#2.Satan's weapon: lies
Satan came to Eve as the serpent, the subtle deceiver.
Revelation 12:9 (NKJV)
9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
John 8:44 (NKJV)
44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
Let’s look at the steps that satan took to get Eve to believe his lie.
#1.He questioned God’s Word.
“Indeed, has God said . . .?” He did not deny that God had spoken; he simply questioned whether God had really said what Eve thought he had said. “Perhaps you misunderstood what God spoke,” is Satan’s suggestion. “You owe it to yourself to rethink what he said.”
It is worth noting that in this suggestion Satan is also questioning God’s goodness. “If God really loved you, he wouldn’t keep something from you.” He tried the same approach with Jesus in the wilderness: “If you are God’s beloved Son, why are you hungry? Make Bread, God wants you to be feed.
#2.He denied God’s Word.
“You surely shall not die!” It’s but a short step from questioning God’s Word to denying it.
We know that neither Adam nor Eve had ever seen death. All they had to go on was the Word of God, but this was all they needed. If Eve had not listened to Satan’s questioning God’s Word, she would never have fallen into his trap when he denied God’s Word.
#3. He substituted his own lie.
“You will be like God!” Adam and Eve were already made in the image of God, but Satan tempted them with an even greater privilege: to be like God! This was, of course, Satan’s great ambition when he was Lucifer, God’s angelic servant.
Isaiah 14:12-14 (NKJV)
12 "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'
Satan is a created being, a creature, but he wanted to be worshiped and served like the Creator. It was this attitude that led him to rebel against God and seek to establish his own kingdom. “You will be like God” is the one gigantic lie that has controlled civilization since the fall of man.
Romans 1:25 (NKJV)
25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Satan desires worship and service, and Jesus Christ would give him neither!
Matthew 4:8-10 (NKJV)
8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
9 And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."
10 Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.' "
Satan’s lie’s, “You will be like God,” motivates and controls much of our civilization today. Man is seeking to pull himself up by his own bootstraps. He is working to build a utopia on earth and possibly take it to outer space. Through education, psychiatry, religions of one kind or another (most of which ignore Jesus Christ, sin, and salvation), men are defying God and deifying themselves.
They are playing right into the hands of Satan. How did Eve respond to Satan’s approach? She responded by making three mistakes that led her into sin.
#1. She took away from God’s Word.
Genesis 3:2 (NKJV)
2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;
Eve omitted the word “freely.” God’s original word in Genesis 2:16 was,
Genesis 2:16 (NKJV)
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
” We get the impression that Eve caught Satan’s subtle suggestion, “God is holding out on you!” When you start to question or forget the grace of God and the goodness of God, you will find it much easier to disobey the will of God.
#2. She added to God’s Word.
Genesis 3:3 (NKJV)
3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' "
We do not find the words “or touch it” in God’s original command. They may have been there, but they are not in the record. Not only did Eve make God’s original word less gracious by omitting the word “freely,” but she also made the commandment more grievous by adding “or touch it.”
1 John 5:3 (NKJV)
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
Satan wants us to believe they are burdensome, and that he has something better to offer.
#3.She changed God’s Word.
God did not say, “Lest you die.” Genesis 3:3 (NKJV)
3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' "
God said,. Genesis 2:17 (NKJV)
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
The penalty for disobedience as presented by the enemy did not seem as harsh; therefore, Eve could consider forsaking God’s will and obeying Satan’s will. Once you have treated God’s Word in this fashion, you are wide open for the devil’s final trick.
He merely permitted Eve to consider the tree apart from God’s Word. “Get a good look at it Eve! See it as it really is!” It was “good for food . . . a delight to the eyes . . . desirable to make one wise” (Genesis 3:6). She had to make a choice: God’s Word or Satan’s word? She rejected God’s Word, believed Satan, and sinned. You and I have been suffering from the consequences of her decision, as has the whole human race.
Remember this, God accomplishes his will on earth through truth; Satan accomplishes his purposes through lies. When the child of God believes God’s truth, then the Spirit of God can work in power; for the Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of truth” (John 16:13). But when a person believes a lie, then Satan goes to work in that life; “for he is a liar, and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
Faith in God’s truth leads to victory; faith in Satan’s lies leads to defeat. However, Satan never advertises, “This is a lie!” He is the serpent, the deceiver, and he always masquerades his lies as God’s truth.
2 Corinthians 11:13-14 (NKJV)
13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
Satan did not approach Eve in his true nature; he masqueraded by using the serpent. Satan is a counterfeiter, an imitator.
There are counterfeit Christians to.
2 Corinthians 11:26 (NKJV)
26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
Matthew 13:38 (NKJV)
38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.
There is a counterfeit gospel.
Galatians 1:8 (NKJV)
8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
There are counterfeit ministers of the gospel
2 Corinthians 11:14-15 (NKJV)
14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
There is a counterfeit righteousness.
Romans 10:3 (NKJV)
3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.
There is even a counterfeit “church of Satan.”
Revelation 2:9 (NKJV)
9 I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich); and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
And this counterfeit church has counterfeit doctrines.
1 Timothy 4:1-5 (NKJV)
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,
2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,
3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving;
5 for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
All of this will end, of course, in the appearance of a counterfeit Christ—the Antichrist—who will accept for Satan the worship and service of the whole world.
2 Thessalonians 2:8-10 (NKJV)
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,
10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
Revelation 13:8 (NKJV)
8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
So Satan’s target is your mind, and his weapon is lies. What is his purpose?
