fun rules? Are you sceptical or suspicious of His word? Do you take His word too lightly?
19. As you read His word, take it seriously and trust Him for He is faithful.
