SPIRITUAL WARFARE
GENESIS 3
This morning I want to begin to expose the lie...the original lie that brought about the downfall of multitudes of people since that fateful day in the Garden of Eden. I hope you will prepare your hearts and minds because that very same lie, in one form or another, is threatening our very existence. We need to fight our one true enemy or die...but to do that we need to understand what its all about.
Steve Green, who sang for 6 years with Bill & Gloria Gaither, tells about getting to know some of the work crews in the large auditoriums where their concerts were held. Now, the Gaithers prefer concerts in the round, which means extra work for the riggers who walk the 4" rafter beams often a hundred feet above the concrete floor to hang the speakers and spotlights.
He says, "The fellows I talked to weren't bothered by the sight of looking down a hundred feet. What they didn't like were jobs in buildings that had suspended ceilings. They were high in the air, and if they slipped their weight would smash right through those flimsy ceiling tiles. But their minds seemed to play tricks with them, often making them careless.
And this is a good illustration of Satan's business...persuading us that the danger of a spiritual fall in minimal, giving us a false sense of security...or making things look like something other than what they really are.
What I want to do over the coming weeks is to shed a little light on some popular beliefs and ideas that are rooted in the forked tongue of that Serpent of Eden. I want to use Genesis 3 as my main text because it's here we find God's record of the introduction of sin into His creation. And this serves not only as a warning against Satan's tricks...but also as a pattern for satanic deception.
I want to show you that the lies used on Eve are the same ones that are warmed up, rehashed, and served over and over again to our lie hungry, carnal natures. And thousands of years of sin and degradation show how successful this has been.
But I also want to show you that we can train ourselves to spot and avoid these deceptions if we just examine their roots and become familiar with the devil's tactics and devises. We need to remember the words of Proverbs 16:25, "There is a way that seems right to a man but its end is the way of death."
Now, in the Garden of Eden, the Serpent, Satan, unleashed his most potent weapon (and some say his only weapon) against both God and man...the lie! And it was very, very potent...separating man from God.
We all know that lies work! They slip into a thought or a conversation and they undermine the very ground you stand on. They appeal to the petty prides and little lusts in us that Satan knows so well...and before you know it you're bound.
We must allow the Holy Spirit to give us the discernment we need to expose these lies so that we can follow God's word in such a way that we'll truly know the truth, and be set free. Knowing the truth about our enemy and our own carnal nature is absolutely essential.
The apostle Paul wrote to following words on several occasions, "I would not have you ignorant." He would not have us ignorant of spiritual gifts...of the mystery of Israel...of the fate of those who die as Christians, just to name a few.
But in 2 Corinthians 2:11 he says that he and his followers were not ignorant of, or outwitted by Satan's schemes. And here Paul refers to a church discipline case...and specifically planting seeds of unforgiveness and division in the church.
Even though our sinful nature is "counted as dead through the death of Christ" we need to know that it still has enough power to blindside us if we ignore its ability to subdue us. And there are many things that lie in our minds that seem to be "perfectly reasonable" assumptions and yet are founded on the basic untruths of the serpent of Eden.
Somewhere along the line this created angel, Satan, imagined himself to be God's equal, but he falls so far short in every way. For one thing, he is a created being who has no powers of creation himself.
But his self deception about this makes his lies especially cunning and dangerous. His lies were successful in the Garden with one of God's most wonderful, perfect creations Eve. And even today those same lies prevail anywhere the light of Christ does not shine. Lets look today at the challenge Eve faced that terrible day. What was the first question the Serpent asked of her? Did God really say?....
Now, at the very center of human life is the question of God's believability. And this is not whether someone believes in God...but whether they can believe what God says! The entire realm of human behavior depends on what someone actually believes. If they believe what God says...they will act accordingly. It's just that simple.
You see, in the Garden, Satan first questioned whether God had actually spoken to Eve. Did God really say that to you? And following this, Satan distorted God's command not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Satan stretched that command to include all the trees in the garden...which is a typical satanic implication that denies the goodness of God toward us. He was saying, in effect, that if God were so good, why is He denying you this pleasure?
And Eve just naturally reacted to Satan's distortion of God's command much the same way Christian's today react to someone who is speaking against the Christian life. But in Eve's response she added to God's word in her own way.
And after he got her on the defensive and got her to question...Satan directly challenged God's word saying "You will not surely die." Eve may have wondered why God would falsely threaten death...but Satan was one step ahead and he anticipated her question.
Satan said to her...God knows that on the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be as gods, knowing good and evil. Well, we know that Eve was deceived...and the lie was complete. It was the prospect of wisdom that finally urged her to snap that fruit off the branch in front of her.
The lie was complete...and so was the foundation upon which Satan would build multitudes of similar destructive traps and seductions. And though there are variations, this is the way it works:
First, he questions God's integrity....then His intentions for good...then His ability to dispense justice...then His truth about His desires...and then His holiness, righteousness, and hatred of evil.
Satan brought Eve to the place where she believed that SHE had the solution...that she could make the right decisions about life, rather than God. It is the lie that says we are in the drivers seat...and it echoes the prideful declaration of Satan, "I will...I will...I will!" (Isa 14:12 15)
But Satan is a perverter of the truth. He took twisted truths and attached them to lies. And everywhere man felt inadequate to be god...Satan simply humanized god. And he continues today to attempt to bring "god" down to our level rather than us up toward the level of holiness and righteousness of God found in His word.
The same human beings who would never even think to question the instructions that come with their videoplayer or their microwave instantly bristle with questions about God's instructions on the most important issues of life.
They would never as they do with the Bible suspect that the plain text saying "Keep your VCR away from wet locations " would mean anything other than what it says. But when the Bible says things like "Don't forsake the assembling of ourselves together (or go to church) we can suddenly find ways to explain away its meaning...or justify breaking that command of God...
What about gossip...Satan will say, "Did God really say not to do that...after all, you're just sharing your heart...or you're just speaking the truth...or maybe you're just sharing it as a matter of prayer.
But God says it is a sin. What about Proverbs 6:16 19...7 things God absolutely hates...such as someone who stirs up dissension among the brothers...
We have some who are committing an abomination in the eyes of God right here in this church by gossiping. But Satan has deceived many into thinking that God's word concerning this is not real. And this is the heart of spiritual warfare. It is a battle that takes place in the mind. It is a battle that allows us as did Eve to believe in God...but not to believe God really means what He says.
We always seem to be able to buy into the subtle ways that Satan can find to justify our lack of relationship with God and obedience to His word. But one thing always stood in the way of the Serpent's complete success...and that was the words of God to Adam and Eve that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the Serpent...destroying its thoughts as well as its foul, lying mouth.
The Serpent was doomed to fall in the end. Jesus said His church will prevail...hallelujah! We win! If you doubt that read the end of the book! But the battle will rage til the end, and it will increase in its intensity until Jesus comes. And many will fall to the cunning tricks of the enemy.
Today I've given you just the first installment in the encounter with Eve in the garden...the lie of Satan that would question God's word. It is a subtle trick...one that many find easy to rationalize.
God understands why I don't come to church all the time...God understands why I feel the way I do, and why I can't forgive or forget...God understands how hard it is to live a pure life, and He understands when we give in to temptation.
Yes God does understand. He understands that we've fallen prey to the enemy...and don't even know it...or refuse to accept it. But we need to measure up everything we do against the Word of God. And not just some obscure idea we pick up somewhere...but the whole of Scripture that is so plain and so true.
Its time we rise above...it time to put on the armor...its time to recognize where we really stand in light of God's word and begin to fight the good fight of faith God's way! That is the only way to victory.
