Genesis: 3:1-6
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, yea hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 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.”
The serpent was a preacher and Eve was the listener. A careful study of the Bible reveals that the serpent was beautiful and graceful. A lot of people do not have the right idea about what the devil looks like. They think that the devil is ugly, short, dark, looking fearful and terrible. The serpent was subtle, that is, it was hardly noticeable, clever, cunning, full of guile and highly fascinating. From Genesis 3: 14, we know that the serpent used to walk upright, otherwise the curse that it would be crawling on its belly would not be meaningful. He was wise. Even Jesus Himself says we should be as wise as serpent.
What was the method that the serpent used on Eve? The method was temptation. He put a question mark on what God has said. The last sentence in Genesis 3:1 says, “And he said unto the woman, Yea hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”
He misquoted the Scriptures intentionally. In order to arrest it, Eve said unto the serpent in verses 2-3, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”
In Genesis 2: 16-17, we see the correct thing that God said: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” But Eve misquoted that Scripture. She added “neither shall ye touch it.”
When God’s word is doubted, it leads to sin. God said they shall die and the serpent in chapter 3 verse 4 said, “Ye shall not surely die,” and then trouble started. He showed it to Eve, and it was appealing to her. She said it was good for food, it was good for the eye and it was to make people wise. So, she went ahead and ate it.
In his message, Satan instigated Adam and Eve to become disobedient. He made them to doubt God’s words. He made them to question the goodness of God. He made the fruit to appeal to their eyes and appetite and gave them the idea that it could give them wisdom and they listened to the voice of their enemy.
Why are we going back to this basis? It is because the enemy’s method for derailing men and women and for dribbling them out of God’s will has not changed. It is the same old method. It is the same old serpent. He still uses the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.
When the devil came to Jesus to tempt Him too, he used the same method. He told Him to convert stones to bread. There we see appetite. Then he showed Him the kingdoms of the world; again the lust of the eyes. Also, he asked Him to jump from the pinnacle of the temple - pride of life.
The question is, when the devil comes to you does he fail or succeed? The more the success of the enemy in a person’s life, the closer the person is to hell fire. The more the failure of the enemy in a person’s life, the closer to God he comes. If you want to know God intimately, then the enemy has to record failure in your life. But if the enemy is succeeding, like the devil succeeded in the lives of Adam and Eve, then you are getting farther and farther from God.
It is a wonder of wonders that these days, the creation is challenging the Creator. The clay is inviting the porter to a boxing match. The dry leaf is challenging the whirlwind. The one whose breath was given to him is busy challenging the One who gave him the breath. People are using the understanding and wisdom that God has given to them to fight God. That is why the Bible says, “Why do the nations so furiously rage together and the people imagine a vain thing?” Why should people be trying to fight against God with what He has given to them? They are still listening to satanic sermons. The speech of Gamaliel comes to mind these days. He told the council that wanted to kill the apostles to let them go just in case what they were doing was of God, so that they would not find themselves fighting against God. And they listened to him and let the apostles go.
What are we saying? No one can fight against God and prosper. No one can fight against God and succeed. Eve made a lot of mistakes and many people are repeating the same mistakes today.
THE MISTAKES OF EVE
1. She thought that everything nice to the eyes was good. It is commonly said that all that glitter is not gold. The fact that something is beautiful does not mean it is right. The Bible says that there is a way that seems right unto men but the end thereof is death.
2. She thought that she knew better than God. God said, “Don’t eat, if you eat, you will die.” But she said, “I will eat it.” And we see what happened to her.
3. She too, had an ambition to become like God.
4. She sought for the wisdom she did not need. Sometimes, a person can be over- clever and would over-cleverly play himself into destruction.
5. Eve moved too close to what she should have abandoned. When the Lord said, “Don’t touch this thing, the attitude of anybody who fears God should be to run away from that thing. The Bible says, “Flee from all appearances of evil.”
6. Eve chose to believe the serpent rather than believe God. When a person chooses to believe the devil instead of God, problems happen.
THE MISTAKES OF ADAM
Adam also made many mistakes. And many people are still making these mistakes today.
1. He gave his wife an autonomy that should not have been given to her. He asked his wife, “Where did you get this from?” She said, “It is that thing that God said we should not eat. Take and eat,” and he ate.
2. He abandoned his God’s given role of leadership. There are many men like that. They cannot lead at the family altar. They would say, “Madam, you pray and I will pray after you. But make it brief.” All they are interested in is going about with their worldly friends. On Sundays, they pretend to be holy but they are something else. Some of these people go to church on Sundays because they are afraid that witches would eat them up. But during the week they do, as they like with their time. They have no time for fasting or any spiritual thing. It is madam that should fast and pray and do everything. Such men are abandoning their God’s given role as priests in the house. They will be held responsible for it. This is very important.
3. Adam yielded to his wife’s offer without confronting her with what the Lord has said.
4. He obeyed his wife rather than God.
5. He blamed God instead of crying for repentance.
These are the mistakes of people who listen to satanic sermons. I think the devil is the best lecturer. He can coach people very well. It would be very sad for people who come to the house of God, come to services and listen to the word of God, to be called the enemies of God by God Himself, at the end of the day. The Bible says that some Christians are carnal. It is just a way of saying that some Christians will go to hell fire from the church. Many people are actively pitching their tents against God and some are unconsciously battling against God. God has given them brain and intelligence but they are using it to fight Him. They turn the Bible upside down and quote what suits them. When they want to commit sin, they quote David’s many wives, when they want to tell lies, they would say, “After all Abraham said Sarah was not his wife.” They turn the Bible upside down. They use their brain to work against God.
You cannot outsmart God. Your education is meant to be used to serve the Lord and not to turn yourself into a clever devil. Instead of striving towards holiness, some would say, “But the Bible says that we are not perfect.” They always look for a way to wriggle out, instead of facing the reality. If you tell them that they need to be broken, they would say, “Everybody needs to be broken.” With things like this, they use their brain against the Lord. They wage war against the Lord of hosts.
May be as you are reading this bulletin, you have been listening to satanic sermon, you need to close your ears to it henceforth for it is a path of destruction. If you want to academically excuse yourself from sin, you are an academic sinner. You better repent now. If you did not do something and you said you did, you are a sinner and God sees you. You cannot bribe God with activities after you have committed atrocities. He would prefer that you sort yourself out and then come back and serve Him.
If you are enticing men and women, you are fighting against God. You are misusing your body and talents. Many people are using the beauty of what God has given to them to fight against God. A time will come when everything we are putting together shall become raw materials for fire. Very soon, the faces that are being used to seduce people will become wrinkled. That is, if the people do not die before they become wrinkled and nobody will be interested in looking at the faces again. We must not use what God has given to us against Him.
God gave us a gift of free will and a lot of people are using it against Him. They do what their minds tell them and not what the Holy Spirit says. They do not care whether God is happy or not. They even ridicule the things of God. They kick their conscience to a corner. They would say, “Well, don’t worry, it is okay since I don’t feel bad about it.” Such people are still listening to satanic sermons. Some use their wealth against the Lord. They cheat and oppress the poor. They boast and reject God. They use their money to promote anti-God programmes. Some run after money and totally forget to seek the Lord. Then they use the money to finance charms and demonic interest. They would say, “I am not interested in serving your idols but you take this money and buy my own goat.” They are using their money to finance the devil. Some people were steadfast when they were poor but now that they are rich, they refuse to become steadfast. Some even disappear from the church after receiving financial breakthrough, only to come back when something goes wrong again. The question is, “Who do they think they are deceiving?” Some people spend their money buying useless things. Some use their talents against the Lord. They have very good voices but they are serving the devil with it. They use their talents to enlarge the kingdom of Babylon. They speak eloquently against God. These are the people listening to satanic sermons. A day is coming when the judgment of God would come upon His enemies.
A lot of people are secretly committing sin. Many Christians are guilty of this. They wear the garb of Christianity, but secretly, they are obeying the voice of the enemy. Please pray like this: “I refuse to listen to any satanic message, in the name of Jesus.”
What is the result of this satanic message which is still with us now?
Man was turned into sin by his enemy. God therefore issued curses on him and all that are committing sin, whether secretly or openly, they come under the curse of the Almighty. That was why Jesus had to come. The serpent too was cursed. It was changed from the most subtle and beautiful creature to the lowest and most despised. It crawls on its belly. The devil too was cursed. He lost his dominion and authority. The woman too was cursed. Hers was the most painful and the most humiliating of them all. God said, “You will surely multiply, but delivery will be in pain."
Man too, was cursed. He has to earn his living by toil and sweat physically and spiritually. Even creation was cursed. The ground would from now bring out thorns and bristles. The atmosphere was not left out. Germs, diseases, shame and fear came in. Then to make it worst, spiritual death came in. Because somebody paid attention to what the enemy said and followed his instruction, look at what has happened. That is why I often say that secret sin must be killed and not allowed to grow. Until the issue of sin is dealt with, all other things we are saying in the church is a joke.
Many people need to be completely broken and transformed. When that transformation comes upon their lives, several things happen. They would no longer be interested in claiming their rights all the time. They will not get provoked. They will not fight or beat up people. They will shun evil because something has happened to their lives.
The devil would always say, “Compromise, just compromise. Don’t worry, this one is not too bad.” But immediately you do it, he knows what would follow. This is why sometimes, God watches His people with interest. He says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
A long time ago, there was a poultry farmer who was said to have gone to the mountain and there, he found the egg of an eagle. Eagle’s eggs take longer time to hatch than those of a chicken. The man took the egg of the eagle and put it together with the chicken’s to hatch. After sometime, they hatched and the eaglet moved about with the chicks and was imitating the chicks’ ways of life. The chicks were always looking up but the eaglet was always looking at the ground. It picked stones and worms in the soil. Sometimes, it took shelter under the mother hen. It was raised up like the chicks but it did not look like them.
The farmer was observing the eaglet. One day, something happened. A mother eagle flying above saw the eaglet behaving like the chicks. The mother eaglet made a loud cry, which made the eaglet to look up for the first time. For the first time, it heard a sound similar to its own. The mother eagle made a second cry, and with that captured the eaglet’s attention. It dawned on the eaglet that it did not belong where it was but up there. Then it started to try to fly. The mother eagle made the third cry, which sent something into the blood of the eaglet and it flew high into the sky and the farmer could not see it again. What we are saying is that you either fly like an eagle or you become a chick. To become a chick is a disaster because the hawk is there.
The natural man is like that eaglet, which was found where it did not belong, stolen away by the devil. The brotherhood of darkness characterizes the life of the natural man. What is brotherhood of darkness? It is sin, sickness and death. The devil is not your master and he did not create you. But he has incubated many people under the rule of darkness of this world. Man got to that incubation stage because he decided to listen to the enemy.
You are hearing the cry of mother eagle now, saying you do not belong to sin, sickness and death. So, come up to the high mountains where you belong, where you will climb higher to God. But if you are still struggling with sin, you have a hidden sin or you have to be persuaded not do certain things, which you are not supposed to be doing, then it is very sad.
Many people do not receive the fullness of God before they die. And we know that there is no repentance in the grave. So, it is a dangerous thing for you to come to the house of God where holiness is preached and you are still living in sin. Then you want to make yourself a ready meat for satan. That is why I said that you should not belong to the chick. You are above that. The mother eagle is calling now and you should fly up there. The Bible says, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like the eagle."
The psalmist says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not answer my prayer.” He did not say if you are committing sin but mere regarding it in your, that is, meditating upon it, the Lord would not answer you. Perhaps sin has paralyzed your spiritual life. You have been complaining, “I don’t know why my problems are not solved. I don’t know why things are going like this?” But the Lord is saying, “Get away from under the hen and move up to your mother eagle. Fly above.” Why should a flying eagle become a chick? The devil deceives people into looking for trouble and then kills them there. Think about it. Talk to the Lord and to yourself. Ask yourself: “Do I have any secret sin? Am I a hypocrite? Do I put up a different picture in the church and another one at home? Am I faithful to what I am doing? Am I faithful to my husband, wife, or children? Am I honestly saying that I have defeated the devil? Can I honestly say that if I am provoked I will not fight?” These questions would help us to examine ourselves.
PRAYER POINTS
1. I don’t want to be a lower eagle. I don’t want to be a chick under a satanic hen. I do not want to listen to any satanic sermon, in Jesus’ name.
2. Heal me Lord and I shall be healed, save me Lord and I shall be saved, in the name of Jesus.
3. Every power delegated to kill my potential, die by fire, in the name of Jesus.
4. O Lord, anchor my head to my breakthrough, in the name of Jesus.
5. Every spirit of Haman delegated against me, fight against yourself, in Jesus’ name.
6. Every satanic consultant delegated against me, fall down and die, in the name of Jesus.
7. Let the rod prepared against me by the enemy be the burial ground of the enemy, in the name of Jesus.
8. Every personal Goliath and Jericho, fall down and die, in the name of Jesus.
