Everything leads to the Gospel

Daniel Bishop

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” Genesis 3.1

Now, I know this talk was about knowing the enemy’s tactics, but everything leads to the Gospel, everything leads to the Cross.

So just to conclude, looking at how Satan attacks and what we can do against it, in verse 1, he attacks when we are most vulnerable, and we need accountability partners, we need to be in Fellowship, to lean on our brothers and sisters, and be in Fellowship, don’t we? To be in prayer.

He attacked when Eve would show on her own. Again, we need Fellowship, we need to lean on our brothers and sisters, we need to be in God’s Word, and to be in prayer.

⁴ Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3.4-5

He attacked God’s Word. How do we defend against the attacks on God’s Word? We are to know God’s Word. Brothers and sisters, we need to put on the armour of God, and to walk in the spirit daily.

Do not eat the bread of a selfish man,
Or desire his delicacies; Proverbs 23.6

Do not be envious of evil men,
Nor desire to be with them; Proverbs 24.1

Peer pressure, again we see in the Proverbs we’re to be careful who we associate with we’re to give the Gospel, but we’re not to follow after their ways. Satan attacked when he gained a foothold.

We’re to be quick to forgive brothers and sisters, to be on our guard, to walk in the spirit, to love one another. Do you know? Corey ten Boom had a phrase:

“Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?”

What does that mean? It means is prayer your primary thing for leading you in your life or do you only do it when things go wrong? It’s meant to be our steering wheel, to be in prayer to be in the Word of God.

In verse two to five revisionist to amend God’s Word how do we fight against that? We’re to know God’s Word, Satan tried to contradict God’s Word. How to fight against that with ‘No, God’s Word …’, it’s very repetitive. Satan tries to make sin look good. How do we compete? How do we guard against that ‘No, God’s Word …’

It’s almost an extension under Chris’s preaching Satan tries to make us a doubt God’s goodness. How do we defend against that? To know God’s Word but also, beloved, there are many in this congregation that have been through times where the Lord has brought them through and, in Scripture, it tells us to tell people of the excellent greatness that He has done in our lives.

⁹ “But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children— ¹⁰ how you once stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people for me, and I will let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me as long as they live on the earth and may teach their children so’; Deuteronomy 4.9-10

Even the Patriarchs used to tell the children’s children’s children’s children of the good things the Lord has done.

We had to do that, even today, to give testimony of what the Lord Has Done in our lives because He does and He cares for you. He knows every detail about you. Now, is every hair on your head, every molecule because only by Him are you held together, and we are to share of the good things He has done to encourage each other so that we don’t doubt God’s goodness.

Because God is good and Satan tries to make people to be like gods or, if you know your Word, you know that we can’t be like God, we couldn’t even pay the price for our own sin.

⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. Genesis 3.6-7

We are to know God’s Word. In verses 6 and 7 he attacked by the lust of the flesh by lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

We are to walk with the Lord, pray, and read our Bibles. Pray by the power of the Holy Spirit that he would lead us with the full armour of God to direct us to tell people about the Lord Jesus Christ the lover of our soul.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power; ¹¹ put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, ¹² for our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on the evil day and, having prevailed against everything, to stand firm. Ephesians 6:10-13

I do hope that was beneficial to you this morning. It certainly was a challenge to me and an encouragement to me, but I would just want to finish giving all the praise to our Creator as we close in 1 John 4.4 it says,

⁴ Little children, you are from God and have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 1 John 4.4

and finally, Romans 8 35 says,

³⁵ Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? ³⁶

A question mark in the Word of God.

As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8.35-39

Amen. Father God, we do thank you that we are in you, that we are saved in you Lord and that when we come through trials and tribulations, we can run to your arms Lord because you love us Lord.

Sometimes, we don’t even feel worthy but we, Lord, we give thanks that we can call you Father and that, Lord, like unto a father we can come to You with all our prayers and with all our anxieties, with all our stress, with all our problems, because like a father, you loved us.

So, Lord, we do give thanks that even though we have an adversary, you have defeated him, and we look forward to, one day, where we can see You face to face, and we can reign with you Lord.

We pray that you’ll be with us this week, that you’ll open up opportunities for us to share of our faith. In Jesus’ Name we pray, amen.