THERE IS NO ETERNAL LIFE IN THE DEVIL

“And the serpent said . . .” (Genesis 3:4).

Mr. Hugh had money, owned some 250 acres of prime timberland . . . and hoarded every penny he had ever made. Noticing that two of his pine trees were dying, I went to ask him about cutting them for pulpwood. When I arrived at his home, I was led to his bedroom where he lay shriveled up on his death bed:

“Hey Mr. Hugh, how ’bout letting me cut a couple of your trees, I think bugs have got in ’em.”
“Naw, I think I’ll hold on to ’em a little bit longer.”

Before the fall of man in the garden, man’s thoughts were a clear reflection of God’s goodness. His voice birthed within Adam thoughts of peace, righteousness, and joy: all with corresponding actions. When the devil planted his seed of pride and disobedience within Adam, his voice produced thoughts of hate, anger, and greed: all with devastating actions. Along with a maddening pursuit for that which is fading, carried along by the constant flood of filth that proceeds from the devil’s mouth.

This river of evil, though it overflows its banks, has no high watermarks, only low.

What else could the devil produce? There is no eternal life within him; everything he puts his hand to dies and comes to nothing. Concerning that which is good, he is deaf, dumb, and blind and the blinder of all born after him. Which is the whole human race outside of Christ: “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1-2).

That is why man must be born again. Only then, empowered by the Holy Ghost, can he choose the “tree of life” over that which is inherently evil, and temporal. Only by the Spirit of Christ within us can we choose that which is eternal.

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." --Jim Elliot