Satan And His Devices
Sermon by: Mark D. Hodges
I John 2:15-17
Introduction:
The February 26, 1974 edition of Insight told the story of Major William Martin, a British subject who was buried near Huelvo on the southern coast of Spain. Martin never knew the great contribution he made to the Allied success in the Second World War, especially in Sicily, because he died of pneumonia in the foggy dampness of England before he ever saw the battle front. The Allies had invaded North Africa. The next logical step was Sicily.
Knowing the Germans calculated this, the Allies determined to outfox them. One dark night, an Allied submarine came to the surface just off the coast of Spain and put Martin¡¦s body out to sea in a rubber raft with an oar. In his pocket were secret documents indicating the Allied forces would strike next in Greece and Sardinia.
Major Martin¡¦s body washed ashore, and Axis intelligence operatives soon found him, thinking he had crashed at sea. They passed the secret documents through Axis hands all the way to Hitler¡¦s headquarters. So while Allied forces moved toward Sicily, thousands and thousands of German troops moved on to Greece and Sardinia--where there was no battle.
Satan works with more cunning than even the Allied plan.
Every since the Garden of Eden, he has continued to work toward man¡¦s demise.
He uses all kinds of devices to deceive the Christian and destroy the lost person.
Our military has a division called "intelligence.¡¨
Its main emphasis is on getting to know the enemy.
It would be very difficult for us to fight if we don¡¦t know anything about the deceptions and devices of our enemy.
Our enemy is real and it would do us well to be on alert.
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Satan is constantly working behind the scenes, using his devices to influence the way people think ¡V their attitudes and ideas.
Satan has contaminated this world with his way of thinking.
That is why the Bible says, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
The Bible refers to "world" three different ways:
1) The Material World (Psalm 90:2).
This is the beautiful planet earth that God created, yet it has been cursed.
2) The Mortal World (John 3:16).
This is referring to human beings that God created ¡V yet God loved them even in their sinful state.
3) The Malicious World (James 4:4).
When the Bible is making reference to this ramification of ¡§worldliness,¡¨ it is referring to a way of thinking or a mind set. sinful
„h The world looks exciting and attractive.
„h The world wants your undivided attention.
„h The clamor is always saying look at me, try me, buy me, watch me, experience me, wear me, taste me, drive me, fly me, etc.
„h The world wants you! With your full attention.
„h The world produces a desire for more.
Satan uses his system ¡§of the world¡¨ to lure people into his trap of devices.
Worldliness is often presented as something beautiful, desirable, and enlightening.
As Eve thought after agreeing with Satan¡¦s temptation, ¡Kit was pleasant to the eyes, and desired to make one wise¡KGenesis 3:6.
Eve was ready and willing to sin when she started looking at things from a worldly view (Satan¡¦s point of view), instead of a heavenly view (God¡¦s point of view).
Christians would gain so much territory (strength) if they would understand and constantly keep in mind that:
„h The way of the world never gives lasting joy.
„h The way of the world cannot satisfy our deepest needs and longings.
Why?
Because the world always crowds God out.
James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
The leader of this world system is Satan, the "prince of this world" (Luke 4:5-8 & John 12:31).
Satan uses all kinds of devices in this spiritual warfare that we daily face.
Because of his cunning devices, many Christians have suffered from his profound infiltration.
If we are going to be successful as Christian warriors, we must come to the understanding that Satan uses basically three tactics in trying to defeat the Christian.
Satan uses the device of¡K¡K.
I. ALLURING APPETITE
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh¡K¡K verse 16.
The ¡§lust of the flesh¡¨ refers to our evil desire to satisfy the impulses that stem from our fallen nature called ¡§the flesh.¡¨
Satan comes up with the cute motto, ¡§If it feels good, do it.¡¨
Yet God gives us the warning in Romans 13:14, But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Several years ago two factions were fighting for control of a particular nation. One group, with the help of an outside army, finally prevailed and assumed control of the government. However, the losing troops didn’t just give up. They simply ran away into the countryside and continued to wage guerrilla warfare against the new government forces.
The experience in that country parallels to the life of a new Christian.
The moment we trusted Christ we died to sin.
That is, through our union with Christ, we died to the penalty of sin and its dominion.
Sin, as a ruling power in our lives, have been overthrown.
We are now under the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Sin, however, does not simply surrender and quietly go away.
Instead, it reverts to a form of guerrilla warfare, always seeking to reassert its practical dominion in our lives.
So, we must be careful as Satan allures our appetites with ¡§the lust of the flesh.¡¨
Satan uses the device of¡K¡K¡K
II. ATTRACTIVE AMUSEMENT
For all that is in the world¡K.the lust of the eyes¡Kverse 16.
Satan uses attractive amusing things that can be seen with our eyes.
These are enticements seen with the eyes that appeal to the flesh, yet they are unlawful cravings.
Our eyes have an appetite.
Have you ever heard the expression, ¡§feast your eyes on this¡¨?
Our thoughts are formed many times through our eyes.
What we see often determines what we think.
The ¡§lust of the eyes¡¨ is associated with greed, envy, and covetousness.
Christians must be diligent to guard against the attractive amusement that Satan puts before our eyes, because they are the eye-gates to the very being and heart of man.
What Satan puts in front of you may be attractive, but it never satisfies and it ultimately brings destruction.
Proverbs 27:20 Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
A recent Harris Poll revealed that the average American watches television 19 hours a week. That is 1000 hours per year. A child from birth through high school will watch 18,000 hours of TV or two full years of their lives.
Because we live in a world that is surrounded with Satanic influence, we must realize that Satan has control of the TV programs, magazines, movies, books, the Internet and the music.
He is controlling the world system in these and other areas.
Yes, they are amusements and he is doing his best to make them as attractive as possible.
Satan uses the device of¡K¡K..
III. ARROGANT ATTITUDE
For all that is in the world¡K.the pride of life¡Kverse 16.
The boastful pride of life is the arrogant attitude by which people think more highly of themselves than they ought to think.
The word pride means ¡§the empty display of life.¡¨
„h It means the vain boasting of one¡¦s lifestyle.
„h It means living in such a way as to impress other people.
„h It means building bigger and better houses and having bigger and better cars, and loving clothes ¡V all for the sake of showing off.
„h It means the display of a fancy lifestyle so people will think you are something.
Satan wants us to believe that we can trust our accomplishments, our talents, our education, and our possessions to satisfy the deepest longings of our heart.
When Satan can get us to focus on ourselves it brings confusion.
When we focus on God, it will bring eternal benefits.
During the days when Mohammed Ali was a great boxer, he would go around in his arrogance and say that, ¡§He was the greatest.¡¨ Humility was never his strong suit. One day, back in his prime, he was on an airplane and the plane was ready to take off and the flight attendant had repeatedly told him to put on his seat belt. He finally told her, ¡§I¡¦m superman and superman don¡¦t need no seatbelt.¡¨ The flight attendant didn¡¦t hesitate a minute but shot back with, ¡§Superman don¡¦t need no airplane either, now buckle up.¡¨
Satan and the world would have all of us focus on ourselves.
Conclusion:
Mark 14:38 Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
Luther said that when the devil came knocking on the door of his heart, he would send the Lord Jesus to the door. Christ would say, ¡§Martin Luther used to live here but has moved out¡KI now live here.¡¨ Then, says Luther, when the devil would see the nail prints on Christ¡¦s hands and His pierced side, he would take flight immediately.
We must keep the door closed, no matter how loud the knock.
Whenever we open the door, we have a tendency to open it a little wider every time.
When we stand before the Lord, we won¡¦t be able to blame Satan for our failures.
We must learn to say no to the devil, just as Christ did.
1 John 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
