The Snake in the Grass

I want to turn to Genesis chapter 3, Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention Genesis 3 · chapter mention

God made everything good.

He spoke, it appeared, and it was good.

And as we arrive in Genesis chapter 3, things are all good.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

We come upon some bad.

For the man and the woman that God created are deceived.

They fall short of the glory of God that created them.

Over the next few weeks, we're going to look at their decisions there.

What we can learn from that.

And then delve into the ramifications of those decisions.

Of their wrong choices.

And our wrong choices.

Because not only did they sin and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 3.23 says, we've all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

There's a lot to learn.

But first, this morning I want us to understand the bad that's in the midst of such a perfect atmosphere.

There in the garden.

We'll begin in Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

With verse 1.

And it says this.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the tree in the garden.

But God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that's in the midst of the garden.

Neither shall you touch it, lest you die.

But the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die.

For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you'll be like God.

Knowing good and evil.

I will tell you that there is a lot, I believe too much theological discussion about the identification of the snake in that passage.

Some theologians are quick to say that the serpent is not Satan.

Because it's not identified as Satan in that passage.

There's a Hebrew word for such theological understanding as that.

And that word is baloney.

The reality is the best interpreter of scripture is scripture.

The best interpreter of the Old Testament is the New Testament.

And so I want you to read the words of Jesus in the revelation of Jesus Christ.

In Revelation 12, 7 through 9, when it says,

Now war arose in heaven.

Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon.

And the dragon and his angels fought back.

But he was defeated.

And there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

And the great dragon was thrown down that ancient serpent who is called devil and Satan.

The deceiver of the whole world.

He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him.

And how about Paul predicting his coming demise in Romans 16, 20,

when it says,

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

That alludes to a passage we'll look at in the coming days.

Genesis 3, 15.

That talks about our battle against evil.

This is the beginning of the influence of Satan upon us in this passage.

If God created all with such order and it was all good,

then where in the world did Satan come from?

We need to study in order to understand that a variety of scripture to get a better understanding.

But it becomes clear when we do that.

Job chapter 1 verse 6 puts Satan with this quote,

Job 1:6

Sons of God.

That's an Old Testament term for angels.

Jesus also referred to him as one.

In Matthew 25 verse 41 when he talks about the parable of the sheep and the goats and the end time.

Matthew 25:41

Ezekiel 28 paints a poetic picture of what went on with Satan

and prophesies of his coming demise.

Now it actually, in Ezekiel 28,

is giving a warning of the king of Tyre who is an enemy to Israel.

But when reading this description,

you begin to pick up on the fact that this king is simply a puppet of the real evil one.

For the king of Tyre is like a window, I believe,

into the true spiritual force that is behind him.

It says in Ezekiel 28 verse 12,

Ezekiel 28:12

Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre

and say to him,

Thus says the Lord God,

You were the signet of perfection,

full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

In other words, Satan is attractive.

You were in Eden,

that's when we get a pure clue.

If signet of perfection and full of wisdom and perfect in beauty didn't give you a clue,

you were in Eden ought to give you a clue.

We're talking about more than just the king of Tyre.

Okay?

The garden of God.

Therefore, this description is,

and we'll look at another one like this,

but it's kind of intertwined.

It's speaking of Satan,

as well as one of his puppets,

being the king of Tyre.

Every precious stone was your covering.

And then it goes on to list those stones.

You were an anointed guardian cherub.

And let me tell you,

no earthly king is an angel.

And this is speaking more of the cherubim,

which the cherubim,

that I am on the end of that word makes it plural in the Hebrew.

It is the inner circle of angels.

They are the ones that's closest to the father,

guarding his holiness of sorts.

He said,

I placed you,

you were on the holy mountain of God,

in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.

What does that mean?

Well, Zachariah gives us an indication.

Zachariah speaks of God protecting through a wall of fire

as a symbol of his holiness.

This seems related.

In other words,

what it means is he was close with the Lord.

It says,

you were blameless in your ways from the day you were created

till unrighteousness was found in you,

in the abundance of your trade.

You were filled with violence in your mist and you sinned.

So I cast you as a profound thing from the mountain of God

and I destroyed you,

O guardian cherub,

from the mist of the stones of fire.

Your heart was proud because of your beauty.

You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.

I cast you to the ground.

I expose you before kings to the feast their eyes,

to feast their eyes on you.

By the multitude of your iniquities

in the unrighteousness of your trade,

you profane your sanctuaries.

Unrighteousness of trade talks about dealings.

And I will tell you in any dealing that the devil does,

don't deal with him.

Don't do a trade with him.

And then it talks about you profane your sanctuary,

which talks about worship.

For the king of Tyre,

it could talk about the gods that they worshiped.

For Satan,

it could talk about so many ways he disrupts worship.

Both of these things,

dealings and worship,

trade,

sanctuaries,

they both get tainted by the influence of the evil one.

It says,

so I brought fire out from your mist.

I'll tell you what this speaks of.

It speaks of the future demise of Satan.

As if it's already happened,

because it is settled of sorts.

Satan is already defeated.

I hope you know that.

And he knows that he's defeated.

It's kind of like a,

what we're living in now,

it's kind of like when a ball team is gonna lose.

And they know they're gonna lose.

There's not enough time in the game

to score enough points for them to win.

And so the coach grabs that guy that don't play

and says,

listen,

you see old number one out there?

Take his knee out,

all right?

Let's leave a mark on these folks.

We couldn't leave a mark with them cleanly,

so let's do it dirty.

Let's just throw them out there

and see what we can do.

An evil one's been taken out knees ever since

because he knows he won't win in the end.

So I brought fire out from the mist.

It consumed you.

And I turned you to ashes on the earth

in the sight of all who saw you.

All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you.

You've come to a dreadful end

and shall be no more forever.

So he was a top angel.

One of the cherubim

and placed on the pinnacle among them.

He was in the glory of heaven

and he was righteous at first,

but then pride took over.

Why?

Because he was pretty.

Because of his beauty.

Because he was smooth.

And violence followed that

and sin took over and God cast him out.

We have a similar description

in the fall of Satan in Isaiah.

Again, this passage speaks

of an earthly king,

the king of Babylon.

But Babylon itself

is a symbol of Satan's empire on the earth.

You see that much more clear in Revelation.

That the parallel cannot be mistaken.

Again, this king's life,

as described,

becomes a window

into the true spiritual force

that's behind him.

Isaiah 14, 12 through 15 says this,

How you are fallen from heaven,

O day star, son of dawn.

How you are cut down to the ground,

you who laid the nations low.

You said in your heart,

I will ascend to heaven.

Above the stars of God,

I will set my throne on high.

I will sit on the mount of assembly

in the far reaches of the north.

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.

I will make myself like the most high.

But you are brought down to Sheol,

to the far reaches of the pit.

Revelation 12 gives us

an even clearer understanding

of the havoc that he caused in heaven

when it says,

as I've read earlier,

but I'll read again.

Now, war arose in heaven,

Michael and his angels

fighting against the dragon,

and the dragon and his angels fought back,

but he was defeated,

and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

And the great dragon was thrown down,

that ancient serpent

who's called the devil and Satan,

the deceiver of the whole world.

He was thrown down to the earth,

and his angels were thrown down with him.

In other words,

he wanted to replace God.

He wanted to receive all the beauty,

all the glory,

all the wisdom,

all the power of God.

Revelation 12 calls him a dragon,

and it goes on to say

how his tail swept

down a third of the stars.

That is apocalyptic talk,

symbolic talk

for angels,

which become demons

when he swept them down.

It's illustrative talk

that gives us insight

into what started

this whole cosmic battle.

Now, besides a good conversation

about the origin of Satan,

why did I share all that?

Why is that important?

I mean, you come in here today,

as I do,

with stuff.

You want a word from God.

So why do we need to know those things?

Why do we need to know this

in view of what we face today?

I want to spend the rest of our time together

by putting it all in perspective,

because this serpent

was not only in the garden.

He's still lurking around.

1 Peter 5, 8 says,

He is a roaring lion

seeking whom he may devour.

And I believe you need

to take him seriously,

and I believe you need

to properly assess the situation.

And I want to help you do that today

through God's word.

First thing,

just to put it simply,

he is not all that.

He pretends to be.

He's not what he makes himself out to be.

He is a created being

that went the wrong way.

Sometimes when people talk about him,

it's easy to get the impression

that it's Rocky versus Draco

or something from Russia.

And if you don't know

what I'm talking about,

I'm sorry.

You need to go home

and watch all six movies of Rocky

or seven or eight or nine or ten,

however many there are.

The reality is,

this is not an even battle.

We're warring out.

He's not equal with God.

He's not even close.

Satan's not omnipotent.

He does not have all power.

He cannot do anything he wants.

Job teaches us

that at least when dealing with believers,

he can only do what God allows him to do.

And when Jesus cast out demons,

they coward again and again and again.

Not only that,

but he's not omnipresent.

He can't be everywhere at one time.

He can only tempt one.

Now he has a lot of help

because scripture tells us

that he took a third of the stars

or a third of the angels out of heaven

and took them with him.

And they began to work in his evil empire,

spiritually, cosmically, around us.

But help me for a minute.

If he took a third of the stars,

which are synonymous for the angels there,

if he took a third with him,

how much was left?

Y'all get your pens out

and work on that a minute, all right?

Twice as many.

Twice as many.

So if you have any question

about the power of God himself,

period, I want you to know

that the forces that fight with us

against evil

are twice as much

as what fight against us.

Not only that,

but if you're a believer today,

you have the Holy Spirit of God

working in you.

The same Holy Spirit

that was in the creation of the world,

the same Holy Spirit

that had the power

at the sound of his voice

to create all things

is the same one living in the believer.

The Christ that knows all things

and is at all places

at one time,

including in our lives.

What in the world

are we worried about?

I want you to understand something too.

Satan's not omniscient.

He does not know all things.

I hope I can explain this.

The demonic forces

that war against our souls

know a lot,

but they're not omniscient.

It is somewhat like

AI and algorithms,

and I'm a little out of my league here

when I say this,

but the best I understand

from my own experience,

if you search on your phone

for an item,

you go to Google

and you look up that item

on the internet,

when you go back

to Amazon,

you'll see ads for it.

Now, how's that?

But I didn't search on Amazon.

I searched on Google.

Let me go beyond that.

If you have a conversation

with somebody about a product,

when you have your phone on you,

not when you're on the phone,

but when your phone's on you,

you'll get ads

for the things you've talked about.

Some of you on Facebook.

And if you're on Facebook

and you have your phone

sitting on the table

in a restaurant

and you talk about somebody

and you're not on your phone,

what happens

when you go back to Facebook?

If they're not already your friend,

whoever you talked about,

there's a suggestion

that they ought to be your friend

and maybe you'd talk

a little nicer about them.

Now, does the phone

read the mind?

No, it does not.

Does it know all?

No.

But listen,

it picks up on the patterns.

It picks up on the things

that you say.

It picks up on the places

that you go.

My phone will suggest to me

how long it's going to take

for me to get home

from where I am.

Well, what if I ain't going home?

Just another voice in the car

telling me what to do.

The things you look at

and it suggests

what seems appropriate

and if you're not careful,

it'll suggest

what seems inappropriate.

That is so much

like the evil one

that it's almost as if

he uses this thing

to destroy lives.

But I want you to understand

he can't read your mind.

He can't control your decisions.

He can't make you do anything.

I don't want to freak you out

when I tell you this.

But I do want you

to understand it.

You're being watched.

You're being listened to.

You're being pursued.

Thank God the child of God

has all of heaven

rooting for us.

And not only that,

but the devil can't

make us do it.

And we're not near as alone

in it as we think we are.

1 Corinthians 10, 13.

If you don't know this verse,

you need to learn this verse

and rest your life on it

because it's one of those

kind of verses.

No temptation has overtaken you

that's not common to man.

Now, I'm going to tell you,

I'm tempted to pitch a tent here

and stay here a while

because one of the primary points

that Satan loves to point out

at people is,

you're the only one

that understands exactly

your circumstances.

Nobody's ever been there.

And if they were in the same

situation that you were in,

they'd all do the same thing.

But somehow,

yours is unique and different.

He loves doing that.

Thank God.

God is faithful.

And he will not let you

be tempted beyond your ability,

but with the temptation,

he will also provide

the way of escape.

The devil can't make you do a thing

that you may be able to endure it.

That teaches us a bunch of stuff.

One thing it teaches us

is we're not alone.

We're not alone.

We're not the only one

that's dealt with

what we're dealing with.

And if we think we're the only one,

the devil will try to convince us of that,

that you're somehow

an exception to God's rule,

that therefore it's okay for you.

That's as dumb as getting in a cargo van

that says free candy on the side of it.

Don't do it.

Don't do it.

Don't fall for it.

Others have dealt with the same thing.

We are also not alone

because God is there, thank God.

If you're a child of God,

he walks with you,

he talks with you,

he lives within you,

and he will take your hand

and you'll just follow his lead

and he'll lead you out.

Trust the Lord and his word.

Don't trust your judgment.

It's tainted.

It's tainted.

Proverbs 14, 12 says,

there's a way that seems right to a man,

but in the end,

it's the way of death.

So don't trust you.

Trust him.

He's not all that.

Not only that,

he's not looking out for us.

He's looking out for himself.

Pride comes from Satan.

He's eat up with it

and he loves to pass it on.

Ego is stoked by Satan.

I read Isaiah 14, 12 through 15

a little while ago.

It makes it so clear.

I just want you to see the I wills

in two verses of scripture.

I will ascend to heaven

above the stars of God.

He wanted to be equal with God.

He wanted to reach God's level.

Above the stars means above the angels.

I will set my throne on high.

In other words,

he's got to be number one.

I will set on the mount of assembly.

That's the authoritative position.

Verse 14,

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.

The clouds are a symbol there

of the glory of God.

He will rise above the glory of God.

He wants the glory

that only God can receive.

I will make myself like the most high.

That's his goal.

Now listen,

Satan can't take the place of God.

He cannot defeat God.

He knows that.

Therefore,

he will try

to take the place of God

in individual lives.

He wants to sit on the throne of your life.

How does he do that?

He tries to convince us

to be our own gods

or to be like God.

That was his strategy in the garden

and it's still a strategy.

It's not that complex,

quite honestly.

It's all about pride.

Who's most important in your life?

Are we the ones most important in our lives?

Or is God what's most important in our lives?

Every time he says,

you can to us,

every time Satan says,

you can,

you can do that.

You can think that.

You can say that.

All of that is based on his I wills.

It all goes back to that.

He's looking out for his causes.

It's all about his pride

and every sin we involve ourselves in

comes from a base of our pride.

When we sin,

we put ourselves first before God.

When you sin,

you decide that your,

your action is more important

than what God would have you to do.

That's what sin is.

Period.

Putting yourself on the throne of your life.

It is prideful rebellion

that marked his fall.

The prophets tell us that.

Revelation tells us that.

And he still prides himself

on filling us full of pride

and rebelling against God.

He'll tell you

what you want to hear

to get you

to do

what he wants to do.

We'll look in the coming weeks

more at that.

But be clear about something.

Satan is not all he pretends to be.

He is not all he claims to be.

And he's not looking out

for you

or for me.

He's looking out for himself.

What does that mean for us?

Well, based upon that,

I'm going to give you

three homework assignments.

I don't like homework.

Never liked homework.

I don't like giving homework.

But I'm going to give you some today.

One is this.

Know that you are not alone.

Keep reminding yourself

you're not alone.

You're not the only one

that's been there.

Your circumstances,

although unique,

are not near as unique

as they feel.

Your circumstances

do not justify

wrong action.

Does not.

We're here to build

one another up.

You're not alone.

Let's encourage one another

before it gets ugly.

Let's.

Listen to me.

Let's encourage one another

when it gets ugly.

It's not time to kill the wounded.

It's time to love them.

And let's know

that it's not just us.

First John 4,

4 says,

He who is in you

is greater

than he who is in the world.

God will win

in you

and through you.

How does he do that?

Second,

I have to take home point.

Stand strong.

Stand strong.

Satan's a bully.

You ever had a bully

in your life?

There's no boy

in one of my classes

and I was a freshman

in high school.

I'd like to meet him

in an alley.

Man,

I didn't want to meet him then.

I was scared to death of him

and he knew it.

So he'd pursue me

and mess with me

and pick on me.

I'm going to go look

him up.

The horror

that it gives you

most of the time

for nothing.

That's what Satan does.

He's a bully.

He's a bunch of fluff.

And you can sock him

in the nose

with the word of God.

You can put him out

if you'll just stick

to God's word.

No temptation

has seized you

except what's coming

to pass.

And God will provide

a way out.

James 4 verse 7 says

James 4:7

submit yourselves

therefore to God.

Resist the devil

and he'll flee from you.

That's a promise

of God's word

you better hold on to.

Resist him

and he'll run from you.

He'll run from you.

You give in

and he'll hang around.

Don't fall

for his bluffs

nor his horrible lies.

You have God

within you.

His army

is behind you.

Don't be conjured

into compromise.

Third thing is this.

Give thanks to God.

Give thanks to God.

1 Corinthians 15

56 and 57

says this.

The sting of death

is sin

and the power

of sin

is the law

but thanks be to God

who gives us

the victory

through our Lord

Jesus Christ.

My friend,

we can live

holy for him.

We can have

victory over sin

and when God

gives you victory

thank God

for the victory.

Give him praise

and when you do

and you acknowledge

that he brought you out

victory will come

that much more often

and I promise you

if you got a habit

in your life

don't do it

the next time

you feel like doing it

and the next time

it'll get a little easier

not much easier

it'll get a little easier

and the next time

it'll get a little easier

and before long

you'll be habitually

following God

because you made it

a pattern in your life

because you resisted

the evil one

and because he flees

from you

he'll hit you

somewhere else

turn around

and face him

where he does

by the power

of the blood of Christ

you have victory

because of what Christ

did for you

not because of your bravado

not because y'all

so good looking

that's not where

the victory is

the victory

is in Jesus

and he's beat

Satan's beat

and he knows it

and so he's just

going to cause

a skirmish

afterwards

that's all

thank the Lord

for every victory

and victory

will come

more often

because I got news

for you

Satan's just a snake

in the grass

just a snake

in the grass

I have this

this phobia

of snakes

I do

I do

I don't like them

I don't like them

now I'm fascinated

by them

it reminds me

a lot of sin

really

I mean you know

I'm fascinated

by them

when I go

to the

to the zoo

I go

to the

whatever

the serpitarium

whatever it's called

that's not what it's called

but man

I run to that thing

and look at them snakes

and I'm amazed by them

they are amazing to me

to watch them

it just sends chills

all over my mind

as long as that glass

is two inches thick

between me

and that 24

foot long

python

or boa

or whatever it is

going to wrap

his little love

and alarms around me

I want nothing to do with it

when I was a kid

there was a bush

that overhung a creek

in our neighborhood

and there was some type

of green snake

that would hang out

in that bush

I come up on it

I'd go around town

and pick up

or go around

my little community

and pick up

beer cans

and coke cans

and all that stuff

and I'd get different sponsors

for the boats

that I'd race down the creek

and I'd race some cans

down the creek

and when I got to that bush

I

there was a snake

in there

so I just kept

I hope you get

the spiritual principle

because I ain't got time

to share it

I just kept going back

to that bush

scared to death

barefooted

scared to death

but wanting to see

another one

they'd kind of wrap

around that old branch

on that bush

and I'd have to look

in there

because they're the same

color as the leaves

I'd see one

and I'd be you know

I just kept going back

kept going back

one day I left there

and I was disappointed

because I didn't see anything

and I took off walking

and when I looked down

there was a little

bitty brown snake

he wasn't bigger

than an elementary

pencil

I mean he was tiny

but he had his little

head raised up

he was just sunning there

and he let his little

tongue out at me

and I ran a quarter

of a mile home

afraid to look behind me

because he might be

coming down the road

after me

I was scared

to

death

let me tell you

what I did wrong

I kept going back

to the bush

I kept wanting

just to get a glimpse

I didn't want

to pick them up

didn't want them

to wrap around my arm

didn't want to love on them

I just wanted to go back

and get a hint of it

that's what I did wrong

what I did right

is when I saw one

I tucked tail and ran

there are parts

of your life today

that you need to

tuck tail

and run

scripture says

flee

away from

quit letting him

mess with you

and if he's got you

discouraged

and he's got you

beat down

and feeling

defeated

resist him

resist him

and he'll run

from you

trust the Lord

don't let a

snake in the grass

make you skittish

you live for the

Lord Jesus

with every head

bowed

and every eye

closed

I don't know

who needs to hear

what this morning

but I'm telling you

Genesis chapter 3

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

and I've just tried

to lay a foundation

for it

tells us so much

about the world

in which we live

today

explains so much

of the struggles

that we have

so many of those

are inward

but man

what's inward

ends up

becoming outward

if you're here

this morning

and you've never

given your heart

and life

to the Lord

Jesus Christ

I want you to

know

Jesus came

and died

for you

he took your

sin upon himself

he died

in your place

and if you'll

confess your sins

before God

if you'll agree

with God

on your sin

you'll ask him

to change your

life

and become the

Lord of your

life

and from this

day forward

you'll live

for him

I think God

he'll accept you

where you are

he'll save you

for all of

eternity

and empower you

to stand strong

against the evil

one

everyone who

calls upon the

name of the

Lord shall be

saved

he'll change

you today

if you even

feel an inkling

that way

I promise you

it didn't come

from you

it came from

God pursuing

you

you respond to

that in obedience

maybe you're here

this morning

and privately

you've made a

decision for Christ

you've surrendered

your life to him

but you've never

made that public

you've never told

anybody about it

I encourage you

to make that

public today

you're to follow

up that decision

with baptism

to let other

people know

it's what Jesus

showed us how to do

it's what Jesus

commanded us to do

I encourage you

to come

I'd love to guide

you in that process

maybe God's

drawing you to

this church

you're a believer

but you feel like

God's leading you

to this church

to be a part of

this church

you come

I'd love to guide

you in that

and maybe you

just got stuff

ah let's be honest

we got stuff

that we need to

take before the

Lord

don't sing through

this invitation

and fail to do

business with God

because it'd be

easy to do

you do business

with God

whether it's in

your place where

you are

whether it's at

this altar

you lay it down

before the Lord

and you commit

today

that you'll

resist the evil

one

you'll change

a pattern

in your life

with the hope

of the Holy Spirit

of God

leading you in that

for his cause

and for his kingdom

Lord Jesus

I love you

and I thank you

for the privilege

you give us

Lord

to be in this place

and God

I pray

Father

you'll work

and move

in our midst

right now

as only you can

in Jesus

precious name

Amen

Amen