I. Satan's temptations begin by laying a doubt at the root. He questions; he unsettles. He does not assert error; he does not contradict truth; but he confounds both. He makes his first entries, not by violent attack, but by secret sapping; he endeavours to confuse and cloud the mind which he is afterwards going to kill.
II. The particular character of these troublesome and wicked questionings of the mind varies according to the state and temperament and character of each individual. (1) In order to combat them, every one should have his mind stored and fortified with some of the evidences of the Christian religion. To these he should recur whenever he feels disquieted; he should be able to give "a reason for the hope that is in him," and an answer to that miserable shadow that flits across his mind, "Yea, hath God said?". (2) A man must be careful that his course of life is not one giving advantage to the tempter. He must not be dallying under the shadow of the forbidden tree, lest the tempter meet him and he die.
III. The far end of Satan is to diminish from the glory of God. To mar God's design he insinuated his wily coil into the garden of Eden; to mar God's design he met Jesus Christ in the wilderness, on the mountain top, and on the pinnacle of the temple; to mar God's design he is always leading us to take unworthy views of God's nature and God's work.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons,1874, p. 172 (Good Words,1867, p. 310).
The tempter effected his purpose in Eden: (1) by a question; (2) by a negation; (3) by a promise.
I. By a question. (1) Have we ever reflected on the tremendous power of a question? Some of the most important social and intellectual revolutions have sprung from a question. And it was through a question that the greatest of all revolutions was effected, by which man, made in the image of God, was seduced from his allegiance a question that has carried with it consequences of which no man can foresee the end. (2) Mark the subtlety of the question. It aimed at destroying the blessed fellowship between God and man. "Men ask in vain," says Luther, "what was the particular sin to which Eve was tempted." The solicitation was to all sins when she was tempted to doubt the word and the goodwill of God.
II. The tempter makes the way to sin easy by removing all fear of the consequences. There is the negation, "Ye shall notsurely die." We listen to the lie, and we stake our all, for time and for eternity, upon this blank and cruel negation.
III. The Satanic promise, Genesis 3:5. (1) It is malevolent: "God doth know"; He has a reason for the restriction; He dreads a rival. (2) It is fascinating: "Ye shall be as gods." The perverted pride of man's heart is the tempter's best ally.
J. J. S. Perowne, Anglican Pulpit of To-day,p. 209. (See also Contemporary Pulpit,vol. v., p. 119; and Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxiii., p. 13.)
References: Genesis 3:1. B. Waugh, Sunday Magazine(1887), p. 348; Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 113.Genesis 3:1-5. C. J. Vaughan, Voices of the Prophets,p. 237; D. Wilson, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxv., p. 113; Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermonsvol. v., p. 17; Clergyman's Magazine, vol.xii., p. 78, xviii., p. 83; Parker, vol. i., p. 132; R. S. Candlish, Book of Genesis,vol. i., p. 60; N. Blackwood, Sunday Magazine(1885), p. 235.Genesis 3:1-13. Homiletic Quarterly,vol. iv., p. 551.Genesis 3:1-16. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. iv., p. 146. Genesis 3:2; Genesis 3:3. H. Melvill, Sermons on Less Prominent Facts,vol. ii., p. 107. Genesis 3:3. J. Keble, Sermons for the Christian Year,vol. iii., p. 118.