The Deception Scheme Series

If you’re sinking in quicksand, Satan will gladly pat you on the head. - Adrian Rodgers

Satan, or the devil, is always trying to beat us down and to steal our life. The Christian vocalist Carman, in his song called “Slam,” stated of the devil, “You tried to break me, tried to shake me; tried to take me with your lies. You tried to drop me, tried to stop me; tried to chop me down to size. You tried to crush me, tried to hush me; tried to rush me and attack; but Jesus Christ is in my life, and now I’m coming back.” Satan tries to rob us of life – both eternal life and abundant life – through his lies and deception, and if we listen to him, he will steal away life as a thief in the night.

In addition to being a thief, Satan is also called the “wicked one.” In Matthew 13:19, Jesus stated, “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.” If we hear the voice of the wicked one over and above the Word of God, and if we choose to listen to his voice and take action based on what the devil says, then we – whether knowingly, or not – are serving the devil; and serving the wicked one leads to death, loss of joy, loss of fulfillment, and loss of abundant life.

This evening we will look at how the devil deceives people into serving him; and we’ll also learn how serving the devil will suck the life right out of us; or as we will discover, it will steal the life away from us, being that the devil is a thief! I hope we will begin to see that in order to have true life in the Lord that we must listen to the voice of the Shepherd over and above the voice of the thief.

In Jesus are Green Pastures (v. 9)

9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

Jesus was speaking of Himself as being the Shepherd to His sheep, or His people (John 10:2-4). Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved.” Jesus is the door that leads to “salvation,” which is a term meaning, “to be rescued from our sins.” The Bible teaches that all people have sinned ((Romans 3:23); and we need to be rescued from our sins, because the penalty for sin is spiritual death (Romans 6:23). Jesus is the door leading to salvation and eternal life, and He is the door to spending eternity in heaven with God the Father. He said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus is the only way, and the only door, that leads to salvation and eternal life and we must enter by Him.

If you grew up on a farm, perhaps you noticed the cattle out in the field. It never fails; when you turn a herd of cattle loose in a perfectly green pasture with abundant grass to eat, you will see one big fat cow leaning heavily on the fence, about tearing it down, to snatch a blade of grass from the other side. To that cow, the grass appears greener on the other side. If we choose to enter by Jesus, then when we do, we will find that the grass really is greener on the other side, for He tells us we will “find pasture.”

Jesus, the Shepherd, desires to bring us to green pasture, and in Psalm 23 we learn that this pastureland is a place of still waters, a place of restoration for the soul, a place of righteousness, a place where we will not be afraid of evil, a place where a table is continually set before us and our cup will overflow in abundance, and it is a place of goodness, mercy and life. Jesus wants to lead us to good pasture and a place of abundant life – both eternal life and true life in the here and now.

Jesus not only says that His sheep will find pasture; He adds that they “will go in and out,” and this expression illustrates the abundance of life that He offers. One commentary says that “the one who enters by Jesus has the [freedom] to come in and go out.”(1) Matthew Henry says, “True believers are at home in Christ; when they go out, they are not shut out as strangers, but have liberty to come in again; when they come in, they are not shut in as trespassers, but have liberty to go out.” Both of these commentaries use the terms “freedom” and “liberty.” Freedom is the main idea communicated in the phrase, “[they] will go in and out,” and freedom is a quality of abundant life.