Satan's Tactics - Lying and Accusing — Zac Poonen

The Rule of First Mention and True Worship

In studying the Bible, there is a simple rule which I found for myself. It's called the rule of first mention. For example, worship. The first time it's mentioned is when Abraham offered up his son. That is real worship, to give up the best to God, not just seeing praises.

Knowing Satan's Tactics

So when you talk about the devil, which Jeremy was talking about, I want to continue on that. The principle of first mention. In Genesis chapter 3, to resist the devil, he must know his tactics. I remember when I was in the military, we were told that if you can know the enemy's tactics, you will be able to win the war much better.

So if you know Satan's tactics, then you'll be able to overcome him more easily. So in Genesis chapter 3, there are two things I want to mention. First of all, when God, he came to the woman and asked her a question in Genesis 3, has God really said that?

And she said, yeah, God said you will die if you eat from this. And the devil's first words were, you will not die. Jesus called the devil a liar. And that's the first lie in the Bible. The first lie mentioned in the Bible is the devil telling man or the human race, you will not die.

Taking God's Warnings Seriously

That means don't take God's word so seriously. That means you won't go to hell. Now I want to apply that to the words that Jesus spoke, because I believe Jesus was part of the Trinity that said to Adam and Eve, don't eat from that tree.

Very simple. And the devil said, no, you won't die. Okay, here's something else. You won't go to hell. Okay, let's turn to Genesis, Matthew, sorry, Matthew chapter 5 and verse 22. The same God who spoke to Adam and Eve is here in human form.

The same God is saying to us in Matthew 5 .22, I say to you, if you're angry with your brother, that is only in the heart. Anger is only in the heart first. You haven't said a word, you're guilty. You're guilty when you've got anger in your heart against your brother.

Did you know that? If you have anger in your heart against anyone, you're already guilty. Because the devil says no. And if that anger comes out of your mouth and you say something to that brother, then you're more guilty, Supreme Court.

And then you know how it is with anger. You don't stop with one sentence. You want to continue and you go on. You are guilty enough, read this, to go to hell. Anger is the first of three steps to hell.

First in the heart, then in the mouth, and again in the mouth, you're ready to go to hell. What does the devil say? No, you will not die. You will not go to hell. Do you know the number of Christians, even in CFC churches, to whom the devil says, No, no, no, no.

You get angry with your wife, you won't go to hell. Not at all. Don't be deceived by all that. It's all this strong, radical stuff brothers I preach. Just don't believe it all. You get angry somewhere and you repeat it again and again.

You keep on doing that year after year after year. You won't go to hell. It's the same old liar who deceived Eve. So that is the number one tactic of Satan, to tell you God doesn't mean what he said. You know the surprise that a lot of... See, Hindus and non-Christians and all won't get that surprise because they never read the Bible.

They never know. The ones who are going to get the biggest surprise are Christians who heard this, heard this, heard this, heard this, and said, Well, it's not really going to happen to me. You know who tells you it's not really going to happen to you?

I hope you recognize that voice now. The second thing I want you to see is, Okay, the devil tempted Adam and Eve through that. Adam was tempted not directly by the devil, but through the woman. Sometimes the devil doesn't come to us directly, whispering something in our thoughts.

He may come through another person. In this case, it was his wife. Do you husbands believe that your wife can tell you something that can lead you astray? If you love your wife so much that you don't want to offend her, then the devil knows your weak point.

Be careful. Be careful that you don't love your husband or wife so much that you will even disobey God in order not to offend your husband or wife. That's why Jesus said, If you love your wife or husband or father or mother more than me, you cannot be my disciple.

You just can't follow me. Forget it. To love Jesus more than everyone else, it simply means that if I hear two voices, my wife or father or mother or your husband or anyone saying do this, and I hear the voice of God telling me you've got to do something or I'm going to listen to God, and if my loved one gets offended, so be it.

Satan as Liar and Accuser

The person will get offended. One day, your husband or wife will thank you for taking a stand for the Lord. Okay. The second thing we see here is, first, the devil is a liar. And that's in the first book of the Bible.

In the last book of the Bible, you read in Revelation chapter 12 and verse 10. The devil is called an accuser. That's the other characteristic of Satan. He's an accuser. Particularly of Christians. He's called not the accuser of the world.

He's called in verse 9 the deceiver of the whole world. But he doesn't waste his time accusing worldly people because they're already his. He's the accuser of born-again believers. That's what it says in verse 10.

The accuser of the brothers and sisters has been thrown down. That's the second thing we see in Genesis 3. This time, he didn't come as a serpent. He came in a very hidden way to Adam. When God came to Adam in Genesis chapter 3 and said, Adam, where are you?

And he was hiding and he said, I'm naked. And who told you you were naked? Have you eaten? Very simple question. In Genesis 3, 11, God asked Adam, one simple thing I want to ask you. Did you eat from that tree?

Only one answer, yes or no. There's this multiple choice questions that we have. You know, you get sometimes there are question papers where there's only yes or no. But Adam doesn't answer yes or no. He puts underneath the third answer.

He doesn't say yes or no. This woman, you see the accuser? The accuser comes up here. You see, I wish I could paint a picture of this. Adam pointing his finger at his wife. This is characteristic of so many husbands, so many wives, so many believers.

He did this. His children also. He did the children. Start by that. Why did you do this? Because he did that. Because she did that. It's from Adam. You see it in your children. It's very rare that they'll say, oh, it's me.

I mean, if you have a child like that, you're lucky. You're very blessed. They're very rare children like that. It always starts with he, she, the accuser. Remember these two tactics of Satan, dear brothers and sisters.

The Seriousness of Sin and Jesus' Warning

God doesn't mean it. When he says he'll go to hell, you won't go to hell. You read further down in Matthew 5, if you lust after a woman, you've committed adultery. Pull out your eye, otherwise you'll go to hell.

Really? The devil says, no, how can that be? This is just a weakness. You didn't harm anybody. You just had a few dirty thoughts. You won't go to hell for that. You mean God's so strict that he had dirty thoughts and he'll go to hell?

You have a choice to believe the word of Jesus or the devil. And I'll tell you this, that choice will come to you many, many, many times. And you can make a choice. Jesus always resisted it. You know, the devil quoted a scripture to Jesus.

Jump off the roof. Because the scripture says he will give his angels charge over you. And Jesus said, no, I know another scripture. Don't tempt the Lord your God. He wouldn't listen. You've got to be alert.

Vigilance Against Accusation and Blame-Shifting

The devil's the cleverest created being. Do you know that the devil is the cleverest created being? He's smarter than any human being. He's the smartest of the angels. And he hasn't lost his cleverness.

When you sin, you don't lose your cleverness. You can be the cleverest person and the greatest sinner simultaneously. Many sinners are very, very clever. Many thieves are very clever. Many liars are very clever.

So the devil's very clever to trip you up. And to accuse, to point a finger at somebody else. The next time you are tempted to accuse someone, remind yourself where that thought comes from. Adam didn't recognize it because he didn't come as a snake.

It was just something that came into his mind. Tell God it was she. And sometimes even without anyone asking us a question, we have a tendency. It's a tremendous tendency in the human race to point the finger at somebody else, to refuse to take the blame ourselves.

Christ Bearing Humanity's Blame on the Cross

And one of the main lessons on the cross is that Jesus took the blame for things he had never done. The blame of the sins of all humanity. He had never committed a sin. But he said to the Father the exact opposite of what Adam.

He pointed the finger himself. Put it on me. That's what he was saying on the cross. May God help us.