Introduction –
This week it
is very likely that you watched way more TV or YouTube than you read the Bible,
theology, or listened to sermons. I am not seeking to guilt trip you. If you
didn’t watch much TV and YouTube, but spent more time watching sermons, or
reading your Bible, that is awesome. But most of us enjoy watching TV at
different times. I don’t watch network TV much, but there is usually one or two
shows that I am streaming to unwind, and I like my footy, as you all know, and
movies. I tend to just buy the older movies I like on DVD or Blu-ray now, especially
older action and adventure and Sci Fi movies. So, I am not seeking to guilt you
at all.
I simply
want to make an observation that there is a good chance that you are being more
influenced by the world, than by the Word. I think this is true for most of us,
a lot of the time. It is really unavoidable to one degree or another. We live
in this world, and we cannot fully disconnect from it. Sure, some have tried
with varying degrees of success, like monks in medieval monasteries. But if we
are going to engage in this world we are going to be bombarded with its subverted,
perverted, and twisted messages in one way or another. Even some of the
messages we get from good sources are tainted by the world, to some degree. Even
many Churches today are not safe from the world’s messages.
This is
simply because the god of this age is the ultimate propogandist. He has been
since the beginning. He is not just a liar, he is a good liar, an experienced
liar. He knows how to manipulate you, me, and everybody…if we let him. Even if
we are aware of his schemes, he will still find ways to drive wedges between us
and others. Think about how Paul and Barnabas split apart in their ministry,
for example. The Devil specializes in dissension and even this powerful team
was pulled apart. He truly is a twister, a subverter, and a perverter of the
truth.
If we are going to be aware of his schemes we have to delve into this in some depth, and look at some examples of how he perverts truth in our world. So, let’s jump back into our series on what Hebrews means by the “one who has the power of death” and look at how the Devil is the Subverter, Twister, and Perverter of the Truth.
1. Power Over Death?? (Hebrews 2:14) The First way in which we can see the Devil being the perverter of truth, is the way he claims to be the one who has power over death. We’ve read Hebrews 2:14 a few times, as it is the guiding passage for our theology of evil, but let’s read it again, “14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil…” It is true that in some sense the Devil has power over death, but I think he over plays this, and makes himself seem like he is more powerful than he is.
1.1 1 Peter 5:8 tells us this: “8
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a
roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” This is serious, we are not
to be flippant about the kind of damage the Devil can do. But he has his
limits, look what 1 Peter 5:9-11 goes on to say - “9 Resist him, firm in
your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by
your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little
while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ,
will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the
dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
1.1.1
No matter what the Devil does to us in this life, we have eternal glory
in Jesus. It’s not a coincidence that in the midst of all of the judgement
going on in the book Revelation that twice, as things are ramping up and evil
has its most powerful influence in the world, that we read this:
1.1.2
Revelation 7:9-10 – “9 After this I looked, and behold, a great
multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and
peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed
in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a
loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the
Lamb!”...13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these,
clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir,
you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great
tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of
the Lamb.” We read the same thing in Revelation. God is showing us that
even at his most powerful moment on the earth, in the tribulation itself, the Devil
cannot take your soul if you cling to Christ.
1.2 I actually do believe it is possible
for you to sell your soul to the evil one. I think this is an important part of
how power works in our world. Remember, the Devil offered Jesus everything, if
Jesus would just worship him, i.e. give the Devil his soul. But Jesus turned
him down. It stands to reason that this offer has been made to others and they
have taken it up.
1.2.1 But if people think this is a
contract they cannot get out of, they have fallen for a lie. Paul tells us in
Colossians 2:13-15 – “13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and
the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having
forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood
against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by
triumphing over them in him.”
1.2.2
Jesus proved the Devil’s power was limited by tricking him into killing
him, allowing the Devil to think he had won, and then rose again humiliating
him. If you are trusting in Jesus’s death and resurrection, the Devil’s power
has no hold over you.
1.2.3
I will not say that no matter how much you are given over to the Devil,
you can still be saved, because Jesus said there is an unforgiveable sin. But I
will say, that you can be so given over to the Devil, that you are a persecutor
of Christians, like Paul, and you can still come back, if you come to
repentance.
1.3 At the height of judgement in Revelation
18, God still invites people out of the beast’s system, Babylon, “4 Then
I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you
take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues…”
1.3.1 I’ve heard people say that God cannot
forgive them, because they have done too much wrong. The Devil has fooled too
many people into thinking that he genuinely owns them, because he has power
over death, but God has power over life, and look at this, Revelation 1:12-13,
17-18 – “12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and
on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands
one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around
his chest…17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his
right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the
living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of
Death and Hades.” The Devil might be able to kill, but Jesus has the
power and the legal authority to unlock you from the Devil’s grasp, for
eternity. Praise God!!
1.4 So, we can add to our theology of
evil, that the evil one has convinced some people he is more powerful than he
really is. This is directly related to what I really want to spend some time
talking about now…
2. Perverter, subverter of God’s truth – The Devil’s number one strategy is
getting people to doubt God’s word, or question it, even while often pretending
to be faithful to it. Again, we need to return to Genesis 3, and see how the
Devil cast the world into destruction by casting a shadow over God’s word – Genesis
3:1-5 - “3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the
field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say,
‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the
serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said,
‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden,
neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the
woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your
eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
2.1 Now we have already noted that the Devil
is a crafty general, and crafty generals attack the most vulnerable point in
the defences, because it gives them the best chance of victory. This is why he
attacked through the woman. But crafty generals also apply the craftiest
strategies, to those vulnerable points. Look at what he did:
2.1.1
“Did God actually say, ‘You shall no eat of any tree in the
garden?’” What
is he doing here? This is a two-pronged attack: he is casting doubt on the word
of God, and he is sowing the seed to the woman that God is holding her back.
You could paraphrase it like this: “So are you really saying that God isn’t
giving you complete freedom in YOUR garden?”
2.1.2
What does this do? It frames God as the bad guy, because he has placed
boundaries, or limits on what the woman and man can do or be. Does this sound
familiar to you at all? Is this not the underpinning attack of our culture on
God and his word today? That God’s word restricts our freedoms, our liberties,
our right to individual expression?
2.2 He then proceeds to outright
challenge God’s word, Genesis 3:4-5 – “4 But the serpent said to the
woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your
eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
The Devil is a good liar, because he knew that on the day that they ate of the
fruit they would die spiritually, with physical death coming some time later.
He was also right that they would gain access to divine knowledge, look how God
responds, Genesis 3:22 - “22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has
become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand
and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” This was
knowledge that humans were not supposed to have. And now that they were
corrupted, they needed to be protected from immortality, because an immortal
corrupt being would be just like the Devil.
2.3 But our key purpose this morning is
to observe his schemes: in this passage he causes doubt about God’s word by
framing God as the bad guy, limiting the woman’s freedom, and by directly
challenging the consequences God said would come from breaking his word.
2.3.1
So we can add to our theology of how the Devil works, that he cleverly
twists God’s Word.
2.3.2
As I said last week, the Devil has no new tricks, he just plays the same
one’s over and over again. I want to highlight some areas where he has been
incredibly successful in sowing doubt about God’s word. But first, we need to
recognize what the result of the Devil undermining God’s word is.
3. Bringer of death - In disobedience to God’s word there
is death, in following his word is life, Psalm 119: 25 – “My soul clings
to the dust; give me life according to your word!” The number one way
in which the devil has power over death, is by undermining our faith in the
word of God.
3.1 This caused Adam and Eve to die. This
caused humanity to fall into sin and die. This is the number one agent of death
in our world today. I mean think about all the issues in our world today, which
bring death, because people reject the word of God.
3.1.1
There is war –
Where does way come from? “From whence come wars and fightings among you?
come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?”
(James 4:1, KJV).
3.1.2
There is murder – “2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot
obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not” (James
4:2, KJV). War comes from people lusting for what they do not have, and wanting
to take it by force or seeking to control what you should not. Murder often
comes from the same thing.
3.1.3
There is sexual sin, and sexual pain – Our world is full of this - 1 Thessalonains 4:3-6 –
“3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from
sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in
holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not
know God; 6 that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter,
because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand
and solemnly warned you.”
3.1.4
All of these things come about by ignoring God’s word and reap much death
in the world.
3.2 The Devil doesn’t really need to kill
directly, if he can just get people to believe lies that reap a harvest of
death on the world. This is why we can say that the Devil has power over death,
but not that the Devil made you do it. Because he convinces people to be
willing participants.
3.2.1
Of course this is a bit different for those who are possessed, but we will
get to that in a later message.
3.3 Let’s look at some of the famous ways
the Devil has subverted, twisted, and perverted the truth
4. 19th Century, The Century
of the Rise of Lucifer – I know it’s not obvious to everyone yet, but I am a bit of a fan of
history. One of the reasons why I love history, is because 1) God’s word is
mostly history. History is a powerful tool for helping us know who we are, and
shape who we are. 2) So many fascinating things happen in history. 3) By
reading history you can put together patterns. Patterns of God working, the Devil
destroying, and what does and doesn’t benefit us humans. History is the
combined catalogue of humanity learning what happens if you put your hand in
the fire, without having to put it in the fie. And it is obvious to me, and to
many others who read history that there is an evil hand at work, guiding those
who attack God’s people. Think about this, in the middle of the 19th
century multiple forces converged on Western society, all relying on each
other, to undermine the Western world: Darwinism, Marxist Socialism, Materialism
or Naturalism, Feminism, Psychology and more. And all of these were offering to
replace the Christian worldview.
4.1 Darwinism - is the dominant creation theology of
our day. It was partly inspired by a man who was angry at God for the loss of
his daughter, and who thought the world was much older than it is. Evolution by
natural selection was an attempt to explain away the need for a creator and
give a naturalist, materialist, answer to how life came to where it is today.
4.1.1
Effectively Darwinism’s roles was simple: did God really say the earth
was created in six days, a few thousand years ago, and all of us descend from
one man and one woman created in God’s image?
4.1.2
And it was successful. Getting people to doubt that God was the creator smashed
a plank out of the faith of many, and a plank out of the Christian nature of
the West.
4.1.3
The irony is Darwin was arguing against something the Bible never said.
He was arguing against a creation science view that said God created every
different species and subspecies of creature. But the Bible just said that God
created kinds. The Church’s misinterpretation of what God has said, allowed the
Devil’s servant to undermine successfully. Sound familiar?
4.2 Marxism – What Darwinism did to the idea of
creation, Marxism did to the idea of society. The Reformation leaders argued
over what place the Church had with the state. Karl Marx went a step further,
he said get rid of the Church altogether.
4.2.1
Why? Because he saw religion, really Christianity, as a false hope for
the people, “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a
heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the
opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the
people is required for their real happiness.”
4.2.2
What would replace it? The state. The state would be people’s saviour. We
Aussies, and Americans, look at Marxism as crazy. But Marx has gotten the last
laugh. People now demand the state raise their kids, heal their illnesses, pay
for the welfare, protect them from every threat, instead of threats too big for
them to do on their own, pay for their retirement, look after their aged, tell
them when it’s safe to go outside. Marx’s vision is being enacted in our time,
and because it has been slow and steady most people cannot see the water is
starting to boil.
4.2.3
Marx’s vision was that the state would replace the Church in education,
in other words raise our kids. And it has. He wanted the state to become
provider, instead of the man. And that is happening. He wanted women released
from the “oppression” of being able to stay home to raise their kids, so they
could free to be at their bosses command.
4.2.3.1 Are we not living in that world?
4.3 Feminism – I will finish off with this one. I
know some of you might think I talk about this one too much. But that is like
criticizing Elijah and Elisha for talking about the Baals and Asherah’s too
much. They spent most of their ministry calling out the false gods of their
era, and this is still a preacher’s role today, and I call out many more than just
this false goddess. With Darwinism the Devil replaced God as creator, with a Satanic,
chaotic, random force: atoms colliding with atoms. With Marxism the Devil has
replaced God as saviour of society and put the state in his place. With
feminism the Devil has undermined the most powerful force that stood against
him: discipleship in the home by butt-kicking, bible armed mothers.
4.3.1
He completely subverted the truth of God’s word to unleash the chaotic
force of ancient pagan priestesses on society again.
4.3.2
Many Christians see early 19th century feminism as the good
kind, the kind that was just about getting more rights for women. But it
wasn’t. Early feminism had one goal: replace the husband in the home with the
government. And the result has been the destruction of the family ever since.
4.3.2.1 This is the 19th century
feminist authoritative view on God’s word: “Amid this vast discrepancy in regard to the
truth of the Scriptures themselves; with no Hebrew manuscript older than the
twelfth century; with no Greek one older than the fourth; with the
acknowledgment by scholars of 7,000 errors in the Old Testament, and 150,000 in
the New; with assurance that these interpolations and changes have been made by
men in the interest of creeds, we may well believe that the portions of the
Bible quoted against woman's equality are but interpolations of an unscrupulous
priesthood, for the purpose of holding her in subjection to man.[i]”
4.3.3
They recognized that the Bible teaches that wives should obey their
husbands. But rather than change their actions to match God’s word, what did these
feminists say instead: “Did God really say?” Sound familiar? This style of
argument is not surprising when you see who these “evangelical” feminists were
inspired by:
4.3.3.1 “Freedom for the peasants was found
alone at night. Known as the Birds of the Night, Foxes and Birds of Prey, it
was only at these night assemblages they enjoyed the least happiness or
security. Here, with wives and daughters, they met together to talk, of their
gross outrages. Out of these foul wrongs grew the sacrifice of the "Black
Mass," with woman as officiating priestess, in which the rites of the
Church were travestied in solemn mockery, and defiance cast at that heaven
which seemed to permit the priest and lord alike to trample upon all the sacred
rights of womanhood in the names of religion and law. During this mocking
service a true sacrifice of wheat was offered to the Spirit of the Earth who
made wheat to grow, and loosened birds bore aloft to the God of Freedom the
sighs and prayers of the serfs asking that their descendants might be free. We
can not do otherwise than regard this sacrifice as the most acceptable offering
made in that day of
moral degradation, a sacrifice and prayer more holy than all the ceremonials of
the Church.”[ii]
4.3.4
All of these philosophies were inspired by the same desire to “liberate”
society from the word of God and God’s Church. Those who danced with Lucifer,
the light bringer, the liberator, the supposed “god of freedom” learnt to
employ his tactics well, and they were successful.
4.4 We can’t even begin to understand the
Devil’s schemes if we do not understand his subversive, perverse, and twisted
tendencies. This is what he does, to everything.
4.4.1
He didn’t get rid of the idea of creator. He just replaced it with a view
of chaotic randomness being creator: who does that sound like?
4.4.2
He didn’t get rid of the idea of society’s needs for a saviour, a healer.
He just replaced it with the view that the state, which is supposed to be God’s
servant for good, is now the saviour itself.
4.4.3
He didn’t get rid of the idea of the dignity of women. He just perverted
it by convincing women they had to become like men, to have their true dignity.
In the process he ripped apart the Western home.
4.4.4
Once we understand just how much the Devil has perverted, twisted and
subverted our culture, we can then look to how God’s word teaches us to address
it, beginning in our own lives.
4.5 Much more could be said and I have
already said a lot. But I have called the 19th century the rise of
Lucifer. How else do we explain such a targeted and successful series of
attacks on western society that still reverberate to this day, effecting all of
us in many aspects of our lives?
5. Conclusion – We have not finished with our
theology of evil. But how can we apply what we learnt today. Here’s a start:
read Genesis 1-2 and ask does it fit with what society says about creation?
Read Daniel or Revelation 13 or 18 and ask: does it fit with what society says
about the state being our saviour? Read Titus 1 and 2 and ask yourself does
this fit with how society says we should structure the home?
5.1 Recognizing the Devil’s schemes is
important, so we can understand where we have fallen for them. You can’t stand
against the Devil’s schemes unless you are armed with the sword of the spirit,
God’s word. And you need to be better armed with that than you are the
knowledge of the characters in your favourite TV show.
5.2 You can’t oppose him successfully, if
you have been convinced by his lies, and live them out, without realizing it.
And once you do realize what is happening…it is incumbent on you, and me, and
all who know to change our lives in accordance with God’s word, not change
God’s word in accordance with the world’s death dealing standards. Let’s pray.
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