Summary of passage: The crafty serpent asked Eve, “Did God really say not to eat from any tree in the garden?” Eve tells him they can eat from any tree except from the tree in the middle of the garden or they will die. The serpent plants doubt, saying surely you won’t die; you will just be like God, knowing good and evil.
So, Eve took some and ate it and gave some to Adam (who was with her the whole time) and ate it as well.
Questions:
7) Matthew 13:19: He snatches away the message (Word) that was sown in man’s heart
Matthew 13:25, 39: He sows weeds amongst the crop while you are sleeping (unaware)
John 8:44: He is a liar, murderer, and father of lies. He has nor speaks no truth
John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11: He is called the prince of this world
2 Corinthians 4:4: He is called the god of this age
Ephesians 2:2: He is called the ruler of the kingdom of air
8a) Personal Question. My answer: Ephesians tells us he’s a schemer, so much so we need the full armor of God to resist him. 2 Corinthians tells us he masquerades as an angel of light. Luke shows us that Satan knows scripture and he will use it to tempt us to sin and he will twist it’s meaning like he did to Eve when she ate the fruit.
Satan’s life purpose is to make us fall. He spends his entire time scheming and using our weaknesses against us. He will use all the tricks in the book and then some. He has no morals or values as we know them. He is pure evil.
b) With Job the devil could not touch the man himself but only those people and things around him. The devil had 40 days to tempt Jesus but when he was done tempting he left Jesus alone. In Revelation we see the devil is limited in time. He has only a certain amount of time before God says enough and defeats him.
1 Corinthians 10:13: “He (God) will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear…he will also provide a way out so tht you can stand up under it.”
God sets limits to what the devil can do to us. God is there, protecting us. God allows the devil to exist and to tempt us (to test our faith). He is in control. We are choosing either the devil or God. Always.
9) 1 Thessalonians 5:17, James 5:16: pray continually, confess your sins and pray for each other
Matthew 4:1-2; Luke 4:1-2: Be full of the Holy Spirit
Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12: The Word of God–the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit
James 4:7: Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you
Conclusions: This was a study on the devil. To be honest, I didn’t even read the passage (since we read it yesterday). Every question had us looking elsewhere so leave some time for today’s lesson. Even though a lot of the books are small that’s what makes them tricky to find.
If you did Acts last year, a lot of this will be familiar. We discussed in detail our weapons against the devil (the Word, prayer, the Holy Spirit, and obeying God’s commands). I hold to 1 Corinthians 10:13: there is nothing God gives us we can’t bear, including the devil’s temptations. If we believe we can overcome and God is on our side and He’s in control, then we will!