This sermon will touch on spiritual warfare. The spiritual warfare we’re concerned with is not regarding the forces of good and evil between the angels and demons, because that warfare is over. It happened in heaven eons ago. The angels won, and the demons lost.

The spiritual warfare the speaker is talking about is where the demons are warring against us. Where does the speaker get this unhappy story from?

Rev 12:7-9
There you have it straight from the Bible: there was a war in heaven. The angels won. The demons lost.

Unfortunately, that’s not the end of the story.
Rev 12:17
The demons were cast down to heaven, and on earth they wage war on those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.

Those who keep the commandments of God know what the commandments of God are. Do YOU keep the commandments of God? If you do, you make yourself the target; the enemy of demonic forces.

What is the testimony of Jesus? It means the confirmation of Jesus that you are His child. And when does God confirm you are His child? When you have the blood of Christ on you through baptism. The blood of Christ testifies you’re a child of God. When Jesus was baptised, He received the testimony that He was the son of God. It was by the Spirit. It was also by the water in the baptism by John the Baptist. In 1 John 5, it says there’re 3 things that bear witness: Spirit, water, blood.
The final testimony of Jesus the Son of God, the Messiah, was when she shed His blood. So the testimony of Jesus on you is also confirmed by the water, spirit and blood.

So if you have been baptised and keep the commands of Jesus, unfortunately, you have become a target of the demonic forces.

Now let’s look at the first battle. The battle scene was in the Garden of Eden, between the son of God and the leader of the demonic forces - the Serpent. In Revelation, the Serpent is identified as Satan.

Gen 3:1-5
Satan is the greatest ever salesman. Those of you in sales know how difficult it is to close a sale. To get someone to buy your product, you have to say so many words. You may not be a salesman, maybe you’re doing a business or you’re an officer manager. Still, you have to say many words to convinced someone else. But you know, Satan managed to sell the fruit to Eve in 3 sentences. And with that, he gained control of the whole of humanity for thousands of years.

What are these 3 sentences?

1. Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’? (v1)
2. You will not surely die (v4)
3. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. (v5)

Now, we call this the temptation of Eve. Let’s analyse the 3 sentences.

1. Did Satan have to resort to telling a lie to sell his product? Let’s look at the first sentence.
   Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden.”
   A question cannot be a lie right? All Satan did was ask a question. But this is a pregnant question, because within it, it contains so much!

Let’s look at the background. Looking at the background will help us to appreciate how super intelligent Satan is.

Who was the Serpent talking to? Eve. When God gave the command not to eat, was Eve around?
Gen 2:16-22
The command that they couldn’t eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil was given to Adam. This was in v15. Eve came around only in v21. She wasn’t around when the command was given. That was the first complication. But that wasn’t the only time God talked about eating fruits. After Eve came into existence, God talked about eating fruits again.

Gen 1:27-31
v28 God said to THEM
This means both of them were there.
In v21, God said EVERY tree should be for food. So what did Eve hear? That she could eat of every tree, since every tree should be for food. Every means every right? And when God spoke to both of them, there was no exception clause (e.g. ‘but that one’).
In v31, God said that everything created was good.

So we see the complication. Now let’s go back to the discussion between the Serpent and Eve.
Gen 3:1
Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?
Do you see how difficult the question that came out of the mouth of the Serpent was? He didn’t say, “Did God say you couldn’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?”

Why was his question tricky? Because the purpose of this question is to lead the mind of Eve to think of the command to both of them “EVERY tree” even though she remembered her husband said not to eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.

We find that the the husband’s information was secondary source. It makes Eve doubt. “Can I trust the secondary source?” Because God saying I cannot eat came from the mouth of my husband. But being able to eat from all the trees came directly from the mouth of God.

What can we learn from this?
The speaker would like to say the lesson learnt is to listen to your husband LOL
The Bible we have is the secondary word of God. God spoke to the writers, they wrote it down and we’re reading the writers’ writings. So, the immediate attack of Satan is to attack the reliability of our faith; the source of our belief. He draws immediately to the conflicting information that Eve received. Thereby doubting the reliability of the secondary source of God’s word.

What we learn is that we shouldn’t doubt the Bible. The Bible is secondary just like the words of Adam to Eve. So for those people who want to shaken your faith, they’ll always say, “Is the Bible truly the word of God?” That’s the way they shake your faith. “Or is the Bible just for reference?” If you read it and it’s good, apply it. If it’s not, you don’t need to listen to it.

The immediate attack of Satan is to attack the reliability of God’s word from a secondary source. But then, there’re more problems, because Adam was a bit messed up.

God merely said they couldn’t eat. But then he told the wife, “You cannot TOUCH and eat.” This becomes very complicated.

The Bible says Eve took the fruit and ate it (v6). To take it, she needed to touch it first before putting it in her mouth and swallowing it. So when Eve touched the fruit she said, “Eh I’m not dead!” “My stupid husband bluffed me!” That further weakens the reliability of the secondary source. She took the fruit and didn’t die. “My husband said if I touched, I wouldn’t die. But I touched already and didn’t die!

So whose fault is it? Adam’s right? Don’t mess with God’s word. Don’t add or subtract. That’s what the True Jesus Church is about. We teach from the Bible, nothing more nothing less. When we teach more and it doesn’t happen, people will react: hmm? God is not like that.

So we have to be careful when we speak the word of God, we don’t add. Because it may cause people’s faith to be broken, broken by you.

1. “You will not surely die.” (v4)
   How many of you think this is a lie? It isn’t a lie. See how clever Satan is. How was it not a lie?

Gen 3:22-23
v22 is a very curious verse. It confirms that what Satan said was correct. For Adam to surely die, there must be 2 conditions:
(1) He eats from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
(2) He doesn’t eat from the tree of life
If (1) is fulfilled but (2) isn’t fulfilled, he won’t die.

See the half truth of the devil. See how smart he is. This statement is true. By eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, only (1) is fulfilled.

1. “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (v5)
   The last and third sentence. Is this a lie?

What’s the supposed consequence of eating?

1. Eyes opened
2. Like God knowing good and evil

According to v7, the first consequence is correct. Now, is the second consequence correct? v22 is from the mouth of God “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil.” The second consequence is also correct.

See the temptation of Satan! He doesn’t even need to lie! With that, he captured the whole world. So we know how good a salesman he is. “I don’t know why salesman don’t use Gen 3.” Lol

Let’s go deeper. 3 sentences. Not a lie. Why did Eve fall for it?

Gen 3:6
Let us analyse the thought. What went through the mind of Eve was: (1) the tree was good for food (2) it was pleasant to the eyes
Was thinking this bad? No. She was actually trying to think back to what God said. Just like when we try to think back to what God said when we meet with difficult situations. “God said EVERY tree is good for fruit.” “Hm it’s pleasant to the eyes. Why? Because after creating everything, God said it was good.” She was trying to recall what God said. Then the problem came, when she thought the third thing.
(3) desire to make one wise

Where did she get that from? When God spoke to Adam, He merely said, “You cannot eat. You eat? You die.” He never mentioned about getting wise. When God spoke to the two of them, He merely said, “It’s good for food.” But God never said after eating they’d become wise.

What did the Snake say? The Snake also didn’t say you’d become wise. He only said you’d be like God, knowing good and evil.

So where did this woman imagine the wise from? Those who are sitting on the left sometimes encounter this “Where did she get that idea from??”

And then she ate. So -speaker exhales- why?

Let’s analyse again. Eve would’ve gone through a cost benefit analysis.

If you eat, you die. But then you become wise. Wise is desirable to her.
Was death a threat to her? Was it something that would constrain her, make her scared?

Imagine you tell a boy, “You don’t eat. If you eat, I’ll abada you.” Will he be scared? He doesn’t know what abada is.

Do you think Eve knew what death was? Has she seen death?

Do you know when was the first death on earth? The first dead thing on earth was? When God killed the animal to make leather jackets for them. That was the first death that both of them saw “ohh this is death”. It happened AFTER the sin. BEFORE the sin, they had not seen death.

Death wasn’t a threat to them.

Was knowing good and evil an attraction to Eve? This was the offer by the devil. What did the Bible say? Analyse carefully. AFTER they eat, then they become like God knowing good and evil. In other words, before they ate, good and evil had no meaning to them.

So when the devil told Eve she’d know good and evil, it was like telling her, “You will know ack and eek.”

Before eating, she didn’t know what knowing good and evil was. It wouldn’t be an attraction.

So why did she eat?

The answer is this: God never told Adam nor Eve that after eating, their eyes would be opened to be like God knowing good and evil. It’s true right? God never told them. Although it’s true.

This vital information, even though she didn’t understand what it was, Eve must have thought: It must be good what. It means that there’s something good God’s not telling me but this Snake is telling me about it.

The Snake was trying to plant in the mind of Eve: God is good but maybe He’s not that good. I, the Snake will tell you what’s good.

That’s the core/basis of the temptation. “God is good. But maybe not that good because He’s not telling you something that’ll benefit you. But I will tell you.”

If you do visiting to those who have left church, you’d find almost all have left because of this. Those who leave the church and don’t come for service and don’t even want to be a Christian, feel that if they stay here, they’d just be what they are, maybe there’s something better outside. They’re not happy with the present situation, with the now. They think there’s something better outside the True Jesus Church. THAT is the lie Satan is implying without saying it. The three overt expressed sentences of the devil weren’t lies. But the hidden message behind the three statements IS a lie: God is not good. There’s something better out there. God is not telling you everything. God is not giving you everything.

That’s why Paul says, “You must be content with what you have. You must live a life believing where you are what you have now is the best.”
God is good. Whatever God has given you and told you is enough.
Maybe there’s something better out there. But if you stay here, you’ll be in Eden.

But if you buy the subtle lie of the devil, that there’s something God is not giving you. You’ll think: “I’ll get it out there.”

So you see the 3 sentences, the overt expressed statements of the devil were not lies. The underlying, subtle message to Eve: God is not that good. Not giving you the best. There’s better outside.

Now we come to the more difficult question. Why on earth did Adam eat? Let’s look at an intriguing verse that confuses this question even more.
1 Tim 2:14
What was Paul implying? Paul is saying, “Adam was not deceived. He’s smart like me.” What Paul was saying was that Adam committed suicide. Right? Because he wasn’t deceived. It wasn’t that he listened to the devil like Eve. Think think think. And then ate.

To Paul, Adam was not deceived. He ate it knowing that he was going to die. In other words, he committed suicide. WHY did he commit suicide?

That’s why throughout history there’re lots and lots of stories of people killing themselves for love (e.g. Romeo and Juliet).

Eve was the weakness of Adam. He loved Eve. When you have love, you become vulnerable. You may do things that may not be rational. Satan knows that. So that’s why Satan didn’t have a chat with Adam. Satan chose a more interesting conversation, he chose Eve. Because he knows that if he can sell it to Eve, Adam will buy.

So that’s why you see when you walk around Orchard Road, they offer you a free package somewhere but you must attend a talk AND bring your husband/wife.

What do we learn from this?
Regarding your love for God and your love for your husband/wife/children, sometimes there may be a conflict.

Then what? We can be heroic like Adam and commit suicide. This is true. When the speaker visits people who don’t come to church anymore, some reasons given was “If my husband and I go to different churches, the children will be confused. So I go to his church.”
This is pure suicide! It’s not about doctrines. It’s not that they don’t believe the doctrines of the True Jesus Church and leave for another. It’s not a matter of deception. It’s a matter of love.

Love is good. But love can kill. The only way to resolve love is to know love are in layers; there’re hierarchies.

You really cannot say, “This love is better.” It’s really hard to measure. The only way is to accept a hierarchy.

You love God first. Then you love your family. Then you love church members. Then you love the whole world. That’s not from the speaker, it’s from the Bible. It won’t be discussed in this sermon.

With this hierarchy, there won’t be a moral dilemma. Your love for God comes first.

Adam didn’t have this hierarchy. That’s the problem. But he was an inexperienced husband.

So tonight since this sermon has been spoken, husbands take note. Sisters should also ask yourselves, “Does your love for your husband trump your love for God?” Then you’ll buy from the Snake.