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Hello everyone and welcome to Redemption Church. My name is Chris Fluitt and I am glad to be with you today. We are in the 3rd week of our sermon series.
Deal with the Devil
The devil makes deals through words, hearts, minds, and actions. Instead of a physical contract, the devil seeks a spiritual agreement.
Amos 3:3 (KJV) Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
When we are in agreement with the devil, we have begun to walk with him… we have made a deal with the devil.
In week 1 we told you the devil deals with pride.
The devil deals with pride
Pride is choosing your self-will over God’s will. Self-will, pride, leads to disobedience and disobedience leads to rebellion.
The devil deals with rebellion
Last week we told you the devil deals with rebellion. Rebellion is the rejection of God’s authority. Anytime you actively disobey God’s word you are entering into rebellion and walking in agreement with the devil.
Today I want to tell you the devil deals with deception.
The devil deals with deception
It is no surprise that the devil is a liar.
There is a joke used on politicians & lawyers… How can you tell a politician or lawyer is lying? Their lips are moving. If the devil is speaking, you can be sure that he is lying.
When the devil shows up in the garden, it should be no surprise that he lies.
Jesus calls the devil the father of lies in John 8:44. The original liar is the devil and he wants you to fall prey to his deception.
Before the devil lied to Adam & Eve, he lied to someone else. Who is the first person the devil lied to? Do you know?
The first person the devil ever deceived was himself.
Isaiah 14:13-14 (NIV) You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”
Devil you lied to yourself. Devil you deceived yourself.
- “I will ascend…” – Wrong. You have only descended.
- “Throne above… enthroned…” – Lie. No throne… temporary kingdom.
- “Like the most high…” – Worst lie of all.
The devil is a liar. His first lie was to himself.
The devil is deceived and all he brings is deception.
The devil is prideful and all he brings is pride.
The devil is rebellious and all he brings is rebellion.
Everything the devil offers flows out of the abundance of who he is. (And, so it is with us!)
The devil is desolate and all he brings is desolation.
Daniel 9:27 (KJV) …and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
God prophetically reveals to Daniel that the devil will bring the abomination of desolation, and then the last words of this chapter reveal what the devil is… the devil is desolate… so of course he only brings desolation.
So you can be sure that the one who is deceived, when his lips move, he is speaking deception. The devil has nothing else to offer.
Genesis 3:1-6 (NIV) Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Like all great liars, the devil adds some truth to his lie.
Genesis 3:5 (NIV) “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Their eyes were opened when they ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good & evil.
Genesis 3:7 (NIV) Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
The devil was right about their eyes being opened.
The devil added some truth to his lie, but there is always a lie in “his truth.” We are living in a “my truth” generation. You be careful when someone says “my truth.” “My truth” means not really true. “My truth” means it is only subjective truth… it is only true to them and how dare anyone point out that it is not true. We know the story of the emperor’s clothes. The king was naked and no one had the guts to point it out and save the king form further embarrassment. Today, I wonder if anyone would tell the king, or if we would just stand by and lecture everyone on this being the “emperor’s truth”… this is his truth.
We need the truth. We need the author of all truth! We need God! We need God’s Truth!
In the garden of Eden, Eve could have cried out for God and His truth. She did not.
TODAY in this topsy-turvy world where we can’t decide what gender pronouns to use… we could cry out for God and His truth! But are we?
Genesis 3:5 (NIV) “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
The devil says you will be like God. This was a falsehood, because Adam & Eve were already made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26). The devil wanted to be like the most high… but here are some innocent creatures named Adam & Eve and without even trying, they were more like God than the devil.
The devil wishes he were you. This reminds me of the phrase used by many scholarly theologians… “they hate us cause they ain’t us.”
They hate us cause they ain’t us
The devil hates you, but he doesn’t hate what you have. You have a treasure he wishes he could get his hands on.
Every ‘con’ is about finding something you want and fooling the owner to give up the treasure. The devil wants what you have. He hates you because he can never be you.
As with most con artists, they find someone who is careless with their treasure. Adam & Eve did not treasure the garden of God, the walks with God, the gifts of God… When a con-man finds someone who is careless with his treasure, this saying becomes true… “A fool and their money are soon parted.”
Genesis 3:5 (NIV) “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
There is deception in his words “knowing good and evil.” Adam & Eve did not yet know evil… but they already knew goodness. To know God is to know goodness.
Once again, the trouble was they were careless with their treasure.
Lies & Deception
What is a lie? – To speak falsely. A lie is the opposite of the truth.
In Genesis 1, God spoke and the world came into being. God created the world with the word of His truth. God never speaks falsely; every time God opens His mouth truth comes out.
When you speak a lie, you are like the father of lies: the devil. You are speaking chaos, destruction, and death.
You were created to speak truth like your father in heaven. When you speak truth you are tapping into that same life giving power that created the world.
Jesus, as he stood before Pontius Pilate said this…
John 18:37 (NIV) “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
Jesus was born to testify to the truth. The children of God should testify to truth. Lies should not come from our mouths, but truth.
Lies & Deception
A lie is the opposite of the truth. When you lie, you try to get someone to believe something untrue.
Deception is an act aimed at concealing, distorting, or misinterpreting the truth
The devil lies. He feeds you something that is the opposite of true.
But, more difficult to understand and determine is the deception of the devil.
The devil will take the very Word of God and conceal parts of it, he will distort parts of it, and he will misinterpret all of it. The devil wants you to come into agreement with his lie.
We need to deal with the devil
No one does this better than Jesus. When Jesus was physically hungry & weak and isolated in the wilderness, away from his disciples, the tempter came to him.
Matthew 4:3-4 (NIV) The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
He tries to distort the truth. If you are this… then do this. He creates a false equivalence. These are 2 unrelated things. I am a child of God because he has granted me new birth… not because I have the power to turn stone into bread. The devil tries to distort the truth by seducing Jesus with what he lacks and desires – BREAD.
Jesus counteracts the deception with the TRUTH! It is written… and I don’t live on bread but my relationship with God… I live by every WORD that proceeds from the mouth of God.
The devil deals in deception. He distorts the truth. He also misinterprets the truth…
Matthew 4:5-7 (NIV) Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ ” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
The devil pulls one verse (without any context) to try to get Jesus to disobey another verse. The devil will misinterpret the truth.
The devil loves to only quote a little bit of the verse out of the context… Let’s look at the verse the devil quoted!
Psalm 91:11-12 (NIV) For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
So the devil takes this verse to try to get the Lord to live foolishly… but these verses about fighting the enemy! Look at the next verse that the devil does not quote!
Psalm 91:13 (NIV) You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
The devil is the one who is like a roaring lion seeking who he can devour (1 Peter 5:8) and the devil is that serpent. THE CONTEXT of these verses is that God will protect you as you stand against the devil… The devil misinterprets the truth to get you to stand WITH HIM!
Jesus says NO DEAL! IT IS WRITTEN and I will not test God.
Deception is distorting & misinterpreting truth… and also concealing truth.
Matthew 4:8-10 (NIV) Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ”
The devil conceals the truth. He says to Jesus, “I will give you all of this if you worship me…”, but the truth is that all of it belongs to Jesus already.
The devil will promise you things that are already yours! He will promise you joy, peace, pleasure, riches, power, love… The devil is concealing the truth! God has already given you these things. CHILD OF GOD TAKE DOMINION OVER THE THINGS GOD HAS GIVEN YOU!
We need to deal with the devil
Jesus shows us how to deal with the devil.
#1 Jesus walks in agreement with God & His Word!
#2 Jesus walks in dominion: the same dominion that a sinless Adam & Eve enjoyed in the garden.
#3 Jesus loves the truth
Love the truth
I told you the devil is a con-man looking for someone who is careless with their treasure. Do you treasure the TRUTH of God, or are you careless?
God has available for you the Holy Spirit, which is the very Spirit of Truth (John 16:13) living inside of you. The Spirit will lead you and guide you into all Truth. Do you have the Spirit? Are you walking in the Spirit, praying in the Spirit, singing in the Spirit, living in the Spirit?
(musician)
The Spirit of Truth is TREASURE! Are you careless with it?
2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 (NIV) The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
They will perish… NOT BECAUSE of the evil devil and his lies and power… they perish because they refused TO LOVE THE TRUTH.
Does anyone Love the Truth!?
1 Corinthians 13:6 (NIV) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
When was the last time you rejoiced with the truth?
I want a church that is so busy rejoicing in truth that the devil can’t make a single inroad.
I want to preach in a Church so in love with the Word of God that people say we are too excited and too emotional… that it actually gets criticism from those who have grown cold.
I want to preach on the truth of scripture and not have to beg for an ‘amen’!
I want a church that loves it when the gospel of Jesus is preached…. Repentance… baptism… forgiveness… The Spirit baptism… There is one God… Jesus is coming back…
If you are not rejoicing in truth… if you have no love for truth… then either the con-man has come and parted you from your treasure, or he is about to…
We are living in a world where the devil is actively working deception in the churches. There are so many false doctrines at work in the Church of Jesus…; The devil’s deception is concealing, distorting and misinterpreting Truth…
There ought to be a Church so full of the Spirit of Truth that it pushes back the darkness with light…
Am I in the right church today?