The Way Satan Steals Your Heart

THE WAY SATAN STEALS YOUR HEART!

TEXT: 2 Samuel 15:1-6 W. Max Alderman

INTRODUCTION: David loved Absalom very much, yet the one whom he loved is trying to steal his own Father’s kingdom. This is an awful chapter that shows some of the events that takes place after David’s awful sin. The sword of judgment certainly fell upon David’s house.

For the sake of this study, I wish to allow Absalom to be a type of Satan. As he fulfils this type, he will be trying to take the true kings kingdom. He wants the kingdom that belongs to King David, his father. This is what Satan has been trying to do for the ages. Absalom is seen “stealing the hearts of the men of Israel” so that he can be the king in his father’s stead…

I. HE TRIES TO STEAL YOUR HEART BY CHANGING YOUR FOCUS. (Vv. 1-4)

One of the easiest sins for the Christian to commit is for that person to take his eyes off of Jesus (Hebrews 12:1, 2). Satan knows this and makes every effort to change your focus causing you to take your eyes off of the true king! Notice the following ways that this happens.

A. Satan Uses DISTRACTION to Change Your Focus. (Vv. 1,2)

Absalom was a very attractive young man, but was also very cunning, crafty and ambitious. He coveted his father’s kingdom. You can mark it down, anytime one is jealous of someone else or covets what someone else possesses, that is of Satan. Such was the case with Absalom. Absalom prepared chariots and horses and had fifty men to run before him to cause the subjects of the kingdom to take their eyes off of the true king and then to look at him, instead. He used this as a means to gain their attention.

Just think of the many different ways that Satan tries to both distract and to attract people to himself. He uses pleasures, sex, worldly entertainment, sports, work, materialism, and even family activities to attract people to himself. These things in a proper setting can have wholesome and quality values, but underneath the perverting influences of Satan can be an awful distraction. If whatever it is hinders your walk with Christ or causes you to become unfaithful to church, it is a distraction.

B. Satan Will Use DECEPTION to Change your Focus. (Vv. 3-4)

Satan is the great counterfeiter and the “father of lies”. He began his masterful work of deception in the Garden of Eden when he said, “Yea, hath God said” (Genesis 3:1) when God did not say it. He was cast into the Lake of Fire with this sentence upon him: “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

Absalom lied telling the subjects of King David that there was no one commissioned by the king to hear them. He also told them that if he were king and if he was made judge in the land that he would do them justice. Satan is also like that. He will tell you that you do not need old time religion. He will tell you that your sin is not all that bad. He will tell you that if everyone else is doing it, it must be alright for you to do it. Satan will also whisper and tell you that the Lord does not hear you when you pray. He will tell you that the Lord no longer performs miracles. Miracles are a thing of the past, he will tell you. I want to tell you even as I speak that the devil is a deceiver and a liar! I want to say it loud enough so that every demon commissioned by ole Lucifer, himself can hear it. THE DEVIL IS A LIAR!

C. Satan Uses DISCOURAGEMENT to Change Your Focus. (V. 3B., 4)

As Absalom continued his lies, he told them that there was “no man deputed of the king to hear thee.” Satan enjoys using negatives to discourage the True King’s subjects. He will tell the preacher that his sermons are no longer relevant to his listeners. He will tell the Sunday school teacher that she is not academically qualified to teach. He will tell you that either you are too young are that you are too old to serve God. He enjoys telling someone who is praying for a lost loved one that it is too late for that person to be saved… Satan wants the choir singer to think that his or her voice is not good enough. He wants the young person to think that God cannot find you a proper mate. He will tell you that no one in the Church cares anything about you. He will tell you that God will not forgive you of your sin. I am witnessing to a person right now who is at the point of death who has been my friend for nearly thirty years that thinks that he is too evil to be saved.