Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” Genesis 3:1 HCSB
If you study Ken Hamm’s Answers in Genesis curriculum, he uses the 7 C’s of Creation. The first two are creation, followed by corruption. As we can see, the devil wasted no time in getting to corrupting Adam and Eve. He slithered into the garden and tried to confuse them about what God had said to them.
We see numerous times where the devil tried to convince people to disregard what God said. He even tempted Jesus in the wilderness, as recorded in Matthew 4. After Jesus had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, the devil tried to tempt him to turn a stone into bread. Jesus responded by quoting scripture from Deuteronomy 8:3, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Then the devil had Jesus stand on the pinnacle of the temple. He told Jesus to throw Himself down, and then he quoted Psalm 91:11-12, telling Jesus, “It is written: He will give His angels orders concerning you, and they will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”
The devil also knows Scripture, as we see from Matthew 4:6, when he quotes it to Jesus. Jesus responded with Scripture from Deuteronomy 6:16, saying, “It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God.”
We can see from the beginning of creation, the devil has been lying. He uses his cunning and his lies to convince us that God will be okay with our sin, and we shouldn’t worry about it.
This is why Bible study is so important. If we don’t know what the Bible says and what it means, we can be fooled by the devil. The devil tried three times to tempt Jesus in the wilderness, and three times Jesus responded with Scripture.
The devil will try to convince you that you don’t need to pay attention to how you talk, but in Matthew 12:36, Jesus warned us that we will be held accountable for every word we say. This doesn’t only apply to cursing, but how we use our tongues in judgment of others.
The devil will try to convince you that you don’t need to go to church, but Exodus 20:8-9 says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God…” The devil will encourage you to stay home on Sunday, saying you can worship God anywhere. But Hebrews 10:24-26 says, “And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
I could go on and on about the lies the devil tells us. But for today, I just want you to understand the devil is a liar. We want to listen to him because he tells us what we want to hear. But I beg of you not to fall for his lies. Just as he did with Eve in the garden, he wants to convince you that God doesn’t really care if you sin. He wants you to believe you won’t suffer any consequences. These are lies.
Jesus said in John 8:44, “You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars.”
Study your Bible so you can stand against the devil. Submit to God. Surrender to Him. He will strengthen you against the devil. James 4:7 says, “Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
Have a great day!