Evangelist Dr. Bob Sanders
POSTED: December 1, 2008
www.drbobsanders.com

“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman.” Genesis 3:1

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:  Whom resist steadfast in the faith,” I Peter 5:8-9 

Recently I was wondering around in a rather large used bookstore. It was not long before my attention was diverted from the publications, to the people. While I should not have found it perplexing, I was disturbed by the materials that the majority of individuals chose to feed upon. While much of these materials were proclaimed to be Christian, they were questionable at best! Even with the most casual glance, it is not difficult to see the physical and spiritual devastation wrought by the fall of man. Peter reminds us that we have an “adversary.” The word means, an opponent with special reference to Satan as the arch-enemy! We see his first appearance in the Garden of Eden when he approached Eve. He came with but one purpose in mind; to deliver a rebellious blow of opposition to the Creator by corrupting God’s creation! Having accomplished his task in corrupting the creature, he relentlessly continues to make war with the Creator. He launches his attacks through the creature; those that are both saved and those that are lost! Satan is the enemy of all men. 

It is interesting to note that Satan continues to use the same tactics today that he uses the first time he approached man. Some might ask, “Why?” The answer is a simple one; you continue to use what works! Satan’s tactics continue to work on the sinner as well as the saint. 

Satan began by trying to generate doubt in the mind of man. Listen closely; “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (Genesis 3:1). He turned Eve’s focus away from the plentiful positives to the single negative. Our first parents were placed in a garden with a great multitude of trees and plants that were more than sufficient to sustain life, and Satan pointed out the only tree that had been withheld. Satan wants to place the seed of doubt concerning God’s charity or God’s compassion in the minds of God’s creation. Is that not the successful tactic that cripples the mind of most? “If God really loved me, why don’t I have what I want?” Sadly, this is not only the thinking of the lost world; this is the mentality of the average Christian! We have closed our eyes to God’s grace and God’s goodness. It is no longer need, but greed that festers and breeds within our hearts and minds. Satan’s idea was; “Don’t be appreciative of all that God has done, look for something that He hasn’t done!” Is that not the mentality of our day? Listen to these words of admonishment, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” (Hebrews 13:5). Why do we become so preoccupied with a single negative that we fail to see the monumental mount of positives? When we focus on the negative, we convince ourselves that it is the absence of God’s compassion that has withheld this single object from us. We never consider that it may be His compassion coupled with His comprehension of all things that has directed His course. Having caused Eve to doubt God’s charity, Satan is ready for his next tactic. 

The second tactic was to generate disbelief in the heart. Satan said, “Ye shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4). The idea goes something like this; “If you can’t trust God to give you what you want, you can’t trust what He says!” “If God would withhold a tree, He would withhold the truth.” “There’s more to be had than what God is telling you, “ye shall be as gods” (vs.5).” The natural instinct of man is to distrust anyone that they think does not love them and does not have their best interests at heart! How quickly we forget that “God is love” (I John 4:8). This was the argument that Israel used in the days of Malachi. “I have loved you, saith the Lord . Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us?” Malachi 1:2 Paul reminds us that we are the object of that love, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). It was love that sent Jesus to die on the cross in our stead! The seed of doubt has germinated and the slender sprout of disbelief has emerged! 

We soon discover that doubt leads to disbelief which ultimately leads to disobedience, “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat” (Genesis 3:6). Totally driven by the desires and appetites of the flesh, faith is cast aside as our first parents eat of the forbidden fruit. At this time, there is no faith in the compassion of God or the commandments of God! While it may appear as an over simplification of the truth, obedience and faith are the same thing! When the Bible says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8), faith is nothing more than obedience. The word “faith” means the persuasion or conviction of religious truth or the truthfulness of God especially the reliance upon Christ for salvation. When God said, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13), all that respond in obedience to the command are saved. This is nothing more that faith! We are told that “the just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17). If we are living in disobedience to God’s will and His Word, we are not living by faith! The seed of doubt has germinated; the sprout of disbelief has emerged and developed into the vibrant plant of disobedience! 

But that is not the end! Plants ultimately produce fruit and in this case, things are no different. The doubt leads to disbelief which leads to disobedience, which ultimately brings forth death. That which they choose not to believe has now come true! There was the immediate spiritual death coupled to the prospect of physical death in time. Immediately man was separated from God by sin and but not for the love of God it was a state that would never change. Whether it is in the life of a saint or a sinner, the fruit of disobedience is death. “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” James 1:15 

What has worked in the past continues to work for Satan today. It all began by looking away from the abundance of what God had done to the only thing He has withheld. Are you looking the wrong way? Eve discovered that when you start looking the wrong way, it isn’t long before you start going the wrong way!