AT WAR (8): WHAT SATAN WANTS YOU TO THINK OF GOD (Ephesians 6:10-13) Eph 6:10-20 divides as follows: Wartime

Perspective (10-13): Wartime Provisions (14-17): and Wartime Power (18-20). Wartime Perspective (1013) further divides into I. The Opposition (Satan and his demons at his disposal who oppose all Godly activity); II. The Objective (stand against these forces; keep your feet as you battle); III. The Orders (be empowered by God and be armed in His armor); and IV. The Obstacles. The obstacles -verse 11: Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. The schemes of the devil tricks to keep us from God. The devil has thousands. We cant cover them all. We do not know them all. Best defense is keep focus on Christ. Hebrews 12:2, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, The better we know Him, the quicker we will spot the counterfeit methods. But most of people ignore spiritual reality. Caught in Satans grip, they float toward the waterfall of eternity with never a thought beyond this life. Like a guy arrested on murder charges. The police sergeant allows him a phone call. Shortly, a man enters the station and asks for him by name. The sergeant says, Oh, you must be his lawyer. The guy replies, Nope Im just here to deliver his pizza. He used his one and only precious phone call to order pizza similar to the blindness and stupidity of lives that ignore Christ, the one and only advocate who can make us right with God. Living for here and now. Duped out of eternal life. Jesus characterized the devil in John 8:44: When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Satan has millions of lies. This morning I want to look at one last representative group these dealing with lies the devil plants in our society and in our minds about God. M. There is No God This is a scheme that takes many forms. Atheism is its most blatant expression. There is no God. Agnosticism -- we cannot know whether there is a God or not. Interestingly, the Bible makes no attempt to address these positions. It simply assumes God. Like the very first verse, In the beginning, God created. It does not say, In the beginning, God whose existence is proven by the moral, cosmological, teleological, and ontological arguments that God created. It doesnt do that. It takes His existence for
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granted. We do the same thing. When was the last time you set out four or five arguments to prove your existence to anyone friend or foe? You say, Well, you obviously never lost your drivers license! Try that and youll have to prove you exist. And in these days of identity theft and fraud, fingerprint or other biometric evidence is sometimes required to prove our existence. But God has done that too. He tells us in Psalm 19:1, The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Gods fingerprints are everywhere in the world around us. Try this. If I were holding a grapefruit size earth in my hand, the sun would be a 3 story building a mile away over in Governors Ranch. The closest star would be a little further away than the moon 4 light years (24 Tril miles) away. Our galaxy is 100,000 light years across which means that even on our scale model it would be 7 billion miles across. Were lost already, right? Now consider that there are billions of such galaxies in our universe, each composed of zillions of atomic particles too small to be seen by even the most powerful microscope, but each of which is its own little universe of whirling electrons. The mind boggles. Beloved, it did not all just happen, which is why the Lord says in Romans 1:19-20, For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20) For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world (how are Gods attributes perceived?), in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Creation provides incredible visible evidence for God. So does our moral nature. Why does every normal person have an innate sense of right and wrong? Science has no satisfactory answer. And yet, anthropologists have now demonstrated that virtually every culture has remarkably similar codes of morality. Why is that? Rom 2:15: They (nonJews who had no written law), they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them. We would like to deny this sense of Oughtness. It holds us accountable for behavior we cannot live up to. Were like the guy who visited his psychiatrist and said, Ive been doing wrong, Doc, and my conscience is bothering me. The psychiatrist asks, So you want something that will strengthen your will? The guy replies, No, no! I want something that will weaken my conscience? We dont like the guilt that comes with our misbehavior, but guilt is God speaking, Beloved. There is no more credible explanation. And while we can skew it and sear it and repress it, we cannot escape it. The trail of evidence in creation and
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human morality is incredibly powerful. Gods fingerprints are everywhere in creation which is why rather than prove his existence God simply says in Psalm 53:1, The fool says in his heart, There is no God. The fool has bought the lie. The truth is there is a God to whom we ans. N. I Am God Now, here is a fascinating twist. If the devil cannot get us to deny Gods existence and live an atheistic or practically atheistic existence, he is equally content to get us to believe that he is God. This is an extremely effective tactic. Of course, he does not come with tail, horns, pitchfork and breathing fire. He is no fool. He realizes that if you are going to claim to be God you had better look like God. So, when he comes with this lie, he doesnt come looking devilish; he looks like the most dynamic Christian you ever saw. Listen to Paul II Cor 12:13, For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. Many of us, particularly if we are not solidly grounded in the Word of God, are very susceptible to this. The devil doesnt care if you think you are worshipping God as long as you really are not. Thats why he loves religion! It looks like God, but isnt. Notice how his disguise is coupled with false teachers and false apostles and deceitful workmen in other words people who give the appearance of being just as genuine in their faith as you are. They come in many flavors. Some preach a gospel of love and consideration, but they make no demands, never mention sin, demand no accountability, emphasize ritual without relationship and lead people comfortably straight to hell. Theirs is a feelgood religion that accepts everyone, condemns no one and makes a mockery of the atonement of Christ. Jesus hates religion. Religion creates Christ in its own image as a do-good prophet rather than the blood-stained lamb of God and redeemer of man. Jesus warned against religionists constantly in statements like Matt 7:15, Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheeps clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. He said that concerning the scribes and Pharisees the religious leaders of their day. Somehow we think our generation is immune, but we are no different. As he got closer to the cross, Jesus became even more direct. He said in Matt 23:15, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees (we might say, bishops and cardinals and pastors), hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and
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when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. One way to tell such a group today? Youd never hear that passage read in their churches. They have long ago given up on the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture. They feel perfectly free to set themselves up as judge of what belongs and what doesnt. Thus, they use only that part of the Bible that agrees with their man-made do-good and be-sincere religion. Many of the old-line major denominations have gone that way as a group. They are a shell of what they once were because they have followed the angel of light rather than the lamb of God. In the words of Paul in II Tim 3:5, they are having the appearance of godliness (ritual abounds), but denying its power (there is no life and Paul ends with this warning). Avoid such people. Religion is Satan disguised as an angel of light. But there is another flavor of angels of light. These are full of life! They talk about God, quote the Bible extensively and have powerful messages. They are extraordinarily compelling, personally attractive, sometimes attended by miraculous signs. They talk to demons, slay people in the Spirit, and claim all manner of spiritual power. But beware, Beloved. Listen to what God says in II Thess 2:9, The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. People think if there are miracles (or appearance thereof) it must be of God. What other explanation could there be? How about someone disguised as an angel of light? Now God does do miracles, so, how do you know the difference? John tells us in I John 4:1, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. Test the spirits. Do they accord with the Word of God? Thats what the Bereans did after Paul hit town and he commended them for it. We read in Acts 17:11, 11 Now these Jews (Bereans) were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Paul was Gods anointed and accredited apostle, but the Bereans were checking him out making sure what he said and did accorded with Scripture. By so doing, they spared themselves from the possibility of Satan whispering in their ear See the miracle. I am God. Lets give Jesus the final word on this subject, shall we? He issues a dire warning in Matt 7:21ff: Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not
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prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? 23 And then will I declare to them, I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Jesus does not deny that they did great works even did them in his name. He never takes issue with that. He simply notes that they did not do the will of His Father. They were fakes; hypocrites; out for their own gain, and they never knew Him. Only God can see the hearts, but when humility is absent, when its miracles on demand and emphasized over suffering and everything costs, Beware. Its false. In Phil 3:10, Paul wanted to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering. False teaching lacks humility, loves money and abhors suffering. Its the devil saying I am God. O. God is Not Good This lie is sneaky. If you were to ask, Is God good? wed all say Sure. God is good. Sure, we sing about it. God is so good; Hes so good to me! But what is our first response when something bad happens. God, why did you let my car break down on this day of all days when I have the big presentation? God, where were you when I lost my job? How could you have let my husband get involved with that tramp at the office? Ive prayed and prayed, but my husband wont go to church or take spiritual leadership. Why Lord? Why wont you provide enough money for us to make ends meet? Where were you when our little boy died? Those are legitimate questions, arent they? And if you read the psalms, you will find that the Lord gives us ample room to ask them, to feel them, to question. But sooner or later, we have to come to grips with this fact. Every one of those questions represents doubt about the goodness of God. We affirm His goodness right up until our own life goes off the track then its different. We are like the French King Louis XIV who hearing that his army had been crushed by the Duke of Marlborough, exclaimed, How could God do this to me after all I have done for him? Sound like us? Ive been good, how could God fail me? But, it is Satan whispering, God is not good, and we are taking the bait. This tactic is as old as Eden. Satans first question to Eve in Gen 3:1 was Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden? Thats a stage whisper: Is God really good? Eve takes the bait; she decides God has been a little selfish, not wanting them to be like Him. Hes holding out. Virtually any adversity in our lives, from a flat tire to the death of a loved one, tempts us down that same path. Doubt sucks us dry. Is God really good? Then why this? Is God there for me? Then why this? And if He is not there for me, He
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must not be good? John Piper comments, All experiences of suffering in the path of Christian obedience have this in common: They all threaten our faith in the goodness of God and tempt us to leave the path of obedience. But it is the moment of crisis that proves us or not, right? It takes no faith to have faith in good times, right? When crops prosper and the family is well we trust God implicitly. All is well. But that is no test of faith. The question is, who are we in the dark? Is God good for us when we see no light at all? It is in the dark that we find out who we really are and what we really believe. Are we believers or are we not? Gods take is in Heb 11:6, And without faith it is impossible to please him (so understand first of all that God is not in our doubt. Doubt is never of God; it is of the enemy), without faith it is impossible to please him for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Beloved, dont despair if you dont get this right the 1st time or the 2nd time or the 10,000th time, but sometime we must see God only rewards those who seek Him; its just that His rewards dont always meet our expectations of reward. Flat tires dont look like rewards from a good God. Inadequate finances dont look like rewards. Suffering does not look like a reward. Death does not look like a reward. Those are dark. But faith sees Gods goodness in the dark. There is a wonderful truth in Psalm 73:1 Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. The word truly there might more fittingly be translated only. The passage could be paraphrased, God is only good to Israel, that is, to those who are pure in heart. Only good. Never anything else. Never capricious. Never sort of. Never kind of. Never partially. God is only good, and any thought to contrary is a lie of Satan intended to devastate our Christian life. We may have to look a long ways and wait a long time to see Gods good intent, but He is only good. He is incapable of being anything else. Dawson Trotman was founder of the Navigators a truly remarkable man of God. Billy Graham once said of Trotman, "I think Daws has personally touched more lives than anybody I have ever known." But on June 18, 1956, while rescuing a girl from drowning during water-skiing in Schroon Lake, New York, he lost his own life. He was 50 years of age. Eyewitnesses tell of the profound anxiety, the tears, the helpless disbelief in the faces of those who now looked out across the deep blue water. Everyone's face except one -- Lila Trotman, Dawson's widow. As she approached, a friend shouted, "Oh, Lila, if
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he's gone. Dawson's gone!" Lila responded "But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases" (Psa 115:3) She refused to buy the lie for even a moment. Personally crushed, her faith in Gods goodness was immovable. She saw Gods goodness in the dark. Whatever it may look like, Beloved, God is only good, never anything else. P. God is Too Good to Judge You The counter lie in the other ear. God is love. God is too good to judge you. God would never send anyone to hell and certainly not a good person like you. Nearly everyone considers themselves good. We look at the people around us, see their flaws with a lot more clarity than our own and conclude that we are at least as good as the next guy, so we must be okay. I am a good person. But, of course, we are judging by the wrong standard. Two golfers are finishing their round. One says, You know, I consider it a good round anytime I finish under 90. How about you? His partner replies, For me, its a good round when I finish before dark. Different standards, right? A professional might consider it a good round to shoot par. Tiger Woods would consider 10 under good. All of those would be good depending on the standard. But did you ever consider what the real standard for golf is? Par? Oh, no! What would be a perfect round of golf? It would be 18 a hole in one on every hole. That is the real standard. Every other standard is a standard of someones own making and all of them, fall way short of perfection. You say, but no one could ever shoot a perfect round. No one has the physical capacity to do that. Exactly! Thats exactly the point. Similarly, we are good only by our own contrived standard. We define par and then we go out and shoot it! Surprise, surprise! Like Willie Nelson who told of building his own golf course. Since I built it, I got to define par, he said. I have one 140 yard par 23 and I almost birdied that sucker yesterday! We define par, and we make it. Only problem is, that is not Gods standard. His standard is the perfection of His own holiness. Gods standard is like an 18 in golf absolutely unachievable. You and I know we cant meet that standard. Its why we make up our own. But God has already pronounced judgment on that approach. He says in Rom 3:10, None is righteous, no, not one. He says in Romans 3:23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. You may not fall short of your own standard of goodness. But you fall far short of Gods glory; youre not perfect. His is the only opinion that
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counts and His rule is not goodness, but perfection. If you believe otherwise, you have bought the devils lie. You say, but I cant be perfect any more than a golfer can be perfect. Exactly right. Which is why you and I and everyone who ever lived needs the perfection of Christ. God says through Peter in I Peter 3:18, For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. God says through Paul in II Cor 5:21, For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Still the greatest trade in history my sin for His righteousness. If you think you can come to God by your goodness, you are saying the death of Christ was not necessary. You are saying that Jesus lied when He said, I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me. You are claiming that you have the right to make the rules, not God. You are, in essence, offering your score of 90 or 85 or 72 -- your standard of goodness, in place of His perfect standard of 18. But in the most amazing paradox of history, God is not asking for your goodness, He is asking for your sin. Jesus said in Luke 13:3, No, I tell you; but unless you repent (give Him your sins), you will all likewise perish. It is not your goodness that will save you, it is your repentance. Otherwise, you will likewise perish. Thats what Jesus said. Satan says God is too good to judge you. Jesus says you will perish if you do not repent. The nonsense that God is too good to judge comes straight from the mind of Gods worst enemy and he is your worst enemy too. And you have to choose. Gods Word or Satans lie. Are you calling for pizza this morning, or are you calling the only advocate you need? G. K. Chesterton was a formidable theologian living in London in the early 20th century. He said many profound things, but I think the most profound of all was also his most simple. The editors of the Times of London asked several eminent writers, Chesterton among them, to contribute articles under the theme Whats wrong with the world. Chesterton replied, Dear Sirs, Whats wrong with the world? I am. Sincerely yours, G. K. Chesterton. I am. Rather than pleading my goodness to God, I must plead my guilt. What is wrong with the world? I am. What is wrong with my world? I am. What is the solution? Jesus is. John writes of Jesus, He came unto His own, but His own received Him not. Are you in that group? But John goes on, But as many as received Him to them He gave the power to become the children of God, even to those who believed on His name. Dont delay. Buy the truth, Jesus not the lie.
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