This subject is probably my least favorite to speak about but that's what you get for being a Bible teacher--you gotta talk about all of it and unfortunately, but yet we should know who he is and what he is, the devil as the deceiver. Because now that you're a Christian, you have a mega arch enemy. Before, he was your boss. You didn't know it. In fact, that's sort of the way he got away with a lot of stuff, is not letting you know exactly who he was. And sort of telling you that he was a myth and that he was dead. But now that you are a believer in Jesus Christ, there's an all-out war involving this prince of darkness. It says in Revelation chapter 12 that war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. "The dragon and his angels fought," verse 8, "but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 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."

There was a Gallup poll conducted in this country and the Gallup poll said that 70% of the people in this country believe in the devil. I was surprised when I heard that statistic. I figured nobody believes in him in this country, anyway. That's sort of his tactic. 70% said they believed in the devil. Half of those people who were polled saw that he was just an impersonal force. He's just sort of the personification of evil. He's just evil in general. Others believed that he was indeed a personal being. The devil has been seen as a mythological figure and it is politically incorrect to speak about him these days. There's an article by James Brigg. It's called "Is Hell Still a Burning Question?" He said be it ever so horrible, there's no place like hell, that charming place of everlasting fire, pitchfork bearing demons, and constant gnashing of teeth is going out of style for many contemporary believers, partly because they focus their attention on heaven and partly because they cannot reconcile a merciful God with a damning divinity, partly because hell seems like such a childish belief and partly because they don't really understand what hell is supposed to be. A threat? Punishment? Myth? Reality? Just what is hell? According to Woody Allen, it's the abode of all people who annoy him. That's sort of the thought that a lot of people have, I think. Or wish for. But the Bible speaks an awful lot about both the devil and about hell, that hell is not created for man, but the devil and his angels as a place of punishment for eternity. But that the devil was a very real, and still is, a very real and powerful superbeing. In fact, I don't think a person could ever take Jesus Christ seriously at all unless he took the devil and hell seriously because Jesus spoke so much about them and just because they may or may not be popular doesn't make something right or wrong.

46 verses in your Bible mention Satan. 32 verses mention the devil. And Jesus spoke an awful lot about the devil and about hell. One would wonder why. The obvious reason would be He's warning us. If anyone would know, it would be Him. In fact, Jesus Christ spoke more about hell than any other biblical figure and it was always in terms of warning people from danger, describing the end result of the life that rejected the Savior. Always done in warning. Jesus said I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. When He spoke of the gospel, He said the Word of God is sown into the hearts of men as soon as they hear it; Satan comes and snatches away the Word that was sown in their hearts. And of course Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to sift you like wheat. With all of these Scriptures we get insight into the personality of this being. Imagine that there would be a superbeing that would look at your life trying to figure out ways to sift you, to make you spiritually impotent, to make you ineffective, to trip you up, and to find out your weaknesses. It's a scary thought. Jesus then spoke of judgment as a terrible time to the hypocrites He said, depart from Me who you are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. And then listen to this out of Matthew chapter 10: Do not be afraid of those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

A few years ago I was given a secular book and it was called something like The Catalog of the End Times. It was a series of articles written throughout history on heaven, hell, judgment, the Rapture, the Second Coming, and so forth, just a whole plethora of different ideas. I found interesting an article by a girl by the name of Arlene Bretcher who wrote about a cardiologist, a physician, who examined patients, watched them die, some of them resuscitated, and her article goes like this: "I'm thoroughly convinced that there's life after death and there are at least as many people going to hell as going to heaven, declares Dr. Morris Rollings, a top cardiologist who has talked to patients who had died and been resuscitated. Dr. Rollings, a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and clinical associate professor of medicine at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, told that until he began collecting about three years of accounts from three years ago, he could find no support for the biblical accounts of heaven or hell. But the incredible experiences and two vivid accounts of about 100 patients whose hearts had stopped dramatically changed all that and led Dr. Rollings to write the book, and at this time it was a soon to be published book, I've seen the book since, "Beyond Death's Door". It says: "About 50% of the revived persons told of having gone to a place of great darkness filled with grotesque moaning and writhing bodies crying out to be rescued from this place with an overwhelming feeling of eerie and nightmarish terror," he said. "Patients also described many things that have gone on in the emergency room during the time that they were dead, able to give precise information as to what had been said and done while they were gone. Typical of the chilling reports of the afterlife was the grim recollection of a man who was clinically dead of a heart attack for four or five minutes. I was at his side when he revived, Dr. Rollings recalled, and he immediately began telling me of his visit to hell. He said he felt as if his body was falling down a shaft until he emerged into an enormous cave. He saw a lake of fire and brimstone all around him, he said, with the bony bodies of people moaning helplessly. One patient was so shaken by his experience that he quit his job to join the ministry. Such incredible experiences are more frequent than is generally believed, according to Dr. Morris Rollings, who maintains that they are often not reported because people are too embarrassed to admit this. Dr. Rollings added that their doctors are embarrassed to make inquiries into such spiritual matters. Instead, we hear mostly of heavenly life after death experiences. But he said nobody can afford to ignore the reports of these patients and he cautions, "I am convinced that there is a hell and that we must conduct ourselves in such a way as to avoid being sent there at all costs."

I found that absolutely interesting. from a cardiologist. There are many people who would look at that and go, wow, it's from a doctor! Yet the Bible has said it all along. But there are people who, instead of taking the words of Jesus Christ, would be awed at a cardiologist who observed in his clinical experience people who report such things. Now I want to look at first of all the transformation of the devil. He always was not. He perpetually wasn't the tempter, the evil one. There was a transformation--a change that occurred in him. and that's important because a lot of people say why did God make this guy? Why did God create the devil? This malevolent being. Well, he wasn't always that way. In fact, he had high position in heaven. He was given an incredible position, a spiritual position, and it would even seem, according to many as they look at the original languages in their context, that he was a worship leader at one time for the choirs of heaven. It says in Ezekiel 28:15, and by the way there's no innuendo in that against any worship leader in this congregation, Ezekiel 28:15: you were perfect in your ways from the day you were created until iniquity was found in you. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness and I will cast you to the ground. And then another key text is Isaiah chapter 14 where in verse 12 it states: how are you fallen from heaven, o Lucifer, son of the morning? How are you cut down to the ground? For you said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. God says yet you shall be brought down to hell to the sides of the earth. Five times Lucifer lifts up his will against the will of God and therein is a perfect description of sin. Simply stated: sin is exalting your will over the will of God. It is saying I want total and absolute independence from God in my life. That was the heart of rebellion from the beginning.

It seems that Lucifer was not satisfied with worshiping God. He wanted to be worshiped. He wanted to be exalted above the throne of God. And the Bible says in the book of Revelation that he drew a third of the stars, or the angelic beings, with him. the Bible says there are 10,000 times 10,000, so there are a third of those beings that fell with Satan and they count for the demons that we read about in the Scriptures. Those who are a well-organized, governmental structure, of Satanic beings, principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, all of these are rankings of demonic beings, that are set out to destroy, or as Jesus said, to steal, to kill, and to destroy. They're against you. Now that's the bad news. The good news is that, though a third fell, two-thirds are left and are on your side. Don't forget that. A lot of times we go oooh... the devil! And all those demons! Yeah but two-thirds didn't fall. And the Bible says that those good angels minister to those who are heirs of salvation, Hebrews chapter 1. They're sent to minister. And we gotta realize that, though the enemy is powerful and though demons are real, there are more on our side and the classic Scripture that comes to my mind is 2 Kings 6 where Elijah is one of the cities, I think it's Dothan, and his right hand man is with him and they're surrounded by all of the enemies and they go, oh look, we're doomed! They're gonna kill us! Look at all the people who are surrounding us to destroy us! And Elijah bows his head and he says, O Lord, open his eyes, show him that there are more on our side than on their side. And it says that the servant of Elijah's eyes were opened up and he saw innumerable hosts of angels camped around the enemies of God. And then, instead of saying oh poor us, we're doomed, he thought, those poor enemies. Because there were more on their side than on the side of the enemy.

Realize that Satan on his best day can't come close. He cannot come close to the power of Jesus Christ and who lives in you? Jesus Christ. The Spirit of the Living God. And greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. Is the devil real? Yes. Does he hate you? Yes. Does he want to sift you? Yes. But Jesus lives in you. He will not let you be inhabited by a demon. That is very clear in the Scripture. He may allow the enemy a certain amount of freedom. You might not like that but He did it with Job and others and Paul, a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan was given to me. But he learned to exalt in his weakness and he also learned that the enemy cannot move without permission. So this rebellion brought a change, a transformation, from Lucifer, the anointed cherub who covers this glorious worship leader in the courts of heaven, to the adversary, the devil. And I want to consider for just a moment the titles of the enemy. He's known by many titles in the Scripture. The accuser, Zechariah 3:1 and Revelation 12:10. The tempter, Matthew 4:3, 1 Thessalonians 3:5. Beelzebub, he's called in the New Testament, which means the lord of the flies, Matthew 12:24. A murderer from the beginning, John 8:44. The prince of this world, John 12:31. The leader of the kingdom of evil, Ephesians 2:2. Abaddon or Apollyon, which means destroyer, Revelation 9:11. The devil, you knew that, Matthew 4:1. The evil one, Matthew 6:13, 1 John 2:13-14. Belial which means wicked or the wicked one, 2 Corinthians 6:15. The father of lies, and of course each of these titles gives you a facet of his personality, John 8:44. The god of this age, 2 Corinthians 4:4. The angel of the abyss, Revelation 9:11. And the ancient serpent, or that old dragon, we just read about in Revelation 12.

Never underestimate the devil. He's been working for 6,000 years, tempting, bringing all sorts of tactics against God's people. He's had a lot of experience. So don't underestimate him. But don't overestimate his abilities. As we already said he must have permission. Before he can do anything it has to clear the courts of heaven. That's the way it was with Job. The devil said, after God said, have you seen My servant Job? He's perfect; he's upright. Satan said yeah well You put a hedge about him and you have this protective hedge. As I believe God has around all of his children. He has different levels of hedges and he may remove for a period of time but that's under God's control. And then the Lord said go ahead and you can go ahead and take away his family and his health but don't touch his life. There was a permission that had to be granted. When the demons that were infiltrating the demon-possessed man in the New Testament asked Jesus if they could go into the swine, Jesus had to give them permission. They didn't say here, here, Jesus, this is what we're gonna do. They had to get His permission to do it. And so he moves only by divine permission.

His final destiny is determined. It was predicted in Genesis chapter 3 verses 15 and 16. It was sealed at the cross it says in Colossians chapters 2 and 3. He will ultimately be destroyed when Jesus Christ comes again and he'll be out of our hair. He knows his time is limited. Because he knows his time is limited and he knows his fate is sealed, he pulls out all the stops. There seems to be an acceleration, almost an exponential reduplication of evil as the days go on. You know, every generation says boy it wasn't this bad when I was a kid. And indeed it seems that evil and permissiveness just accelerate. The time is short. Pull out all the stops and go for the jugular. That's really the tactic of the enemy. But when the enemy comes knocking at my door, I always remember what Jesus said to Peter. Peter? Satan has desired to sift you like wheat but I prayed for you. It's not well; Satan's after you, Peter, and I'm just gonna let him at you. He said but I have prayed for you. So when I hear a knock at the door of my heart or of my life and I'm being assailed by the enemy, I just say, Jesus, would You get that? Would You answer the door, please? I'm not gonna open the door and say, now devil, I have a few words to say to you and I bind you. I don't do anything to him. I can't do anything to him. I am absolutely helpless apart from Jesus Christ. And it's best to let Him. So I pray to the Lord and I talk to God about the devil instead of talking to the devil about God. I talk to my Lord about the enemy and I just let the Lord handle the situation. And the Lord knows our breaking point, as he did with Job. Satan had to have divine permission and when He allows you to go through the fire, to go through temptation, to really have it rough, know that the Lord has His eye on you. His eye on the thermostat. He's not gonna walk away from the fiery oven and go, oh you know, I forgot about you, why you're cooking in there, aren't you? He knows what you can take and He will even allow the enemy to get at you for the purpose of refinement and strength.

Now let's look at his tactics. We'll do this really briefly because most of you are aware of them already by experience and that's good because you fulfill the Scripture. We're not ignorant of his devices. 2 Corinthians tells us we are not ignorant of his devices, or his tactics, or his methods that he would use against us. There seems to be two primary attacks. And there are all sorts of little rivulets that come off of those attacks, but two primary attacks that he's used throughout all of history. There seems to be, first of all, a frontal attack of intimidation. If that doesn't work he will try another approach. So when the early church, he tried to persecute the church. He had many of the unbelieving Jews and the Gentiles gang up against the early Christians and threaten them, kick them out of their jobs, kick them out of the synagogues, boot them out of town, and threaten to kill them and in some cases, kill them indeed. If that doesn't work, and the curious thing about persecution is it rarely does work, what persecution serves to do is simply weed out the chaff and separate the chaff from the wheat. Those who are really strong believers grow stronger, preach the gospel more forcefully and boldly, while those who are just sideline Christians, who are in it just in name only, just say, hey, I'm outta here. I didn't expect persecution. And when the chaff leaves, the wheat grows stronger. It is actually better to have the absence of chaff even if there are just a few of the wheat. The wheat grows stronger and indeed that happened throughout church history. In the book of Acts you can read about it. Every single time there was a frontal attack, persecution came, the church just kept growing stronger and more of them went out and preached the gospel more boldly and they started going out to their neighborhoods and their communities and their regions and their districts and finally all over the world. So it didn't work.

Second method, second tactic, has proven to be more effective: infiltration. If you can't beat them, join them. If persecution won't work, than try compromise. Bring in pseudo-believers and counterfeit gospels and false doctrines and just water down the church. That seems to work. The frontal attack proves unsuccessful. The secondary attack proves to be very successful. It seems that the church is either persecuted or polluted. One or the other. In fact, Jesus told the parable about a man who sowed wheat. His enemy came in and sowed what? Tares. Or darnel. It looked just like the wheat but it had no fruit in the end and it was cast out eventually in judgment. Then the Bible also talks about a counterfeit gospel. In Galatians 1 Paul said, if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you any other gospel than what you have already received, let him be cursed below the lowest hell, literally. There's a counterfeit gospel it speaks about. 2 Corinthians 11 speaks about counterfeit ministers. Satan disguises himself, Paul said, as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. And then there is also, of course, a counterfeit Christ called the Antichrist. In the book of Revelation, he arises and even forming a Satanic trinity of the devil, the Antichrist, and the false prophet, all working in concert and harmony together to deceive men during the tribulation. As God says He will send them a strong delusion that they should believe the lie. A counterfeit Christ.

Genesis 3--look at his temptations. There are a lot of places to turn, but this is the prototype for all temptations. This is the mother of all temptations. The enemy uses the same predictable temptations and tactics that he has always used. Why? Because if it's not broken, if it still works, why not use it? And so in Genesis 3 it says, "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. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings."

The approach of the enemy to Eve, and also Adam, was something that John spoke about in his epistle of 1 John. He said all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, are not of the Father but are of the world and the world passes away and the lusts thereof. But whoever does the will of God will abide forever. The lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life. And look at your text now. The lust of the eyes. It says Eve saw the tree was good for food and pleasant to look on. That's lust of the eyes. Then notice also it was good for food. And then she tasted it. That's the lust of the flesh. We also see the pride of life. A tree desirable to make one wise. God knows that in the day that you eat of it, your eyes will be opened. It'll make you wise. And the pride of life was an approach. Now in the same way the enemy tempts us today. He comes, first of all, with the lust of the eyes, and there are many people today who live in the arena of fantasy. They live in a fantasy world. They let their eyes wander and they look at certain people or certain objects and they fantasize and their thought life becomes corrupt. They project that into their life and eventually they follow that corrupt thought life. It's the lust of the eyes. Then there's the lust of the flesh. Whatever simply the body appetite dictates. Whatever you want at that moment, be it food, sex, or whatever. Simply give into those things. The desires of the flesh. And then also the pride of life which could be a lot of things: the pursuit of knowledge, the pursuit of religion or morality apart from a real relationship with Jesus Christ. If I'm religious enough, I'm moral enough, I read self-help books all the time, and I'm bettering myself. Any of that stuff, apart from repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, anything that keeps you from Him, is the pride of life. Same kind of tactics.

Notice in verse 1, in Satan's approach to Eve, he questions the Word of God. He questions it. It says has God indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden. He didn't deny that God had spoken. He questioned if that's what God really said causing her now to step back and wonder and question the Word of God, wonder about the promises and the dictates of the Scripture. Same thing that Satan did to Jesus in the wilderness, right? Questioning the Word of God, corrupting the Word of God, and basically, whenever you are being tempted, and the enemy plants a thought in your mind, a questioning of the Word of God. It's in reality questioning the love of God for you. Now if God really loved me, do you think God would want to keep me from that fruit? You think a God of love would want to keep something good away from you? That's really the thought in the wilderness when Jesus was being tempted. You're His beloved Son. If you're His beloved Son, why would He let you go hungry? Then notice also in verse 4 he denied the Word of God. He said you shall not surely die. Once you question the Word of God, it's a very short step to eventually just deny it altogether. Then in verse 5, he substituted the Word of God with a lie. For God knows that in the day that you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Now Satan tried the same kind of distortion to Jesus Christ when He was out in the desert. Remember he said, go ahead--jump! For it is written He will give His angels charge over You, lest You dash Your foot against a stone. He will bear You up and keep You. But he didn't finish the rest of the Scripture. It says He will keep You in all of His ways. To jump and make some miraculous display of His divinity was not in the method or the way of God and so it was out of context. He misapplied and distorted the truth and substituted it with a lie.

Now Satan tempts you. He comes to you and tries to get you to question the Word of God, question the love of God, deny the Word of God, or even substitute it with a lie. How many times has the devil come and tempted you and then you give in to the temptation and he's not satisfied with that, he comes back and whispers to your heart: look what you've done! Now he's the one tempted that's tempted you to do it and you yielded to it. Instead of saying, good boy, alright! He goes, look what you've done! God will never forgive you! Tries to then condemn you. It's at that point you need to stand up with the Word of God. As Jesus did in the wilderness: it is written and apply the Scripture to that. When you have those feelings, oh God will never forgive me, say wait a minute. If I confess my sin, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It is written. Or there are times the enemy will say go ahead and sin, nobody will ever know, God won't care. Go for it! Who cares? God doesn't care. He knows that you're flesh. Do it! You need to stand up at that time with the Word of God. As it says in Galatians, be not deceived, God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows that will he also reap. So the tactics and the temptations have never really changed. The same approach comes today though he uses different lures from the twentieth century instead of back in the Garden of Eden. The approach is the same because mankind is the same.

Perhaps Satan has even pulled the wool over some people's eyes and he does that a lot. He pulls over their eyes through religion. There are many people who get very religious. They'll put the manger up, they'll put the lights up, and they'll even come to church. You'll see a lot of heathens come to church. And we thank God for it. I don't see it as anything bad; I see it as something very positive. Hey, if they're gonna be awakened at this time of the year to the birth of Jesus Christ and celebrate Christmas, even if it's for selfish or sentimental reasons, God's gonna use that. God loves them enough to use that even if it's an impure motivation or a selfish motivation to bring them to Him. and that's what we're praying for. But religion can so often be a tactic of the enemy to pull over their eyes. To keep them from a real, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The enemy will come and say, you're good enough, you're nice enough, you're moral enough, don't be a fanatic, don't go overboard, keep it to yourself. If you believe that, you are listening to the father of lies. And the purpose of those lies is to bring you death. Jesus said the enemy comes to kill, to steal, and to destroy. Jesus said I've come that you might have life and have it to the max. That's a paraphrase translation of have it more abundantly. You want your life turned up to the max. Abundant life. There is a real hell, there is a real devil, but God created hell, not for you, but for the devil and his angels. He created heaven for you. But that destiny is the decision of mankind. It is your decision. Will God send people to hell? No, I think people send themselves there. I think they reject Jesus Christ and seal their own fate. One person said hell is God's great compliment to the reality of human freedom and the dignity of human choice. God will honor the choice of men and women. In fact, when it comes to eternity, you would say God is pro-choice. He says choose life and not death. He doesn't want anybody to perish. He doesn't want hell for anyone. He doesn't want anybody to hang out with the devil. But it's a choice of mankind. Thank God that through the act of Jesus Christ, becoming a Man, dying on Calvary, and now all we have to do is believe in Him, we can pass that whole business. And have a sealed ticket all the way to heaven. The problem is taken care of and so now the decision rests in the lap of everyone who hears the gospel.