Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): Coming up on Telling the Truth with Stuart and Jill Briscoe.

Stuart Briscoe: The first half of this verse, John 10:10, says this: "The thief comes but to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they might have life and have it to the full." So on the one hand, we recognize that we need to identify with Christ as the one who gives life, as the Good Shepherd to the sheep. But on the other hand, we need to recognize that there is a thief. There is an enemy of our souls who is committed to stealing and killing and destroying. Failure to recognize the enemy puts us in dire danger.

Jill Briscoe: There is a very real enemy whose purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. So it's crucial that you can identify him. That's Stuart Briscoe's focus on this edition of Telling the Truth, and he'll begin in just a moment.

Guest (Male): In their new five-message series, Fighting Unseen Forces, Stuart and Jill show you straight from God's word how you can stand strong against your spiritual enemy and live victoriously in Christ. We'll send you a copy of this resource as our thanks for your support today to help others experience the life of abundance God wants them to have in Jesus. So call today to request your copy of Fighting Unseen Forces, 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now, here's Stuart with today's message, Recognize the Enemy.

Stuart Briscoe: Jesus said, "I am come that you might have life and that you might have it to the full." I was particularly struck by reading those familiar words once again because I meet so many people who are struggling to get a life. As I looked into this passage of Scripture found in John's Gospel in the 10th chapter, I had noted that this statement that Jesus made was made in the context of an explanation that He was the Good Shepherd, that He said that people were like sheep.

That's hardly the most complimentary thing to say to people, let's be honest about it. When the Bible says, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way," I don't think anybody would dispute that. There is an "own way" tendency. There is an "own way" bias about us. Very often we know the right thing to do, and we don't do it. Very often we know the wrong thing that we should not do, and we do it. We know what God says, but we go our own way. Now, if we're going to get a life, we've got to come to terms with ourselves. We've got to identify the sheepishness dimension and begin to discover what it is to relate to the Good Shepherd who comes to seek and to save.

The first half of this verse, John 10:10, says this: "The thief comes but to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they might have life and have it to the full." So on the one hand, we recognize that we need to identify with Christ as the one who gives life, as the Good Shepherd to the sheep. But on the other hand, we need to recognize that there is a thief. There is an enemy of our souls who is committed to stealing and killing and destroying. Failure to recognize the enemy puts us in dire danger.

There are three things I want to identify for us today. I want to talk about the enemy's identity. I want to talk about the enemy's strategy, and then we'll finish on an up note by reminding ourselves of the enemy's vulnerability.

The enemy of our souls, of whom Jesus spoke, of whom the Bible has much to say, is identified with a number of different names. He is called the accuser. That is the literal meaning of the word "devil," which in the Greek is *diabolos*. Peter said this in his first epistle, chapter five: "Your enemy the devil goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour." Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, is waiting to pounce on every situation. He does not initiate situations. He tracks them down and waits for them, and he pounces on them. He gets you by the jugular, and he makes a bad situation a thousand times worse. Recognize the enemy.

The Lord Jesus told a parable about the kingdom. He said that the kingdom of God is rather like a farmer going out to sow a seed in a field. After he has sown the seed in the field and the crops begin to grow, someone else comes along and sows weed among the seed, and the two grow up together. When the farmer realizes what has been done, he looks at it and says, "An enemy did this." Every time you see the activity of the evil one pouncing on a situation and making it a thousand times worse and dragging people down into emotional, spiritual, relational destruction, you point at it and you say, "An enemy did this." If you don't recognize the enemy, that's the sure way to defeat.

The second name for the evil one is Satan. That means the adversary, the malignant enemy of God who is utterly, incontrovertibly opposed to divine rule, who is utterly committed to resisting all God's purposes. You see, whenever there is interposed in the purposes of God that which would hinder His purposes, that's the work of an enemy. We look at it, and we say an enemy has done that. Can you think of any situations in the lives of your friends or your families or perhaps even in your own life where you have known that God was working out His purposes, but all kinds of roadblocks, all kinds of hindrances came in the way? Did you know what was going on? Did you say an enemy has done that?

He is called the father of lies. The father of lies. What is the difference between communicating information that is incorrect and lying? That's easy. Lying is the communication of incorrect information with intent to deceive. With intent to deceive. And the devil is a liar from the beginning. He is the enemy of truth. He cannot stand reality because truth and reality lead to order and goodness. He is into the confusion business.

Do you know anybody who's confused about right and wrong? Do you know anybody who's confused about good and evil? Can you think of anybody who's in a situation where they've maybe even gone so far as to say, "Well, if it's right for you, it's right. But if it's wrong for me, it's wrong. And if it feels good, it must be good"? Utter, total confusion. Have you ever seen that? Have you heard it? Did you put your finger on it and say an enemy has done this?

He is also called the prince of this world or the god of this age. God is the sovereign of our universe, but He installed humanity as His regents, as His agents. Humanity decided to hand over what was rightfully their domain to the evil one, and so there's a very real sense how, under the umbrella of divine sovereignty, the evil one is the prince of this world. He wields power in innumerable structures. He does it in education. He does it in entertainment. He does it in politics. He does it in business. The incredible thing is that many, many people looking for life don't even recognize the enemy.

He is called the evil one. "Deliver us from evil" or "deliver us from the evil one" is part of the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples to pray. That which is evil is opposed to all that is intrinsically good. That which is evil is committed to the perverting of all that is innately beautiful. What could be more intrinsically good than love and commitment? What could be more intrinsically good than marriage and family? I read this week that in American society, we have now arrived at the position where you are more likely to be divorced than widowed. An enemy has done this. It would be true to say that we are losing sight of what is good, losing sight of what is beautiful.

Guest (Male): You're hearing from Stuart Briscoe today on Telling the Truth. He'll be right back with more on how you can recognize your spiritual enemy and be ready for battle. But before Stuart returns, you can't always see it raging around you, but every day you're locked in a battle that threatens your spiritual, emotional, and relational well-being. Spiritual warfare is very real, and you cannot afford to sit this fight out. Your spiritual enemy will stop at nothing to keep you from experiencing the abundant and impactful life you're called to in Christ.

But you can stand strong in Jesus and the power of His Spirit. Stuart and Jill want to show you how straight from God's word by sending you their new five-message series, Fighting Unseen Forces. We'll send you this encouraging series as thanks for your gift of support to help people around the world hear the message of Jesus through broadcasts like this one today. Your gift of support helps Telling the Truth carry the message of God's love to people across the globe so they can experience life in Christ.

Call today to request your copy of Fighting Unseen Forces when you give: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. For many, our smartphones have become our social connection, but we want to help you make a spiritual connection with the Telling the Truth mobile app. You can listen to daily programs, engage in Bible reading plans, journal, and share your thoughts and prayers on the community wall. Get the Telling the Truth app through your app store or log on to tellingthetruth.org/mobileapp. Remember, you can also give to support Telling the Truth on our mobile app. Now, let's get back to Stuart for more insight from God's word.

Stuart Briscoe: The one who is opposed to all that is intrinsically good and perverts all that is innately beautiful must be recognized for who he is. The enemy of all that is good and right and true. And if you don't recognize the enemy, there's a pretty good chance you'll find yourself in deep trouble.

The enemy's strategy. John chapter 10 follows immediately after John chapter 9. That may in and of itself be one of the more profound things that I'll share with you. The reason I mention it to you, however, is this: that whilst we have a division in our English Bibles, no such division existed when John's Gospel was originally written in the Greek language. We don't need to get into the reasons for that, except to point out that when Jesus spoke about being the Shepherd and the Gate of the Sheep and the Thief coming to kill and to destroy, etc., this was an application of the event that had just taken place, recorded in John chapter 9.

We don't have time to get into that right now. I could give you a brief summary of it. One day Jesus met a man who was blind. He healed him. It happened, however, to be the Sabbath day. There were some religious people who were concerned that they should not violate the Sabbath, and in order that they might not violate it, they had established innumerable rules for Sabbath day behavior. So locked in were they in their rules that they could not see the sheer beauty and wonder and glory that Christ exhibited when He opened the man's blind eyes.

The attitude that these people portrayed in their rejection of what Christ had done and their rejection of what Christ claimed and their rejection of who Christ is leads Him to point out that there are certain people who will come into your lives as agents of the evil one. As agents of the evil one, guess what? They will deny Christ. They will reject His claims. They will refuse to accept His salvation. They will offer people all kinds of other way experiences to God.

Now, I'm fully aware of the fact that the one remaining virtue that is generally acknowledged in our culture is the virtue of tolerance. It is tolerance that is taken to ludicrous ends, where we are required to tolerate things that are mutually exclusive, that are flatly contradictory. What seems to matter in many people's thinking is that we should just allow anybody to think what they wish and do what they wish because that is their prerogative. And if people in the church of Jesus Christ can't recognize the insidious intrusion of the evil one into the thinking of many people so that they will now, in the name of tolerance, move away from the exclusive claims of Christ, they are subjecting themselves to dire danger.

This is pretty heavy stuff. It's a challenge to think in terms of there being an enemy of our soul. The Lord Jesus also went on to say this: "I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved." Do you believe that? Do you stake everything on the saving grace of Christ? Or do you want to be open to all kinds of options and all kinds of alternatives and the ensuing confusion in spiritual matters?

The thief comes but to steal and to kill and to destroy. When Jesus said that all that ever came before Him were thieves and robbers, He wasn't being gratuitous. Thieves and robbers—that's saying the same thing twice. No, a thief was somebody who operates on the basis of craft and deceit, and a robber will use violence if necessary. Two entirely different words. He said that all who came before Him were thieves and robbers. That doesn't mean that Moses and Elijah and David were thieves and robbers. No, He's saying that the Shepherd comes at daybreak, but all who come before daybreak, that is, under cover of darkness, are out to use devious methods to deceive people's spiritual lives.

Is there any deception going on? Is there any covert activity? Is there any insidious intrusion into people's thinking? Of course there is. An enemy has done this. The upshot, of course, is that people are robbed of the gift of eternal life. Their experience of life is deadened, and their capacity for fullness of life in Christ is destroyed. You feed a kid junk food long enough, he'll develop no appetite for wholesome nutrition. You feed a person spiritual garbage long enough, they'll have no appetite for the truth. An enemy has done this.

The enemy's vulnerability. Here's the good news. One day the Lord Jesus met this enemy head-to-head in the wilderness. The enemy attacked Him from every point where he perceived vulnerability on the part of the man, Christ Jesus. And the man, Christ Jesus, resisted him firmly on the truth. The thing that the evil one cannot handle is the truth. The weapon of the believer is the truth as it is in Christ Jesus.

The attacks will come—devious, covertly, in the dark, under cover—often, or overtly like a roaring lion at other times. Sometimes there'll be flaming arrows. Sometimes they'll be obvious; sometimes they'll be considerably less than obvious. That is why the believer at all times must be building their lives on what is true. As the evil one attacked Him, the Lord Jesus responded every time: "It is written. It is written. It is written." He knew the truth. He stood on the truth. And the devil left him. And he'll leave you too, because he's always vulnerable to truth.

The writer to the Hebrews tells us that the devil was destroyed when Christ died on the cross. Through death, the writer to the Hebrews says, through death He destroyed him that has the power of death, that is the devil, and delivered them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. That verse, Hebrews 2:14-15, should be underlined so heavily that it comes through to the maps. Assuming it's on the right, if not, to the index. It is a profoundly significant statement.

There is an enemy of our souls who, under divine sovereignty, utilizes death as his weapon, and because of this, people live in various forms of bondage because of fear of death, fear of the unknown, fear of mortality, fear of what they can't cope with. And Christ, in His death, played the devil at his own game, on his own field, with his own ball, in front of his own crowd, with his own referee, and beat him because He rose again from the dead.

The devil's teeth are pulled, and his fangs are drawn, and his claws are clipped. He'll still roar, and he'll still pounce, and he'll still do all that he can. But greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. And we are exhorted by both James and Peter in the small epistles at the end of your Bible that if we will resist the devil firmly in the faith, he will flee from us. He's vulnerable to truth. He's defeated by the risen Christ. He cannot overcome the believer who stands firm in the faith and in the name of Christ says, "Begone. Be done. Get out of here."

The devil, who like a roaring lion goes about seeking whom he may devour, is no match for the truth. He's no match for the risen Christ. He's no match for the believer who takes the whole armor of God and, utilizing all divine resources, stands against him. And I want to tell you something: if you want to get a life, you better recognize the enemy. And if you want to get a life, you better understand yourself. And if you want to get a life, you need to know the Lord.

Guest (Male): Thanks so much, Stuart. Before we go, we want to remind you that this month when you give to support Telling the Truth broadcasts like this one today, we'll send you Stuart and Jill Briscoe's five-message series, Fighting Unseen Forces. This powerful new series will help you stand strong in Christ and in the power of His Spirit against the enemy so you can live victoriously each day. Please request your series when you call and give: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online when you visit tellingthetruth.org. Thanks for listening to today's teaching on Telling the Truth. Come back next time for more biblical truth, here on Telling the Truth.