Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die." Genesis 3:4 (NKJV)
Satan moves from casting doubt on God’s Word to openly contradicting God’s Word. He tell them they shall not surely die for eating the fruit of the tree that God had commanded them not to eat when God plainly told them they would die (2:17). Satan basically told them not to worry about what God said because He was wrong.
We also see this happening so very often in our world today and some of it does come from within the church. There are few, at least few in the church, who would be so bold as to say that God was wrong, or that something wasn’t true.
Instead, they tend to contradict God’s Word in a way that makes us feel as though it must be okay. We hear things like…
Just follow your heart. Just follow your heart and everything will be okay. Your heart would never leave you astray. It’s not like your heart is deceitfully wicked above all things. It’s not like there is a way that seems right to a man but the end of that way is destruction. Following your heart is one of the surest ways to contradict God’s Word while feeling that we are doing the right thing.
Love is the most important thing. This one is used in a couple of different ways and it sounds right on so many different levels. One way we hear it is that if two people love each other then whatever they do has to be okay because love could never be wrong. Now to fully embrace this we have to ignore that the Bible teaches that there is a love God hates and that love can be expressed in ways that are clearly sinful. When we ignore truth to focus on love we will often contradict God’s Word.
Another way we hear about the importance of love is when we are told if we love someone we’ll just accept them as they are. The idea with this is love means acceptance, total acceptance of a person and their lifestyle. Again, this sounds right. However, the idea with this goes so far as to tell us that we can’t ever tell a loved one that their lifestyle or actions are wrong even, or maybe especially, when they are Biblically wrong. This would mean accepting and even affirming them in lifestyles of rebellion against God. To embrace this idea we have to ignore much of the truth of Scripture and ignoring truth to focus on love we will often contradict God’s Word
God just wants you to be happy. God loves us and wants what’s best for us. Since this is the case, then as long as we are happy it’s all good. There is a way in which this sounds right. However, very often what makes us happy is something that clearly contradicts Scripture. Also, our happiness, as we define it, is not even remotely close to God’s great desire for our lives. What God wants from us is for us to be saved and then be like Jesus. This requires a great deal of difficult changes to be made in our lives. Changes that in many instances will make us unhappy initially. Focusing on our happiness at the exclusion of all things will very often lead us to contradict God’s Word.
One of the things we see in what Satan tells them here is that there are no consequences for sin. In his contradiction of God’s Word he tells them that they can ignore God and all will be well with them. In a lot of ways, the false views I mentioned teach the same thing. As long as our motives are good, the actions don’t matter. There can be no negative consequences when we do the wrong things as long as we have the right motives. This is simply false.
Satan contradicts God’s Word because he knows that if you believe a lie instead of the truth, then you won’t obey God’s Word. Satan always attacks God’s Word to undermine our confidence in God’s Word.
This post was written by Rev Ross. You can find his blog here: https://stacyjross.wordpress.com
Satan moves from casting doubt on God’s Word to openly contradicting God’s Word. He tell them they shall not surely die for eating the fruit of the tree that God had commanded them not to eat when God plainly told them they would die (2:17). Satan basically told them not to worry about what God said because He was wrong.
We also see this happening so very often in our world today and some of it does come from within the church. There are few, at least few in the church, who would be so bold as to say that God was wrong, or that something wasn’t true.
Instead, they tend to contradict God’s Word in a way that makes us feel as though it must be okay. We hear things like…
Just follow your heart. Just follow your heart and everything will be okay. Your heart would never leave you astray. It’s not like your heart is deceitfully wicked above all things. It’s not like there is a way that seems right to a man but the end of that way is destruction. Following your heart is one of the surest ways to contradict God’s Word while feeling that we are doing the right thing.
Love is the most important thing. This one is used in a couple of different ways and it sounds right on so many different levels. One way we hear it is that if two people love each other then whatever they do has to be okay because love could never be wrong. Now to fully embrace this we have to ignore that the Bible teaches that there is a love God hates and that love can be expressed in ways that are clearly sinful. When we ignore truth to focus on love we will often contradict God’s Word.
Another way we hear about the importance of love is when we are told if we love someone we’ll just accept them as they are. The idea with this is love means acceptance, total acceptance of a person and their lifestyle. Again, this sounds right. However, the idea with this goes so far as to tell us that we can’t ever tell a loved one that their lifestyle or actions are wrong even, or maybe especially, when they are Biblically wrong. This would mean accepting and even affirming them in lifestyles of rebellion against God. To embrace this idea we have to ignore much of the truth of Scripture and ignoring truth to focus on love we will often contradict God’s Word
God just wants you to be happy. God loves us and wants what’s best for us. Since this is the case, then as long as we are happy it’s all good. There is a way in which this sounds right. However, very often what makes us happy is something that clearly contradicts Scripture. Also, our happiness, as we define it, is not even remotely close to God’s great desire for our lives. What God wants from us is for us to be saved and then be like Jesus. This requires a great deal of difficult changes to be made in our lives. Changes that in many instances will make us unhappy initially. Focusing on our happiness at the exclusion of all things will very often lead us to contradict God’s Word.
One of the things we see in what Satan tells them here is that there are no consequences for sin. In his contradiction of God’s Word he tells them that they can ignore God and all will be well with them. In a lot of ways, the false views I mentioned teach the same thing. As long as our motives are good, the actions don’t matter. There can be no negative consequences when we do the wrong things as long as we have the right motives. This is simply false.
Satan contradicts God’s Word because he knows that if you believe a lie instead of the truth, then you won’t obey God’s Word. Satan always attacks God’s Word to undermine our confidence in God’s Word.
This post was written by Rev Ross. You can find his blog here: https://stacyjross.wordpress.com
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