“If God were not my friend, Satan would not be so much my enemy.”
Thomas
Brooks
For more than two minutes on film, the moose cruises downhill as other skiers and snowboarders weave around it to avoid crashing into it. "Unbelievable," someone is heard shouting as the moose runs along a tree line. Rynearson's friend, snowboarder Bill Fohey, called the appearance surprising. “I caught a little bit of air, and the moose was within 10 feet of me” he told Good Morning America. At one point, he told the outlet, the moose started to close in and appeared to bolt for his friend. Eventually, the moose veered off the trail and ran away.
Most of us aren’t concerned about being run over by a wild moose, but we do need to be concerned about a “lion,” a “snake” and a “dragon.” In the Bible, our greatest enemy, Satan, is compared to all three of these vicious creatures (1 Peter 5:8; Revelation 12:9).
While people are justifiably frightened by a wild moose, they never give any consideration to a much more violent and evil, enemy – Satan. Good Friday is a reminder that evil has a face. It was Satan who entered into Judas and led him to betray Jesus (Luke 22:3). It was Satan who was the catalyst for the coldblooded murder of the innocent Son of God. Yet, none of the other disciples had any suspicions of Judas. His life is a warning to us of the seduction of sin. Judas spent three years with Jesus. He preached, did miracles, went on mission trips – yet betrays the Son of God. Because of God’s plan, Jesus had to suffer, but Judas didn’t have to be the traitor.
Satan is the root cause of all of the evil in this world and all of the world’s problems. Hardly a day goes by when we don’t receive news of another example of evil. People often wonder why there is so much evil in our world. The source of all this evil is often overlooked. One we must never forget – there exists in this universe a living source of evil: Satan.
Jesus recognized him. In fact, Jesus gave us Satan’s job description: He kills; he steals; he lies; he destroys; he tempts, he accuses; he shames; he confuses; he discourages. His name is Lucifer. The title Satan means “adversary.” What do we need to know about his diabolical strategy?
Satan not only lies but is the father of lies, John 8:44. The first time he appears in the Bible in Genesis 3, the very first words on his lips are questioning God’s truth (“Did God say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?”). The second words he uttered were a complete lie (“You will not die”). John 8:44 says that Satan “has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him.” When we deal with Satan, we must remember that we’re dealing with the essence of falsehood and deception.
Satan plucks the word of God out of people’s hearts and chokes faith. Jesus told the parable of the four soils in Mark 4:1-9. In it, the seed of the word of God is sown, and some falls on the path and birds quickly take it away. Jesus explains in verse 15, “Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which was sown in them.” Satan snatches God’s word because he hates faith which the word produces (Romans 10:17). So, he distracts us or gets us busy about the insignificant. Satan wants us to be people of doubt, fear and skepticism of God and His truth.
Satan blinds the minds of unbelievers. “The god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4). He not only says what is false, he hides what is true. He keeps us from seeing the soul cure of the gospel. He lets us see facts, even proofs, but not the life and eternal destiny changing truth. His top priority for unbelievers is to keep them from God’s forgiveness and coming to faith in Christ. The devil is like LeBron James defending a shooter to prevent him from scoring. He tries to prevent people from hearing and responding to the gospel. He wants them to believe that being moral, going to church, getting baptized, obeying the ten commandments, etc. will “hopefully” get them into heaven. He turns the focus away from Jesus’ cross and His sacrificial, sufficient death for all of our sins and deceives us into thinking that it’s not quite enough, that we humans have to add to it with our own efforts. It’s a vile lie.
Yet once you become a Christian, the devil doesn’t give up on you. He just changes his strategy. From that point on, he tries to stop you. Paul said he wanted to visit Thessalonica, but the devil stopped him, or he hindered him. That’s a strategy he uses with us as believers. The devil wants to stop you. He and his demons want to stop you from reading your Bible; stop you from praying; stop you from attending worship; stop you from spending time with other believers, stop you from giving to God; stop you from witnessing; stop you from serving God; and stop you from growing in your faith. You get the idea? He wants to stop you from doing anything that God wants you to do.
And when he stops us, he wins! You can almost hear his vile cackle. But he’s a defeated foe and has no authority over a Christ-follower. Unlike that moose he won’t get bored and wander off. But he’s a toothless lion, an impotent dragon, a beheaded snake. Jesus won the victory 2,000 years ago. Now it’s up to us to live in that victory. “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57).
Can we help you spiritually? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.
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