Introduction:
So far in our study we have looked at what part we play in deceiving ourselves. And then last week we shifted to what role others play in deceiving us. And we looked at the scoffers who plant the seeds and hope that you will take the bait and let their suggestion grow to a delusion about God, His Word, or His return.
The scoffers were a large group. John tells us in one his Epistles that in the end days that there will be many scoffers. Today, we are just going to look at one Biblical figure, but he deserves to be in a category all by his self because he is the master deceiver. I am talking about Satan.
And Satan has a key role in the end time deception. I remember a day when children played outside unsupervised until dark and when darkness set in, they would head on home. You can hardly do that today because of the possibility of being picked up and taken by strangers. I remember a day when the doors to the house were never locked during the day and seldom locked at night. Today, people lock their doors day and night especially if you are in the big cities like Jackson, New Orleans, or Baton Rouge. I remember a day if your car broke-down along the side of the road, people would stop to try to help you. Today, people don't stop because it might just be a set up to rob you.
What I am trying to tell you is that our world has gotten a lot more lawless in my lifetime. Would you not agree? Well, Satan uses that lawlessness to his advantage to deceive the people as we will see from today's Scripture. Turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8.
Scripture:
2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 (NKJV) 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
POINT #1
The world tells us that people are basically good. The Bible tells us that people are basically lawless. Satan does not takes his cue from the world but from the Bible and uses that lawlessness to deceive us.
Listen to some of the quotes that I found on the internet talking how people are basically good.
“There is no shortage of good people in the world, but the number of bad people has increased slightly.” Nitin Namdeo quote. (Then I don't understand why we don't have room in our prisons to hold them.)
“Goodness is a bright flame within you. Use it to light up the world." Frank Sonnenberg's quote. (Not apart from God.)
"I know who I am. And I am a good person.." A quote by JOHNNY DAMON.
Now listen to what the Bible says:
Psalm 53:2-3 (NKJV) 2 God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. 3 Every one of them has turned aside; They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.
Jeremiah 17:9 (NKJV) 9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
Let's draw the conclusion. If everyone were good, the man of lawlessness would have no power. What gives the man of lawlessness power is that people are not good; people are basically lawless, and the devil plays to that evil which is in each man's heart.
I know you are thinking that is pretty harsh to say: people are basically lawless. Well, do you remember the riot of last summer where buildings were burned down, and store were loitered. That was pretty lawless. And if you remember Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana had to call in the national guard to protect the stores on Canal Street from loiters. that was pretty lawless.
But remember this, the Scripture says the lawlessness that we are experiencing now is not as bad as it is going to get as God removes the restrain of the Holy Spirit. In other words, people, you have not seen anything yet!
2 Thessalonians 2:7
7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.
It is so interesting to me that the devil does not believe what he tries to sell us that everyone is basically good deep within. Instead, he believes God's Word and he has figured out a way to use that to deceive us.
Let me share the two ways that he uses that lawlessness to deceive us.
Point #2
Satan uses the lawlessness to plant the scoffer's seed: "Where is God while all this lawlessness is going on?"
But his actions of lawlessness, the devil makes you ask yourself, "Where is God while all this is going on?"
The Bible is full of examples when lawlessness prevails the question is asked, "where is God?"
The Bible tells us in Psalm 42:1-3 that the Psalmist is in a difficult place in this life and there were people all around him who wanted to make him feel worse at that moment of need in his life by saying that God was nowhere to be found.
Psalm 42:1-3 (NKJV) 1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, "Where is your God?"
In his day, the prophet Habakkuk asked God why don't you step in and do something about all this violence? The lawlessness in his day caused the prophet to ask where is God?
Habakkuk 1:2-3 (NKJV) 2 O LORD, how long shall I cry, And You will not hear? Even cry out to You, "Violence!" And You will not save. 3 Why do You show me iniquity, And cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; There is strife, and contention arises.
Didn't people question where is God when the two commercial planes flew into the World Trade Center? And just recently when that condominium complex in Florida just collapsed on itself as reporters were interviewing friends and family of survivors you would hear the question: How did God allow this to happen?
If your loved one dies suddenly or in an accident, it might cross your mind, "Why did you let this happen, God?"
Lawlessness is the perfect tool to get us to question God or question why he doesn't do something in this situation. And if the devil can get us to question God some might allow that seed to grow to full blown deception. And if that happens, Satan has achieved what he wanted- to plant that seed of doubt about God or His Word or His return.
Point #3
Satan uses the lawlessness to get me thinking to myself that I am not like them people and that builds up pride within me that results in my downfall.
Proverbs 16:18 (NKJV) 18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.
The devil wants you to think to yourself. I am not like those people. I would never do anything like that and that is when he got you.
In the 22nd chapter of Luke verse twenty-four, the disciples got into a dispute among themselves as to which one was the greatest disciples. Not to long after that in the same chapter, Jesus tells Peter that Satan has asked permission to sift him like wheat. And Peter's answer is two-fold. To the Lord, Peter was saying I won't deny you and to the disciples he was putting then on notice. I solved the problem who is the greatest- I am. Listen to answer. Luke 22:33 (NKJV) 33 But he said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death."
And we know what happened Peter went around the campfire and denied the Lord three times. Satan had him because of the pride.
And in the end time, that is part of the strategy of lawlessness. I look around at all the horrible things being done, and I say to myself that I am not like them. I remember hearing an expression when I was growing up "except for the grace of God, go I." Don't look it up in the Bible it is not a Bible Scripture.
You don't hear that being said anymore. We are ripe for lawlessness to build pride in our heart and fall to the schemes of the devil.
