The devil's biggest lie: "You will not surely die"

Genesis 3:4

"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman.

Here the devil tells the woman, his biggest and boldest lie. He directly contradicts God who said, "...you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die. There is nothing equivocal in God's command. There is no room for compromise there and it is not open to interpretation. God's tells us clearly, "If you sin by disobeying me, you will surely die."

And yet here comes the devil and he tells the woman that what God said is not true. "You will not surely die," he says. And ever since that tragic, fatal day in the garden, the devil has been echoing that lie to all mankind. Down through the ages it's lethal effect has been clearly seen: nations have collapsed because of it, families have been devastated by it, and countless souls have been seduced and destroyed by it.

We cannot--must not--underestimate the power that this lie has over the human heart. In our sinful nature we are strongly drawn to it. We want to believe that we can commit this sin or that other without suffering the consequences of it. And with the devil's help we come up with a million reasons why in this particular instance and due to this unique set of circumstances it is okay for us to sin. But that lie is like a bridge that leads from innocence to corruption. We must not cross it. Eve crossed it and it became a source of endless woe to herself, her husband and to all the people that came afterward.

On the other side of the bridge Satan is beckoning us to come. Except he doesn't look like Satan but like the shape of the sinful things we like. "Cross that bridge!" he says to us, "Cmon, cross that bridge! You will not surely die!" But on this side of the bridge Jesus stands next to us and he says to us, "Keep your eyes on me. And on the things that are of God and things will go well with you."