VCL_28_Keeping_The_Victory_Part_2
Chapter 3 – Keeping The Victory Part 2 of 4
B. DECEPTION: THE DEVIL’S WEAPON
If the devil and his demons have been stripped of their authority by Christ’s victory on the cross, why are there so many defeated Christians? The answer is in one word: deception. The devil tricks or deceives us into believing that a lie is the truth, that something is real when it isn’t; that wrong is right, and right is wrong.
If we believe his lies, he has gained a foothold in our lives. He will then take as much room as we will give to him. He has no legal right to do this, but he will if we allow him to.
Jesus said that the purpose of a thief is to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10). Satan is a thief. He seeks to steal and destroy that which is not legally his.
We have the power and authority to stop him every time. However, he will try to make us think that we do not. He will seek to look and act as if he is in command.
He wants us to think and feel like we are weak, helpless victims under his power and control. If he can deceive us, the devil knows we will fall back in fear and not resist him in faith.
If the devil can’t deceive us in large ways, he will try to deceive us in smaller things. Sometime ago a pastor was dealing with a demon-possessed man. As he sought to cast the devil out in the Name of Jesus, the devil boldly rebuked him. “You can’t cast me out, because you haven’t fasted!”
What would you do if a demon accused you of not fasting? would you feel you weren’t ready for such a situation?
This, of course, was an attempt of the devil to get this pastor to put his faith in his fasting rather than the Lord.
At first the pastor was dismayed because he realized that he hadn’t fasted beforehand. He was almost tricked into backing down and leaving the man as he was.
Then he realized what the devil was doing. Therefore, he firmly replied, “You lying devil, I haven’t fasted, but Jesus has. Now you come out in Jesus’ Name!” and the devil did – at once!
1. Accusation And Condemnation
The Scriptures tell us that we are to be aware of the deceptive tricks and tactics of the devil (2 Cor 2:11). What, therefore, are the methods by which the enemy seeks to weaken our faith through fear? Two important ways are through accusation and condemnation.
Satan first accuses – charges or blames – a christian for some fault, failure or weakness in his life. The charge may be true or false. In either case, if we accept it, we will feel guilty and unfit. We have been brought under the fear of judgment or condemnation.
a. Conviction Versus Condemnation. We need to be able to discern or know the difference between:
- the “conviction” of the Holy Spirit and
- the “condemnation” of the devil.
The Holy Spirit will “convict” us of sin by clearly pointing it out to us. Once we see our guilt, we repent (turn from our sin). True repentance causes us to be sorry that we have sinned against the law and love of our heavenly Father.
The Spirit will then move us to confess our sin and receive God’s forgiveness. In this we are restored to the joy of our salvation.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness – wrong thoughts, words and actions” (1 Jn 1:9 smf).
“Against you and you only have I sinned and done evil in your sight… wash me and I will be whiter than snow… Hide your face from my sins, erase them from your sight… Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a strong, right spirit within me… Restore to me the joy of your salvation and give me a willing spirit that wants to do your will” (Ps 51:4,7,9,10,12 smf).
Satan, however, will “accuse and condemn” us for both our sins and our weaknesses. Sometimes we are not even guilty of the things for which we are charged.
In either case, however, his purpose is to bring us into feelings of both doom and despair. He wants us to think that God has cut us off and that we have little hope for the future. If he can’t take us this far, he will seek to keep us under an uneasy cloud of divine disapproval. His desire is to so weaken our faith, that we will feel we aren’t strong enough spiritually to face him in warfare.
This is what the Apostle John teaches us: “If our hearts condemn us not, then we have faith towards God” (1 Jn 3:21). If our heart is heavy with condemnation, our faith will be weak or we will be without any faith. Without faith, we will not fight! That is what the devil wants – a Christian who will not fight or resist.
b. False Accusations. The name “devil” means one who accuses or falsely blames another. More Christians are defeated by accusation and condemnation than anything else.
Satan’s method of attack is well known to most of us, although we may not be aware who is behind it. In fact, we will be the victim of a double deception if we cannot recognize either the liar or his lies!
For example, we all at one time or another have spoken to someone more harshly or sharply than we should have. Even though we may have quickly confessed our fault to the Lord, the devil will still seek to drag us under a cloud of condemnation. He will remind and accuse us again and again of our un-Christ like conduct.
We repent over the same sin repeatedly, but can’t seem to get free from our feeling of guilt. It spoils our prayer life and hinders our worship. It robs us of our peace and joy and weakens our faith.
We are afraid to engage in spiritual warfare for ourselves or on behalf of others. Satan will be very quick to tell us that we are at his mercy because we have failed in our Christian walk. Sound familiar?
2. Evil And Lying Thoughts
Another way the devil attacks us is to shoot evil thoughts as “fiery darts” into our minds. They may even come at some special time, as during prayer, worship or even holy communion.
If the enemy can tempt us into developing the thought into evil words or actions, he will. If, however, we are quick to resist that temptation, he will try another tactic – that of condemnation. He will accuse us of having an evil mind and an unholy heart. He will tell us that other Christians never have such thoughts.
He may even go so far as to say we are in danger of losing out with God altogether. He will take his work of condemnation as far down the line of our life as he possibly can.
If we accept these lies of the devil, we will be left helpless, hopeless and faithless. the devil’s fiery darts have produced the faith-consuming flames of doubts and fear.
Then when we come up against a spiritual problem, we don’t have the faith to come to God or resist the devil. So, we give in, give way and give up. No wonder Peter says:
“Be awake, and on guard, because your adversary, the devil, prowls around as a roaring lion looking for someone to eat and destroy” (1 Pet 5:8 smf).
Next week
C. OUR DEFENSE AGAINST THE DEVIL
- Three Basic Principles
- The Principles In Detail
- A Threefold Defense
- The Sword Of The Spirit