Satan's Role In End Time Deception Series

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.