Featuring Special Guest Blogger, Gowdy Cannon.

From His Revival Series: Three Relationships that Determine Everything

Genesis 3:1-19

There are certain relationships in life that determine almost everything about who we are.

Over the next few posts, I want to focus on three relationships that truly define a person in the most important ways. These are not small matters. They determine how we relate to God, how we live, and ultimately where we are headed eternally.

Those three relationships are:

• Your relationship with truth
• Your relationship with the church
• Your relationship with Jesus himself

This post focuses on the first: your relationship with truth. And to understand it, we go back to one of the most familiar passages in the Bible, Genesis 3, the story of the serpent in the Garden of Eden.

This story is not just ancient history. It reveals how Satan works. And the strategy he used there is the same strategy he continues to use today.

If we want to understand Satan’s will for our lives, Genesis 3 shows us exactly what it looks like.

Satan Mixes Truth With Lies

The first thing we see in Genesis 3 is how Satan deceives Eve.

He doesn’t begin with an obvious lie. Instead, he starts with a question:

“Did God actually say…?”

His strategy is subtle. He takes truth and places it right next to a lie.

Satan tells Eve two things:

• “You will not surely die.”
• “Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

One of those statements is a lie. One of them is partially true.

God had clearly warned Adam and Eve that eating from the tree would bring death. But Satan contradicts that and assures Eve that death will not happen. That is the lie.

Yet he also tells her that eating the fruit will open her eyes and make her aware of good and evil. When Adam and Eve do eat the fruit, their eyes are opened. In that sense, Satan told a truth.

This is how deception often works.

A blatant lie is easy to spot. But when a lie is wrapped in truth, it becomes far more convincing. As someone once said, lies are most believable when they stand very close to the truth.

And this strategy has not changed.

Even today, many ideas are presented in ways that combine truth with falsehood. For example, people often say:

“Love means acceptance and affirmation.”

There is truth in that statement. Love absolutely involves affirmation and kindness. It is essential that parents communicate love to their children and that we speak words that build people up.

But the Bible also shows that love sometimes does something different.

There are moments when love confronts.
There are moments when love refuses to affirm sin.
There are even moments when love must create distance in order to call someone to repentance.

Scripture contains multiple instructions about confronting unrepentant sin and, if necessary, separating from those who refuse to turn from it. These instructions are not acts of cruelty. They are meant to bring someone back to truth and restoration.

In other words, sometimes what looks like kindness is actually harmful, and sometimes what looks harsh is actually loving.

That is why Christians must learn to discern truth from lies.

Even the Bereans in Acts 17 examined the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul was teaching was true. If the apostle Paul was not above being checked by Scripture, then no teacher today is above it either.

Every believer must know the Word of God well enough to recognize when truth and lies are being mixed together.

Satan Tempts Us to Be Our Own God

The second strategy we see in Genesis 3 is even deeper.

Satan appeals to Eve’s desire to be like God.

Genesis tells us that Eve saw the fruit was:

• Good for food
• Pleasing to the eye
• Desirable for gaining wisdom

But Genesis 2 already told us that every tree in the garden was good for food and pleasing to the eye. That was not unique to this tree.

So why did Eve really take the fruit?

Because she wanted what Satan promised: to be like God.

This is the root of pride.

The Bible often describes temptation through three categories:

• The lust of the flesh
• The lust of the eyes
• The pride of life

Those first two desires become dangerous because of the third. At the center of sin is the desire to rule our own lives rather than submit to God.

The Word of God confronts that impulse.

When we truly read Scripture, not just casually, but thoughtfully and prayerfully, it humbles us. The Bible is not meant to be something we dominate. It is meant to dominate us.

God’s Word exposes our hearts. It shows us where we are wrong and calls us to repentance.

Sometimes that conviction comes in very practical ways.

There was a moment when the prophet Haggai’s words struck deeply: God rebuked his people for focusing on their own comfortable homes while the temple lay in ruins. The command was simple: “Consider your ways.”

When Scripture confronts us like that, it reveals where we have been living for ourselves instead of for God.

That is exactly what Satan wants to prevent. He wants people distracted, comfortable, and uninterested in letting the Word of God challenge their lives.

Sin Always Leads to Hiding, Blame, and Consequences

After Adam and Eve sinned, their reaction was immediate.

They hid from God.

When confronted, Adam blamed Eve.
Eve blamed the serpent.

This pattern has repeated itself throughout human history.

Satan’s strategy leads people to:

• Hide their sin
• Shift blame to others
• Ignore the consequences

Yet sin never stays isolated. Like a stone thrown into water, it creates ripples that affect far more than the person who committed it.

One person’s sin can damage families, churches, and communities. The consequences extend far beyond what we imagine in the moment.

Genesis 3 reminds us that sin always carries consequences. God’s justice demands it.

But the story does not end there.

The Grace of God in Genesis 3

Even in the midst of judgment, Genesis 3 contains a promise.

God tells the serpent that one day the offspring of the woman will crush his head, even though the serpent will strike his heel.

This is the first glimpse of the gospel.

From the very beginning of the Bible, God was pointing forward to Jesus Christ.

All throughout Scripture the same story unfolds:

• The lamb of the Passover
• The sacrifices of Leviticus
• The scapegoat that carried away sin
• The festivals and feasts of Israel

Every one of these points forward to Christ.

Jesus is the true sacrifice.
He is the true priest.
He is the true temple.
And through his blood we receive forgiveness of sins.

The entire Bible ultimately leads us to him.

Why Your Relationship With Truth Matters

Genesis 3 shows us what Satan wants for every life.

He wants people confused about truth.

He wants lies wrapped in truth so that deception is harder to see.

He wants people chasing pride and self-rule instead of humbly submitting to God.

And he wants people hiding their sin rather than turning to grace.

The answer to all of this is a deep, daily relationship with the Word of God.

In a world designed to distract us, from screens, media, and endless noise, believers must be intentional about knowing Scripture. Not for the sake of winning arguments or appearing knowledgeable, but so that we can know God and make him known.

Because when we truly know the truth, we recognize the lies.

And when we see the lies for what they are, we are able to live in the freedom that Christ has given us.