Sermon Central
-
How Sin Gets Us To Bite The Hook Series
Contributed by Jim Butcher on Sep 1, 2020 (message contributor)
Summary: Paul tells us that Satan can appear as an angel of light. That is a clear picture of the way that Satan and temptation works. What can we learn from it?
[Have a fishing pole with a hooked worm.]
SATAN APPEARS AS AN ANGEL OF LIGHT: Sin takes what is good and twists it just enough.
- Genesis 3:1.
- What does it mean that Satan appears as an angel of light? It means that Satan in tempting us often comes to us in the form of something good or godly.
- How does he fool us then? Clearly he isn’t going to offer us the actual good thing. No, instead he just slightly twists that which is good and offers it. In that case, it still has remnants of the good that attracts us, but it leads us in a bad direction. Satan is using that which is good to point us in a bad direction.
- This twisting of God’s words is as old as the Garden of Eden. Satan doesn’t attempt a frontal assault on what God has told Adam and Eve: “Let’s rebel against God! Reject your Creator!” No, instead He simply tries to twist God’s words just enough: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” (Genesis 3:1).
- Eugene Peterson: “Every temptation that comes to me is packaged as a good.”
EXAMPLES:
1. Sex is good, but twist that truth to say that you don’t have to be in a marriage to enjoy it.
- Despite the excessive amount of time that conservative Christians spend saying, “Don’t!” when it comes to sexual matters, the point where we should start is that God is the One who created sex. Sex is a good gift from God, but He gave it to be enjoyed within the confines of marriage. That’s not because He’s a killjoy, but because sex is a valuable and meaningful connection that is not to be treated lightly.
- Satan takes that gift from God and just twists the message a little bit. Sex is great, but it’s ridiculous that you should save sex for marriage. It’s fun, so enjoying it in the most causal of relationships is perfectly acceptable.
- Another way that this plays out is with pornography. The good, physical attraction that men and women have for each other is used to draw people into watching things where the visual stimulus is used to twist the good desire from God into watching morally wrong videos.
- So in this situation Satan doesn’t try to make something that’s evil and despicable sound good; instead he takes something that is good and twists it enough that it looks good without being good.
2. Belief in God is good, but twist that truth to say that you don’t have to follow Jesus to make that happen.
- This is so common today: people who believe in God, but make no effort to actually follow Jesus.
- In many cases, the situation was caused by faulty preaching.
- The end result is people who think they are ok with God when in fact many of them are lost.
- So in this situation Satan doesn’t try to make something that’s evil and despicable sound good; instead he takes something that is good and twists it enough that it looks good without being good.
3. The value of a human life is good, but twist that truth to say that I deserve to get what I want all the time.
- We believe that each human life is made in the image of God. But sometimes we let that metastasize into a belief that I should get everything I want. After all, I’m valuable, so I should get what I want.
- So in this situation Satan doesn’t try to make something that’s evil and despicable sound good; instead he takes something that is good and twists it enough that it looks good without being good.
4. The world was created to be good, but twist that truth to say that things will give our lives meaning.
- The physical world that we live in was one that was declared “good” by God after its creation. That does not mean that it hasn’t been impacted by the Fall, but it does mean that its original condition was good. Because of that, we enjoy the things of this world.
- Sometimes, though, we try to find meaning in our lives from the things we buy. A new iPhone will make me happy! Getting boat will give me fulfillment! A new outfit will cheer my heart!
- Things can be enjoyed but they cannot give our lives meaning. That demands something far higher.
- So in this situation Satan doesn’t try to make something that’s evil and despicable sound good; instead he takes something that is good and twists it enough that it looks good without being good.
