Truth Matters: 11 18 21

This is Truth Matters! Daily Devotion with Dr. Cheryl Davis. Truth Matters is a ministry of the Truth Project whose mission is to empower men and women in the Christian faith to teach Biblical truth in the culture and the marketplace of ideas, using the Bible as a sacred trust of truth in sharing the message of Jesus. Learn more about the ministry of the Truth Project at www.projecttruthmatters.com. Today, it's Satan, his purpose, and his strategies.

Here's your host to explain. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

He's going to crush the head of the serpent, and so he's making that promise that he's going to crush the head of the serpent. But since then, Satan's existence is dedicated to destroying the purpose of Christ. Anyone connected with Christ's seed have been attacked by human agencies. We know that Satan's strategies are ancient, and they do not change. If we can get hip to the jive of Satan and understand him, we can anticipate how he's going to come against us. Satan basically has three strategies.

I just want to take a second to go over this before we talk about the history of Satan's persecution of God's chosen people. Let's go to Genesis 3, verse 6. This is how he deceived Eve.

We can see how Satan deceived Eve, and he deceives us the same way. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and the tree desirable to make one wise, she took of the fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her who ate. So first, after she saw that it was good for food is known as the lust of the flesh. That it was pleasant to the eyes is the lust of the eyes, and it is desirable to make one wise is the pride of life. So Satan will come and attack in these three ways, and it will always be these three ways.

The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Since then, he has been attacking the very seed of anyone who is connected with Christ, and we see that throughout the Bible. First, when Cain slew Abel. Second, the pre-flood generation was almost completely destroyed because of their sin.

Only Noah was faithful. Third, we see that Esau wanted to kill Jacob. Second, Pharaoh tried to kill every Hebrew male baby in Egypt. Five, he sowed discord and sin among the sons of King David so that only one little baby, Joash, remained the line of David whom the Messiah might come. Haman tried to destroy the Jews while they were in exile. Herod tried to destroy all the male babies in Bethlehem. And Satan tempted Jesus himself in the wilderness to go against the plan of God and take matters into his own hands. Satan has been preoccupied with trying to destroy Christ's seed throughout history because he knew that in the fulfillment of Christ's sacrifice on the cross that that would crush his head. We see even in Matthew chapter 4 verses 1 through 11 how he even tempted Christ. You know, if he could not stop him from being born, and even after he was born, Joseph and Mary had to go to Egypt because Herod tried to kill all the male babies in Bethlehem. But even after, he said, okay, I can't kill him. I can't stop him from being born. Maybe I can even corrupt Jesus.

And so in Matthew chapter 4, this is where we see where he tempts Jesus. You've been listening to Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis. Truth Matters is a ministry of The Truth Project, a North Carolina-based ministry dedicated to teaching biblical truth and sound theology to those inside and outside of the church. If you'd like to listen to these messages on demand, go to projecttruthmatters.com and click on the podcast link. Dr. Davis is also available to speak to your ministry group or church function. She can be reached by email at CherylDavis at projecttruthmatters.com. Or if you'd like to send a letter, the address is Project Truth Matters, Post Office Box 159, St. Paul's, North Carolina, 28384. You can hear Truth Matters weekdays on this radio station at 8 20 a.m. and 5 20 p.m. with a full length teaching program on Saturday afternoon at 12 30. Until next time, let's all work together to teach a biblical truth to assist, equip, edify, and encourage one another and bring the gospel to the world because truth matters. ...