Tricks but No Treats
Genesis 3:1-10, 13

I want to share with you from the Word of God about the devil’s tricks without treats. Adrian Rogers once said, “Halloween is one of the masterstrokes of Satan, to make us believe that all of this is just so much of a fairy tale. But we need to realize that the devil is real.”

Movies like Harry Potter have sparked unprecedented sales and won the interest of many churchgoers. This entertainment fools people into thinking the occult is okay. Pastor Rogers continued, “The devil is not something to be laughed about and not something to be caricatured, and certainly not something to be joked about. The devil is a decided foe of all those who would follow Jesus. He is a destructive force.”

The devil has, in some instances, used Hollywood to portray the forces of darkness as light. He has desensitized us into believing those things we once held to be wrong are right! Those things we once believed to be right, he has tricked us into believing they are wrong! But thank God the devil is a defeated foe. And greater is He Who is in us than he who is in the world! As we look at the Scriptures, we will see Satan’s deception at work with Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 3:1 says, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals that the Lord had made.” Satan came into the Garden of Eden dressed in the first Halloween outfit recorded in the Scriptures. He came dressed as a serpent! Paul declared Satan fashions himself as “an angel of light.” (2 Cor. 11:14)

In our text, Satan chose the craftiest, subtlest, and most cautious of the animals and took full control of it for his trick. Jesus referred to Satan in John 8:44 when He said, “. . . he is a liar, and the father thereof.”

Satan first said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”

His second trick was to cast doubt on the Word of God. Satan sought to break down the woman’s faith by sowing in her mind doubt, suspicions, and false pictures of the Almighty God and His motives. It was a deliberate attempt to reflect on God.

Sometimes Satan will attempt to make us doubt God’s love for us. He will make us think nobody cares. He will discourage us and make us believe we can’t make a difference in our homes or our workplaces. He will even cause some to quit before they get started! He will tell us because of the color of our skin or our socio-economic background we can’t make it! He will go on and on until we’ve swallowed it all—hook, line and sinker!

The third trick was to get her to engage in conversation. Don’t talk to the devil unless, like Jesus, in Matthew 4, you are giving Him the Word of God or telling Him to get thee behind you!

Gen. 3:2-3 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 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.”

One commentator stated, “She was innocent, guileless, and unsuspecting, and no match for the wily antagonist. She was unwilling to stand by and see God misrepresented, and so she courageously attempted to correct the serpent’s statement. But she quoted God’s prohibition inaccurately, adding the word touch.”

God’s actual words, which are found in Genesis 2:17, state:

“But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” In Gen. 3:4-5 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 will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Satan wants to cast doubt on God’s Word! When the people of God have a mind to build themselves up in the study of God’s Word, the devil will send his wrecking crew to make them think it’s too hard to understand. Sunday School meets too early and Bible Study meets too late! But if we really believe the Word that’s found in 2 Timothy 2:15, we will study as workmen who need not be ashamed.

Eve’s curiosity, and perhaps her surprise at hearing a serpent speak, led her into further talk with him. Note it is a dangerous thing to entertain temptation, which ought at first to be rejected with disdain and abhorrence. The garrison that sounds a parley is not far from being surrendered. Those who would be kept from harm must keep out of harm’s way!

She was tricked into believing she needed more than what the Lord had provided for her. The Lord will supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory. This doesn’t mean we are to squander our possessions. It means our faith ought not to be in our resources, but in our Lord!

Verse 6 said, “When 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.”

Gradually the fruit took on new significance. It was attractive to the eye. Sin can look good. It was desirable to the taste. Sin can taste good! For Eve, there seemed to even be power to be had in this. New wisdom which first appeared unobtainable was now available.

Eve took a new step into the field of self-deception. She not only wanted food which was delicious and attractive, but she was hungry for power. She believed this fruit would satisfy all her desires.

In Satan’s bag of tricks is the trick of deception. The devil will deceive you into thinking you need the job more than you need the Lord! Your home will appear more inviting on Sunday than it does any other day of the week! Your bed will feel softer than it does any other day of the week!

We are deceived into thinking we need material things more than the deep, spiritual things of God. He will allow us to reach certain plateaus. He’ll make you the president of the Big People’s Club, which by the way, meets only on Sundays. But while you’re presiding in the natural, he will weaken you in the spiritual.

With the trick of deception can often be found a trick of distraction. Satan casts our eyes on these things instead of the Lord. Even the Church can be deceived and distracted. Satan’s objective is to take our minds off God’s focus for the Church. The Lord knows we need a Church building, but that’s not our mission. We must be careful while being diligent in our search.

However, we must also be careful to wait on the Lord. When the time is right, He will supply all our needs! Our mission is the Great Commission, which is to bring others to Christ! Anything else but this is the gravy of ministry. The real meat is bringing people to saving grace in the Lord.

Verse 7 indicates, “The eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves and made coverings for themselves.” With the culmination of sin, there is shame!

 

Verses 8-10 read, “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’ Adam answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’”

The tricks are to cause us to have an ungodly fear! The Bible tells us in Psalms 111:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” The Bible refers to a fear that causes us to have reverence for the Lord, but never a fear that would cause us to be afraid to share our innermost secrets with Him. Ordinarily, the approach of God’s footsteps brought them joy. Now, terror and dread paralyzed them, though the Lord did not approach in thunder nor call harshly.

The story continues: “And the Lord God said unto the woman, ‘What is this that thou has done?’ And the woman said, ‘The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.’” In other words, he tricked me! The devil will trick us into blaming everyone else but ourselves for our failures. We could do better, but we grew up in a single-parent home. We would be this or that; but we didn’t have the same opportunities as everyone else!

Did you not know that if you applied yourself and trusted God, He would do the rest! It is easy to blame someone else! But we ought to be like the songwriter who said,

“It’s me, it’s me, it’s me, O Lord
Standing in the need of prayer
It’s not my brother, not my sister
But it’s me, O Lord
Standing in the need of prayer!”

I know that you’re saying, Reverend, we know about the tricks, where is the treat? The treat and remedy for humanity was Jesus Christ, God’s Only Begotten Son! Romans 5:6 explains it this way, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” THAT’S A TREAT! Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” THAT’S A TREAT! Romans 5:1 said, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…” THAT’S A TREAT! As a result of it all, Romans 8:1 said, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.” THAT’S A TREAT!