Before they were married, my niece’s husband worked for the Cincinnati Bengals as a videographer. When they were in town this past summer, he was telling me the coaches were crazy obsessed with watching film of their upcoming opponent. They would spend hours upon hours in the film room, and if they were there, the video team had to be there. In preparation the coaches would give projects such as, “I need all third and short inside the twenty plays Pittsburgh ran in the last six games”, and the video team was required to splice together one video of all those plays. Then the video crew would need to sit in the coaches meeting playing, rewinding, and editing per the coaches’ request.
In sports, it gives you an advantage to know your opponent. In business, it gives you an edge to know your competition; and in war, it is crucial that you know your enemy.
Your greatest enemy is Satan! You must know your enemy!
Consider this; you are alone in the jungle; you do not see the lion, but the lion sees you. Not only does the lion see you, but the lion has determined that you are his prey.
What chance do you have?
The answer is obvious, the king of the jungle, who you do not see, you do not even know is there, has made you the target…YOU HAVE NO CHANCE!
If we do not understand that Satan is real, that he is your enemy, that he hates you, and you are in a spiritual war, then the rest of this message will not make sense. But if you have come to understand this truth, then you need to also understand, you must know who you are warring against.
Put this in perspective; the lion is king of the jungle, he is a powerful, vicious, and crafty beast; however, Satan is MORE CRAFTY THAT ANY BEAST OF THE FIELD! In the garden account, Satan possessed a serpent, and this serpent indwelt by Satan, was the craftiest beast of the field, meaning he was the cleverest in the use of deceitful tactics in getting what he wants.
So, if you have zero chance against a lion in the jungle, and Satan is more crafty than the lion, and he has been given a certain level of dominion over this world, apart from Christ you have zero chance in making it out of this life alive (with Eternal Life). In addition, if Satan cannot steal your salvation, he will do everything he can make you ineffective in your witness for Christ in this world. YOU MUST KNOW YOUR ENEMY!
Genesis 3:1a Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.
Let’s go back to the garden of Eden. Look at what the serpent says to the woman to initiate the conversation:
Genesis 3:1b He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
The serpent knows this is NOT what God said. What God really said is found in Genesis 2:
Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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.”
Throughout Scripture we see commands and warnings, it is interesting to note that this is the first command and warning found in Scripture; “don’t eat from this tree, or you will die”.
Notice how the serpent deliberately misquoted God to engage the woman. Satan’s first objective was accomplished, to start a dialog; but then notice in that engagement, the woman also misquotes God:
Genesis 3:3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'”
You could say this is our first example in history of someone adding to the Word of God when she said, “neither shall you touch it”.
Verse 4 is where you see, figuratively speaking, the foundation crumble under the woman’s feet. Satan has accomplished his second objective; he successfully plants the seed of doubt and gets the woman to question God’s Word, thus questioning God’s character.
Genesis 3:4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
The serpent led the woman to believe the “death” God was talking about was physical and was immediate. The reality is, there was an immediate death, but it was spiritual, a separation from God, a cutting off of the fellowship with God they that they enjoyed prior to their disobedience. The physical death had started but was not immediate – this points to God’s amazing Grace. The death should have been physical, and it should have been immediate, but in His Grace and Mercy God already had the plan of redemption in place. Man, created in God’s image, is eternal; man was designed to be in the garden, to be in fellowship with God forever. However, because of man’s disobedience fellowship was broken; man is still eternal, only now he is facing eternal death, not life.
Consider what we know at this point about Satan:
- He starts a dialog
- He plants a seed of doubt
- He entices you to question’s God’s character
In Genesis 3:5 the serpent scratches man right where he itches. Man wants to be “like God”, they want to be king of their own kingdom.
Genesis 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.”
To be “like God”, to be “as God” is what Satan also desires as we see in Isaiah 14:14:
Isaiah 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’
Satan was prideful and refused to stay in his appointed position, he wanted to be like God. It is impossible for us get our mind around this: Satan, who was a created angel named Lucifer, was the most glorious angel God created. Lucifer, who was in a very high position in a place that is so glorious our mind cannot imagine it, and that was not enough, he wanted to be “like God”, he wanted to be King. Imagine having such power, and ability that in your pride you are convinced that you can overthrow the very God that created you. BUT THAT’S NOT ALL! Satan is such a gifted deceiver that he convinced one third of the angelic realm of Heaven to join him in the rebellion!
Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Satan used this same deceptive ability to entice the woman, the desire to be “like God”. Satan is a liar, and a deceiver! He knows the “offer” to be “like God” is not true, but if he can get you to well up with pride (which is not much of a stretch for us) and say, “yea, I want to be like God”, he knows you will spend your life being your own god, ruler of your own little kingdom, refusing to surrender to the King of kings, not knowing your place until you die in your sin and go to hell.
Let’s expand on what we know at this point about Satan:
- He starts a dialog
- He plants a seed of doubt
- He entices you to question God’s character
- He convinces you that you can be like God
- He “suggests” that God is holding back what you should have
After the serpent “paints this picture” for the woman, notice how her mind strays:
Genesis 3:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Notice the progression of the woman’s reasoning, her justification:
- “good for food” – surely the other trees in the entire garden were “good for food”, they had been up to that point; so obviously this is not the real reason, it is simply enough for her to start down the road in justifying her disobedience
- “it was a delight to the eyes” – wasn’t the other fruit in the garden a delight to the eyes?
- “desirable to make one wise” – NOW WE ARE GETTING DOWN TO IT! She wanted to be wise, she wanted to be like God
Notice the last part of the verse. THE MAN WAS THERE! Wasn’t he supposed to be her protector? What was he doing during the conversation?
We aren’t told what he was doing, but we are told he also ate.
The moment he bit into that fruit the curse of all humanity was ushered in. That first domino was tipped, and its effect described in Genesis 3:7-19 is what we live with today, starting with the shame of sin and man’s feeble attempts to cover his own shame:
Genesis 3:7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
You could say that “Fig Leaf Covering” is the first false religion; the first attempt of man trying to cover his sin. We also see a few verses later the first blood sacrifice to cover man’s shame. This is a foreshadowing of the One Perfect Blood sacrifice that was to come – Jesus Christ, The Righteous One.
Genesis 3:21 And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
We can see that man did not learn his lesson in the garden. People throughout history, from the creation of man until now rebel against God:
Psalm 2:2-2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us burst Their bonds apart and cast away Their cords from us.”
God has a divine “bond” of restraint, a conscience, conviction from the Holy Spirit of God; but men want to “burst Their bonds” and do as their flesh desires. As we can see in Genesis 4:7, when we stray, when we don’t do right, sin is crouching at the door ready to leap on us, ready to overtake us.
One mark of a true believer is hungering and thirsting for righteousness, we want to do right, we do not want to stumble, we do not want to stray. We are striving not to stray, but if we do stray, we MUST NOT be overtaken by sin, deceived, and hardened by our fleshly desires. We must master sin, not let sin master us.
Genesis 4:7 (amplified Version)
If you do well [believing Me and doing what is acceptable and pleasing to Me] will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well [but ignore My instruction], sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you [to overpower you], but you must master it.
It’s easy to see the deception in the garden, but what about us, what role does Satan play in this world? What must we know about this enemy?
- Know that Satan has been given the authority and ability to blind minds:
2Corinthains 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
- Know there is an enemy, he hates you, and wants to devour you:
1Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
- Your adversary is not going to approach you looking like a scary dragon or a roaring lion, he will approach you “like a roaring lion”. His approach will scratch you where you itch. He will present what is pleasing to the eyes, what is appetizing to the flesh to lure you to a life of sin rather than obedience
2Corinthains 11:14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
- He will attempt to convince you that God is holding back what is good for you, when the exact opposite is true
Psalm 34:10 The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
- He will try to convince you to question God’s character and true intentions, when all God wants for you is good, and all Satan wants for you is evil
John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
- Satan wants you to think much of yourself, and little about God; he wants to create confusion about your true position, and God’s true Authority
2Corinthains 2:11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
How do you battle against this enemy?
- Repent and believe the Gospel
- Study, believe, and store God’s Word in your heart
- When Satan is whispering in your ear, shout back with God’s Word, declaring who you are in Christ
- War against fleshly desires
- Pray
- Get and Stay in fellowship with other believers
- Fast
