of the cave is in Madisonville,
Kentucky this morning. Just remember him. As announced, Lord willing, I'll
be preaching in Dingus, West Virginia next Sunday. The bulletin, if you noticed
it, the title is taken from verse 7. Well, I didn't get that far. The actual title and subject
we're dealing with is the subtle serpent, the subtlety of Satan. And I thought about this. We're
in no hurry. We've been through Genesis before
together and looked at chapter 3 many times over the years.
And I don't want to rush through this. We'll miss some of the
subtlety. of Satan, which he would have
us do, wouldn't he? And every time we study these
things, we learn more. We need to be as wise as serpents.
Our Lord said that. Wise as serpents. Harmless as
doves, though. But wise as serpents, lest Satan,
in his subtlety, deceive us. That's what Paul was concerned
about. of the church, wasn't it, Corinthians? This is God's
Word and the truth of God. And in the very beginning, Genesis
is where the truth foundation is
laid. And to understand the truth of
who God is and what man is and what salvation is, you have to
understand what happened in the beginning. As Brother Spurgeon
once said, if you're wrong on the fall, you'll be wrong on
it all. And three questions that sum
up the truth. What happened in the garden?
What happened in the garden? Number two, what happened at
Calvary's Cross? What happened there? And number
three, what happens in the heart of a person when the Lord regenerates
and deals with them. So we're going to look at this
in depth. Look at chapter 3, verse 1 begins, Now the serpent
was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God
had made. The serpent, he's called, and
that the word is snake. Although I'm not sure, we're
not sure if he actually had the form of a reptile, a snake. But the word is taken from, well,
we get, you know, a snake in the way it sounds and the way
it acts, its characteristics. I believe that's why it's called
a serpent. A snake is so very subtle and
hidden and crafty and you're unaware of it. and he'll sneak
up on you. And the hiss, I looked it up,
the hiss of a snake. It's like a whisper. And I think
this is the way Satan interjected his poison. It's just a whisper. In Revelation 12, verse 9, it
reads this way. The great dragon was cast out,
that is, of heaven. Most of you know that story.
Lucifer in Isaiah 14, I believe it is, where he said, I will
exalt myself. I'll be God. I will. I will.
Free will. Satan said, I will. God, the
Lord said, no, you won't. I will. And so he cast him out. And I read on in Revelation 12,
the great dragon was cast out. That old serpent called the devil
and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. That's what our
Lord said. He was cast out into the earth,
and the Revelation speaks a great deal of it. And he deceiveth
the whole earth. He's a deceiver. As I said, his
form is not important. It's not important to know exactly
what he looked like. He sure didn't have a pitchfork
and a tail, did he? It would be easy to spot that. Evidently, he was very appealing,
alluring even to Eve, or else she would have been repulsed
by him. His voice must have been very
appealing. Smooth words and fair speeches
deceive the simple. Well, look at verse 1. It says,
He was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God
had made. Satan is a creature. Satan is
a creature. There's only one being in existence
who had no beginning of days nor end of days. That's God,
the Lord God, Son of God, Spirit of God. God is eternal. I am. Satan had a beginning. God made him. He's a created
angel. That's important to know that
for our comfort. He doesn't know everything. Oh,
no. In fact, I believe we give him
more credit than we ought to. He doesn't know everything. He
cannot be everywhere at the same time. He's not omnipresent. Only
God is. He is not omnipotent. He's not
all-powerful. His power is limited. He can
only do what God allows him to do. He knows the book of Job. First chapter of Job, the Lord
was mocking Satan, wasn't he? Where have you been? He said,
I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off,
as we would say. And he wanted to get at Job. He couldn't. He couldn't touch
Job. He can't do anything unless God allows him to do it according
to his will and purpose. Now, that's our comforted. God is God, Satan is not. Most religion today gives more
power to Satan than they do God. All power is from the Lord. He was made by God for a purpose.
Now, the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field.
Subtle means crafty, wily, deceitful, tricky. than any beast
of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the
woman, knowing he, I said he's not all-knowing, he's not omniscient,
but he is intelligent being. He spoke to the woman, knowing
she's the weaker vessel. He knew that. He knew that much. knowing she was a weaker vessel,
knowing that she perhaps would go to her husband who would, you know, in love to him or whatever,
listen to her. Whereas Adam, and our Lord said
this, Adam was not deceived in the transgression. Adam was not
deceived. Satan did not go to him. But
he went to her, knowing this about her and perhaps she would
that Adam and his love to her and would join her in the transgression. The woman, he said this to the
woman, and obviously she was alone, wasn't she? She was alone. Now, our Lord said, it's not
good for man to be alone, isn't it? It's not good for a man to
be alone. Well, it certainly wasn't good
for this woman. She was created to be the helpmate
of man. It was even worse for her, being
the weaker vessel. She needed her husband. And vice
versa. Vice versa. A help. She needed
her husband. It's not good for her to be alone.
She was alone. She's more susceptible to this
dangerous temptation than she would have been with her husband. And someone said, had she kept
close to the side out of which she was lately taken, she would
not have been so dangerously exposed. She should have kept
close to the one from whom she came. And what a lesson that
is for us. We are no match for the temptations
of Satan, the god of this world. So we need to keep close to the
side of the one from whom we came. And Matthew Henry said
this, communion with our Lord and his saints contributes to
our strength and our safety. Communion with the saints. Alone. Is it not when you're alone that
you're most tempted? and most easily swayed and fall to those alone. It's just not good to be alone. And evidently, evidently she
was near this tree, at least Satan perhaps pointed at it.
She's near this tree. Maybe she's looking at it. There's
no sin in that. There's no sin in looking at
it. But again, Matthew Henry said this, he said, if you don't
want to eat the forbidden fruit, don't go near it. Don't go near
it. What good advice that is. Good
counsel. If something could be a potential
problem, stay away from it. Right? Scripture says, put on
the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to
fulfill the lust thereof. The flesh is so weak and it's
so susceptible to temptation without us going near the temptation. He says, pray this every day
when you pray, lead us not into temptation. Lord, don't let me
get near it. I can't handle it. We cannot
resist one temptation. Eve was smarter than anybody
in here. She couldn't resist one temptation. Not one. Without the Lord. And
how much less can we? That's good advice, isn't it?
Wise counsel. Listen to Proverbs 4. And this
is what our Lord says to His sons. Not just young people,
but his little children, such as we are, so weak, so ignorant. He says this. Listen to this.
Proverbs 4, verse 15. Enter not into the path of the
wicked. Young people, really listen to this, please. Young
and old, don't go in the path of the wicked. Go not in the
way of evil men. Avoid it. Pass not by it. Turn from it. Pass away. Go the other direction. Go the
other direction. So, she was alone and she was
perhaps near this tree and looking at it. There's no, for our comfort,
there's no sin in being tempted. We're all tempted. There's no
sin in being tempted. We're all tempted. There's no
temptation taken to us, but such is common to God's people were
all tempted by the devil. There's no sin in that. Sin is
in succumbing to it. Sin is falling to it, is in taking
the bait. Now, I want you to notice with
me how sin came into this world. It came in a subtle way. It came in a seemingly small
way by the power of suggestion. by a little innuendo. Now look
at it. Verse 1. He said unto the woman,
Yea, hath God said you shall not eat of every tree of the
garden? Now this is why the Lord preaching
is better to hear the word. So you can hear the way in which
it's spoken. Can you hear him saying this?
Have you heard people put a question mark on truth and what we believe? I hear that it's written that
somebody told me that it says, you shall not eat of every tree
of the garden. Did God really say that? He didn't say that, did he? Did
he really say that? Just a little, you know, innuendo here. A little
subtle suggestion. Satan is more subtle than any.
He's like a snake. Quiet, stealthy, undetected,
before you know it, you're bitten. Anybody ever been bitten by a
snake? They tell me. I haven't. I've
been bitten by the surface. But they tell me that you're
bitten before you know it. And you don't feel the effects
of it. And then people look down, and before you know it, you're
swooning. It's so quick, so subtle. Poison is injected. Luther wrote
this. Luther, brilliant man. He said,
his craft and power are great. He's armed with cruel hate. On earth is not his equal. And
he goes on to say, did we in our own strength confide or try
to be a match for him, our striving would be losing. We're not the right man on our
side. I always have to quote the rest of them. The man of
God's own choosing. Do you ask who that may be? Why,
the Lord Jesus it is He. Lord Sabbath is His name. Age
to age the same. He must win the battle. His crafts and his power, as
Luther spoke of, are not out-and-out, bald-faced lies. We talk about
bald-faced lies. A man would look right in your
face and just tell you an out-and-out lie. No, they're subtle suggestions,
little innuendos or questions that raise doubts in the mind
about God and about His Word. That's how he does it. If he'd
have told an out-and-out lie, Eve wouldn't have fallen for
it. Same today. Well, no, it's worse today because
men love lies. They'd rather believe a lie.
But not Eve. Now, she's a righteous woman,
and yet how's he going to get her to believe his lies? It's
got to be pretty subtle, doesn't it? It's got to be mixed with
God's Word. There's got to be a little doubt
cast on God's Word. Somehow he's got to sneak in
his lie. That's his power. Raise a little doubt. in us about
God and about His Word. God is truth. God is truth. Christ, He said, I am the truth. The truth. The whole truth. Nothing but the truth. Scripture
says God cannot lie. He cannot lie. Who are you going
to trust? God cannot lie. God is good. There is none good but God. God is good, goodness personified. Everything He says is only good. He cannot say anything that's
not good. Who are you going to trust? Who
are you going to believe? And He says of the world and
everybody in it and everything in it, there's none good. No,
not one. They're all out for themselves. This is their Father. He's in
it for Himself. He's in it for himself. And the
only people you can really trust in this world are those who have
Christ in them. They're not in it for themselves.
They're like their Lord. They really do seek your good.
God is good. Satan is the opposite of God. He's a liar. He's a murderer,
our Lord said, from the beginning. He's up to no good. He means
us nothing but no good. He's out for himself. And his
workers, his ministers, are just like him. They look good. They sound good. They're smooth. You think they're good. But they're
up to no good. No good. Satan is subtle. And his greatest subtlety is
how he cloaks a lie in the truth. How he covers a lie with the
Word of God. How he uses the Word of God.
Old Brother Scott Richardson. If you want a blessing, you go
to Sermon Audio and you just start pulling up some of Brother
Scott's old messages. I have been listening to them.
I'm just so blessed and amazed at the wisdom that the Lord gave
that coal miner from West Virginia. It's obvious it's of the Lord.
This earthen vessel, excellence in the power of His mind was
of God, not of men. And he said this one time. He said 99% of rat poisoning
is good food. Rats wouldn't eat it if it wasn't.
If it wasn't good food, if it didn't taste good, didn't smell
good, they wouldn't eat it. It's just that one percent that
will kill them. And so it is with Satan's lie.
A little doubt here, a little suggestion there, a little innuendo
there. I've heard that God said that
you shall not eat every tree of the garden. Is that true? Did God say that? Three ways
that Satan deceived Eve and he deceives men and women today. Three ways. Number one, put a
question on God's Word. Is that really true? Did he really
say that? Is it really a sin? Is this really God's Word? Is
this book really God's Word? Do you know how few people really
believe this is God's Word? Huh? I read you that survey of
so-called clergymen one time, didn't I? I don't know what I
did with it, somewhere. Anyway, the vast majority of
so-called preachers don't really believe this is the Word of God.
They really don't. Who started that? Right here? Satan. Number one, he questions
God's Word. Is that really true? Did God
say that? Is this God's Word? And if He
did, is it really a sin? Is it that bad? Number two, after
he raises the question, he flatly denies the consequences of it. Look at verse 4. The serpent said unto the woman,
you shall not surely die. First he raises a question, then
he says, that's not true. It's not true. You won't die. He flatly denies the consequences
of sin, the great danger of sin, death. He denies death. You're
not dead. Man is not dead. He didn't die in the garden.
That's what he says. And number three. He even suggests,
he goes even further than that, he suggests that not only will
it not kill you, but some good will come of it. He calls good, evil. And evil, good. And bitter, sweet. And sweet, bitter. Woe is unto
him that does that, who calls good, evil. And evil, good. And
sweet, bitter. And bitter, sweet. And woe is
unto them that fall for it. And that's what he's doing, isn't
it? He hasn't changed. He has not changed. Here's the
thing. Now, he said, did God really
say that? You don't think so, do you? If he did, he didn't
mean it. Here's what he really meant to say. I've heard preachers
say that. I heard a well-known preacher
on the radio say that very thing. He says, it's not so much what
God said, it's what did he mean by that. I heard him say that. Barnard used to say, Remember
what Barney used to say, Dad? He said, Scripture doesn't say
what it means, it says what it says. It's not up to you to decide
what God says. We're not interpreting God's
Word, we're declaring it. The Holy Spirit's His interpreter.
The Holy Spirit's the one that will explain, if you will, His
Word. First thing is, you believe it.
Why? Because God said it. If I don't
understand it, I'll believe it anyway. I'll believe it anyway. Here's faith that overcometh
the world. Faith that overcometh the God of this world believes
God implicitly, completely, and really won't believe anybody
else. Doesn't he say that? Let God
be true in every man alike. That's faith. That's faith. Why? Because we know God's good,
God's holy, God's just, God's true. Man's not. Man's not. I love the way Luke
began the gospel by saying, he said, I'm writing to you to declare
unto you things most surely believed among us. I love what Paul said
over in Acts chapter 24, when he said,
The way they call heresy, so worship I, God my Father, believing
all things that are written in the law and the promise. I believe
it all. Surely not. Yes, I do. Well, nobody else
does. It doesn't matter. Let God be
true. This is the faith that overcometh
the gods. of this world. Listen to no one
but God. Here's my counsel from God's Word. Don't listen to anybody
but God and those who are just repeating. Is that good counsel? Not that we're afraid of questions. It's not that we're afraid of
questions. It's not that God's truth can't stand up to any scrutiny
or any kind of question that man hurls at it. That is not
true. They said, Stephen, they couldn't resist the wisdom, the
spirit by which he spoke. Our Lord came, who is the Word.
He is the Word. Our Lord came down here and they
asked him every question you could think of. They posed every
problem they thought it was a problem. They asked him every question
they could think of. Every hypothetical question they
could think of. This and that. Let's come up
with something. We'll trip him up. And they tried everything
they could. And when he answered them, they were all dumbfounded.
And finally, he asked them one question. And they were, we don't
know. And he says, nobody asked him
any more questions. The true wisdom coming from above. Man has any sense at all. He's
got it from God. The scripture says, Hath not
God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Huh? Those who know
the truth see all this stuff that men are saying today for
what it is, absolute, utter nonsense. People will reprobate mine. It
means don't have good sense. Don't have, we'd say, a lick
of sense. Why? God hides it from them. Professing
themselves to be wise? He shows them to be fools, doesn't
he? And he takes a babe and reveals the truth to them. Hides it from
the wise and prudent. Seminary professors don't know
what our children know. One of the only times our Lord
says he rejoiced in spirit, I believe he laughed out loud, was when
he said that. The Pharisees couldn't understand his simple parable.
But he revealed them to his disciples, and he said, I thank you, Father.
You have hid these things from the wise men of the food, and
revealed them unto me. Even so, Father, it seemed good
in thy sight. Why? No flesh is going to glory
in his presence. Boast not in your wisdom, not
in your strength, not in your beauty. By the grace of God.
Paul said, we don't know anything of ourselves. We have to have
it taught to us, revealed to us. So, no, we're not, you know,
we're not afraid of questions. God's, you know, man's supposed
wisdom. But I'll tell you what, though,
I'll tell you this much, though. If we were more knowledgeable
of the Scriptures, we can answer about any question anybody would
hurl at us from God's Word. It has, it can answer anything,
but we're not. So here's the danger in trying
to debate with people if we don't know the Word of God as well
as we should. So don't argue anyone. Just don't do it. Romans
9 doesn't argue that. Romans 9 verse 20, Paul is talking
about God's will. It's not of him that willeth
or him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Whom He will,
He hardens. And this is what people argue. Well, who can resist His will?
And all Paul says is, who are you to reply against God? And here's what I, I don't listen
to modern preachers anymore. I don't read books by false prophets. I don't read the philosophies
and philosophers of the day. I don't do it anymore. I just
don't. It's just a waste of time. A waste of time. And don't, please
don't hand me an article, a heretical article that somebody, don't
do it anymore. I don't want to read it. Not
that I'm afraid of it, I just don't have time. I've heard it
all anyway. I've heard every argument they have. Haven't you?
I've heard it all. There's nothing to it. I've been
arguing since Satan started. I made the mistake the other
day of reading some comments down on that sermon audio of
something that somebody, and it made me so mad. And I wanted
to write back, and I thought, I won't get involved. Let the
pot sherds, here's what our Lord said in Isaiah 45, let the pot
sherds strive with the pot sherds of the earth. Broken, fragmented
vessel. Let them argue all they will.
He that sits in the heavens laughs. No argument. The woman said to
the serpent, verse 2, the woman said to the serpent, we may eat
of the fruit of the trees of the garden. Hold on right there. She shouldn't She shouldn't have
been talking to him. She shouldn't have been alone.
She shouldn't have spoken to him. She should have rang up. She should have said, if she
said anything, the Lord rebuke thee, Satan. She should have
said, get thee behind me, Satan. She should have said, talk to
my husband, shouldn't you? How about us? We're the weaker
vassal. No match, no match. And what
she did instead was she ends up misquoting God's word. And falling for his wife, falling. Don't do it. Don't debate, don't
argue. Verse 3, she said, But of the
fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God
hath said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch
it, lest you die. Did God say that? No, He didn't. She misquoted it. She's interpreting
what God said. Isn't she? Look over at verse
17, right on the same page of chapter 2, verse 17. This is
what God actually said. Of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. That's pretty
plain, isn't it? She added to it, said don't touch
it. And she lessened the severity of it, lest you die. God said, you will die. How important is every word of
God, the way God said it? How important is it? Is it important? I'll tell you how important it
is. You can change the whole meaning of a passage by One little
word removed, or one little word changed, or one phrase. Put a
comma in the play. Change the whole meaning of it. I had several examples, but we're
out of time. And you know, the severity of
what God said, the plainness of it, lest you die, you shall
surely die, God said. Well, she lessened the severity
of it. And the serpent, finally, verse 4, he said, you shall not
die. And that's his lie today. You
shall not die. And here's what God really meant. He said, verse 5, God knows you
have free will. God knows in a day you eat thereof.
Your eyes shall be open. You'll be as God's, knowing good and evil. Do you
want that, don't you? And so here we have the lust
of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.
The woman saw the tree was good for food, pleasant to the eyes,
and desired to make one wise. It made her a fool is what it
did. She took the fruit, ate it, gave also to her husband
with her, ate it, ate, and plunged this world into darkness and
death. Subtle, subtle, subtle. We just, we didn't, half wasn't
told. Half of his tricks and wilds. He hasn't changed. He's still
operating the same way today. Read for your own good 2 Corinthians
11. Go over there and Paul says,
I fear that Satan, as he deceived evil, that your mind should be
deceived by his subtlety, from the simplicity of his cry. He goes on to talk about Satan's
ministers transformed themselves. The ministers, angels of light,
ministers of righteousness.