Sermon Central
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It's Not What It Looks Like
Contributed by Charles Jones on Oct 21, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: Satan deals in FEAR, which someone has said was an acronym for: False Evidence Appearing Real!
IT’S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!
Satan is the master illusionist!
Before David Copperfield, before David Blaine, before Criss Angel, there was Lucifer!
Illusionists major in the art of optical illusion.
They divert your attention away from what’s really happening, getting you distracted, so they can implement their “smoke and mirrors” tricks and when you look back at what you thought was real, it appears to be something different altogether!
And, that’s what Satan specializes in, making something that’s not real appear real!
Making you think something is there that is not really there!
Taking a real situation and thru falsehood and deception, making it appear to be something it’s really not.
Satan first appears in the book of Genesis as a serpent, by the time we read Peter’s writings, he appears AS a roaring lion, and by the end of the Bible he has become a dragon!
How did this happen?
9 ……………….. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself.
Now, magnify doesn’t mean to make anything bigger, it literally means to:
2. To cause to appear greater or seem more important than is in fact the case; exaggerate.
I want to take a few minutes to lay the foundation here and make us understand that Satan has no real power over a child of God, he only has the ability to intimidate us with false illusion!
The main weapon in the enemy’s arsenal is deception.
Satan deals in FEAR, which someone has said was an acronym for:
False Evidence Appearing Real!
In fact, that’s his only weapon, since he has no real power over a child of God.
15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
DOMINION – to exercise lordship over, to have control over.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
If we serve God, we have the dominion and power over sin, whether we use it or not!
19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Satan has no power over us, other than what we grant him!
He has no authority over us, other than what we surrender to him!
He has no way to hurt us, or destroy us, but his goal is to make us destroy ourselves!
And, his goal is to take something that’s not real, and convince you that it is real, and cause you to act on a false assumption!
If satan can cause you to believe a lie, you will destroy yourself, you will give up on your hopes, your dreams, your vision, your promise from God, and you will walk away grieving, never realizing that you are acting on a lie.
I.) AND THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED TO JACOB IN OUR PASSAGE TODAY.
Joseph’s brothers had thrown him in a pit, sold him into slavery, and essentially rid themselves of the problem of having a younger brother that was so much more highly favored than them.
But, one problem remains; what are they going to tell their father?
Notice their tactics, they dip their brother’s distinctive coat into the blood of an animal, and brought it back to their dad, and notice what they said:
Here is a coat we found, we don’t know if it’s your son’s or not, only you know!
And, notice Jacob’s response:
And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.
Notice the power of the optical illusion!
The enemies of Jacob, which in this case were his sons, came and presented FALSE EVIDENCE APPEARING REAL and Jacob made his own assumptions!
False assumptions, but to him they were very real.
The evidence was incorrect, but it was real enough to Jacob to make him respond with defeat, and he rent his clothes and mourned.
But, if someone could have gotten to Jacob they would have told him,
JACOB, IT’S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!
Your promise is not dead, it’s in the process of being fulfilled so it can save your life later!
Your dream is not over, it’s just beginning!
What God has promised you is not dead, it’s alive and it’s in the process of bringing about a victory that you can’t even imagine!
Don’t let your enemy make you jump to conclusions, stand on the promise God has given you, it’s not over!
