Know Thine Enemy
Announcements:
- Special Music – see Steve Weissert
- Preschool teaching positions have been filled
*Need helpers to watch kids during orientation day, and more cookies*
*Need a Sunday school teacher for preschool aged children*
*Need Coolers for Preschool Parade – bring to church and we’ll put ice in them*
Introduction:
As we talked about last week, Following God in a Fallen World means that we must operate in a world system that is not Christian. We are at times even hated because we are not like the world.
One of the realities of that situation, and a big part of what makes it difficult, is that there is a very powerful creature out there named Satan who is very adept at spreading lies, confusion, and deception.
In 2 Corinthians 2:11 we read the words – “So that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.”
In order to not be outwitted by Satan, we must not be ignorant of his designs. Do you know what his designs are? Who is Satan? What does he want? What is he trying to do? You probably have some ideas and have been taught some things, but do you really know?
When many people think of Satan, they think of a red man with a twirly mustache, pitchfork, pointed tail, and horns. But if you read the Bible much, you’ve probably noticed by now that description isn’t in there. You’re more likely to think of him as a dragon or a snake, which is much closer than a cartoonish red man, but still misses the ball.
What do you think of his designs? What does he want? Probably you imagine hate, destruction, chaos, and everything that is ugly. That is also close to the truth, but not quite on the ball either.
No, Satan is not some humorous cackling red person who bosses around other red creatures in a fiery cave. He is something much more powerful, frightening, cunning, and dangerous.
And the Bible says that we must know him and what he is about if we are to avoid being outwitted by him. So we’re going to have an unusual sermon this morning and tread on some dangerous ground. Today we will be learning about the one who bears the title of adversary – our enemy. Devil means adversary. He also goes by Satan.
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
It’s an uncomfortable subject to deal with – the devil. But my prayer is that by the end of this sermon, you will be aware of what his designs are so that you will not be outwitted by him. Knowing your enemy will be a tremendous help to you as you navigate the Christian life in an unchristian world.
Theme: Know Thine Enemy
Verses: Ezekiel 28:12-19; Isaiah 14:12-14; Genesis 3:1-7; Matthew 4:1-11
Verses: Ezekiel 28:12-19
Verses 12-15
While this is addressed to “the king of Tyre” it is evident that someone else is primarily being talked about here. The king of Tyre during Ezekiel’s day was a mere mortal, he was never perfect, he certainly had not been in the Garden of Eden.
Ezekiel is saying that the king of Tyre will soon fall from his lofty position, but he is comparing the king of Tyre to someone else who fell from a lofty position.
He’s talking about a being who was created perfect, created beautifully, who was covered in beautiful and expensive jewels of all colors. A being that once was in the Garden of Eden. A being that once resided in heaven as a guardian cherub. Cherub, by the way, are not the naked baby angels that are often featured in art today. A cherub is one of the highest of angelic creatures and one whose task is to guard God Himself.
Since this is talking about a creature that was both in the Garden of Eden and in heaven and a type of angel, we can narrow it down to one being only. This is a description of Satan. We see here who he once was, what he was meant to be, and then we see that something goes terribly wrong.
Like all things made by God, Satan was created to be good. He is here called “the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.” This tells us that he was certainly one of the most beautiful and excellent of the angels that God ever created.
He was made to be a guardian cherub. He would watch over and protect the throne of God.
In the day that he was created, he was blameless in all of his ways.
Until unrighteousness was found in him.
Verses 16-19
In these verses the focus shifts back and forth a bit between Tyre and this supernatural being. “in the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst and you sinned” would refer to Tyre, not Satan. Heaven isn’t a trading post filled with violence – that would be Tyre.
Verse 17 is where we see what went wrong with Satan. His heart was filled with pride because of his beauty. And he corrupted his wisdom – in other words he chose an unwise path – for the sake of his splendor. He chose to try to advance his splendor instead of being wise.
This is the original fall. This occurred before the fall of man. At one time, we know not for how long, everything in the universe was absolutely perfect. There was no sin at all. Until, one day, one being, became prideful. Satan looked at himself and thought “am I not magnificently beautiful? Does not my beauty entitle me to something more than this place as guardian cherub?”
And at that moment, a universe that had been orbiting around its creator, that had been worshipping God and finding perfect fulfillment in its gladness in God and joy in all of God’s good gifts and kindness. At that moment something in the universe stopped revolving around God and became self-centered. A terrible anomaly came into existence. A universe constructed to find its joy in God and was perfectly satisfied with God and perfectly in unison with enjoying God was no longer perfect. Satan’s goal was no longer about enjoying and magnifying God. Satan’s goal became enjoying and magnifying himself. And so sin was born.
We can read about what specifically he intended to do in Isaiah 14:12-14
Verses: Isaiah 14:12-14
Rooted in pride, love of self, and self-centeredness, Satan corrupted wisdom for the sake of his splendor and embarked on a path intended for his own exaltation. He determined that he would move from guarding the throne of God to entering into the highest sphere of heaven himself and to set a throne for himself in heaven. He determined that he would exalt himself above all other angels and would become like the Most High.
This might surprise you, but Satan’s goal is not to destroy God. His goal is to be like the Most High. The universe depends upon God for its existence. All things are upheld by the word of His power. Satan, at the end of the day, powerful though he is, he is just a creature. If God were to cease to exist, so would the universe.
So he purposes instead to be like the Most High. Worshipped as. With a throne in heaven. Receiving all the worship and recognition as God, having the universe sing his praises. That is what he believes to be his due because of his pride in his beauty, and that is his goal.
His ego and self-deception are extreme. How can a finite being compete with an infinite Creator? But he has chosen his splendor over wisdom. After coming to this decision, he sets out to try to accomplish it.
First he caused many angels in heaven to sin along with him. Somehow, we know not how, he awakened within them the same prideful self-centeredness that exists within himself. We read about this in Revelation 12:4 which says that Satan “swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth.” A third of the angels fell with him in his evil plan. After finding some success with other angels, he turns his attention toward humans.
Verses: Genesis 3:1-7
So we’ve come to understand just who and what Satan is and what his goal is: Satan is a very powerful angel who is prideful, self-centered, and wants all that comes with being the Most High, especially the worship.
In Genesis 3:1-7 we now begin to see the methods that he employs. They are lying, deception, and temptation. And he seeks especially to encourage creatures along the same foolish path that he chose: self-centeredness instead of God-centeredness. He seeks to undermine people’s contentment and satisfaction in God and cause them to become sinful and self-centered.
He comes and encourages our oldest of all ancestors to disobey God and pursue their own self-centered desires. Notice especially what he says here “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Hear the temptation there? Hear the echoes of his own folly? Don’t you want to be like God, Eve? Don’t you want more than what God has allotted to you? I was once in your shoes. I was a guardian cherub. And that was not fair. I am much too beautiful to just be a guardian cherub. I wanted to be more because I was worth more. I wanted to be like God. Is it fair to you, Eve, that you should be denied this good thing? Why does God deny you things? Why can you not be limitless as He is?
And oh, how he deceived! He knew full well what God actually said. God didn’t say that they weren’t allowed to eat of any tree in the garden. They were forbidden one tree. One. But Satan wants to exaggerate their limitations, imply the possibility of greater things from disobeying their creator, and it is not because he cares about them at all. Oh no. Satan has become entirely self-centered. Satan cares about Satan and the more creatures he can cause to fall out of God-centeredness, the more followers that he can gain in his own self-centeredness.
And to our utter horror, his plan was a success. He deceived Eve. Took advantage of her innocence and convinced her to eat. And then Adam ate. Adam was not deceived. Adam is the one who really messed up. He should have been protecting his wife. He should have been countering the lies and telling the truth. He knew the truth. But he let it happen and then he ate of the tree himself.
And in choosing to eat from the tree, mankind moved from being God-centered creatures to being self-centered creatures. In God’s perfect universe designed to enjoy Him, another self-centered anomaly came into being. And to our shame, it was us this time. Like Satan, our ancestors chose their own splendor over wisdom; they chose themselves over their relationship with God. And we became sinful creatures. Our souls became corrupted. We became self-centered instead of God-centered.
You have perhaps heard it said before that sin is anything you think, say, or do that is displeasing to God. I say that all the time. It’s a useful description of sin and covers it pretty well. But it’s a description of sin; it isn’t what it is in its core. And you’ve probably heard before that sin is selfishness. That is also very close, but not the core.
The most vivid description I have ever heard on sin comes from John Piper. He says: “Sin is the glory of God not honored, the holiness of God not reverenced, the greatness of God not admired, the power of God not praised, the truth of God not sought, the wisdom of God not esteemed, the beauty of God not treasured, the goodness of God not savored, the faithfulness of God not trusted, the promises of God not believed, the commandments of God not obeyed, the justice of God not respected, the wrath of God not feared, the grace of God not cherished, the presence of God not prized, the person of God not loved. That is sin.”
And here is my less vivid but easier to remember definition: sin is not being God-centered.
So now we see Satan’s motive. He is driven by a self-centered, sinful desire to exalt himself. He became prideful over his beauty and wanted more. And we see now his method: to lead other creatures into his rebellion by guiding them into sin. He does this by deceiving, lying, and tempting creatures to pursue sin instead of God.
So now you know your enemy. You know what he is trying to do and you will better know when he is attacking you and trying to lead you astray.
He isn’t a comical red man in a fiery cave. He is an extremely powerful and intelligent creature and he is sinful to his core. And sinful doesn’t mean that his primary goal is murder and lies and all that ugly stuff: it means that his primary goal is to turn you away from being God-centered. All the ugly stuff is just the side effects of turning from God-centeredness into sin. Satan is much more likely to try to make you fall out of love with God than he is to try to get you to murder someone.
Now that you are not ignorant of his devices, we can see what we can do to counter his schemes. He tries these same techniques on Jesus, and Jesus shows us how we are to resist the evil one.
Verses: Matthew 4:1-11
Verses 1-4
Satan comes to Jesus and attacks him through temptation and deception. First we see some temptation.
The plan of God was for Jesus to fast 40 days and 40 nights. Like with Adam and Eve, Satan attempts to turn Jesus from following the plan of God to following his own plan. And he appeals to a lack that Jesus was experiencing. Adam and Eve were allowed to eat from every tree of the garden but one and Satan plays on that lack to encourage them to reach for more.
Right now, Jesus is fasting. He is not allowed to have food. Satan knows that Jesus is extremely hungry and entirely capable of feeding Himself, so He attempts to draw Jesus away from God’s plan and into self-centeredness. “Jesus, are you not the Son of God? Does not the Son of God deserve to be fed? How is it that you are hungry now? It is not fair. Turn the stones into bread and eat.”
Jesus’ reply shows that He sees right through it: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Life comes from God. There is more to life than seeking my needs. Life comes in dependence upon God. Better that I should lack bread than that I should lack my God. Not having God in your life – that is true starvation and death.
Satan has failed in his first attempt to divert Jesus from God-centeredness into self-centeredness. He tried to do it by appealing to something that Jesus was lacking, but Jesus let Him know that departing from the word of God and relationship with God leads to death. He’s not buying the trick. He’s not making the stones into bread.
So attempt number two comes.
Verses 5-7
This time, Satan attempts to twist the words of God. He decides upon the path of deception. And we can see just how good he is at twisting and deceiving here, because most of us probably aren’t even aware of what just happened. Satan quotes the Bible, but only part of it.
The full quote reads Psalm 91:11-12 “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.” He deliberately left out “to guard you in all your ways.” He didn’t leave it out for sake of time.
The promise is to guard, not to enable stupid and irresponsible decisions for the purposes of putting God to the test. Just as in the Garden, the word of God is twisted. Again, Jesus sees right through it. He knows the promise is to guard Him and is not a free pass to put God to the test. So He quotes the Bible.
So Satan has attempted to turn Jesus from God-centeredness to self-centeredness through temptation. And he’s attempted to do it through lies and deception. He now makes one final attempt, and it’s a desperate one.
Verses 8-11
He cuts right to the chase and admits what the whole game is about. He wants to be worshipped. Quid-quo pro Jesus, you follow me in this plan of rebellion and give me the worship that I want, then I will give you the kingdoms of the world and their glory in exchange. You and me together Jesus, we will ascend to the highest mountain, we will become like the Most High, only worship me. Take God off the throne in your heart and let’s put yourself and me on it.
But the desperate gambit fails. Jesus resists decisively. And He does so by keeping Himself God-centered and countering lies with the truth. His God-centeredness and alignment with the truth is revealed in His heavy use of Scripture, particularly Scriptures dealing with keeping God first in our lives.
And so here’s our example. Here is what we are to do when faced with the temptation of the adversary. His goal is to turn you from God. He will appeal to things that you lack. He will question God’s fairness. He will promise better things. He will use lies and deception to achieve those ends.
He did that in the Garden of Eden and he did that to Jesus in the wilderness. And we can see what failure looks like and success looks like.
Failure looks like believing that he is telling you the truth.
Don’t be deceived. What he offers is not better and neither does he care about you.
Failure looks like departing from the commandments of God to follow your own way.
Success looks like what Jesus did.
Resist through keeping yourself God-centered and knowing and proclaiming the truth.
If you are struggling with sin, understand that the root problem of all is the organization of your life: whether it be centering around God or centering around yourself.
If you are struggling with lies, or with anger, or with lust, or with whatever, the heart of the issue is: what does your relationship with God look like? Fall more in love with God, revolve more around Him, and you will see more victory over sin.