Deception of the Devil

Spiritual Warfare

Deception of the Devil

In our first lesson in this series called “What is Going On” we see that Jesus is gathering together a bride for Himself. There are three powerful enemies that want to stop this.

The Devil

(1 Peter 5:8), Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

The World

(1 John 2:15-17), Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world–the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life–is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

A Deceitful Heart

(Jeremiah 17:9), The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

Once you make a decision to love the Lord Jesus Christ and want to be with Him forever, these three enemies will do everything they can to take away your love, faith and trust that you have in Jesus and His Word.

This is the beginning of a three-part series on the subject of deception which is at the heart of the spiritual warfare that we are engaged in.

Deceive means: to cause to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid.

For the past 6,000 years, the reason why mankind has been going through what it has, is because of DECEPTION. It started right at the beginning with Adam and Eve!

(1 Timothy 2:14), And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.

Since that day in the Garden of Eden, three masters of deception have devastated mankind and caused multitudes to perish:

• The deception of the devil
• The deception of the world
• The deception of the heart

During this series, we want to show you the tremendous power all three have, and how to guard against it in this spiritual warfare.

The Deception of The Devil

The Tremendous Power of the Devil

God’s Word tells us that the Devil has actually deceived 33% of the angels in heaven!

(Revelation 12:3-4, 9), And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon… His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth…. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Stop and think for a moment: the angels are living right in the very presence of God. They could see His awesome glory and all the heavenly host worship God around His throne. How could anyone or anything have such power of deception to turn away 33% of them from the Lord God Almighty? And yet the Devil has such power!

The Devil deceived Eve

(Genesis 3:1-6), Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

Eve knew the command not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge, of Good, and of Evil. Eve knew the consequences in breaking God’s commandment, yet she STILL went against God!

The Devil deceives the whole world

(Revelation 12:9), So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world…”

How is it that he is still able to deceive mankind, even after almost 6,000 years?! You would think that all the people of the world should have figured it out by now and keep him from deceiving them!

Satan will deceive even those who will live with the Lord Jesus Christ for 1,000 years when Jesus returns!

At the time of the Second Coming of Christ (Revelation 20: 7-9) Satan will be bound for 1,000 years in the bottomless pit while the Lord Jesus Christ will rule on earth, physically, before all nations. During His 1,000-year reign, Jesus Christ brings peace on earth, provisions, removes curses, there is singing, laughter, joy, etc. etc.… for 1,000 years! At the end of the 1,000 years, Satan is freed and in a matter of moments, he will deceive the nations in so much that they are mad enough to try to kill Jesus!

Revelation 20:7-10, “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 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.”

We are no match against the power of deception that the Devil has. That is why we need Jesus to fight for us!  But God’s Word goes on to tell us some things that we can do that will help us be protected.

How to Overcome the Deception of the Devil

By the Word of God

Please read (Matthew 4:1-11) in your Bible.

In (Matthew 4:1-11), how did Jesus fight the deception of the devil?

• (Matthew 4:4), “But he answered and said, It is WRITTEN…”
• (Matthew 4:7), “Jesus said unto him, It is WRITTEN again…”
• (Matthew 4:10), “Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is WRITTEN…”

Jesus defeated the deception of the devil by the Word of God!

God’s Word will also help you to defeat it.

Study God’s Word:

• By reading in general from (Genesis – Revelation).
• Word study: Use your concordance and look up a word that is relevant to you and study the verses on it.
• Character study: Study both good and bad characters of the Bible. Learn from their mistakes, strengths, and weaknesses.
• Topical study: The Ten Commandments, the account of creation, angels, heaven and hell, continuing in the faith, family relationships, evangelization, the trinity, prayer, fasting, the rapture, the second coming, etc.…
• Apply God’s Word! Meditate on God’s Word, and hide God’s Word in your heart by memorizing it and obeying it. Don’t let the Devil come and take it away from you. Guard it like it is your greatest possession… because IT IS! This is what Jesus taught us in the parable of the “sower and the seed”. It also shows us it is not only your greatest protection against the deception of the devil, but it also shows you that God’s Word in your heart is Satan’s #1 TARGET that he is out to destroy!

(Luke 8:4-15), And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?” And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that ‘Seeing they may not see, And hearing they may not understand.’ “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

This is how Satan defeated Adam and Eve. He took the Word of God out of their hearts and as a result, we have suffered 6000 years of wars, killings, murders, theft, tears, broken homes, …and the list goes on and on!

The good news is, you can defeat the devil’s deception like those at the end of the parable of the “sower and the seed” and also in;

(1 John 2:14), I have written to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one.

Resist the Devil

(James 4:7), Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Learn to quickly make the decision to say ‘yes’ to what is right and ‘no’ to what is wrong. Don’t even give the devil a chance.

By being truly saved

(Revelation 12:10-11), “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

The people in (Revelation 12:10-11) overcame the Devil by truly being saved. Their sins were forgiven by the blood of the Lamb, and their testimony spoke of the reality of true saving faith they had in their heart for the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word. They were living a life of faith, holiness, repentance, and obedience and found that to be power to overcome the temptation of the Devil.

Another way to overcome the devil’s temptation is by putting on the armor of God which we will be studying in an upcoming lesson shortly. But in the meantime, try to grasp with your heart and mind what really is going on. Jesus is gathering a bride for Himself to have a wonderful eternity together. There is a spiritual warfare that is raging on to do everything it can to keep you from being part of that.  Be aware, alert, and stay strong in the Lord and His Word.

(1 Peter 5:8), “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.