Study Notes

I.      If Satan is not just showing up and destroying people’s lives at his will, then how is he doing it?

A.    Satan deceives to destroy; When we’ve been on guard for Satan we think about killing, stealing and destroying and that’s okay, but we need to be aware of his need to deceive and his desire to deceive so that he can destroy

1.      2 Thessalonians 2:9-12-Deception is how Satan works (After the working of Satan and Satan works through deception)

a.    10-12-If Satan can’t deceive, then He can’t destroy; The ones who are deceived are the ones who are experiencing destruction

1)       Deception always precedes destruction and there was never destruction without deception first

2)       12-This believing the lie is an open door to destruction; It’s deception and then destruction

b.    You could avoid destruction if you could overcome deception

1)       Why are these people perishing? They believed a lie and not the truth and thought it was the truth

2)       They difference between a person having victory or being destroyed is one believed the truth, the other a lie

2.      Revelation 20:3-10-We see deception for the purpose of destruction

B.     He’s approach is “deceive to destroy” – He’s not overriding people’s wills in a power struggle forcing them to do stuff they don’t want to do, but rather he’s endeavoring to deceive them, to try to get them to believe wrong and lose their faith

1.      Genesis 3-In the Garden he came to steal, kill, and destroy, but he didn’t force the fruit down their mouths and destroy their lives and override their wills; He deceived Even, got her to believe wrong and through deception he was able to bring destruction

2.      Matthew 4-When he came to Jesus he came to steal, kill, and destroy, but he didn’t force Jesus to turn rocks into bread, he didn’t force him to jump off the temple or force him to bow down and worship him? He’s trying to deceive Jesus, to get him to believe wrong, to lose his faith so that he can bring destruction in his life

3.      Proverbs 1-These sinners (who are messengers of Satan) are trying to entice this guy to come with them; they’re not forcing him to come with them, they’re trying to get him to believe wrong so that he will come with them and experience destruction

4.      Proverbs 1-The guy who’s trying to catch the bird is not forcing them into the net, he’s trying to deceive the bird, get him to believe wrong so that the bird will fly right into the net and be destroyed

5.      1 Peter 5:8-He’s roaming around seeking who he may devour and whoever he can deceive he can devour

6.      He’s working in this realm of the mind of your believing endeavoring to get you to believe wrong-1 Timothy 6:12, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

C.    John 10:1-10-Satan is destroying people by leading them away from the truth and getting them to let go of their faith

1.      Deceived means to be led astray and away from the truth – NOT FORCED ASTRAY

a.    If deceived means to be led astray, then that means you weren’t forced astray, but you chose to follow something false

b.    No matter what the lie is and no matter how true it looks and feels YOU NEVER HAVE TO FOLLOW THE ENEMY

2.      How does the thief steal? He deceives you, gets you to believe wrong so that he can steal from you

a.    Thief-A name transferred to false teachers who do not care to instruct men, but abuse their confidence for their own gain

b.    John 10:10-The thief is going to steal, kill, and destroy by being false and getting you to believe it

3.      This whole thing is about leading the sheep – What does the stranger need? He needs the sheep to follow him so he can lead them astray

a.    It doesn’t say that thief climbs in some other way and murders all the sheep in a massacre? It’s not a power struggle, and the enemy is not overriding people’s wills

b.    He’s trying to fool the sheep into thinking that he’s a good shepherd so they’ll follow; The porter only opens the door from the true shepherd so if he can get in some other way, the sheep would maybe assume that he’s the shepherd b/c he’s in there, and follow him

D.    Jesus is going to lead you into the truth and the truth is going to make you free-John 8:32, 16:13

1.      John 16:13-The Holy Spirit (Jesus) is going to guide you into all the truth

2.      John 8:32-Seeing the truth and believing the truth will make you free from depression, sickness, poverty, fear, and anything else  

3.      Psalm 91:5-Truth will be your protection from deception and from destruction

II.     Satan wants to lead you away from the truth and if will resist that and stick with the truth we won’t be deceived

A.    It is a major thrust of the enemy to lead you away from the truth-Genesis 3:4-6, 1 Timothy 2:14

1.      Deceived means to be lead away from the truth and into error, to go astray, to be led into error (your believing wrong, thinking wrong), led astray from the right way

2.      Satan’s playing on her thoughts & emotions speaking lies endeavoring to lead her away from the truth; he’s trying to move her

a.    This is spiritual warfare of the highest order; the future of mankind is on the line here and the devil didn’t show up with 100 manifest demons and growl and scream and act real scary and force fruit down Eve’s mouth, but rather he fired a fiery dart her direction

1)       1 Timothy 2:14-Deception was his weapon in the Garden; Notice in the garden it was deception and then destruction

2)       She believes this is good and beneficial and she believes wrong and experienced destruction because she yielded to deception

b.    What he says to her sounds right and sounds good and she walked away from the truth

3.      John 16:13-It’s the job the of the Holy Spirit to lead you and guide you into all truth

B.     Here’s a big key to not being deceived: Stick with the truth

1.      When you don’t understand what the enemy is saying and stuff starts getting complicated and questions are being asked that you may not no the answer to, stick with what you know to be the truth and you won’t be deceived

2.      Don’t spend a lot of time thinking about stuff you don’t know the answers to; the truth is simple, it’s lies that are complicated and when stuff starts to get complicated and confusing you need to run back to the light and what you know to be true

3.      Psalm 36:9-In light you see light; You could say in the truth you’ll see more truth

4.      He’s trying to get her away from the truth

C.    John 8:38-Jesus uses truth to set people free and therefore Satan must be using lies to bind people up

1.      The further away from the truth you get the more vulnerable you become to the enemy

a.    Psalm 91:5-His truth shall be your shield and your buckler; it’s your protection from deception and destruction

b.    You think it’s right because you don’t have light and in the dark something bad can look good; but truth, light would keep you from taking the bad thing, going down the bad path and you’d miss destruction

c.     Of course he wants you away from the truth and away from the light; his lies don’t look so good in the light

2.      Proverbs 1:17-Light then becomes your protection from deception; knowledge of the truth will keep you from being deceived

a.    Sight is the key to not being deceived and caught be the enemy’s trap and light gives you sight

b.    The danger is when you don’t see and don’t have light you don’t have the truth