The Devil Pt 5: His Devices

2 Corinthians 2:1–11

1 But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness. 2 For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me? 3 And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all. 4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you. 

5 But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all. 6 Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. 7 So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. 8 Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him. 9 For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things. 10  To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; 11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

A RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD = A RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH EVERYONE ELSE.

A WRONG RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD = A WRONG RELSTIONSHIP WITH EVERYONE ELSE.

Relationship with God = Relationships. No relationship with God, will inevitably = no relationships.

This morning we give considerations to the devices of the Devil. 

There is an assumption in the text that we ought to pay some attention to and that is that we are supposedly well aware of what those devices are, Paul seems to make that evident in verse 11 of our text;

11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Now, Paul does not say here that before you can become aware of his devices you must have read your Bible through multiple times. You must have attended a good Bible college or entered into a deep and thorough systematic study into the topic of the Devil and understood in every way what his devices are.

No, to the contrary, there is an assumption in the text testifying, reasoning that we ought to be well aware of the devices of the devil;

for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Just as there is a general assumption that we naturally know the being and character of God, we also ought to know the nature and character, the “devices” of the adversary of God, Satan.

All of mankind testify to knowing that God is “GOOD” (Omnibenevolent), if they did not then why is it that the main argument against his existence is the argument which identifies EVIL in the world?

If all of mankind did not believe that God was “All Powerful” (Omnipotent), why is it that in that same claim they presume he can stop all the evil of the world?

If they did not believe he was “All Knowing” (Omniscient), how is it they presume he knows all the evil that is present in the world.

If not “ever present” (Omnipresent), how can he be everywhere at one time to destroy the evil when it appears.

Fascinating that in the greatest argument that is used throughout history that denies his existence is imbedded a deep and natural knowledge of the very nature of God. 

Proving that we are made in his image. 

Proving that all that which is in line with the nature and character of God is identified in us NATURALLY.

Therefore, it ought not to surprise us that all that God is, Satan is not.

If Satan is the adversary of God, everything about his nature ought to be the very opposite of God’s nature. 

• Therefore beloved, all they that Love God hate evil. 
• But the converse is sadly also true.
• All those who Hate God, love evil.
• All who love the Devil, hate good.

The Good will ALWAYS be hated by those who love evil.

Paul wrote, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2 Tim 3:12)

Turn to John 15:17-25

If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

General

Now, lets give some logical considerations to the devices of the Devil based ONLY on what we naturally know about the Lord for, “we are not ignorant of his devices”.

HOLY – Profane

If the Devil is everything that God is not, there is one nature of God that the Devil is not. 

There is an attribute of God that testifies to everything that contains that attribute is also of God, or ‘God-inspired’.

God is HOLY.

That means, he is perfect, he is pure, he is without fault, without sin, good in all the fullness that the word GOOD implies. 

When Jesus said “there is none good but God”, that is what i mean by all that the word properly implies. 

Everything that comes from God directly ought to have the same characteristics.

His Word, the Bible, if it is a HOLY Bible, it must be perfect, both in the whole and in its parts. It must be without error, pure and simple.

Every word must be the perfect word in the perfect place without admixture.

No error, no mistranslation, no mistake, there is no “better word” that ought to be employed other than the word that was employed. When I say perfect, this is exactly what I mean IF the Bible is HOLY!

Therefore, if there is MORE than one version of the Bible in any given language, NATURALLY, there can ONLY be one of two options to believe is true;

Either ONE of them IS Holy, or neither of them are. 

There simply is no other alternative. There is no single argument that can be justified on that matter. 

If there are 400 versions of the Bible in any given language, it is IMPOSSIBLE that more than ONE of them can be HOLY! 

But it IS possible, that NONE of them are holy.

It is the same argument that we employ respecting the religions of the world. 

All of them differ to one degree or another, they contradict each other, sometimes in parts, sometimes in the whole.

Therefore, the ONLY options we have at our disposal are either ONE of all the religions of the world is true, or NONE of them are.

That is what we mean by HOLY.

PROFANE

Satan, and all that comes from him, is not HOLY. The opposite of HOLY in the Bible, is “profane”.

In a passage where God is giving instruction related to the ministry of the Temple of Ezekiel that is to be built in the Millennial Reign of Christ, God is giving instruction as to what is to be taught to the people of God.

Ezek 44:23

“And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.”

We see opposites clearly presented in the text, one Holy, the other Profane.

There was a time not long after the publishing of the Bible in the languages of the people that the world and the culture of the world exploded in beauty in every way. 

Architecture.

Art

Music

Science

Culture, all aspects of Western Civilisation began to bloom and to prosper. Laws became JUST LAWS, the western world began to resemble the influence of the Holy.

All you need do is see the wonderful development of Art. 

The Rijksmuseum Museum in Amsterdam contains some of the most incredible pieces of art work in the world. The paintings literally look like photos, they seem so real.

Artists such as;

DaVinci, Michael Angelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Rossetti. 

Wonderful artwork, incredible sculptures, it was as if the beauty of the world was desired to be re-presented to the world though such works.

We see the explosion of the classical ear of music, the Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Handel, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Verde, Rossini and many others. They made the world sound beautiful, even holy. 

They elevated sound and music sounded as it ought to sound, not only pleasant to the ear, but nurturing to the soul.

So too it was with Architecture, we see it in the buildings of old. Every structure needed to be both beautiful and purposeful. 

So too again, the explosion in knowledge and understanding around the western world.

But enter in the time when the world began to doubt God and soon enough the Caravaggio’s of the 16^th century became the Van Gogh of the 19^th century, the Rembrandt’s of the 17^th century became the Picasso’s of the 20^th century.

In his book, The God Who is There, Francis Schaefer wrote of what he referred to as “The Line of Despair”, a point at which the world turned from hope in God, to hopelessness.

When Absolute Truth turned to the subjective and preferential until the philosophy of the world turned toward meaninglessness. 

The certainties of philosophers who understood the rational, changed to the experiential. 

Beginning first with the theologians such as Thomas Aquanas through to Calvin and Luther, men remained well above the “Line of Despair”, understanding that the HOLY is certain and sure, knowledge can be KNOWN rather than FELT. 

That time, according to Schaefer, came to a close around the time of Immanuel Kant, with George Friedrich Hegel right on the Line of Despair.

Until it fell well below it with the father of Existentialism, Soren Kierkegaard. 

Suddenly the Holy became profane.

Today, a Banana taped to a wall is considered “Art” and sold for $120,000 in 2019 before it was eaten off the wall by another artist, David Datuna in front of stunned onlookers.

But Maurisio Cattelan’s artwork titled simply ‘Comedian’, was replicated in Sothebys auction house in November 2024. 

The bidding for this creative piece of “ART” began at $800,000 and finally sold for $6.2 million dollars before being eaten by NFT Crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun. 

But, whether it was Jackson Pollocks “Blue Poles”, or the ugliness of modern cars, or the houses on the hillside all made of ‘Ticky Tacky”, what we see is that which was beautiful has become profane in appearance.

The glamour of women in days gone by has given way to Pyjamas at Seven Eleven.

Style and swagger has given way to slum and scum.

Distinction

God is a god of order and distinction. He classes his creation and condemns that things ought not to be mixed. 

In the Church, he sets order and decency, rather than disorder and indecency.

Men are to be seen as men. Hair is to be short and distinct from that of women.

The hair of a woman, God prefers at length and says so in scripture. 

Men are men, women are women.

Androgyny, throughout godless cultures of history, identified confusion of the distinctions that God created and the beginning of the end of each civilisation.

Cultural Critic, Camille Paglia historically cited the demise of civilisations through history had its Harbinger in Androgyny, that is, men dressing as women and women dressing and taking on the characteristics of men.

Division

2 Corinthians 2:8–11

8 Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him. 9 For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things. 10  To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; 11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Beloved this is the area where the single greatest device that is employed by the Devil comes to the fore, it is that of creating division.

If there is ever a battle cry of the Devil it is simply “DIVIDE AND CONQUER”.

 In the passage that we have before us we can see that Paul is imploring the Corinthians Church to do all they can to restore the brother back into the Church. 

This church, like all churches, has imperfect people doing this that may cause disreputeoutside but also defile that which is inside the Church.

Galatians does tell us “A Little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” (Gal 5:9), and so this must be dealt with when it is called for. But the purpose os such separation is RESTORATION!

We ought always to seek to restore a brother or sister in the Lord who has strayed from the Lord and his word and the greatest risk of all is that the brother or sister REMAIN SEPARATED.

11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

The single greatest obstacle to the kingdom of the devil in this world is a completely and perfectly united Church for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Such an entity is simply the most powerful entity in the world.

• It does not war with the weapons of this world. 
• It does not rebel against authority, 
• it does not use guns or the sword to conquer this world, 
• it does not seek after political ascendance, no, to the contrary, it seeks the work of the Kingdom of God for the ETERNAL, not the TEMPORAL WORLD. 
• And such a kingdom is the worst of all possible kingdoms as far as the devil is concerned.

It is a matter of interest that faithful Christians are not a terror to this world, they do not seek to overthrow powers and principalities, to the contrary, we are commanded to OBEY them.

1 Peter 2:13–14

13  Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; 14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

Beloved there is ONLY one exception to this command of GOD, we are to obey EVERY command of our rulers UNTIL they command us to DISOBEY God’s Commands!

• We do not have a political commission from Christ.
• We do not have a desire for a secular throne from Christ.
• True Christians ONLY fight for ever soul to win them to Christ, are the very opposite of a bother to the political classes of this world. 
• The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of this life, but are nevertheless powerful; Paul wrote;

2 Corinthians 10:4–6

4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

The greatest advantage that Satan will get over you and I is to DIVIDE us. And not ONLY we who are in the CHurch, beloved SATAN may be the ruler of this world, but he is the ultimate ENEMY of ALL the WORLD.

And he will DIVIDE everyone from everyone;

• HUSBANDS FROM WIVES.
• CHILDREN FROM PARENTS
• THE CHURCH
• FAMILY MEMBERS FROM OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS
• FREINDSHIPS
• He will divide us IDEOLOGICALLY.
• He will divide us on political lines
• He will divide us on national lines.
• Schism’s are his masterpiece, factions are his tour de force. 

Like a lion that separates the heard to catch and consume his prey, he will divide, and in his divisions, he will CONQUER. 

BUT HE HAS A FOCUS

Dividing Areas

A RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD = A RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH EVERYONE ELSE.

A WRONG RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD = A WRONG RELSTIONSHIP WITH EVERYONE ELSE.

Relationship with God = Relationships. No relationship with God, will inevitably = no relationships.

Political Division

Daniel 2:40–42

⁴0 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. 41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.

Like the picture on the front of the box of a jigsaw puzzle, it is great to have an understanding of the end goal of the devil.

There are many people today that have portions of the puzzle, but with out the picture on the box they just don’t know where it all fits. Some are joining large sections one with another, but still fail because they do not have the whole picture.

The Bible does.

This is where it all ends in this world, the end is a completely divided world both politically, ideologically and socially. The final kingdom of this world is simply seen as “Iron and Clay”, “Partly strong and partly broken”.

It is a fractured political kingdom that is taking its shape and form in our very day TODAY.

European countries, within a few short years and ramped up dramatically in 2015 with the invasion during the manufactured Syrian Refugee Crisis, are now almost completely divided NATIONALLY.

The efforts in the US and Australia are the same. We are all to be divided nationally, politically, ideologically.

The Alogorithms employed by Google and other search engines, even those of Facebook, Instagram, TicToc, X, all of them are designed to feed you results that are based on past views anticipating that this sort of content is what you prefer.

But as they feed you those results two things occur;

1. The first is that the results will appear further and further toward one of the political spectrum.
2. The second is that., once this is well accomplished, you will NOT see ANY results from the OTHER side of the political spectrum.

LEFT and RIGHT are political constructs beloved, they are NOT real. They ONLY are given to us to choose from a TWO PARTY SYSTEM where BOTH are leading us to the same political end.

The UNIPARTY is a real system and is the preferred system of the world because it is easy to manage.

As Vance Havener once stated, “There is no left wing or right wing, they are both flapping on the same bird”.

So he divides POLITICALLY.

FAMILIES.

Mark 13:10–13

10 And the gospel must first be published among all nations. 11 But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. 12 Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. 13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

The last end of this world, this is a part of the PICTURE ON THE BOX.

Remember that every thing God loves and created, these Satan hates. This is why it ought not to be “Ignorant of his divices”. 

Satan HATES the family because they are the single most NATURAL UNITY that has ever been seen on the planet. 

Just as it is natural that Birds of a Feather Flock Together, so too it has always been natural for Family Units to be a UNIT.

The nature love and affection, the natural BLOOD in the veins, are the glue that NATURALLY holds families together.

Traditionally, NOTHING was more valuable than the family.

BUT, Satan uses the fallen state of man AGAINST the family, to divide them, to split them.

Remember the fallen nature of Satan is the same fallen nature of man. God had ordained an ORDER in the family and Satan uses those same fallen natures of Man to DIVIDE the family.

The end of which we have just read about, but it begins earlier.

Micah 7:6

6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.

Micah here testifies to the time of the last days. This is one of the passages that speak to us of that which will come immediately AFTER messiah appears as the time of the end.

How do we know this?

Because Jesus claimed that it will be due to HIM that Families will divide. Those who love Christ will be hated by those who do not. All who will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall be persecuted wrote Paul to Timothy.

Turn to

Luke 12:51–53

51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: 52 For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. 53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

The reality is that faith in Christ is that which will cause the divisions. The provocative words of Christ are not given us to blame him, but such division is the natural state of those who hate him against those who follow after him.

Fathers divided against Sons, sons against fathers:

The first place of attack is ALWAYS against those who have God ordained Authority. Fathers are the principle focal point. Destroy the image of the Father and we tear down the structure of the family.

Sons often desire the ascendancy well before they are qualified, and so rebel against the father.

Mothers against the daughter, daughter against mother.

It is the same respecting daughters. The mother is the natural authority in the home respecting the daughters. Both husband and wife are King and Queen in the home, but the natural rebellious state of the Child who will not obey the Lord and Honour their parents, will target the parent of the same sex as their enemy.

Mothers in law against the daughter in law, daughter in law against mother in law.

The natural state of Women falls in line with the curse of the fall, they will always seek to have the authority over their Husbands. Part of the competition is the Mother in Law.

Sadly, the NATURAL state of man, contrary to that which was commanded of God, IS TO LET THIER wives have such authority!

Today, more families are SPLIT due to the “daugher in law’s against the mother in law’s” and visa versa, than any time is our history. 

There seems to be a perceived COMPETITION for the man, he is the meat in the sandwich, and too often both mother and daughter in law NATURALLY divide against one another.

There are times the Mother will NOT allow the Son to cleave unto his wife, but tragically there are too many times today where the wife DEMANDS he leave his mother. 

Beloved, the leaving and cleaving that is seen in the scripture OUGHT not lead to the Dishonour of the Child to the parent. When this occurs, Satan has taken hold.

Wives not submitting to their Husbands is the cause of this rift, and FAR TOO many Husbands are worshipping their WIVES above their worship of God and PERMITTING THIS RIFT. 

Either way, Satan uses our NATURAL fallen nature against us.

CHURCHES

1 Corinthians 11:17–19

17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. 18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. 19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

1 Corinthians 3:1–3

1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

Unity

1 Corinthians 1:10

¹0 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Psalm 133:1

1  Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

1 Peter 1:22–23

22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

1 Peter 3:8

8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:

1 John 3:10–13

10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. 

11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. 13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

Romans 12:1–2

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Romans 12:4–5

4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

A RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD = A RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH EVERYONE ELSE.

A WRONG RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD = A WRONG RELSTIONSHIP WITH EVERYONE ELSE.

Relationship with God = Relationships. No relationship with God, will inevitably = no relationships.