How The Evil One Works (Part 6) - The Devil Loves To Corrupt Kings

 

Sermon video here

Introduction –

Last week we took a deep dive into what the Bible says about sorcery. If you missed that sermon, make sure that you catch up with it, because sorcery is a powerful tool of the Devil, his demons and his servants. Remember that I shared with you at the end of last week’s sermon how a powerful witch was saved out of a Satanic cult, because a Christian woman started to pray for him. But why would someone be tempted to get involved in that nonsense in the first place? Because it offers power. Human beings love power. But witchcraft or sorcery is not the only access to power.

There is a more basic kind of power, that many are tempted towards; the power to rule others. The Devil seeks to manipulate people with this power. In fact, this was one of the things which inspired me to present this series on how the evil one works.   

The more I read the Bible the more I realize that God is not just telling us how Israel failed to fulfil his word, but also how the world works. This is where I think a lot of pastors go wrong when they too sharply distinguish the Old and New Covenants. There are differences to be sure, absolutely, but humanity has not changed, and God’s standards have not changed, and the results of giving our selves over to evil have not changed. The Bible points forwards to what could happen, as much as it points backwards to what did happen. With obedience comes blessing to a people, with wickedness and rebellion comes destruction. As Marcus Aurelius said, “Look back over the past – all of those changes of dynasties. And you can foresee the future too: it will be completely alike, incapable of deviating from the rhythm of the present. So for the study of human life forty years are as good as ten thousand: what more will you see.”

Think about this, often when God was rebuking Israel for their sin, it was because they had become like the nations around them, sometimes even worse for example, Ezekiel 16:48,51 – “48 As I live, declares the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done…51 Samaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed.” I think it is very clear that God is not just showing us how Israel apostatized, he is showing us how wickedness rips apart a people, and how to avoid it.

God is teaching us timeless principles about how the wicked rule, how they are corrupted, how they damage society. As Paul tells us all these things were written as examples for us, 1 Corinthians 10:11-13 – “11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.” Let’s have a look at how the Devil corrupts the powerful, and how we can avoid such temptation.

      1. Same trick, different results – There is a fascinating similarity between the temptation of Adam and Eve, and the temptation of Jesus. So, very likely for the last time in a little while, we need to turn to Genesis 3, because I want to show you these similarities. Genesis 3:1-6 – “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.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”

1.1  I want to bring out one more application from this passage this morning. What the Devil was doing here was directly attacking humanities leading representatives. Adam is the father of all mankind, Eve is the mother of all living.  

1.1.1       If you can corrupt the powerful, you can corrupt, or harm in some way, everybody below them. It is a simple but effective strategy.  

1.1.2       This works for a couple of reasons. 1) People naturally just trust authority. It is too hard to be responsible for all our own decisions, so if we can just say, “Look authority said it’s safe, therefore it is safe”, then we can rest easier. 2) Because the powerful have such reach with their decisions the evil one can maximise his harm by targeting them.

1.1.3       He tried this with Jesus, though, and failed. Let’s have a look -

1.2  The temptation of Jesus – Matthew 4:1-4 - “4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

1.2.1       Notice here that, like in the Garden with Eve, the Devil is seeking to tempt Jesus with food. In this instance it is because he has been fasting for forty days. In the Garden, it was food that was desirable for making one wise. But after forty days of fasting, a mouldy loaf would look like a feast.

1.2.2       But notice Jesus’ response, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Mankind is not just sustained by food, but by God’s word. This almost looks like a direct rebuke of Eve in the garden, who chose not to live by God’s word, but sinned with food, because it is. Jesus is here doing what Eve should have done.  

1.2.2.1  If you can corrupt a person’s desire for bread, and all things nice, you can lead them towards evil. But Jesus was obviously much wiser and stronger than Eve or Adam, and rejected the Devil’s temptation to use his power to cheat.

1.2.2.2  But there is another similarity…

1.2.3       “8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

1.2.3.1  The Devil is trying to do here, what he did to Adam and Eve: offer power. For Eve, it was the desire to be greater than her husband, and powerful like the gods, or God, depending on how you translate it. For Jesus the Devil is offering to make him king of the world. This is a power he has authority to give: because he is “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4), “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2), “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31). Just think about these titles for a moment.

1.2.3.2  This is the Devil’s world, not originally, Yahweh is the true God, but he delegated the authority of this world to humanity, and humanity had it usurped by the evil one. And he literally rules from earth.

1.3  But what we see here, is the same trick being tried, with different results. Adam and Eve took the offer of power. Jesus refused the temptation. But this gives us insight into how wicked power works in this world: the Devil uses it to corrupt the powerful, if he can and he is often successful.

      2. His Throne Is On Earth – This world is the Devil’s domain, not hell - Revelation 2:12-13 – “12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. 13 “‘I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.”

2.1  Exactly what this throne was, is not said. There was a famous temple to Zeus in Pergamum, which is what this may have be referring to, but more than likely, it is referring to the fact that Pergamum was the centre of Emperor worship.

2.1.1       I suspect today his throne is in Hollywood, as it is the centre of secular religion. But it could be somewhere else, who knows. But we know the Devil dwells on this earth, and reigns from his usurper throne, and his offer of power is taken up by those in the world system.  

2.2  Revelation 13:2 says, “2 And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.”

2.2.1       Whatever the beast’s identity, it takes the offer of Satan that Jesus rejected. “And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.” This is obviously an offer many wicked have taken.

2.2.2       It will not always be overt, and it may be subtle, but we don’t say that power corrupts, and absolute power absolutely corrupts for no reason. It is because the power base of this world is wicked, and once you start dealing in the circles of power, the temptation to corruption is incredibly strong.

2.2.3       How many of our national leaders fail this test? I suspect most.

2.3  The Devil tried the same trick on Jesus, that he tried on Adam and Eve, and it failed, utterly, because Jesus came to defeat the Devil and stayed the course. But it works on the beast, and the second beast. It has obviously worked many other times, and in many other places.

2.3.1       Indeed, this is a big part of how power works in this world: the Devil offers it to those who would take it. Not everyone, just certain people in certain times. As Napoleon said, he marches with the god of war.

2.4  It is not the full picture, because the Kingdom of light is advancing against the kingdom of darkness – Daniel 7:13-14 - “13 I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” The Son of Man’s kingdom will eventually defeat the Beast’s system once and for all, as we read in Daniel and Revelation. But until that time, there is conflict between these two kingdoms.

2.4.1       In one place darkness will reign more thoroughly, in another place light, and sometimes this will change. Mongolia was once a pagan nation, then had strong Christian influence, then strong Muslim influence and then Pagan again. Once Australia was in darkness and pagan, then the gospel came, now it is heading back to darkness and paganism.

2.5  Throughout all of this the Devil is ruling this world, and offering people power, and many take the offer.

      3. The Ticket Takers – One author I read, Vox Day, calls those who take the Devil’s offer, the ticket takers. This doesn’t work by sitting in a room and signing a contract that the Devil offers you, at least not always. Many ticket takers probably don’t realize at first what they are doing.

3.1  It begins with compromising to the world, a little corruption, to feel included, to gain position, power, influence. Being offered that power in a compromising way, and then before you know it, the system has you. Proverbs warns about this, “10 My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. 11 If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; 12 like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; 13 we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder; 14 throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse” (Prov. 1:10-14).

3.1.1       The enticement of sinners is a big part of how the corruption of the powerful works – if you just look away here, or compromise on this, or agree to this immoral act, look at how much you can gain, they say.

3.1.2       This is why so many of the powerful give in. Some even begin with good intentions, think of the good you can do, if you just take a little more power than you should. Think of how much you can gain by accepting support from shady people with money. Think of how much you can change politics from within, if you compromise just enough to get in the inner circles.

3.1.2.1  See the trap?  

3.2  In a sense everyone faces this, at work, at school, at university. If you surround yourselves with the corrupt, what happens? 1 Corinthians 15:33 “33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” It might begin with just avoiding some topics, so you don’t seem too Christian, allowing the rough joking to happen around you so you can fit in, then you find yourselves drinking with work mates, and before you know it your wife or husband is leaving you because you went way too far off the rails.

3.2.1       For the powerful, the temptation is greater, and the offer of power is greater, but don’t kid yourself, we are all targets for the evil one.

3.3  But this is the key point – in a corrupt world, filled with corrupt people, and ruled by a corrupt false god, at lot of power only comes to the compromised, and those willing to compromise. And I don’t mean in a good way, I mean morally compromised.

3.3.1       We need to imitate Jesus and lean on God’s word and say no.

      4. The Kings Of Israel – One of the biggest lessons we learn from the Kings of Israel, is just how many of them were corrupt. In the northern Kingdom, Samaria, or Israel, they were all corrupt. In the southern Kingdom, Judah, most of them were corrupt.

4.1  Even some of the good one’s turned bad. For example Solomon – “11 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, 2 from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. 3 He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. 4 For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites” (1Kings 11:1-5).

4.1.1       What do we learn from Solomon’s example? You can start out really good, wise, noble, humble and still be completely corrupted by power. It is possible that Ecclesiastes hints that he repented in the end, but we can’t be certain.

4.2  But Solomon was nowhere near the worst. Saul, refused to do as God commanded, and feared God more than man. Rehoboam sought to use his power as a tyrant and split the kingdom in two. Abijam continued the idolatry of his father. Manasseh set up human sacrifice. Jeroboam set up a new religion, with a calf to compete with the temple. Many Kings oppressed the poor, did shady deals, set up corrupt priesthoods, engaged in unjust wars for gain, invaded other countries for wicked reasons, confiscated land from the poor, for their own use, promoted homosexuality, adultery, divorce, promiscuous sex, drunkenness…does this sound like ancient Israel, or modern corruption? Let’s look at two stand out examples:

4.2.1       Jezebel and Naboth – We all know this story, how Naboth would not sell his field to Ahab, because it was his family inheritance. From a capitalist perspective this trade would make sense, but the law forbade family possessions from being permanently traded. So, Jezebel hatches a conspiracy – “7 And Jezebel his wife said to him, “Do you now govern Israel? Arise and eat bread and let your heart be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.” 8 So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal, and she sent the letters to the elders and the leaders who lived with Naboth in his city. 9 And she wrote in the letters, “Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth at the head of the people. 10 And set two worthless men opposite him, and let them bring a charge against him, saying, ‘You have cursed[a] God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death.” (1 Kings 21:7-10).

4.2.1.1  This works, as well. In a corrupt society the powerful will take every opportunity they can get away with, to use their power for self-gain. Sometimes, it is not even illegal. Laws can be changed to suit different donors, or interest groups.

4.2.2       The corrupt priests in Ezekiel 8:7-13 – “7 And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. 8 Then he said to me, “Son of man, dig in the wall.” So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. 9 And he said to me, “Go in, and see the vile abominations that they are committing here.” 10 So I went in and saw. And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. 11 And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. 12 Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’” 13 He said also to me, “You will see still greater abominations that they commit.” These priests, remember who are part of the power leadership of Judah, were committing all sorts of abominable practices in secret rooms, hidden from the people. They may have seemed like righteous priests, but they were secretly owned by satanic gods.

4.2.3       Does this not remind us of a certain sneak peak behind the curtains of power in parliament that we got in the media a few weeks back…boy that disappeared quickly, didn’t it.

4.3  Biblically what is a corrupt society? One that has rejected God. Once this happens, all forms of corruption will follow.

4.3.1       Both of these passages show us, and many others agree, that conspiracies of wickedness are part and parcel of power in a corrupt society…has our society denied God? If yes, then corruption will just increase.

     5. Application – So how can we apply this teaching? There are many ways. Personal and societal.

5.1  First, personally, avoid little corruptions. Little corruptions give the Devil a foothold. We are not likely ever going to get the offer to rule the world, we are not powerful enough, but we will get enticed to evil. The Devil has enough minions and wicked malice to target us at different times.

5.1.1       Proverbs 1:10 - “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.”

5.2  Don’t ascribe stupidity when wickedness will suffice. You have often heard it said, never ascribe to malice, what can be ascribed to incompetence or ignorance” or “do not ascribe to wickedness what can be put down to stupidity”. But this is a bad saying, and really bad advice.

5.2.1       Look this makes sense with someone you love and know well. When your spouse does something that annoys you, it is wise, and gracious to attribute it to “ignorance” or accident, rather than malice. This makes sense with a trusted friend. This makes sense with valued colleague or trusted employee or brother and sister in Christ. Be quick to overlook.

5.2.2       But this does not make sense with the powerful, for three main reasons: 1) Evil seeks political power, it is drawn to it. 2) The powerful can do too much damage to be easily forgiven for their bad mistakes. A mistake made on a powerful level can harm all of society. Which is why our nation’s system was set up to strictly limit any leaders power, 3) Evil looks stupid, right, because it is. The more our leaders, the more our society rejects God, the more foolish it will look, because sin is foolishness, in the Bible, foolish and evil are synonyms: “8 Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs, and a foolish people reviles your name” (Psalm 74:18). Proverbs 13:19 – “A desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but to turn away from evil is an abomination to fools.” Making foolish decisions, is evil. Let me prove evil and foolish are the same a different way –

5.2.2.1  Is Adultery foolish or wicked? Is lying foolish or wicked? Is corruption foolish or wicked? Is promoting more than two genders foolish or wicked? Is promoting sodomy and other sexual sins foolish or wicked? You see the point don’t you? The Bible teaches us to ascribe wickedness where we see foolishness.

5.3  Be wise as serpents – Matt 10:16 – “16 Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” I have mentioned this verse a few times in this series, but here I repeat it again.

5.3.1       The serpent in many ancient pagan societies represented wisdom. Jesus knew this, but I doubt he was saying be like these serpents. No, I think he was saying something very simple: be wise to the serpent’s schemes.

5.3.2       Don’t flit through life, blissfully unaware of evil. Be innocent in action, but aware of how the serpent can strike. 

5.4  Walk With The Wise - Proverbs 13:20 – “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” You need to spend time with people who know how the world works, who have been around the block, who challenge you to open your eyes to corruption, and cause you to lift your righteous game.

5.4.1       This will help you avoid mistakes, but it will also enable you to have a network of support if the corrupt come for you. Which they might. Another name for a society that persecutes believers is corrupt. Corruption cannot stand goodness.

5.4.2       We must be prepared to support each other as these attacks come.

          6.  Conclusion - 2 Kings 23:12-14 – “12 And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, he pulled down and broke in pieces and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. 13 And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 14 And he broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men.” When a nation rejects God, this radiates corruption through the entire society, at every level of society, in every institution. The Devil loves to corrupt the powerful, and through this he sows much death and destruction in the world. Our culture is no longer sure what is good and what is evil, what is man and what is woman, what is true and what is lies. Let’s take up the armour of God, so we can be a part of God defeating darkness in our land. Let’s pray.