You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

John 8:44

The enemy is a deceiver, and he has “no truth in him”.

Even when he tempted Eve in the garden, he could not even speak the truth.

And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”

Genesis 1:3b

That snake, he couldn’t even even quote the truth.  He was challenging what God had said, but he couldn’t even speak it.

The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

Genesis 2:16-17

What God had said and what the devil was challenging were two separate things.  God had never said what the devil challenged her about, ‘You shall not eat from any tree…’.  God had of course never said that, and Eve felt the need to explain.

The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”

Genesis 3:2-3

The devil had never spoken truth, but Eve goes on in defense of it.  But, her weakness came in when she also did not represent the truth that God had spoken.  God had not said ‘or touch it’, and, again, the devil does not speak the truth.

The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!

Genesis 3:4

She misrepresented the Lord’s command, and added not to touch it.  To this bit of misrepresentation, the devil capitalized upon that portion, and said she would not die.

First, Eve should never have entered into conversation with the snake.  Second, she should not have quoted the Word to him.  The devil couldn’t even quote it himself, even in part.  She should not have engaged in dialogue.  And, third, she should have known the Word, and only the Word, not adding a part.

The devil, however, when he comes to tempt us, is still the same.  While he quoted Scripture to Jesus in the wilderness, he did it wrong.  Moreover, when he comes to tempt us, it is always to distract us from the real position.  Even when he enters in some piece of information that may be ‘factual’, the truth is, it is always to deceive.

When he lies, he speaks his native language, for there is no truth in him (John 8:44, above).

The most important thing to do, then, is not to focus on the lie, but on the truth.

Even when his lies hint at something that may seem ‘correct’, it always distracts you.

It pulls you out of the frame of reference of the Kingdom, it focuses you on something of the here and now, instead of the Eternal.

When Jesus was tempted, all of them focused on the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16).  They also focused him on things of the here and now.  But, Jesus, when the disciples rejoiced over the power of the Gospel, told them not to rejoice in that, but rather on what lasts forever.

“Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”

Luke 10:20

Even to defend ourselves is to become trapped in a lie.

No, we must define our perspective solely based upon His Word, and what He says.

Every word of the deceiver is untruth.  No conversation with it is ever profitable.  We must know that, and walk free.  Completely independent, and ignore his every suggestion.

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.

John 10:1-5