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Episode #51 "Say It Aint So!"
Transcript
2 Corinthians 2:11 tells us that “We are not unaware of (Satan’s) schemes.” In other words, we already know his M.O (his operating method). That means you don’t have to go into battle against your spiritual foe ignorant of the tactics he’s going to use against you.
We saw in last week’s episode that Satan attacks your mind with lies to turn you against God’s will. We also began a deep dive into HOW he typically attacks by looking at his approach to Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Welcome to The Point of Purity Podcast. I’m your host, Steve Etner, Author, National Speaker, and Purity Coach for The Pure Man Ministry. This is episode #51 as we continue our mini-series on How to live FOR Christ. Today’s episode is entitled, “Say It Aint So!”
In his assault on Eve’s mind, Satan used three subtle steps to deceive her into buying his lie. In Episode 50 we talked about STEP #1: HE GOT EVE TO QUESTION GOD’S WORD.
Genesis 3:1 tells us that Satan “said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” I want you to understand here that Satan didn’t attack God’s Word directly. He didn’t actually deny that God had spoken. He didn’t try to force Eve to believe that God never actually said anything of importance. He simply posed a question; he planted a seed of doubt in her mind.
Today, let’s look at STEP #2: HE OUTRIGHT DENIED GOD’S WORD
First, I want you notice Eve’s response to Satan’s question in Genesis 3:2-3. “The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 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.’”
Now listen as I read to you Satan’s response in Genesis 3:4-5. “But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
After Eve responded to Satan’s first step, he knew he had her right where he wanted her. Conspiratorially he grinned, leaned forward a bit, and whispered into her ear, “C’mon, Eve. Do you really think that you’re going to die? You’re not going to die. Think about it Eve. God created you. He designed you. No way is He going to let you die! God’s making that up. He’s lying to you because He’s afraid you’ll become just like Him—and that threatens Him.”
Consider this: When Satan convinces you to doubt God’s Truth, you’re one small step away from denying God’s Truth. Let me repeat that. When Satan convinces you to doubt God’s Truth, you’re just one small step away from denying God’s Truth.
You see, once the seed of doubt had taken root in Eve’s mind, her uncontrolled thoughts took over, drawing her ever further away from God’s truth. The result: she saw nothing wrong with questioning God. That opened her up to thinking it was okay to add her own spin to His sacred word.
Consider what God had said in Genesis 2:17. “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it
Not only did she take away from God’s Word, but she also added to it. Eve told Satan that God instructed them to not even “touch” the fruit. But isn’t that a good thing? After all, everyone is better off if you just avoid the fruit completely. It makes sense.
When Eve added to what God had said, she did two very serious things.
- She turned God into something that He is not. She painted the picture of a God who is stern and rigid, less kind and generous. The fact is, God had lovingly given them an entire garden with more food than they could ever eat. Satan successfully steered her thinking away from that fact and got her to focus on the one thing God said she couldn’t have. What kind of loving, caring, selfless God is that?
- By adding the words “you must not touch it,” she changed God’s command into a burden too heavy to bear. She was already doubting and questioning God’s Word. She had already created a false image of God, making Him into something He is not. Now, to make matters worse, she saw God as denying her the one thing she wanted most in this world—to be like God! The load God was expecting her to bear became too much.
It is vital that you understand this next point: God will never give you more than you can bear—never. (“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” 1 John 5:3)
OK – so, in his assault on Eve’s mind, Satan used three subtle steps to deceive her into buying his lie. And he uses this same tactic on you and me today.
1ST : HE GOT EVE TO QUESTION GOD’S WORD
2ND : HE OUTRIGHT DENIED GOD’S WORD
3RD : HE REPLACED GOD’S TRUTH WITH HIS OWN CRAFTY LIE
In 2 Corinthians 11:3 the Apostle Paul writes, “I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”
You see my friend; Satan is waging an all-out war against your mind with his lies to keep you from growing in your walk with God. Once he has you questioning the truth of God’s Word, you begin to listen to his denial of God’s Word. You are now vulnerable for his final blow.
Satan inserts his own lies in place of God’s Word, convincing you his lie is actually the truth.
His lie went something like this: “God knows that if you eat the fruit of this tree, you will know the real truth. Take a bite and you will see just what kind of God He really is. You will finally see how He’s been using you. He doesn’t care about you.”
Listen as I read Genesis 3:4-5. Can you identify the lie? “But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Can you identify the lie of the enemy here?
Genesis 1:26, 27 tells us that “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’ ... So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
Adam and Eve were already created after the image of God, but Satan got them to question and then doubt that truth. Once they did that, it was easy for them to accept his lie substituted as truth.
Sound familiar? Isn’t that exactly how Satan works today? His M.O. hasn’t changed. Satan’s lie, “You will be like God,” still motivates and controls mankind today. Every time you put King Me on the throne of your heart, you are buying into the enemy’s lie that you can control your life and determine your own destiny. I want, I need, I desire, I deserve, I have to have, I can’t live without!
The truth permeating Scripture is that no one can be like God. Moses told Pharaoh in Exodus 8:10 that “there is no one like the Lord our God.” God repeated that truth to Pharaoh Himself in Exodus 9:14 when He said, “I will send all my plagues on you and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.” Samuel cried out to God, “You are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you.” (2 Samuel 7:22)
Jesus said in John 8:44 that Satan “has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies”. And yet so many of us are buying into his lies, trying to do life on our own, in our own power and wisdom—turning to God only when our own efforts have failed us.
When we try to figure out life without looking to God’s Word for direction, when we attempt to make choices without seeking the guidance of our Heavenly Father, we become vulnerable to input from ungodly influences. Those influences will never lead us down the right path. They will try to sway us away from God.
When we begin to doubt God’s Word and deny God’s truth, allowing Satan’s deceitful lies to take the place of God’s absolute truth, we will no longer see the necessity for God’s Word. The result: we will begin to live a life apart from God’s will.
By using the strategy that he did, Satan persuaded Eve to consider the tree separately from what God had said. He influenced her thinking with his lies so that she doubted and questioned God’s Word. That’s when she was open to rejecting God’s truth. The final blow came when she accepted Satan’s lies as the truth and reached out, not only taking the fruit but eating it as well.
When you doubt the Word of God, you begin to also doubt the God of the Word. As a result, you begin to trust only in King Me. Thoughts of honoring God are now crowded out by thoughts of all the perceived “rights” that are being denied you. You begin to see God’s standards as a harsh and cruel burden you have to carry. This in turn causes you to see God as unloving and uncaring.
From there, it’s much easier to allow your mind to linger on the pleasures that sin affords, and you begin to think about life apart from the absolute truth of God’s Word. Finally, it is a very short step toward outright disobedience to your Heavenly Father.
Here is what I want you to realize: All Satan has to do is convince you to choose to think about life apart from the Word and will of God—you’ll do the rest.
Oh, my friend, we must understand how vital it is that we consider all of life in light of God’s Word. God’s truth must always be our guide in every aspect of life.
That’s why I strongly urge you to be in the Scriptures DAILY! It is fundamentally imperative that you continuously saturate your mind with God’s truth. You see, “no lie comes from the truth.” (1 John 2:21) Daily you face the same choice that Eve did—God’s truth or Satan’s lie? When you dilute and change God’s truth, it is easy for you to reject that truth, believe the lie, and choose to sin.
Contrary to what he wants you to believe, Satan is not your friend. He doesn’t care about your pleasure, enjoyment, or happiness. He wants to hurt God, and he will use you to do it if he can.
1 Peter 5:8-9 commands us to “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith.” (1 Peter 5:8-9)
Peter says we are to be “self-controlled” (sober-minded). You need to always be in your right mind, thinking correctly. Why? Because the Devil is on the hunt, looking for someone to devour.
When a lioness is on the hunt, she knows that the best target is the weak one. The best target is the one who thinks he’s safe. When she comes upon a herd of antelope, she crouches low in the grass and patiently waits. She’s watching to see which one is the weakest, which one is isolated from the herd, which one is oblivious and ignorant of its surroundings. Which one is most vulnerable? This is what Satan does.
He’s looking for the Christian who is weak in the faith, the one who isn’t hiding God’s Word in his heart, focusing his thoughts on glorifying God. You should always be in your right mind, thinking properly—on guard against the attack of the enemy.
Before I wrap up today’s episode, I have a personal request of you.
As I look around me at the events that are rapidly unfolding, I am becoming more and more convinced that our time here on earth is running out. Very soon God’s trumpet is going to sound, and our Heavenly Father is going to call His children home.
I must confess to you that I feel the irresistible urge, the undeniable draw to make these last days ones that are completely and unreservedly focused on glorifying God in every aspect of my life.
I can so relate to Acts 20:22, 24 where the Apostle Paul says “I am bound by the Spirit ... I don’t know what awaits me, But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” …
For me I am bound by the Spirit to the task of pointing men and women toward the power of Christ and the impact that God’s Word can have in their everyday lives. I am compelled to show them from Scripture how to live in victory and freedom ... specifically, from the lure of lust, the pull of porn and the magnet of masturbation.
I don’t know how many more years God is going to give me – but I am committed to dedicating every one of those years to this ministry ... and I’m asking for your help.
If you share our desire to see men walk in integrity and live in purity – I am personally inviting you to join our team of ministry partners! We have set the goal of raising $46,000 to cover our cost of operating this ministry for 2022.
Through your financial gifts – The Pure Man Ministry is able to pour into the hearts of both men and women (literally across the globe), investing in their lives, their marriages, their homes and even their churches - training them from God's Word how they can live free from addiction to porn, lust and masturbation ... all to the glory of God. Your support makes this possible.
Without compromise The Pure Man Ministry shows men and women how to have a continuous relationship with Jesus that is real and personal. To that end we are asking for your financial assistance to partner with us in providing hope and helping men win their personal battles. Help us raise $46,000.
Your gifts to this ministry are deeply appreciated - and are tax deductible!
If God is moving in your heart to become a financial partner with us, you can visit our website at www.thepuritycoach.com and click on the “Donate” button in the upper right corner to give your tax-deductible donation today. Please help us reach our goal so we can reach the world with the message of hope, healing, and restoration. THANK YOU!
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So, until next time this is Author, Speaker, and Purity Coach Steve Etner reminding you that if you are going to glorify God in your everyday living, He must first be glorified in your every moment thinking.