DEEP SEA FISHING
James Series 6: How the Devil Uses Deception
INTRO: Something that fascinates me, is the recreational activity of deep sea fishing. The process if pretty basic, but has a bit of danger in it. Essentially, the boat captain throws out some kind of bait onto a massive line, then ties you into a chair and says go at it. The reason you are tied into the chair is so that when the fish pulls, it doesn’t pull you in. Yeah, no kidding. And if you do happen to hook something which I am told for about $1000 is very likely, an hour and a half fight later you actually pull it in and have enough fish steaks to last to the next Presidential election.
BIBLE VERSE: James 1:14-18
14,15
16Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
TRANSITION: The word here for “enticed” it technically a Greek fishing term, meaning to lure. And the Devil is absolutely here to LURE us into sin. And believe it or not, his temptations are fairly predictable, you can pretty much expect similar attacks over and over and over again.
SO WHAT IS THE PROCESS OF HIS ATTACKS? Remember, we may be fishers of men, but so is the Devil. And sure seems to know how to fish.
1. HE KNOWS THE BEST PLACE:
BIBLE VERSE: James 1:14-18
14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. 16Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
LIST SOME PLACES THE DEVIL MAY TRY TO LURE YOU:
Allow for some playful discussion here, if something goes pretty serious, or if there is a debate, than hash it out. Remember, if a youth is asking you to justify a place to be; it’s probably because they know they’re not supposed to be there.
HERE IS A SURPRISE LURE: COULD A LURE BE A CHURCH? HERE’S A HYPOTHETICAL
For the sake of time, abbreviate this article…
“How do Satan and his ministers look on the surface to most people in the world? Are they actually monstrous in appearance, red all over with hideous grins and with pitchforks in their hands? Absolutely not! Just the opposite is the case. They look righteous. They look holy. They look like angels of light. And throughout the nations of the world at this time (and Satan controls them all), Satan has established a whole battery of different religious organizations, churches, mosques, synagogues, shrines, temples, grottos, certain holy mountains, etc., etc. where the authorities who administer them appear to be ministers of righteousness. This was Paul’s experience and teaching. And let me tell you a fact, Satan has not changed his tactics one iota in our day. And God, for a good purpose, has allowed Satan to have his full sway.
Look at the churches that call themselves "Christian" today. There are presently well over a billion people on earth who denominate themselves as "Christians." That is a great many people. But what did Christ Jesus say about "the many" who would acknowledge Christ as their Lord and Master? He said: "For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ [saying that Christ was truly the real Christ]; and shall deceive many" Matthew 24:5). Since Satan’s job is to deceive the world (Revelation 12:9), it looks like he has done his job well because Christ Jesus himself said that "the many" would indeed be deceived. So, one can know for a fact, that the many denominations who make up "the many who claim Christ as their Lord and Savior are "deceived" because Christ said they would be. But a deceived person does not know he or she is deceived. Most people who are deceived are deceived because they consider Satan and his ministers to be like angels of light, like the ministers of righteousness (II Corinthians 11:13-15). Satan has got people to think they are not deceived when Christ said that they are (Matthew 24:5).
What Satan does is to get people to believe that Satan’s ministers are righteous (and that his ministers are certainly Christian) when in fact they are not, no matter how good they look on the surface. Satan wants people to think that he himself is an angel of light, when he is not. And while Satan may use and teach righteous principles 99% of the time in any particular circumstance to show people his so-called "goodness," it only takes 1% of strychnine in that beautiful looking apple pie to kill a person. It is the "strychnine" that Satan mixes in with his religions that is the problem. And to get people to eat his apple pie, Satan has to make all his apple pies look good.
The fact is, in order to control people on earth, Satan wants his ministers with their teachings to appear as ministers of righteousness (not of corruption), so that he can deceive the world into keeping his ways of religion. This is why Satan gives the outward appearance of being a "law and order" man. He wants his religious denominations to look good and righteous. He wants them to be decent, law-abiding individuals and practicing good deeds. He wants them walking circumspectly in society and with honor and dignity attached to their persons. He expects them to tow the line morally and ethically in order to deceive the people into believing that they are teaching the righteous doctrines of God when in actual fact they are not. He even expects his ministers to be upstanding citizens in the land who support the governments and societies which Satan controls.”
2. HE HAS THE BEST LURES:
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 4:6
6"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:
" 'He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'
HE PERVERTS THE SCRIPTURE: This is one of the best lines of all time. Make the Bible say something that it actually doesn’t say. Or make the reader not want to understand the true meaning, only what the reader wants it to say.
NOTICE THE SCRIPTURE: He will command his angels concerning you…it says that right? Is that accurate? Yes it is! It’s right out of Psalms 91. Satan knows and uses scriptures to trip us up.
THE POINT: If Satan knows the Word, and the Word is are only weapon, how well should we know it! We must know it extremely well.
DEVIL IS COMPARED TO A LION, BUT ALSO A WOLF:
We have heard how Satan is compared time and time again to the Devil, but maybe because of where we live, and the fact that lions don’t just roam around us, it is hard for us to picture.
BIBLE VERSE: John 10:12
But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
HIRELING:
1. a person who works only for pay, esp. in a menial or boring job, with little or no concern for the value of the work.
2. serving for pay only.
3. venal; mercenary.
This means that we should see Satan more like a paid mercenary than something that ever will be reasonable, WOW!
WE DON’T HAVE TIME TO FALL FOR THIS STUFF:
40 MILLION MINUTES
Mark 12:30 states, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” After serving the Lord faithfully in ministry since 1993, and for over 8 years at my current church, the great body of Christ at First Baptist Church of Lake St. Louis, this statement still has me puzzled. Not that I don’t understand it, but that I see Christians blatantly not following it.
I mean, if we are to truly really love the Lord in this way, then why would curse words flow so readily from our mouths, why would be witness to others as little we do, why do we think so hard about missing worship when we are tired, why, why, why?
The young man who discipled in college once told me that you can tell where the priorities of a person lies in the time he spends doing it. So I took the liberty to do some research using data comprised by a Christian company called Virtual Reality, here is what their study shows:
The average person lives 77 years. That is 28,000 days, 670,000 hours, or 40,000,000 minutes.
The average person spends 40 minutes on the phone each day. That is 20 hours per month, 10 days per year, 2 years in a lifetime.
The average person spends 1 hour in the bathroom every day. That is 30 hours a month, 15 days a year, 3 years in a lifetime.
The average person spends 26 minutes each day getting dressed. That is 13 hours per month, 7 days per year, in other words, 1 year in our lifetime just getting dressed.
The average person watches 3 hours of TV each day. That massive total equals 90 hours each month, 45 days per year, 9 entire years in a lifetime.
The average Christian spends less than 10 minutes a day with the God of the Universe, our truest friend, the savior of the world, ironically, the Creator of Time. That is less than 6 hours per month, less than 3 days per year, less than 7 months in a lifetime.
Do we really love the Lord our God with our heart, soul, mind and strength?
You do the math.
3. HE SETS A GREAT HOOK:
BIBLE VERSE: 2 Timothy 2:26
26and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
THE DEVIL’S BAIT IS ALWAYS A SNARE (DEFINITION):
1. a device, often consisting of a noose, for capturing small game.
2. anything serving to entrap or entangle unawares; trap.
IT’S IMPORTANT THAT WE UNDERSTAND THIS: BECAUSE ETERNITY IS THE CONSEQUENCE
FIRE IN THE HOLE
Centralia was a small mining town in the eastern part of Pennsylvania with about 1000 residents making their income off of the coal dug just underneath the crust. The town had existed the same way for over a century when pre-Civil War settlers moved out to dig up the anthracite from the earth.
But in 1962, a small fire created from trash burning near the dump swept slowly into the tunnel causing a problem that the city couldn’t figure out how to deal with since they couldn’t come up with the couple thousands dollars needed to extinguish the flames.
Today, the fire rages. At the heart of this underground inferno are blazes that register hotter than Mercury, an atmosphere that is as poisonous as Saturn, and lethal clouds of carbon monoxide and gaseous chambers that would frighten even the strongest and most distant star. Spurred on by mild flows of oxygen that cannot be prevented unless every hole in the county was adequately covered, it would appear that the fire in Centralia will continue to burn. The cost of containing the fire has been put in the billions of dollars, and that would be the cost of just containing it—not stopping it.
The town’s population of 1,100 back during the Kennedy administration has since dwindled down to 21 at the last census, and now has only 5—all of which are there illegally as they refuse to leave their property. Not long ago a twelve year old boy fell into a sinkhole that opened up 4 by 150 feet wide, obviously, just walking through town can be considered dangerous. The 2 parochial schools, 7 churches, 5 hotels, 2 theaters, bank, office, 14 general stores, 27 saloons are all closed. Even their own zip code has been declared extinct. The good news is that scientists point out that over time the fire will burn out, we have to just wait around 250 years or so.
When I first read about this story, I found it fascinating that some place in the world there is actually a place that is constantly under fire. Then I discovered that Centralia is not alone in the world as Burning Mountain in Australia has been on fire for over 6000 years (the fire actually moves southward about one meter per year, scientists do not have a time they expect that fire to end). Can you imagine, living over a giant piece of land that is actually on top of fire?
Well, we are. We actually do live on top of fire. My kids refer to it as H, E, Double Hockey Sticks, the Bible calls it Hell. The Bible talks a lot about Hell. If the Bible mentions the place of everlasting suffering once, it mentions it 100 times. Acts 2 calls it a place for disembodied spirits, Luke 16 states it’s a place of torment. Matthew 25 states hell is on fire, and also describes it as a place for punishment. Matthew 3 says it is unquenchable, which makes it many. many times more dangerous to the fire that breeds under Centralia because at least that 1000 degree inferno in Pennsylvania will go out some day.
Friends, where are you going to go? And why? Friends, the most important question for all eternity, is where are we going to spend eternity. For those who may not know, or may not be 100% certain, please make contact with your pastor or a local Bible believing church immediately. If you have any questions for me, I’d love to help (tompapez@hotmail.com). To God be the glory.
Sources:
Dictionary.com, keyword: snare.
Martin, Ernest L. The Deceptions of Satan the Devil, A.S.K. Associates for Scriptural Knowledge, February 1, 1995, askelm.com.
Steward, James Jr, Putting on the Big Chill, Sermon Topic: Addiction, November 2002.
DEEP SEA FISHING
James Series 6: How the Devil Uses Deception
BIBLE VERSE: James 1:16-18
16Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting _____________________. 18He chose to give us birth through the word of _______________, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
1. HE KNOWS THE BEST ______________________________:
BIBLE VERSE: James 1:14-18
LIST SOME PLACES THE DEVIL MAY TRY TO LURE US:
_____________________________________________ _______________________________________
_____________________________________________ _______________________________________
_____________________________________________ _______________________________________
A SURPRISE PLACE: ____________________________________
2. HE HAS THE ___________________ __________________:
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 4:6
HE PERVERTS THE ____________________________
DEVIL IS COMPARED TO A LION, BUT ALSO A ________________________ John 10:12
HIRELING:
WE DON’T HAVE MUCH ________________________
HOW MUCH DO WE HAVE? _________________________
3. HE SETS A GREAT ________________________:
BIBLE VERSE: 2 Timothy 2:26
SNARE: _________________________________________________________________________
FIRE IN THE HOLE: ____________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________