THE WAY SATAN STEALS YOUR HEART!
TEXT: 2 Samuel 15:1-6 W. Max Alderman
INTRODUCTION: David loved Absalom very much, yet the one whom he loved is trying to steal his own Father’s kingdom. This is an awful chapter that shows some of the events that takes place after David’s awful sin. The sword of judgment certainly fell upon David’s house.
For the sake of this study, I wish to allow Absalom to be a type of Satan. As he fulfils this type, he will be trying to take the true kings kingdom. He wants the kingdom that belongs to King David, his father. This is what Satan has been trying to do for the ages. Absalom is seen “stealing the hearts of the men of Israel” so that he can be the king in his father’s stead…
I. HE TRIES TO STEAL YOUR HEART BY CHANGING YOUR FOCUS. (Vv. 1-4)
One of the easiest sins for the Christian to commit is for that person to take his eyes off of Jesus (Hebrews 12:1, 2). Satan knows this and makes every effort to change your focus causing you to take your eyes off of the true king! Notice the following ways that this happens.
A. Satan Uses DISTRACTION to Change Your Focus. (Vv. 1,2)
Absalom was a very attractive young man, but was also very cunning, crafty and ambitious. He coveted his father’s kingdom. You can mark it down, anytime one is jealous of someone else or covets what someone else possesses, that is of Satan. Such was the case with Absalom. Absalom prepared chariots and horses and had fifty men to run before him to cause the subjects of the kingdom to take their eyes off of the true king and then to look at him, instead. He used this as a means to gain their attention.
Just think of the many different ways that Satan tries to both distract and to attract people to himself. He uses pleasures, sex, worldly entertainment, sports, work, materialism, and even family activities to attract people to himself. These things in a proper setting can have wholesome and quality values, but underneath the perverting influences of Satan can be an awful distraction. If whatever it is hinders your walk with Christ or causes you to become unfaithful to church, it is a distraction.
B. Satan Will Use DECEPTION to Change your Focus. (Vv. 3-4)
Satan is the great counterfeiter and the “father of lies”. He began his masterful work of deception in the Garden of Eden when he said, “Yea, hath God said” (Genesis 3:1) when God did not say it. He was cast into the Lake of Fire with this sentence upon him: “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
Absalom lied telling the subjects of King David that there was no one commissioned by the king to hear them. He also told them that if he were king and if he was made judge in the land that he would do them justice. Satan is also like that. He will tell you that you do not need old time religion. He will tell you that your sin is not all that bad. He will tell you that if everyone else is doing it, it must be alright for you to do it. Satan will also whisper and tell you that the Lord does not hear you when you pray. He will tell you that the Lord no longer performs miracles. Miracles are a thing of the past, he will tell you. I want to tell you even as I speak that the devil is a deceiver and a liar! I want to say it loud enough so that every demon commissioned by ole Lucifer, himself can hear it. THE DEVIL IS A LIAR!
C. Satan Uses DISCOURAGEMENT to Change Your Focus. (V. 3B., 4)
As Absalom continued his lies, he told them that there was “no man deputed of the king to hear thee.” Satan enjoys using negatives to discourage the True King’s subjects. He will tell the preacher that his sermons are no longer relevant to his listeners. He will tell the Sunday school teacher that she is not academically qualified to teach. He will tell you that either you are too young are that you are too old to serve God. He enjoys telling someone who is praying for a lost loved one that it is too late for that person to be saved… Satan wants the choir singer to think that his or her voice is not good enough. He wants the young person to think that God cannot find you a proper mate. He will tell you that no one in the Church cares anything about you. He will tell you that God will not forgive you of your sin. I am witnessing to a person right now who is at the point of death who has been my friend for nearly thirty years that thinks that he is too evil to be saved.
These are some of the ways that Satan uses to get your eyes off of the True King. This is the reason that Hebrews tells us when we take our eyes off of Him and we become discouraged to “lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.” (Hebrews 12:12, 13). Then we are told to look diligently “unto Jesus” (Vv. 13, 14).
II. HE TRIES TO CHALLENGE YOUR FAITH. (Vv. 5, 6)
Faith is substance (Hebrews 11:1). As Christians we cannot properly operate without faith. For with faith we are told that it is impossible to please God. Satan knows this and will attempt to get us operating outside the realm of faith. He is good at this, for he has had much practice. He does this by getting us to question the Word of God.
A. By Causing You to CONSIDER Which Will Then Cause You to Stagger. (V. 5)
Satan tries to lure you into his trap while causing you to consider his way verses the Way of the True King. After he spoke lies to the subjects of his father King David, he would put forth his hand and took the hand of the one who was offering him obeisance, and would kiss him. This was a way of gaining the favor and the acceptance of those who approached him.
Satan will do whatever it takes to lure you to the point of considering him. Every time one begins to consider an alternative to Truth, that person is making himself vulnerable to defeat or destruction. Abraham teaches us this truth by his example: “And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God:” (Romans 4:19,20). When one is operating in the arena of faith, he moves only by faith and not by sight. Had Abraham been moving only by sight, he would not have done anything but stagger while thinking upon the idea that he would be able to father a child in his old age. He was therefore “strong in faith”…
B. By Causing You to COMPARE Which Will Cause You to STOP. (V. 5)
Absalom was drawing attention to himself causing the subjects of David to make a comparison. They could have seen the charisma of this “new king to be” and said, “He is young and available to help us. This teaches us that Satan can put things before us that will be appealing to the eye causing us to question our faith. There are many movements that are out there in the religious world which are painting “Old Time Religion” as a fading, fragile relic of the past. I have come too far to swap in what has gotten me to where I am. I am still content with the hymns that tell about the blood and the Book. I thank God for a Bible that may seem old and antiquated to some who now prefer a sleeker and a slimmer model, but I am going to stick with the Classic. The old King James Bible has done me quite well and I will trust it to the very end!
III. HE TRIES TO STEAL YOUR HEART SO THAT HE CAN CONTROL YOUR FUTURE. (v. 6)
Satan not only wants you now, He wants all of your tomorrows. He wants your future. One of the greatest aspects of walking in the faith is the hope of the future. There is so much that I anticipate because of the “Promise Book”. Satan wants to rob you of your future. “Let’s make a deal”. If you sell all that God can give you starting from this day and going throughout all of eternity for what Satan can give you for just a miserable lifetime, is it worth it? Are you really willing to make that kind of trade? I have not found anything that Satan has that I want…
A. He Offers Only That Which Is Temporary. (V. 6)
I know this is so, because Satan is only temporary. He cannot offer anything beyond his own existence except the lake of fire. Even the pleasures of sin are for only a season. God had ordained David to be king and even his son could not dispose of his kingdom until God was through with him.
B. He Offers Only That Which Is Trash. (V. 6)
Satan’s very best is only trash; God’s very worst is still treasure. I read the stories of the “rich and the famous” who seemly have everything but really have nothing. Have you noticed how out of that group that so many do not even have stable home lives. They will often have multiple marriages and miserable homes. They have wealth, but they also have woe. I can assure you there is more to life than just making a living and acquiring great wealth. Would it not be much better to make a life that has true value and worth? There are those of you who are here who are letting Satan steal your hearts, just as Absalom stole the hearts of those who were subjects to King David. Please, give your heart to Christ completely; don’t let Satan have your heart…
