Truth For Life

Guest (Male): In popular culture, the devil is sometimes portrayed as a fun-loving troublemaker, mischievous but basically harmless. But that's a far cry from the way he is described in the Bible. And today on Truth For Life, Alistair Begg takes us to Jesus' high priestly prayer for a closer look at the devil's identity and strategies.

Alistair Begg: We're going to read from John chapter 17, just briefly, from verse 11. Jesus says to the Father: "I am no longer in the world, but they—that is, his disciples—are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you've given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I've guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the scripture might be fulfilled.

But now I'm coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I've given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world."

As we turn to the Bible, we turn to the Lord. Father, this is your word. We want to hear Jesus speak. Beyond the voice of a mere man, we want to hear your voice and to listen, believe, and obey. Help us as we navigate our way through this material that we might have clarity and brevity and joy in the Holy Spirit, for we pray in Christ's name. Amen.

Last time in John chapter 17, we finished at verse 15. When I say we finished, I should really say we ended because it felt like we didn't finish. At least it didn't feel that way to me. That is because we left hanging the final phrase of verse 15, where Jesus says, "Keep them from the evil one." This phrase, "keep them from the evil one," is such a vital phrase. It's a reference to Luther in his great Reformation hymn when he describes the evil one as the Prince of Darkness grim.

What I want to do is simply this: I want to consider first of all the identity of the evil one, the strategy of the evil one, Christ's victory over the evil one, and then our activity in relationship to Christ's victory. As you can see, there's quite a lot to get through.

First of all, then, the identity of the evil one. He is described variously throughout the Bible as the devil, which is diabolos, the word that gives us our English word diabolical. Satan is the Hebrew terminology for him. He is, as the diabolical one, a slanderer. He slanders God to us, he slanders us to God, he slanders us to one another. He is the accuser, the adversary in the court case of life.

He is identified for us in various places and not least of all in the Gospel of John. For example, in John chapter 8, in a dialogue that Jesus has with the Jewish people who are making much of their religious background and declaring that they don't need to be set free because they've never been slaves to anyone because they have Abraham as their father, Jesus says to them in verse 44: "You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me."

As you go through John's Gospel, Jesus then identifies the evil one as the ruler of this world. For example, in John chapter 12 and verse 31, Jesus refers to the devil as the ruler of this world. Our world is a fallen world. Our world is a world in rebellion against God, and that world in rebellion against God is under the jurisdiction of the devil, Satan, the evil one.

In chapter 14, he refers to him in the same way when he says, "The ruler of this world is coming." Fascinatingly there, the ruler of the world is about to appear, not in the form of a serpent as we see in Genesis 3, but in the form of Judas Iscariot. You perhaps remember when we studied that passage, we read of him as the son of destruction. Satan entered into Judas. Jesus says to his followers, "Do not let your hearts be troubled," and so on. He says, "But you should know that the ruler of this world is coming."

Not only in the Gospels but also in the Epistles. Paul, writing in 2 Corinthians, uses a very interesting word. He uses a term for the devil that is unique in all of scripture. The word that is there is the word Belial. You find it in 2 Corinthians 6:15. He's speaking there about the importance of those who are followers of Jesus not getting themselves entangled with those who are opposed to Jesus.

He uses terminology that is very understandable: "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, because we're talking about two very different things. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial?" That term for Satan was peculiar to Judaism at the time of Paul. The word actually means worthlessness or it means destruction.

He is saying what possibility is there for any kind of union between he who is absolutely worthless, he who is committed to destruction, and he who is the Lord of life and glory. If you are in Christ, you cannot be unequally yoked in this way. The direction is very straightforward.

When you get to 2 Corinthians chapter 11, the devil is there described as an angel of light. He's talking about false apostles. He says there's no wonder about this because even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Remember when he writes to the Galatians, he says, "I'm really concerned that you would depart from the gospel." He says, "You should be very careful because even if an angel came from heaven and proclaimed to you a gospel that is not the gospel, you should have nothing to do with that." An angel that came from heaven? A fallen angel that would come and proclaim a gospel that is no gospel? You don't have to be a genius to realize how apropos that is.

Now, his identity is masterful. He could hope for no better cover than the illusion that he doesn't exist. That's the best thing. If you're going to be a spy, you're a spy that doesn't exist. But he does exist. He wants us to believe either that he doesn't exist so we ignore him completely, or that he exists all the time everywhere.

The two dangers of dealing with the devil in terms of his identity: one, that we become preoccupied with him and we see him everywhere. I found that every time I turned around, I'd expect to see a demon. If you opened your closet, there's another one wherever it was. That kind of preoccupation is unhelpful, but the alternative is equally unhelpful—to walk around as if there is no one. There is. Jesus says so. That's his identity.

Secondly, his strategy. What is his strategy? Fundamentally, the strategy of the evil one is to discredit the word of God and to destroy the works of God. To discredit his word and to destroy his works. As you go through the story of the Bible, you realize that the great opposition to the unfolding drama of God's purpose is opposed again and again. There is Goliath against David, who is the Lord's anointed. It's in the incarnation with the response of Herod in his great opposition to this unfolding drama of the arrival of a king.

The strategy we find from the very beginning of the Bible. If you turn to Genesis chapter 3, you'll find it there. From the very beginning, from creation, the evil one is at work. Now, the serpent was more crafty. The power of evil revealed here in Genesis 3 is in and behind the speaking serpent. So crafty. In that powerful opposition, his craft and his power are great.

His opening gambit in speaking to Eve, his initial approach, is deceptively innocent. He says, "Would you mind if I asked you a question?" That's sort of disarming. But what is the question? "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" No, he did not actually say that. He said you shall not eat of this tree in the garden. The devil immediately misquotes God. People say, "Oh, Mr. So-and-So is a very nice man. I went to his church; he quotes the Bible." Listen, that's not the issue. It's how you quote the Bible. You can monkey around with the Bible a hundred ways and say all kinds of things. You can't misquote it.

That's not what he said. In verse 4, he then says to her—he's not only crafty, but he's cruel—he says to her, "Here's the deal. You won't die. You won't die." Then he says in verse 5, "The reason that he's saying these things to you is because he's seeking to deprive you of something that would be really good for you. For God knows"—now he's explaining God, the devil wants to explain God—"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 fact is, their eyes were opened, but what did they see when their eyes were opened? They saw that they were naked. They saw that they had a problem. They already knew that they had been made in the image of God. Chapter 1 in verse 26, God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and furthermore, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, birds of the heaven, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the face of the earth."

They knew that they were now made in the image of God and had been given dominion over everything. This is the social history of humanity. This is the nature of humanity, as described for us in the beginning of the Bible. But what has happened to them? They actually listened to the evil one. They listened to the serpent who is contradicting the maker of heaven and earth. Their ears are filled with the word of the evil one, and then they go and they hide from God.

What happens from that point on is that the poison of disobedience was absorbed into the root of humanity. It was imputed to all who were in the line from Adam and Eve. Remember when Paul preaches in Acts chapter 17, where he says remarkably there in verse 26, speaking to the Athenians, "And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth."

If he made of that one man, and that one man was a sinner, and the poison of disobedience came through that one man, then we who are in that man as in Adam all die. Therefore, we got the problem right along with him. That's what the Bible says. That's why when the writer to Ecclesiastes is giving us a survey of life and trying to make sense of the jigsaw puzzle, he makes this statement in verse 29: "God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes." God made man upright, but they—man qua man, men and women—God has made us in his image, upright, but we are crooked.

We realize that we're unable to straighten it. That is why men and women today, like Adam and Eve, conspire to seek after everything, it seems, that is contrary to God and to his purposes. Everything except God, the God to whom we're accountable. When again in Ecclesiastes 7, the writer puts it so succinctly: "Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins." Just put that in your pocket for a minute.

There's not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. It's not saying that man is incapable of good things. But what it is saying is this: that man is incapable of doing anything good in terms of merit towards the God who has made him. He is completely incapacitated. If we had time, we'd go to Romans chapter 3. Left to ourselves, we don't seek God, and left to ourselves, we are unable to do anything that merits salvation.

The Westminster Confession helps us in Section 6, where it says this, speaking in terms of the impact of the fall of man: "Since they—that is Adam and Eve—were the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed to, and the same death in sin and corrupted nature was conveyed to, all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation. From this original corruption, by which we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and antagonistic to all that is good and wholly inclined to all that is evil, all actual transgressions proceed."

When people say, "What in the world is up with the world? Why is it that things are the way they are?" this is the Bible's answer.

Now, his strategy is revealed not only in creation, but his strategy is revealed as I've said elsewhere. One other place just to point you would be to the temptation of Jesus. You see his craftiness in full force in Matthew chapter 4. You remember that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. The tempter comes, the devil comes, and he says to him straight out of the blocks, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." He says, "If you're the Son of God, do a miracle. Show everybody."

What he's actually doing is trying to seduce Jesus to use his divine prerogative to make his circumstances easier on himself. "You've got to be hungry after 40 days, Jesus. Turn the stones into bread. Do yourself a favor." He goes on from there. Jesus answers him. If you want to talk about bread, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Jesus' answer every time is with the scriptures.

Then the devil took him to the holy city, set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, 'He will give his angels charge concerning you.' On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone." Once again, the devil uses the Bible, misquotes the Bible to try and oppose Jesus. That's his strategy, to destroy what he has come to do, to discredit the word that he speaks.

And for a third time, he took him to a very high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him, "All these I will give you"—that's a flat-out lie, incidentally, because he couldn't—"All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me." What's he saying? His strategy is this: to get Jesus to exchange his love of the Father for the worship of Satan.

Strategy hasn't changed. He would rather that you worshiped him went his broad road to destruction, than that you bowed down before Jesus as Lord and King and Savior. So it's no question at all that the evil one, by identity and strategy, is the father of lies. He is the father of lies and as the father of lies, he's very capable.

2 Corinthians 4:3-4. I find that this is helpful to remind myself of this. Why are things the way they are? Why is it that when we tell people the gospel, this fantastic good news, people go like, "Yeah, sure, thank you. I can see that it means something to you; it means nothing to me." Why is that? Here's the answer: "The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

Worse still, the evil one is so crafty that he employs people in positions such as my own or positions of significant leadership within the unfolding story of the drama of Christianity. Men who are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. Saying one thing but meaning something else. Saying that they believe the Bible and it must be upheld, and then saying that it doesn't matter whether marriage is heterosexual or homosexual.

That's this week from the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York. He and his buddy have finally concluded that it doesn't really matter, that it is equal opportunity irrespective of gender and background. Now, I hate to say it of the Archbishop, but that is false. If he is really the Archbishop of Canterbury, what about the Bible? What about the Bible? His strategy is disguise. He intimidates. 1 Peter 5, he roars. The sound of the opposition may seem so loud in the ears of some they say, "I'm just going to have to go with the crowd; it's roaring so loud." He consumes, he devours.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Truth For Life with Alistair Begg. We'll hear more about the strategies of the evil one tomorrow. Now, as we are looking forward to Easter, we are praying that you'll be intentional about sharing with others the true meaning of this important celebration. And to help with that, we've created a tract that presents the story of the gospel. It's titled, "Ever Wonder Why Your World Feels Broken?".

This is a small, three-and-a-half by four-inch pamphlet that speaks to the emptiness and brokenness that so many people feel but can't explain. The tract, which is taken from Alistair's teaching, explains the storyline of the Bible in simple, easy-to-understand language. Readers will learn that God made the world good, sin made it bad, in Jesus it's restored, and one day it will be made perfect.

At the end of the tract, readers are given a link to the Gospel of John as well as a link to a message from Alistair that explains more about God's salvation plan. These tracts make it easy to introduce others to Jesus. You can give copies to friends or neighbors or coworkers, leave some behind at the places you frequent, leave a stack of them near your church's entrance for first-time visitors.

Again, the title is "Ever Wonder Why Your World Feels Broken?". You can buy five for a dollar or packs of 25 for just $5. Purchase a supply online at truthforlife.org/tract or call us at 888-588-7884. We are glad you joined us today. Tomorrow, we'll learn why it's important to take the devil seriously, but as believers, we don't need to be preoccupied with him. I hope you can join us. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth For Life, where the learning is for living.