03.04.18 – Ephesians
6:11-12, The Angelic Conflict, Pt 24, The Enemy, Pt. 21, Satan's Strategies to
Deceive, Pt. 1. Lesson # 18-025
Grace Fellowship Church
Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard
Stand in Warfare –
Eph 6:10-20.
Outline of Eph
6 :10-24
1. The Empowerment, vs. 10.
2. The Enemy, vs. 11-12.
3. The Equipment, vs. 13-17.
4. The Energy, vs. 18-20.
5. The Encouragement, vs. 21-24.
2. The Enemy, vs. 11-12
Getting back to Eph
6:11, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm
against the schemes of the devil,” we will continue to note
the strategies of Satan to keep people away from a relationship with God.
By way of reminder, Satan / the devil is an angelic creature. He
is a genius, smarter than any human being or creature who ever lived. He is
also very attractive and has a beautiful voice. Isa 14:12-17 and Ezek
28:11-19 gives us a picture of Satan as a personality, a person of the
highest possible mentality. Other passages throughout the Bible tell us other
things about Satan; he is the biggest liar; he is the father of lies, John 8:44. He is a murderer, 1 John 3:8. And he is the highest ruler
of the authority of the atmosphere, as he is the ruler of this world, Luke 4:5-7; John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 2 Cor
4:4; Eph 2:2.
Satan rules the world through his cosmic systems. He rules
all unbelievers through demon possession and demon influence. He rules
reversionistic and apostate believers though demon influence, (not demon
possession), because of persistent involvement in the Cosmic System.
When both unbelieves and believers have negative volition
towards God and His Word in their soul, it creates a vacuum in the soul,
(MATAIOTES; vanity, futility, worthlessness, depravity), Eph 4:17, that sucks the doctrine of demons, 1 Tim 4:1, into the stream of consciousness in the soul. As a
result, they are influence by the things and ways of the world, and are led by
satanic viewpoint, as they operate inside of Satan’s cosmic system.
Since everyone is born into the world as an unbeliever, born
spiritually dead, we are born citizens of Satan’s kingdom. Therefore, the devil
has to have strategy with regard to people to keep them in his citizenry. He
has to do everything possible to keep people unbelievers. It is the devil’s
objective that no one believes in Jesus Christ, Luke 8:12; 2 Cor 4:3-4; 2 Thes 2:9-10.
Luke
8:12, “Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and
takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be
saved.”
2
Cor 4:3-4, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are
perishing, 4in whose case the god of this world has blinded the
minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of
the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
2
Thes 2:9-10, “That is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of
Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10and with all
the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive
the love of the truth so as to be saved.”
In addition, when a person believes in Christ, the devil does not
give up on them. They are members of the family of God and in God’s plan, and
totally separated from Satan’s plan. Therefore, the devil has to have strategy
regarding believers to get them back under his influence and keep the believer in the cosmic system, Luke 8:13-14; 2 Cor 2:11; Col 2:8;
James 4:6-8, 1 John 2:15-18, 1 John 3:4-12.
Col
2:8, “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty
deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary
principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”
2
Cor 2:11, “So that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not
ignorant of his schemes.”
Therefore, knowing
Satan’s strategies to influence both the unbeliever and the believer helps us
to combat him and his cosmic system, so that we are not overcome by them and
get outside of God’s Plan for our lives, Luke
8:15-18.
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