Genesis 3:1-7 – Three Lies That Ruined the World – Bible study

Genesis 3:1-5 Three Lies that Ruined the World To help set the stage for the message , let me give you a New Testament Bible verse. In \#John 8:44\, Jesus was speaking of the devil and said of him, John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. Notice three things about that New Testament verse: 1. Jesus was speaking about the devil. 2. Jesus was speaking about the beginning. 3. Then Jesus connected the devil to the beginning by telling us that the devil was the father (or the originator, the beginner, the progenitor) of lies. Who told the first lie? The devil did. I content that he not only told the first lie, but has he told the biggest lies. There is no doubt about the fact that the devils lies have had the biggest effect, separating the entire human race from God and casting us into a bottomless pit of suffering, pain, and death. The Bible does not tell us the first lie the devil ever told, but our text recorded the first lie that the devil ever told a human being. By that time, the devil was already a proficient and prolific liar, having perfected the art on others. Some of his first victims were the fallen angels. We dont know what lie he told them, but it had to be a whopper to get them to follow him over God. But even before that, Satan has been practicing lying on himself for of all the deceived in Gods creation, he is by far the most deceived. Lets see what Satans first lies to mankind were. These would have to be some of his best work. After all, he got some of his best results with them. I see "Three Lies that Ruined the World." I. Satans first lie is that God wasnt good. A. You ask, "Preached, when did the devil say that God wasnt good? I dont see him saying that in the text." 1. That is the art of being a good liar. a. A good liar tells you a lie without you ever knowing that you have been lied to. b. Satan is not just a good liar. c. Satan is a master liar! 2. If the liar told you an obvious lie (or as we used to say it in Alabama, "a bald-faced lie"), no one would believe it; but if you lie in a subtle way, you have still lied, but no one knows it. 3. So the devils lie is there. 4. Its just hidden in plain sight. B. When did the devil lie about God not being good? 1. When he asked Eve the question, Ge 3:1 Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2. That question implied that God was not good, by implying that God was holding SOMETHING back. 3. Let me translate the devils question: a. "So God is keeping a tree away from you? I guess He decided that you just dont need that." b. Isnt it interesting that you can say the truth and still be lying? (1) Do you know why that is possible? (2) Because it is not just the words you use. (3) It is also the way you say the words. c. And Eves pure, albeit naive, brain started thinking, "I wonder what God is holding back from us?" (1) You ask, "Preacher, how do you know that?" (2) Because that is he same way our sinful, albeit naive, brain starts thinking. d. The implication for both brains is the same! e. If God were a good God, He would not be holding SOMETHING back from us. C. Do you realize that with this one lie, the devil can trick most people into sinning? 1. All the devil has to do is to "hint" to them that there is something out there that God doesnt want you to have, and people will run toward it like thirsty horse run to water in a dessert. 2. The truth was that God was holding something back from Adam and Eve. a. He was holding back sin, hell and damnation, eternal separation from God. b. He was holding back pain, suffering, death, and misery. c. He was holding back regret, sorrow, remorse, and heart break. d. He was holding back failure, toil with no reward, accidents, bad luck, circumstances, and setbacks. e. All of the things in this life that we hate and despise but cannot remove or overcome God was holding them back! D. Get this: Anytime God puts a boundary up, it is not to keep us in but to keep sin and suffering out. 1. It has been a long, long time since the devil USED A PESON to do this to me, but I know he has done it to everyone in this church at one time or another. 2. I had forgotten about it until listening to a sermon along these lines, but I remember when I was a young Christian, people inviting me to go do things that I did not feel I should do as a Christian. a. When I tried to explain, I remember some of their replies. (1) So you dont do that anymore? (As if I were missing out on something good.) (2) You dont smoke. (3) You dont chew. (4) You dont cuss. (5) You dont drink. (6) You dont do drugs. (7) You dont kick the neighbors cat. (8) You cant do anything, can you? b. Do you know what they were saying? c. They were saying Gods not good. God is holding something back from you. 3. And my answer is, "Yes, sir. He was!" a. Because I stayed away from tobacco, I had one less bad habit to break. b. Because I didnt cuss like a sailor, I got into a few less fights and kept a few more teeth. c. Because I didnt drink, Im not an alcoholic like some in my family were. d. Because I didnt do drugs, I havent wasted my money, my health, and my life. e. I because I didnt kick the neighbors cat, they dont kick my dog. f. Id say that all in all, I came out better than most. 4. Anytime God puts a boundary up, it is not to keep us in but to keep sin and suffering out. 5. To be honest, there are few things in this world that look as good without the devils make up. a. The Marlboro man died of cancer. b. The Budweiser man spend a lot of mornings hungover then died of cirrhosis of the liver. c. The druggie has been in and out of jails, courtrooms, and rehabs. He most likely wont see his 50th birthday. d. The lose woman got pregnant when she was 17 and had to drop out of school. e. The lose man got a sexually transmitted disease. f. All of them are on at least their third marriage. g. Most of them only get visitation rights to their kids and none of them have figured out that Gods boundaries are not to keep us in but to keep sin and suffering out. E. God is not good. It was the devils lie to mankind, and it still works today. II. Satans second lie is that God can not be trusted.. A. Again, you may not see the lie because he did not come right out with it. 1. He is more bold with this lie than he was the last, but he still did not come right out and say, "You cannot trust God." 2. Instead, he virtually called God a Liar. 3. You say, "When did the devil say that God was a Liar?" 4. When he said in \#Ge 3:4\, Ge 3:4 "Ye shall not surely die." B. Did Satan call God a Liar? 1. God DID say that Adam and Eve would die, didnt He? a. He sure did. Ge 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. b. And the devil did say that what God said was not true, didnt he? (1) \#Ge 3:4\ (2) He sure did. 2. Then the devil just said that God was a Liar, didnt he? 3. He sure did. C. The devil stepped up his game a notch or maybe two, with this lie, and showed his goal. 1. What is Satans goal? a. Some might say to get us to sin, but that is not it. b. That is one tool that he uses to accomplish his goal, but if Satan could accomplish his goal with making great sinners of us all, he probably would. c. What is Satans goal? His goal is to turn people from God. (1) He might do that by putting tempting trinkets to lure us away from God (i.e. a hook with bait on it). (2) He might do that by lying, giving false information to direct us away from God. (3) Or he might do that by making God look bad, assassinating Gods character so we will choose to walk away from God. d. That is what he was doing here, attempting to make God look bad. 2. In the devils first lie, he was hinting that God was not good. a. The first lie is a subtle attack on Gods character. b. But here the devil was telling Eve that God was a Liar. (1) He told her, "You cannot trust what God says!" (2) "God is not honest, reliable, and just." (3) And, friend, that is a big step up. D. By the way, that same attack is carried out by Satans earthly henchmen every time they attack: 1. Gods existence or character 2. Gods Bible 3. Gods real and righteous church 4. Gods holy and just people E. What is worse is when "Christian" publishers, Christian leaders, churches give them proof by calling commentaries Bibles and by living sinful and compromising lives. 1. I heard of another representative from God who God used but who was living a sinful life this week. 2. It is bad when the world accuses you of living a sinful, double life; but it is even worse when your own people acknowledge that it was true. 3. I no longer reveal their names (Ravi Zacharias). 4. Dont confuse the gift God gives to men with the quality of the man. a. Gifts are given by grace at the sovereign hand of God. b. Character is shaped by the person, and the character does not always correlate to the gift God gives. F. If you let the devils second lie turn from God: 1. That means the devil wins. 2. You lose. 3. With just two lies, the devil herds most people into whatever sin he desires. III. Satans third lie is that God is holding YOU back. A. That is similar to the first lie. 1. The first lie was that God was not good, and He was holding SOMETHING back. 2. This lie is built on the belief that God is a Liar, One you cant trust, and God is holding YOU back. 3. It is one thing to hold something good from me. a. I probably wont like it. b. I may begin to question your honesty and character because of it. c. But I can probably get by without it. d. It might would have made my life easier, maybe even noticeably better. 4. But if you are holding ME back, that is a horse of a different color. B. When did the devil tell that lie that God was holding Eve back? Ge 3:5 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. 1. God knows if you eat of that tree, you shall be as GODS! 2. That is not just holding something FROM me. 3. That is holding ME back. C. First, lets make sure that we understand that the devil was lying. 1. How many of you got up this morning feeling like a god? 2. How many planets and solar systems did you create last week? 3. Isnt it nice to heal yourself, to keep yourself young, to create food from thin air? 4. No. You dont have those abilities? 5. Then the devil was lying! 6. You are not like gods. D. Second, God does not hold good things back from the righteous. 1. You say, "Preacher, Ill have to debate you on that one." a. "So and so was a good person, and they got sick and died." b. "So and so was a Christian, and had a frail, sick body all his life." c. "So and so was a good man, but never seemed to have enough money to pay his bills." 2. Just to be plain, it is not me that you will have to debate with about this. a. It is God who said it. Psalm 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. b. But I will say that you and I can only see the pre- game show. (1) There may be some you just could not hand too many of their blessings in this world. (a) They might puff with pride, get side- tracked, and move off center. (b) To keep that from happening, God limits the blessings He gives to them. (2) And then I wonder if maybe God is giving less to some here so that they might receive more there. (a) Among the saved, God has given some talents, abilities, and privileges that far exceed the rest; and to others God has given crosses, burdens, and sorrows that far exceed the rest. (b) I wonder if God may be preparing those to receive greater talents, abilities, and privileges when they get home. (c) Remember what Abraham told the rich man: Luke 16:25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. c. Maybe when God said that He held nothing back from the righteous He was not just sizing up our earthly life but our whole life. E. I dont know about that, but I can tell you, the devil is a liar.