Don't Be Deceived By the Devil

Here is the second thing we can know from 1st John. 1st John 5:19 says, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.”

Do you see that? “We are of God.” We who have trusted Jesus Christ, we are God’s special people, different from the world.

Ephesians 1:4 says:
“Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” As His special people, God wants us to be different from the world.

1st Peter 2:9 says:
“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

God called us for a special purpose. We are to be His special people, different from the world so we can proclaim His praises. We are God’s special people.

Now the next thing we can know from this passage in 1st John is this:
1st John 5:20 – “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”

Not only do we “know” that Jesus has come - that’s a historical fact - but we know why He came. He came with a purpose – many purposes, actually. But one of the primary purposes was to lead us to the knowledge of God.

God “has given us an understanding.” The word, understanding in verse 20, in literal Greek, is a permanent comprehension, an understanding in order that we may know in an experiential way. It is a settled truth we experience over and over again.

This is truth - Jesus came to reveal His Father. John 1:18 says, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” Through Jesus, we can know the Father. We can experience the Father. We can have a personal, love relationship with Him.

This is also because Jesus leads us to eternal life. He’s the only way to know eternal life. John 14:6 says, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”

All these things we can know with absolute certainty. And so verse 20 ends with this: “This is the true God and eternal life.” Amen!

That all sounds so rosy, but what hinders that knowledge? Why would any of us not believe it? Back up to 1st John 5:18. Look at the last phrase: “and the wicked one does not touch him.” Who is the wicked one? He is Satan. He is the adversary of God. He is the one we are warned about in 1st Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

The devil wants to destroy you, but the good news is, “the wicked one does not touch” you. The word “touch” means to lay hold of, to grasp. But he can’t do it, It’s impossible – not to a believer. God won’t let him. Satan can’t go beyond the limits God allows him. God is all powerful, while Satan is just a puny fallen angel next to Him. Satan is powerful, all right, and incredibly dangerous, and he leads a vast horde of wretched demons. But he doesn’t hold a candle next to God.

Remember the book of Job? Satan wanted to prove that Job would turn against God if his world was torn apart, and God let it happen. But, God set the limits. Satan could go only so far in tormenting Job. There are always limits in a believer’s life beyond which Satan cannot go. He cannot touch you in your spirit. He cannot take away your salvation. But what he can do is make you doubt God. And the way he does it is by deception.

Revelation 12:9 says of Satan,
“So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

In writing this, John makes sure that no one can doubt who he is talking about. It’s “that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan.” And what is his primary tactic? Deception! Satan is the one who “deceives the whole world.”

Interestingly, John uses his old identity from the Garden of Eden – “that serpent of old” - because that takes us back to his first deception when he appeared to Eve in the form of a serpent.

The account is given in Genesis 3:1-4:
“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.”

Satan begins by casting doubt on the Word of God. Anyone who casts doubt on God’s Word is acting as a tool of Satan. Then, Satan directly contradicts the Word of God: “You will not surely die.” Now, that is a bald-faced lie. That is a direct contradiction of what God had told Adam.

Why do you suppose Satan lies to them? He wants to destroy them – destroy these two beloved of God. So he strings them a plausible line. “God is holding out on you, He’s keeping back some of the best stuff for Himself.” From Genesis 3:5, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

The woman believed it. She was snookered. She was deceived.

Genesis 3:6-7 continues:
“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”

Their relationship with God was destroyed by sin, all because they wouldn’t believe God. And Satan led them to doubt by his deception. Satan is still trying to deceive us, but we must be on guard. Especially, we must be on guard that he doesn’t corrupt our view of the Word of God. On this book we stand, and nothing can sway us.