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When I played soccer at high school, I could usually predict whether we would win or lose as soon as we saw the other team. For some reason, most of the players on my team were smallish. Extremely skillful but rather short. When we turned up and saw that we were playing a team of giants (which was quite often), I knew we were going to lose.

I knew that not because the big team were better soccer players – our team usually had the better players. It wasn’t so much about our physical height (or lack of it), but more to do with our mindset. “They’re taller; we’re toast.” That was our team’s mindset. It was a loser mentality. We had lost before the game even began. My team didn’t even try. We were losers and therefore we lost.

We can sometimes take that loser mindset into our battle with the Devil. “He is so big and strong; I am so small and weak. He’ll defeat me. He detests me. He’ll destroy me.” No wonder he wins! When we have a loser mindset, he’s won before the fight even begins.

We must change our loser mentality into a winner mentality. How? By remembering we have the biggest player in the world on our team, the Lord Jesus Christ. When he appears, we win, and the Devil loses. That’s what we learn in Genesis 3:14-16, the first three-point gospel sermon.

GOD DEFEATS THE DEVIL

God spoke these words not only to the snake, but to the Devil who occupied and used the snake.

  • You’re cursed: The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock, and above all beasts of the field” (14).
  • You’re a crawler: “On your belly you shall go” (14).
  • You’re a loser: “Dust you shall eat all the days of your life” (14).

When you feel like a spiritual loser, remember your opponent is the world’s biggest loser.

Why does God promise to do this?

GOD DETESTS THE DEVIL 

God said to the devil: “I will put enmity [hostility] between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring” (15).

  • I hate you: God hates the devil with a perfectly holy hatred, and therefore….
  • I will make you hated: God promises to break up the unholy friendship between the devil and humanity and to put hostility between them instead. That’s a mercy.

Most hatred is merciless, but this hatred is merciful.

God hates the devil and the devil hates God, but who ultimately wins?

GOD DESTROYS THE DEVIL

The devil is going to attack the Seed of the woman with the aim of destroying him.

  • You’re a heel-biter: “And you shall bruise [crush] his heel” (15). A painful but not fatal attack.
  • Meet the skull-crusher: “He shall bruise [crush] your head” (15). A killer blow.

This is what Christ did, isn’t it? “The devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).

Put your faith in the skull-crusher, the devil-destroyer, to destroy the works of the devil.

When the devil attacks you and you feel like you’re going to lose, on the basis of Genesis 3:14-15, you can adopt a winner mentality. Why? The world’s biggest winner is making the devil the world’s biggest loser.


This episode of Living the Bible lines up with Expedition 2: Day 4 in  Exploring the Bible Together: A 52 Week Family Worship Plan and Exploring the Bible: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids. You can catch up with previous episodes of the Living the Bible podcast here or subscribe on iTunesSpotify, and Google Podcast.

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