Think of Satan…
What comes to your mind immediately? Did an image of an angry-looking red being holding a pitch fork come to your mind? Or maybe you see a plump guy with horns and a fanatical smirk on his face? Whatever it is, we have to ask ourselves: Is our mental picture of Satan fuelled by popular culture?
Maybe it is good time for us to check the Bible – what it does say to us about Satan. In Isaiah 14: 12-14, the Bible teaches us about the origin and ‘fall’ of Satan - how he wanted to scale the heaven, place His throne above God, and replace God as the one worshipped. Our Bible also teaches us that Satan was a murderer from the beginning and he is the father of lies (John 8:44). In addition, he is likened to a thief who comes only to steal from us, kill us, and ultimately destroy us (John 10:10).
Now let us get into what we are going to talk about today. The sermon is entitled: ‘One Win, One Lose: Your Turn’.
Let us pray. ***PRAYER***
What comes to mind when you hear the sermon title? The younger – all right, probably not so young – members around us might think of video games such as Street Fighter? You know that feeling when you have won one round, your opponent has won one round as well, and you both are now into the third decisive round? Or maybe this sensation is more apparent when we watch the final round of World Badminton Championship of China’s Lin Dan versus our (Malaysia's) Dato’ Lee Chong Wei!
In the cosmic struggle between evil and good, we first see Satan challenging humanity in the first ‘act of war’ in Genesis 3. Satan, who does not fight fair and possesses wisdom of the angels, came to the unsuspecting and innocent Eve, and tempted her in ways that seem almost irresistible. We will return to Genesis 3 later.
Let us look at today’s Scripture passage in 1 John 2:15-17:
“15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16For everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives for ever.”
First of all, let us look at the middle verse: 1 John 2:16. Here, we see that Satan, who is in charge of the world system (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:4), uses three devices to trap Christians: The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (v16). Let’s take some time to dissect these three lusts. The first one, the lust of the flesh, includes anything that appeals to man’s fallen nature. You see, a Christian possesses both the old nature (flesh) and the new nature (Spirit) in him. Now God has given man certain desires, such as, hunger, thirst, weariness, and sex – and they are not at all evil in themselves. There is nothing wrong in them but when the flesh nature controls them, they become sinful ‘lusts’. Hunger is not evil, but gluttony is sinful. Thirst is not a vice, but drunkenness is a sin. Sleep is a gift of God, but laziness dishonours God. Sex is God's precious gift when used rightly within the marriage covenant, but when used wrongly it becomes immorality.
The second device that Satan uses to trap the Christian is called the lust of the eyes. We sometimes forget that the eyes can have an appetite! Case in point: Have you ever said or heard, "Feast your eyes on this"? According to Warren Wiersbe (1981, 71), the lust of the flesh appeals to the lower appetites of the old nature – tempting us to indulge them in sinful ways. The lust of the eyes, however, operates in a more refined way. The so-called pleasures here are the ones that indulge the sight and the mind. Hence, they might even be sophisticated and intellectual pleasures such as academic pursuits that are contrary to God's Word. There is pressure to make Christians think the way the world thinks.
The third trap is the pride of life. What is pride? I would define it was having ‘I’ in the middle – you think everything should revolve around you. Try recall earlier how we mentioned Satan was described by Isaiah to have fallen – what is the cause? It is pride! Satan thinks that he can replace God and be God. When we humans try to ‘be God’ and take over God’s role in our lives, we are following the footsteps of this father of lies. People have always tried to outdo others in their getting and spending, thirst for approval, and boast of what they have accomplished – thinking that they have done it all by themselves. Have you heard about the clever salesman who closed hundreds of sales with this line: "Let me show you something several of your neighbours said you couldn't afford". The pride of life – it has ensnared many.
These three devices are actually tried-and-true weapons of Satan. You see, he first used them against Eve in Genesis 3. According to Michael Eaton (1996, 70), from at least the fifth century it has been noted that all three of these traps of temptations were operating in the story of Adam and Eve. “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food…” (Genesis 3:6) is where Satan ‘attacked’ Eve with the ‘lust of the flesh’. Then he tempted her with ‘lust of the eye: “…and that it was pleasant to the eyes…” (Genesis 3:6), and finally assaulting with ‘the pride of life’: “…and a tree to be desired to make one wise…” (Genesis 3:6). With those three snares facing Eve, she fell headlong into them and ate the fruit from the forbidden tree.
Hence, what is the result of ‘Round 1’? Humanity failed (and fell) with Adam and Eve and Satan was obviously the winner here. Why and how did Adam and Eve fail – were not they walking with God?
Did Satan use the same old tricks again? You bet. In the three temptations of Christ, Satan used them on none other than Jesus (Luke 4:1-13). Have you ever realised that those three temptations correspond exactly to the three expressed in 1 John 2:16? The first attack of was in the form of the lust of the flesh – the tempter chose to come at a time when Jesus have finished 40 days and 40 nights of fasting. What happens after you have fasted for just four days? You will be famished! Jesus, on the other hand, fasted for forty days! His hunger must have been crippling. Immediately Satan appealed to Jesus’ physical appetite by saying, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
After the first assault, Satan switched to his second method: The lust of the eye. The devil wanted to appeal to Jesus’ eyes by showing Him all the kingdoms of the world. Finally, Satan tried his last weapon: The pride of life. He asked Jesus to throw Himself down from the high mountain if He is the Son of God – and the devil even quoted Scriptures to reassure Jesus that God’s angels will protect Him from any harm. Though on the surface, this seemed almost harmless and a great deal less threatening than the first two attacks, herein lay the subtlety of Satan’s deceptive strike.
Satan was actually appealing to Jesus’ pride (if it exists) by tempting Him to seek for a new proof of His being the Son of God, as if that which His Father had given Him by the voice from heaven, and the descent of the Spirit upon Him, were not sufficient proof. Additionally, according to Matthew Henry (1991), Satan was also enticing Jesus to seek a new method of proclaiming Himself to the world rather than following the plan of God.
With each onslaught of temptation, Jesus defended Himself with the Word of God. The result of ‘Round 2’ clearly showed that Jesus is the winner and Satan was defeated! Is it a puzzle of how Jesus beat Satan? Obviously Jesus understood that no one can serve two masters – loving the world will exclude love of the Father (v15). Moreover, as Jesus quoted the Scripture, He did not just simply quote them – like what Satan did in his third temptation, which is taking the verses out of context. When Jesus quoted from the Bible, He did it from a knowledge of God that could only have come from someone who was walking intimately close to God.
With Satan winning the first round against Adam and Eve, and Jesus defeating Satan at the second round, it is time to move on to the third round. Who will Satan be challenging this round? No prize for guessing it right: Satan is going to use the same old tricks again – this time on you! In your life, you will face the same three types of temptations: The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. How is a Christian supposed to combat these traps of the devil? Let us take a look at the verse prior to 16 and then followed by the verse after as well.
1 John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them”, is good advice to defend ourselves against the temptations of Satan. According to Wiersbe (1981, 68), “Worldliness is not so much a matter of activity as of attitude”. How is our attitude towards the world? In fact, it is possible for a believer to stay away from questionable amusements and shady places and still love the world – this is because worldliness is a matter of the heart. These ‘things of the world’ refer the world’s techniques and its seductive methods. You see, no material ‘thing’ is evil in itself; but the ‘things of the world’ refer to the methods and characteristics of the world’s wicked anti-God mentality (Bruce 1992, 60). The three traps of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, seek to propagate such a wicked mentality. Of course in one sense we do love the world – as in for ‘God so loved the world…’, but we do not love the world in its rebellion against God, nor do we love its spirit of anti-God (Eaton 2011, 47).
Apostle John says that if a Christian’s heart desire is for the world, then his heart has no love for the Father God. The story goes that the great tenor Luciano Pavarotti said, "When I was a boy, my father, a baker, introduced me to the wonders of song. He urged me to work very hard to develop my voice. Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor in my hometown of Modena, Italy, took me as a pupil. I also enrolled in a teachers college. On graduating, I asked my father, 'Shall I be a teacher or a singer?' ‘Luciano,' my father replied, 'if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair.' I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I think whether it's laying bricks, writing a book – whatever we choose – we should give ourselves to it. Commitment, that's the key. Choose one chair" (sermonillustrations.com 2013).
Therefore choose we must – and only one: It’s either God, or the world; we cannot have both. Eve succumbed to the temptations and chose the world – thus losing the first round. Jesus chose correctly, secured the plan of God – and hence became the Victor in the second round. In this round three, which is your life, will you choose like Eve? – or like Jesus?
The author then went on to speak of the reward of staying free from worldliness.1 John 2:17 says, “The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives for ever.” According to the Bible, one thing for sure is that this world system is not going to be here forever. One day it will be gone – together with the temptations within it – all will be gone. Now, what is going to last? The Scripture says, “…whoever does the will of God lives for ever.”
Christians are to keep themselves "loosely attached" to this world because they live for something far better. They are "strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (Hebrews 11:13), and their slogan is, "For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come" (Hebrews 13:14). What Apostle John was doing here is that he was contrasting two ways of life: A life lived for time and a life lived for eternity. A worldly person lives for the pleasures of the flesh, but a dedicated Christian lives for the joys of the Holy Spirit. A worldly believer lives for what he can see – the lust of the eyes; but spiritual believer lives for the unseen realities of God (2 Corinthians 4:8-18). A worldly minded person lives for the pride of life, his boastful existence that appeals to other men; but a Christian who does the will of God lives for God's approval. And such a Christian, who lives to do the will of God – not succumbing to the three temptations of Satan – will abide in God forever and live an everlasting life.
Will you overcome the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life that Satan hurls at you, and emerge as the conqueror in round three? Will you choose God’s will over your own and forsake all the glamour and glitters of the world?
I will leave you with a quote from the missionary martyr, Jim Elliot: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose”.
It is your call. It is now your time. This is round 3: Your life.
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References:
Bruce, F.F. 1992. The Epistles of John. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans.
Eaton, Michael. 1996. Focus on the Bible: 1, 2, 3 John. Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications Ltd.
Eaton, Michael. 2011. Preaching Through the Bible: 1, 2, 3 John & Jude. Kent, UK: Sovereign World Trust.
Johnson, Thomas F. 1993. New International Biblical Commentary: 1, 2, & 3 John. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers.
Henry, Matthew. 1991. Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers.
Sermonillustrations.com. 2013. Sermon Illustrations. http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/c/choice.htm. Accessed on 23 October 2013.
Wiersbe, Warren W. 1981. Be Real: A Realistic Look at Love and Right Living in an Age which Knows Little of Either. Wheaton, Illinois: Victor Books.
