Know Thy Enemy
Bible Passage:
Genesis 3:1-6
Pastor:
Pastor Mike
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Sermon Date:
2011-03-12
Perhaps the most famous book ever written on military strategy is this: The Art of War. Chinese general Sun Tzu wrote this classic over 2500 years ago, yet his insights are still used today. Chinese officers, Nazi commanders, American generals, and Napoleon have all used the tactics Sun Tzu laid out in this book. However, the last verse of chapter 3 is the best known of all—Sun Tzu wrote, “It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.”
“If you know your enemies.” That’s a fitting thought for a sermon series on the devil. What are the devil’s tactics? What are his weapons in this spiritual war? Where does he ambush naïve believers? Where does he plant spiritual roadside bombs to destroy our faith? What does the Bible teach us about the Evil One? The answers to those questions are our goals for this series: To know our enemy well. And to know our Savior even better.
Today, we get our first impression of the Evil One from the very first words he ever spoke in the Bible. We’re traveling all the way back to the Garden of Eden, the paradise where the first man and woman lived. Here the devil faced his greatest challenge: To tempt two sinless people. To convince the couple who had it all they didn’t have enough. You may know the devil succeeded. But do you know how he succeeded? Do you know the tactics he used on Adam and Eve, the tactics he’s still using on us? To know thy enemy you have to read carefully. Here’s what happened…
“1Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” What an odd start to the war between good and evil. The devil appears as a serpent and talks! But maybe the tactic makes sense. The Evil One disguises himself. He doesn’t approach the woman, “Hi! I’m Satan. Yep, the angel who rebelled against God. I’m here to try to take you to hell with me. Wanna go?” No, he’s “more crafty” than that. Like a terrorist disguised as a harmless street vendor, the devil comes in the form of a snake.
His first words are even craftier: “Did God really say?” The first word the devil speaks in the entire Bible, in the original Hebrew Old Testament, is “really?” “Really, Eve? Did God really say that? Huh? No, I’m just asking.” What’s the Evil One doing? He’s planting a seed. A seed of doubt. Testing her memory. Testing her faith. But Eve doesn’t bite just yet. “2The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’’” Eve isn’t ashamed to say, “Really. God really said that. Our generous God gave us all of these trees for food, but not this one.” The enemy came with a question, but the question didn’t work.
So the snake stopped the sneak-attack and tried a full-frontal assault. “4You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman.” A bold contradiction of God. “He’s lying, Eve. Think for yourself. You eat fruit and you die? Does that make any sense to you? I mean, come on! You’re an intelligent woman. You know that’s not right.” The devil hissed accusations at God and Eve listened. And maybe the worst part of this text is what she says between verse 4 and verse 5—Nothing. She didn’t rebuke him. She didn’t run away. She just listened. Considered. Wondered.
Her silence cleared the air for Satan’s suggestion. “5For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The Evil One’s first sermon had a tempting conclusion. “Eve, maybe God is keeping something from you. Maybe God is scared you’ll be his equal. Maybe you can become like God—powerful, wise, divine—with just one bite. Maybe.”
A question. A contradiction. A suggestion. And Eve bit. “6When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” If you believed the first sin was taking the forbidden fruit, you were wrong. The first sin wasn’t when Eve’s teeth broke the soft skin of that fruit. The first sin wasn’t when Eve reached out her hand to pluck it off the forbidden tree. The first sin was what happened in Eve’s heart: Unbelief. She listened to the Evil One’s question. She considered his contradiction. She let his suggestion simmer. And she stopped believing. “Maybe God did lie to us. Maybe God is keeping something from us. Maybe God doesn’t love us.” And that’s how the war began. The devil blew up paradise. Sin entered the world. Adam and Eve would soon realize who the Liar was—they would die, just as God said. Their babies and our babies would no longer be innocent from birth. Billions of people would die spiritually and eternally. All because Adam and Eve didn’t know their enemy…or their God well enough.
The world has changed so much since that tragic day. But the Evil One hasn’t. His art of spiritual war is the same—Question. Contradiction. Suggestion. The tactic still works. Let me prove it to you scientifically. Do you remember the periodic table of elements from school? That brings back some bad memories of chemistry tests you didn’t study for, right? The table was sort of a “U” shape with funny little squares named Argon, Neptunium, Chromium, and Nickel. Remember that? Okay—here’s a question. Is hydrogen really the very first element on the periodic table? No, it’s not. I just checked the chart and oxygen is the first element. Remember the big “O” with the number “1” on the top left part of the table? And that makes sense because we can’t live without oxygen, right?...So, did I deceive you? For the record, hydrogen is the first element on the table. But I bet some of you fell for it. Why? First, I questioned the truth, “Is hydrogen really?” Then I contradicted the truth, “No, it’s not.” Then I suggested a reasonable alternative, “Oxygen, which we all need to live.” If you weren’t positive of the truth, you stopped believing it and considered my answer.
That’s what the devil did to Eve and it’s what he does today. Question. Contradiction. Suggestion. First, he tests your certainty with a question, “Did God really say?” If you know God did, he comes with a contradiction. “That’s not true.” And when you’re uncertain, he offers a logical suggestion, “What about…?” Run any temptation through those steps and you’ll see the Evil One at work.
Think of salvation. “Did God really say some adulterers and murders will get into heaven and some good people will not? Oh, he did. Well, that’s not right. Does that seem right to you? Wouldn’t it be better to say that if you try to live a good life, no matter what you believe in, God will accept you?”
Think of creation. “Did God really say he created the universe in six days? Really? You know that’s not right. We’ve proven it. Wouldn’t it be better to say Genesis is like a poem and it’s not literally saying God created man out of the dust of the earth?”
Think of marriage. “Did God really say you can’t split up if you’re not compatible? Really? Even the courts think it’s okay. If you’re sinning in anger against her, wouldn’t you sin less if you just got a divorce and moved on?”
Think of generosity. “Did God really say he is the true owner of all your money? All of it? That’s not right. God didn’t float that check down from heaven. You worked for it. You got up early to earn it. Shouldn’t you be able to spend it however you want to?”
Think of your faith. “Did God really say you should go to church all the time? Well, I think that’s a little extreme. It’s not like you’re going to forget what you heard all those years growing up. Just keep praying and come when you can and you’ll be fine.”
Think of Christian accountability. “Did God really say you should confront someone if they sin? No, he said you shouldn’t judge people. Wouldn’t it be better just to pray for them and let them make their own choices?”
An “innocent” question. A simple contradiction. A humble suggestion. That’s how the Evil One works. And every day people fall under spell, fall into temptation, and fall from the faith. So how do we fight back? Sun Tzu only knew part of the answer—Know thy enemy. But the most important part is to know thy God.
Our God knew Adam and Eve had been defeated. He knew we too often believed the Father of Lies instead of our Heavenly Father. So in love Jesus came to fight for us. If you watch the movie The Passion of the Christ this Lenten season, you’ll know how Jesus won that fight. The movie begins with Jesus’ agonizing prayer in another garden, the garden of Gethsemane, just outside of Jerusalem. As Jesus sweats drops of blood and cries out to his Father in heaven, the devil appears. What I never noticed until this week was how different Jesus handled the Evil One as compared to Eve. In the movie, the devil speaks first with a question. “Do you really believe that one man can bear the full burden of sin?” When Jesus doesn’t budge, he offers a contradiction, “No one man can do this alone. The burden is far too heavy. No one, I tell you. No one. Never. No.” Yet, Jesus doesn’t debate with the devil like Eve. He doesn’t stay silent like Adam. During the entire temptation, Jesus prays words straight from the Scriptures. “Father, shelter me. I trust in you. Father, you can do all things.” Jesus doesn’t even make eye contact with the devil until the final moment of the scene. A serpent slithers out from between the devil’s feet. Jesus stand up, stares the Evil One in the face, and crushes the serpent’s head with his heel.
What a perfect description of our Savior! He didn’t give into temptation. He didn’t buy the lie and he didn’t bite the bait. In our gospel lesson, he contradicted the devil’s lies with the Word of God. In our epistle listen, we hear about the unbelievable result—just as Adam’s sin brought condemnation to our world, Jesus’ obedience brings justification to us. Forgiveness for all. A clean sheet for you in God’s books. God’s love, God’s grace, and God’s gift are all yours through faith in Jesus, the enemy of our enemy, the devil. No matter how many battles you may have lost to temptation, you will win the war because of your conquering Savior.
So when the devil comes questioning and contradicting and suggesting, remember Jesus. Remember Jesus’ love, a love we didn’t deserve, but he gave us anyway. Believe in Jesus’ goodness, knowing he only forbids the fruit that would hurt us, like a good parent does for his children. Focus on Jesus’ cross as the devil asks his questions. “Did God really say that?” Yes, he did. “Maybe God lied to you.” No, the God who died for me wouldn’t lie to me. “Maybe God is keeping something from you.” The God who didn’t keep his Son from me wouldn’t do that. “But maybe…” “Satan, maybe you should shut your mouth. Maybe you should take your questions and your contradictions and your suggestions somewhere else. Because my God is truth and love. And I know you—you are full of lies and hate. So I’m going to believe in him. And you can go to hell. Amen.
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