Satan’s Nearly Perfect Plan
By Pastor Jim May
There’s an old saying that goes like this: “Even the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” Things just don’t always work out the way we plan them to.
Satan’s plan to overcome man was perfect. He knew that if he could just get Adam to disobey God, that he would gain the upper hand in his battle against Heaven. Make no mistake about it, Satan is a very powerful, very intelligent, spiritual being. He’s not some made up fantasy creature – he’s real.
The bible, in Isaiah 14, tells us a lot about about Lucifer and we see from the picture that Isaiah paints that Satan is not a myth.
Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
2 Corinthians 11:14 tells us that, “…Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”
He can be as dark and shadowy as he wants to be and can sneak into the dark recesses of your heart and mind to destroy your soul, or he can change to glow with the power that God created him with in the beginning. He has the ability to transform himself into an angel of light, making himself to appear as bright, glorious and powerful as any angel in the Lord’s Host.
Because he is a deceiver, Satan can quickly gain the upper hand in his efforts to kill, steal and destroy God’s people.
He quickly persuades ministers of the gospel to become false preachers as they bend their ear to hear his lies and then change their message to reflect what they hear. We must be so very careful today of who and what we listen to. On the outside, their message may sound good to the ear, but it is destructive to the heart and the spirit for it is a message of worldliness and compromise. You really have to have your spiritual eyes and ears open to see the lies of Satan as they come forth.
Jesus gave us a warning about what we are facing in these last days when he said in Matthew 24:24, "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."
Now the good news is that if you are one of the “very elect”, I don’t believe that it will be possible, for the scripture says, “if it were possible”, in effect saying that it’s not possible. Why not, you may ask? The answer is very simple. The “Very Elect” will be those whose hearts, souls, spirit and mind are fully committed to Christ and they are full of the Holy Spirit. They are allowing the Word of God to wash them daily. They are allowing the Holy Ghost to guide them, and their eyes are fixed on things eternal, not upon the things of this present world. They are ever vigilant and always on guard against any invasion of sin into their midst. And they quickly resist every trick of the devil that comes against them, causing him to flee from them in defeat.
In that condition, the very elect won’t be vulnerable to Satan’s lies and will see with eyes of the spirit, exactly what the devil is doing at every move. They won’t be fooled because the Spirit of God that dwells inside of them will convict them of sin, convince them of Satan’s plans and lead them into victory over his temptations. But you have to be one of the “Very Elect”, not just the chosen, not just an ordinary “name and claim it” or “ho-hum Christian”. This indicates to me that it will be a select few by comparison that will overcome the wiles of the devil. Only those who are in perfect harmony with Jesus Christ in every facet of their lives are going to be able withstand the onslaught of Satan’s lies.
Many in the church are falling prey to his nearly perfect plan right now as they compromise the standards of holiness, reject the traditions of Christianity and invite false teachers into their pulpits. Some have begun to ordain homosexuals to the ministry. Some have allowed the entertainment of the world with all its hype, to replace true worship. Many are following the teaching of the world on how to build a church instead of listening to the voice of the Spirit.
And that’s in the church. I’m not talking about all the lies and deceit that go on in the world; this is inside the church itself. I don’t believe that we can call anyone who compromises with the world, or listens to the voice of man, or follows after Satan’s plan to be a part of that “Very Elect” crowd.
Are you a part of that “Very Elect” church today? I hope so, but I can tell you how to know if you are. Do you feel comfortable in a church where everything is designed to make you feel good all the time? Do you embrace the style of worship that lifts up man instead of praising Jesus? Do you lower your standards of holiness to be more acceptable to those who enter the church? Are you satisfied with a milk toast message that carries no power of conviction, and just gives you a warm fuzzy feeling and then leaves you thinking that all is right between you and God when there’s still sin in your life?
You see, if you can say “Yes” to those questions, then you aren’t among the “Very Elect” and, in fact, you’ve already fallen in Satan’s nearly perfect plan to destroy the church.
But if you can say “No”, then thank God that you are still listening to the voice of the Spirit as he tells you to stay close to Jesus and don’t compromise your life. Only the “Very Elect” will see the hand of Satan at work in the church and in the world. Everyone else will accept Satan’s lies and consider them to the best way to go to achieve their goals.
To those in the church, his ways will work to build a crowd and become successful, but it’s not success in the eyes of God, only the eyes of the world and the opinion of man. What good is it to have a church filled with people when none of them are saved in the end? What good is it to compromise with the world to gain your fortune if in the end that fortune is burned away?
Satan has a nearly perfect plan. It was working beautifully. Beginning with Adam, and continuing right down through the history of mankind to our present day, when he is still using those same lies, that same plan, to destroy the souls of men. He is still trying to become god, to dethrone God in Heaven and to rule over an eternal empire of evil.
In Isaiah 14:13-14, we can see what Satan’s ultimate goal was, and still is. His ultimate goal has never changed and he still believes that somehow he can reach them. “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”
Satan’s plan for the downfall of man, the defeat of Almighty God and the overcoming of the Host of heaven is nearly perfect – but it had one major flaw. He hadn’t planned on God sending his only Son to defeat the devil at his own game.
When Jesus was born in a manger in that little town of Bethlehem, Satan’s plan was utterly destroyed. There was no plan “B” for the destruction of God and man. It was all based upon the sin that entered into the world and severed the communication lines between the Holy God and his most cherished creation.
There was only one thing in all of Heaven and Earth that God loved more than anything, or anyone else. There was only creature that was created in his own image and given his own breath of eternal life. God created man with his own hand, forming him perfectly, making both Adam and Eve with tender loving care. Man was the crowning touch of God’s creative love and power and nothing in all of creation is worth losing the soul of man.
The Father in Heaven proved that by sending his only Son, Jesus Christ, into this world, in the form of a man, to pay the price for sin and create a bridge for mankind to once again communicate with God and walk with Him in the cool of the day.
But Satan wasn’t going to give up that easily. He had to make one last great effort to foil the plan of God. After all, he though that he was as smart as God. He believe that he could stop the plan of redemption from coming to pass, if only he could appeal to the fleshly side of the Son of God and cause Jesus to fall just as Adam had fell.
Satan was at work all along. Throughout human history, time and again, he had tried to stop God’s plan from happening. As you read the Bible you see him at work on nearly every page.
God’s plan would have failed quickly, except that God stopped the construction of the Tower of Babel and confounded the language of men to keep them from being Satan’s tool to destroy the knowledge and worship of the One True God in Heaven.
God stopped Satan once again when the devil had poisoned all of humanity to the point where God was sorry for having made man and decided to wipe him off the earth with a massive flood, but God spared 8 people who were faithful to him.
Again we see Satan at work as he tried over and over to destroy the nation of Israel. Beginning with Abraham and bringing in the confusion of Ishmael to try to steal the birthright of Isaac and the creation of Israel and it’s 12 tribes at the beginning, and going right down to the birth of Jesus when herod tried to kill him, then in the wilderness as Satan tempted Jesus, and finally at the crucifixion of Jesus upon the Cross, Satan constantly attacked God’s chosen people, and God’s Son, in an effort to stop the plan of God.
But his plan failed completely at the resurrection. Jesus paid the price for our sin with his own death on the cross and arose from the dead on the third day.
Satan is still at work today. He’s still working his plan, but he knows he cannot defeat God, but he can cause God a lot of pain and sorrow by continuing to steal the souls of men that God loves so much.
How does Satan’s nearly perfect plan continue to steal the souls of men? You can see the pattern if you just look at how he tried to get Jesus to yield to temptation in the wilderness. Immediately after Jesus was baptized by John in the River Jordan, the proving of his commitment to the salvation of man came under attack.
Jesus had to face the worst that Satan had to offer, and defeat the devil, or the plan of salvation would fail. He had to face the same temptations that we face every day, and overcome them. No man has ever been tempted like Jesus was during those 40 days in the wilderness, and no man has ever been able to face temptation without fail. Jesus had to be that Second Adam, that second created man, part flesh and part Spirit, born without original sin of the first man, and he had to win where Adam had failed. That’s what the wilderness temptation was all about. That wilderness experience was Jesus’ time to face the serpent just as Adam had in the Garden of Eden.
In effect, every one of us still faces that serpent in the garden of our lives. He still comes to us subtly, deceiving us and lying to us, giving us half truths, and making promises that appeal to the flesh but offend the holiness of God.
Matthew 4:1,2, “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.”
All of us are tempted and tried, to prove our faith and trust in God, and our faithfulness to his plan for our lives. Like Jesus, we will go through times when we feel weak or hungry, not only for the things of God, but the desire for a better life and just a little easier time in life is a natural thing for all of us. There’s nothing wrong with wanting things to be a little better. God has placed within us a desire to grow, to increase and to enjoy life to its fullest.
He set those desires in motion inside the heart of man when he said to Adam in Genesis 1:28, "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
Jesus became hungry. The fleshly nature of man that he had assumed needed food and was becoming weak. Most of you know that feeling. In fact, I can hear a little rumbling from the left side of the congregation as I speak.
When you become hungry and weak, and you need something and begin searching for something to fill that void inside, is when Satan has his most opportune time to send temptation your way.
Matthew 4:3, “ And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.”
The first step in Satan’s plan is triggered by that little word “If”. It is designed to either cause you to doubt whether you really are who you say you are, or to force you to prove that you are for real.
He used it on Adam. He used it on Jesus. And he starts that same way with us. If God truly loves you, why does he allow you to get hungry like this? Is this any way for a loving Father to take care of his own child? I’ve seen many who begin to doubt God in times of need because Satan’s little “If” takes its toll on their faith.
In each instance Jesus countered the temptation by using the Word of God. Don’t forget that in the armor of the Christian your only offensive weapon is the Word of God that you have hid in your heart. It’s a two-edged sword and it’s the only thing in your life that has the power to strike back at the devil and drive him away. Nothing you try to do to ward off the attacks of the devil will work unless they are fully founded upon the Word of God and nothing else.
Jesus could have turned stones to bread and fed himself at any moment, but he chose to do it God’s way. He knew that his Father would provide bread and He did when the angels came to strengthen Jesus later on.
Satan knows that you have the power to turn things around you into bread too. God gives you the ability to create, or to gain wealth, to furnish your own bread. You can go against the will of God and create it the way you want, or you can allow the Lord to lead into the ways where he will provide for your needs.
Like Jesus, we must decide whether to do it our way or God’s way. Have you fallen into Satan’s trap lately? Turn around and let God take care of your needs. He knows your needs better than you do anyway.
Matthew 4:4, “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
The next step in Satan’s nearly perfect plan is to make you force God to prove his reality in your life.
Matthew 4:5,6, “Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.”
If you are really saved, prove it. Ask God to give you something and see if he will. Make him prove that he is real. You can take a drink and he won’t hurt you. You can smoke a joint and he won’t kill you. If he’s truly God and he really loves you, He will forgive you and make it right.
That’s the same trick he used on Adam when he said, “You won’t die if you eat that fruit”. But Adam did die spiritually because he tempted God.
If you play with fire, you will get burned. If you go sit in the middle of the road, even to pray, you will get run over. If you dive off the roof, defying gravity, ignoring God’s rules of order, you will lose. It’s either God’s way, or the wrong way.
Too many people live every day of their lives tempting God. He won’t come for me today so I’ll do what I want and make it right tomorrow. I won’t lose my salvation because I skip church too much, or enjoy the things of this world more than the things of God. He understands my weaknesses and he will overlook them. NO HE WON”T! God will judge sin and that’s that.
Matthew 4:7, “Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Like one of the signs on the highway says, “What part of Thou Shalt Not do you not understand?”
Matthew 4:8,9, “Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.”
Now came the strongest temptation of all. Satan appeals to Jesus’ pride and desire for recognition and great success.
The one thing that Jesus wanted more than anything is for mankind to serve him as their Lord and King. He came to be the Savior, and he wanted every man, woman and child to look to him.
Now Satan tempts him with the thing Jesus wants most. I’ll give you the people, the kingdoms of the world and all the wealth, power and glory you want, but only if you worship me. Jesus, you can have everything you want if you worship me and do it my way.
Satan hoped that for one brief moment Jesus would forget about the Kingdom of Heaven that was also promised to him by the Father. He hoped that for an instant Jesus would forget that he had to purchase the souls of men to truly claim them for his own.
Satan’s deception works on us, but not on Jesus. Jesus was there when Satan was created and he knew how this angel thought.
What do you want most out of life? Is it not to be known as a successful, civic-minded, prosperous man of faith? Do you not want to leave your mark upon this world and be remembered for your kindness and for all the good you did for mankind?
Satan will give you all the success in the world, if you will worship him. But remember this: With that success there comes a great price to pay. Worldly success often leads to spiritual bankruptcy. Success in the eyes of the world, with all its accolades and “at-a-boys” won’t mean anything if you stand before God with a sin-sick soul.
Let us remember that we have a greater Kingdom than that of this world to inherit. We have a greater glory waiting than the glory that man can give.
If you worship and serve the devil, you will inherit his kingdom and glory because that’s all he can give. But if you worship God and serve Jesus, you will inherit his kingdom and glory in Him. Which one sounds best to you? Jesus answered that question for us in verse 10.
Matthew 4:10, “Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” It’s a no-brainer choice isn’t it, but only if you have the spiritual insight to understand what I’m saying. Those that are deceived by sin simply can’t understand the importance of the choice that they make to chase after the things of the world and serve the devil.
Jesus’ temptation was over and he had won. He would live a sinless life and qualify to be the perfect sacrifice. Satan’s nearly perfect plan was shattered and now he had to go into recovery mode, trying to salvage something of his bid for the throne of Heaven that he will never occupy. The best he can do is to continue to hurt the heart of God by claiming more and more souls of men that God loves so much.
Matthew 4:11, “ Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.”
The Father in Heaven is greatly saddened because so many of the people that he loves are going to end up in the flames of Hell. That fiery pit was created by God, not for the punishment of men that he loves, but for Satan and his angels as an eternal prison.
Those who listen to Satan’s lies and live only for themselves will be in that pit, against the wishes of God. God wants all men to be saved, but most won’t hear him. Most men won’t accept Jesus and make use of that bridge to Heaven, and there is no other way.
If we will resist the devil and depend upon the Word of God, victory will be ours and is ours right now. We will be part of that “Very Elect”.
If you endure to the end, by the grace of God, the very angels of Heaven will come to escort you home and minister to your needs.
If you know Jesus, hold on to his unchanging hand. If you don’t know him, then today you can know him as your Lord and Savior. Your soul is hanging in the balance.
Satan’s nearly perfect plan isn’t perfect at all.
