Blatant Deception

"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

1 Peter 5:8-9

Today, as redeemed disciples of Christ, we will be tempted. We can be certain of that fact because the Bible says it is true. Our adversary, Satan, is neither the devil of Hollywood nor a figment of secular literature. Make no mistake, Satan is not fictitious.

The greatest deception Satan perpetuates is his non-existence. Revelation 12:9 states, “The great dragon was hurled down--that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, deceiving the whole world...”

Satan is the original rebel/adversary against God. Satan (which means adversary) uses deception as a primary weapon. Satan is humanity’s greatest adversary – attempting to lead the whole world astray through deception, denial, and distraction.

One of Satan’s go-to moves is to pose as something beautiful. As 2 Cor 11:14 Satan poses as an “angel of light.” Satan doesn’t lure us in with dirt and horror. Instead, he poses as an “angel of light.” Appreciation for the beauty of the human form metastasizes into pornographic, objectified, sensuality. Sensuality quickly morphs into perversion. Perversion becomes promiscuity, addiction, escape, and all forms of relational erosion and implosion. Eventually, the inevitable blowout occurs.

Satan’s deception takes things God intended for abundant life and goodness, and our adversary twists, perverts, and spoils them through entitlement, autonomy, and rebellion.

We can recognize Satan as basically a “three-trick pony.” Only then can we allow God to break the bondage of sin-cycles in life. Only then can we truly become redeemed for God and used in accordance with His perfect will for His eternal glory.

Breaking free is not through self-discipline. Emancipation comes exclusively in laying down one's life and following Jesus - daily. It’s not a “one and done” magical prayer or mystical water ceremony. When our lives are rightly aligned with Jesus and His mission (Gen 12:3) - to literally be the blessing of the Gospel’s light and truth to the ends of the earth - Satan is irrevocably and eternally thrown down!

Let’s look at examples from the Bible - specifically Jesus’ victory over Satan in Matthew 4:1-11.

TRICK #1: Lust of The Flesh – Satan tried to lure Jesus the same way he lured Eve. It started subtly and “innocently” enough. Most of us don’t even notice how pervasive Satan’s advance are in our own lives. “Hey, want some fruit? It’s good! God made it right? Why would He put it here if He didn’t want you to have it??? God didn’t really say you couldn’t eat it. You must have misheard Him.”

Eve succumbed to the temptation because 1) Adam failed in his duty, 2) she didn’t value God’s revelation, and 3) she engaged in dialogue with Satan, the deceiver, rather than exercising authority over him.

Satan pulled the same parlor trick on Jesus.

(Exaggerated paraphrase): “Hey bro! It’s been forty LONG DAYS! I know you’re hungry and I'd be willing to bet some freshly baked bread sounds REALLY delish right now, doesn’t it? Soooo, since you’re like totally awesome, powerful, the Cat’s Meow, and the Bee’s Knees... why not turn some of these here stones into some delicious, fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth bread? That sounds A-MA-ZING doesn’t it? I’ll set a table for two!”

Jesus didn’t debate or argue. Jesus didn’t even contemplate the argument of the “goodness” of bread in his depleted state of hunger. What Jesus DID was to tell Satan - life is NOT found in bread, but in faithful obedience to the Father. Jesus, unlike Esau, demonstrated wisdom, i.e. skillful living: It's better to die of starvation than to abandon the divine promise of blessing and relationship with God.

Satan tells us that life is in the stuff we’re craving RIGHT NOW. That’s what advertising is all about. Consider the stuff we see around us all the time on the internet, in catalogs, and in our neighbors’ garages. That’s the stuff we obsess about. BUY NOW! That’s where we hopelessly strive to find life’s joy and fulfillment. We’ve bought into the deception. We’ve fallen for the lie that life is somewhere - anywhere - INDEPENDENT from God.

The Deceiver tells us that if we fill our bellies, fill our garages, our homes, our devices, our attics, our storage units, our walls, our collections... the next bite,  the next episode, the next purchase, the next... is THE thing that will FINALLY satisfy us. We’re junkies. We're in denial through Satan’s deception.

God tells us something very different. He told Adam it wasn’t in the fruit on the trees in the Garden of Eden, but in the fact that they - God and humanity - were together. Life isn’t defined by stuff, a feeling, pulse rate, or brain activity. Life is exclusively defined as perfect covenant relationship with our perfect, holy, gracious, loving, and almighty Creator.

Tune in tomorrow for part II!

Blessings,

-Kevin M. Kelley

aMostUnlikelyDisciple.com