916. The Tactics of the Devil

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. The school was founded in 1927 by the evangelist Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. His intent was to make a school where Christ would be the center of everything so he established daily chapel services.

Today, that tradition continues with fervent biblical preaching from the University Chapel platform. Today on The Daily Platform, we're continuing a study series entitled Our Ancient Foe, which is a study of Satan, the reality of his presence, and how Christians can be victorious against him. Today's message will be preached by seminary professor Dr. Jason Ormiston, and the title of his message is Tactics of the Devil.

Go ahead and take your Bible and turn over to Genesis chapter 3. We're going to look at the tactics of Satan, understanding our ancient foe, and as we understand who Satan is and what this means to us, we're challenged by the fact that he is, according to Scripture, considered the prince of the power of the air, according to John 12.31. He's an accuser of the brethren, Revelation 12.10.

He's a tempter. We're going to see that in Matthew 4, 1 Thessalonians 3-5, and he's a great deceiver, and we're going to see how he deceives. His very name, Satan, means adversary. Another of his titles, the devil, means slanderer. So what does Satan use to get at us as believers? I thought of three general categories just to introduce this concept. Satan is one who possesses, he's one that oppresses, and then he is obsessed.

He obsesses over something, but that's not my outline. It's just an introduction, and I wanted to relay with you my own experience with demon possession, demon oppression, and his massive obsession over trying to wreck God's plan. When I was around 15 years of age, I went on a series of bus calls, which meant you're knocking on doors in the middle of the inner city, trying to reach people for Christ and encourage them to come to your church. And I was there with my good buddy, who is now an evangelist, his name's Dwight Smith, and we were knocking on doors, talking to people. We came to a split level home.

I went to the bottom floor. He went up to the top, up the steps, and as I knock on the door, I was introduced to a gentleman in complete Gothic attire. He had a nice sized black goatee that was pointed, and he quickly introduced himself by high, and he gave me his name. He said, come on in. I thought, this is going to be a great opportunity to talk to someone. I mean, he's already inviting me in.

I don't even have to convince him that I want to talk with you. And he invited me in, and as I started to look around, there were black candles everywhere, and did I see correctly? Yeah, back over there against the wall, there was a dead cat upside down.

What? I don't know if I want to come on in. And he said, come on back here to this room back here. Are you a Bible man? I said, yeah, yeah, I'm a Bible man.

I'm not feeling this one. And I start to back out, and as I go out, he started to look at me, and he started going, Satan be with thee, Satan be with thee. I was like, man, weird. And I actually said, Dwight, let's go. We got to go.

We got to go. And we walked out, and he kept following us. And I didn't really know what was going on.

He had a very weird look in his eyes, and obviously something weird was going on in the house. It wasn't until later on in pastoral ministry at Family Baptist Church, we were having an all-night prayer vigil, which meant you pray all night because you're really moved. You want to see God move in a particular way.

So you actually get serious about this thing called being a Christian, and actually praying, and actually calling God to change things, because he's the only one that can really change you and me. And we were around 3 in the morning praying, singing, praying. The lights of the church building they were on, and in the back door walks a lady, and she had an assortment of different things going on with her hair, and piercings, and all sorts of stuff. And she had a weird look in her eyes, and a very low voice. She says, stop doing that!

Stop praying! And she starts disrupting. It would be like someone coming in the back doors here of FMA, and start yelling at all of us. Now don't worry, we're covered. I'm confident that the security team would take care of that.

But in this case, no security team on board. We're just all going, whoa, she's pretty upset. And so I did my pastoral duty, and went back there 3 in the morning, and I went and tried to talk to her. And she kept going things like, you've got to stop praying! You've got to stop praying!

You've got to stop doing this! Satan is not happy with you! And it was in a very low, cryptic voice. And there was a feeling that came over me like, there's not, there's something not right here. She had a crazy look in her eyes. Did I mention that already? That's demonic, what I would say, possession.

How about demonic oppression? I was in Haiti in 2012, and I had this little nugget of truth shared with me. I was set to preach on Sunday morning, it was Saturday night. We were there with the mission team.

We were in Jacmel, and one of the grads from Bob Jones is the pastor of the church there, Pastor D. He invited me to preach in the morning. Their first service started at 6 in the morning. 6 in the morning.

Because it's so hot there, no air conditioning. And people showed up at 6 in the morning, they had several services. And he said, and by the way, Jason, just a little word of encouragement to you.

Since the earthquake in 2010, every single service that I preached in someone has come to Christ. See you in the morning. I'm like, oh great.

I'm gonna break the chain, you know what I mean? And I'm on the bunk bed, and it's like really hot, and I have deet all over my body, which is the really great bug repellent type stuff. There's mosquitoes everywhere, salamanders on the wall.

The electricity went off, and so no longer a fan. And I hear noises in the field behind me, and people screaming. And I felt this deep darkness set over me. I mean, thick darkness, kind of like, you can't do this. You're wasting your time.

You've got nothing to say. And I got really scared. I mean, this is recently.

This is 2012. But you know, I give you three occasions. Does Satan always bring a part across my path, a demon-possessed person? And again, I'm speculating. I'm thinking they're demon-possessed.

You can argue with me on that, but you'll be wrong. And the oppression that's thick and heavy, and it's like, you know something's not right. But you know how he usually operates? He usually operates by taking you, and taking me, and distracting us, or tempting us. Because his great obsession is to stop God's plan.

And it starts all the way from the beginning, stopping the line of Christ, taking as many people to hell as possible. That's what he wants to do. And if he can't get you to hell with him, then what he wants to do is to get you distracted, so that you're useless in bringing glory to God, and reaching people for Jesus.

That's what he's going after. So now look at Genesis 3 with me. I want to look with, I want us to look together at his method of trying to get us distracted.

Though I want you to know, he's alive, he is active, he's wandering, he's like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. You've got to take him seriously. You've got to arm yourself with the full armor of God.

And as you do this, you're still going to face all sorts of challenges. And I think the fall, Genesis 3 verses 1 through 6, will teach us. Let's read this together. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. I want you to understand his tactics. The first thing he does is he creates doubt. And I want you to know that this is found in 1st John chapter 2, 15 and 16. If we stop loving God, we start loving the world, we are fair game for him to go through the whole process of deception, but he starts with doubt. And I want you to notice that in found in these first couple of verses, verses 1 through 3. Now I'm not going to break down things that I've already with many of you broken down in class about the serpent and what he's doing and how he was this beautiful being and Eve is talking to an animal and how weird is that and did all the animals talk.

We're not talking about that right now. We're just looking at what Satan said through the serpent and how it relates to you and to me. Notice he makes this question that produces doubt. Yea hath God said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden.

You know where he goes first? He goes after God's word. I want you to know that he's coming after you, he's coming after me, his tactic is to get you to doubt the truthfulness, the authority of God's word. That's why it's so important that we know the word and that we're able to say with great joy there are no contradictions, they're just apparent contradictions.

No inconsistencies, just apparent inconsistencies. We can trust God's word yet Satan wants to go after his word and whether or not you believe it is the way God says it. He says ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. Did God really say that? In fact he doubts her understanding because he's going after this idea of first can we really trust God's word, second of all are you even interpreting it correctly? I mean why do we have so many denominations anyway? I hear that all the time. If there's only one Bible there should be only one interpretation and I want you to understand that in the end when we see him face to face there is only one interpretation and we're going to all be held accountable for that and we all don't get it right in every place.

I know that for sure. Now if I get it wrong I want to get it right but I can stand here telling you that there are a lot of denominations out there, a lot of opinions but we need to come back and understand that God never got it wrong. We can trust his word but if we're going to trust it we need to read it, we need to know it and if you're sitting there saying I don't know if I have enough knowledge, well I have good news for you.

As you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ he gives you the Holy Spirit living within you to help you understand the word. He is the best teacher you'll ever have so stop saying I just don't have that education, I don't know if I can believe in it. Here's the next one.

So he creates doubt and by the way before I move on to the next one he does it with you right now in the middle of the semester causing you to doubt what am I doing here? Why am I still here? This was a bad choice. I shouldn't be here.

I should be back home. I shouldn't be in this particular situation. There's a better way. He gets you to doubt all that stuff. Don't buy into it. He's going after you.

That's his tactic. Notice the next one, denial. This is found in this next series of verses, verses four through five. He says, and the serpent said unto the woman, you shall not surely die. Now notice we have a response by Eve in verses two through three and I am going to come back to that and again I'm not going to repeat what we've talked about with many of you in Old Testament messages. Why does Eve seem to add a little bit to what we found in chapter two verses 16 and 17 about don't touch it lest you die.

I think there's a transmission of information from Adam to Eve or God to Adam and Eve in the cool of the day and according to Genesis 3.8 but she does respond to him and she responds to him with an answer but in this next one he pushes a little further and he pushes towards denial. You're not going to die. You're not going to die. So to me he says you, it's personal, which I want you to get this, he constantly comes after you wanting you to think that you will be the exception to the rule. See it may be true of everyone else but not of you.

See you are not going to be the one that falls prey to this. It's not final. Death is final.

It's separation. It is the great end of all things and of course the beginning of all things as well in heaven or in hell but he gets you to doubt that this stuff about eternity, don't buy into it, it's someone who's making up a story to manipulate you. Have you ever heard that one before? You're not going to die. In fact look at the next verse. He says that for God knows in the day you eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as gods knowing good and evil and actually he gets you to doubt this whole thing and deny this thing about is it beneficial and when I mean beneficial is God actually keeping the best for himself and keeping the best from you? So it's actually the doubt is it's not beneficial to me. It's not good to me.

What you're doing with all of these restrictions is you're keeping me from really enjoying life. How to illustrate this? Okay so I'm in Thailand a couple years back visiting my sister and my brother-in-law church planters with Baptist midmissions and we got into the public school system and we're teaching English enjoying that whole process of connecting with teenagers and one of the girls that sat across the table from me was having a hard time but she was working through her English. She did a much better job than I would do if I tried to speak Thai okay and she's trying to work through it and then all of a sudden she pulls out this piece of paper that actually has a number on it and she says American Idol? American Idol? I'm like yeah I know about American Idol. She says let it go? I said okay and she begins in perfect English to being to be Elsa. Let it go, let it go, won't hold back anymore. I mean she's going to town on this and it's for the voice of Thailand. You know what that song is all about by the way?

It's not just an annoying. It's you know what it's about? It's about the idea that if you finally get honest you're gonna be free. If you get out from underneath all of this authority structure, this group that tells you if you just follow us you're gonna turn out. Like forget you I want to follow my own heart Disney way right? It's actually Satan's way. He tells you forget about them, do your own thing, follow your heart, you're gonna be free.

Now you freeze a lot of people's what you do anyway so denial. The next one is deception and this is coming out of the last couple verses. In verse six and when the last verse here and when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes in a tree desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat. Okay so you know what's going on here?

It's not no mystery here. Adam's standing right next to Eve and Adam says nothing thus Adam is held liable for the first sin but Satan's tactic is to go after Eve and to deceive her and how does he deceive her? He takes things that are actually good they're God-given her appetite. You know you have an appetite I have an appetite it's a good thing it's a gift from God I'm glad to have it because it tells me when to eat. It's okay to have certain drives but what's not right you know what this is right? It's acting on those drives outside of the context that God designed. Appetite he goes after look at this this which I hear Dr. Mazek thinks it's a banana I think it's a pomegranate no actually I have no idea what it is if it's an apple or whatever but there's a fruit of the tree and he looks at it or he says take a look at this is really good and so we have this idea of that looks good then he goes after this idea of beauty it's pleasant to the eyes beauty is not bad praise God for beauty I have married a beautiful wife praise God for Heather what's wrong is when we obsess over beauty and when we treat people like objects of our pleasure instead of image bearers of God that's when we have a problem there's no wrong no problem with having an appetite there's no wrong issue here with beauty beauty is fine it's okay to acknowledge there is beauty whether it's an art in a person what's wrong is if you keep dwelling on person as an object do you get what I'm saying and then this last one is this idea of influence you are going to have this ability to be wise desired to make one wise nothing wrong with influence in fact God desires us to have an influence to reach people for the sake of the kingdom what's wrong is when we do it because it's all about us and here we have an example of these three types of sin lust of the flesh lust of the eyes the pride of life and that's in 1st John 2 16 it's the same thing he uses on you all the time that he uses on me all the time so what do we do about it I want to challenge you and this is my application I want you to hone in on this please listen to me what you do when you are confronted with things like doubt denial and deception remind Satan of what God said and where do we see that in verses 2 & 3 of chapter 3 of Genesis this is the only time Eve says what God said to Satan and she's not falling into sin the next couple times she no longer says what God said in the beautiful picture of this is found in Matthew chapter 4 Matthew 4 verses 1 through 11 and just to illustrate this just quickly turn over there with me to Matthew 4 take your Bible open it up or turn over there to Matthew 4 just so that you can gaze down on this passage I'm not going to read through all of it for sake of time but I want to introduce you to the reality that there is one who has been tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin and his name is Jesus praise his name and Jesus Christ experienced the same temptations the lust of the flesh the pride of life and the lust of the eyes and yes I did put it in that particular different order than 1st John 2 16 which tells me something when Satan tempts Jesus he doesn't always tempt you in the same three in order sometimes he mixes them up a little bit he knows your weakness he's observing you he's watching you he's coming after us trying to get us the trip up so he first comes after Jesus in Matthew 4 in verse 4 he says turn the stone to bread this is after Jesus hadn't eaten for 40 days and Jesus responded in verse 4 of Matthew 4 it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God he quotes Deuteronomy 8 verse 3 in in Matthew 4 5 through 7 Satan takes him up to the pinnacle of the temple and shows him all of the the real estate right in front of him he says jump and see if your angels take care of you at the pride of life and Jesus responds by quoting again from Deuteronomy this time 6 16 and by the way Satan he takes the Bible and he twists it and he quotes from Psalm 91 11 through 12 and then the lust of the eyes in Matthew 4 8 through 10 and he takes him up to a very exceedingly high mountain says all of these kingdoms that I have authority to give to you I give to you if you just skip that thing called the cross and Jesus says you shall worship the Lord your God but look with me at verse 10 yeah I hope you turn to Matthew 4 if you haven't please turn there look at this I want you to see this he's quoting again from Deuteronomy what does God say in verse 10 he says then said Jesus he says it is written but before he says it is written what does he say get thee hence Satan so I want to challenge you to remind God what he said from Scripture he says get out of my face get away from me what does that sound like James 4 7 & 8 submit yourself therefore to God resist the devil and he will flee from you and I'm asking you to take this seriously as you're confronted with temptation life besetting sin that you cannot seem to get over stop saying man I just need to memorize more verses how about if you take it as a real battle and you say to Satan get behind me and then you remind yourself of these truths who God is I'm just gonna give you a couple to encourage your heart God is a very good God Psalm 136 1 Oh give thanks unto the Lord for he is good his mercy endures forever he's a true God Titus 1 2 in hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began he is a holy God be holy for I am holy 1st Peter chapter 1 verses 15 through 16 and this is the ultimate to me encouragement he is love 1st John 4 8 he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love whenever you feel tempted by Satan say get behind me Satan resist the devil draw near to God reminding yourself of the goodness of God in the words of God so get to know the words since you can communicate back and with authority say I claim these truths let's take it back to the beginning church visitation teenager guy really gothic attire goatee scary my gut reaction as he came after me because he came out of the house and sort of walking at me the only thing I could think of was for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but should have everlasting life I mean seriously that's what came out of me and as I kept saying that he was like stop that ah and he walked into his room in door and shut the door when that lady came in there and I went and talked to her and I tried to find out what's going on do you have some needs how can we help you she had that definite I I to me and one that thinks she was possessed by a demon I began to encourage her with the Romans Road do you know that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God the wages of sin is death but God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us if we confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness I came to grips with this reality I'm not called to exercise demons like get out of that person I'm called to encourage them to get the Holy Spirit in them I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ it's the power of God into salvation and you know what I did is I gave him the gospel I gave her the gospel and I asked her to come to Jesus because the Holy Spirit and demons do not reside in the same body praise God but there is that oppression thing and I know it I felt that I know it's real and what did I do when that happened I reminded the demonic host of 2nd Timothy 1 7 God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of sound mind I reminded them of Isaiah 41 10 fear thou not for I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God I will strengthen the yeah will help the yeah I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness and I'm encouraging you today as you struggle with all of these things the doubt the denial the deception remind Satan and his demonic hosts of what God said and remind him of who God is let's pray God thank you for your word guide us as we walk in it amen you've been listening to a sermon preached by dr. Jason Ormiston which is part of the study series entitled our ancient foe I'm Steve Pettit president of Bob Jones University thank you for listening to The Daily Platform the Bob Jones University School for continuing online and professional education offers convenient and affordable online programs whether you're seeking to expand your skills pursue a passion or develop a ministry on your own time qualified and engaged instructors will help you reach your goals for more information visit scope dot bju.edu or call 888-253-9833 join us again tomorrow as we continue this series here on The Daily Platform