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Author Topic: The schemes of Satan  (Read 6594 times)

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Re: The schemes of Satan
« on: October 16, 2018, 10:00:42 am »

II Corinthians 2:11 (HCSB)
I have done this so that we may not be taken advantage of by Satan. For we are not ignorant of his schemes.

   As I was studying how Love protects us I happened upon this verse.  Notice the end of the verse where it says, “For we are not ignorant of his schemes.”  This got me wondering what it is that we know about the schemes of Satan.  As I thought on the question of what the schemes of Satan were I had to confess I wasn’t sure how to answer the question from the standpoint of scripture.  Scheme is defined as...a large-scale systematic plan or arrangement for attaining some particular object or putting a particular idea into effect.  Satan’s plan is that of death.  John 8:44 tells us that he is a murderer.  Since the wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23)  Satan’s interest is in causing us to sin.  Thus his scheme is to draw us away from God and the life He offers to all men.  So now we know the goal of Satan the question is how does he try to achieve this goal?  He does so through schemes that we are supposed to according to II Corinthians 2:11 know.  So let’s dive in and see what schemes we can uncover from scripture.
   First we go to I Chronicles 21 which is a story about David, King of Israel calling for a census of the people which was against God’s will.  In fact in verse one we see that Satan incited David to take a census.  To incite someone to do something is to encourage them to follow through on the already bad ideas they have.  Like dangling a carrot in front of them.  For David that carrot was the notion that David could know the number of fighting age men in Israel rather than simply trusting God.  David had an idea in his mind, the idea that he wanted to know how many men were in Israel.  Satan came along and encouraged that idea into action.  Time and time again in our lives we have an idea and we might even know that that idea is a bad thing, a sin but one way or another we are encouraged to follow through with the idea and often we give into that enticing just as David did.  Whether through justifications, others suggesting, like David simply having the authority to do so, or something else we find a way to believe we are justified to sin and no one will care. (I Chronicles 21:1).  One important element of this enticing that we should talk about is that God does allow it to happen.  We see that Satan has permission given by God to do certain things like the afflictions he brought to Job.  In II Samuel 24 we see the same thing it is through God’s permission that he is able to use our ideas against us and entice us to sin.
   In I Chronicles we see that Joab was not happy with David’s decision to sin (I Chronicles 21:6-7) now was God.  In fact, God was angry with David.  So as we move through the story we see that Joab doesn’t carry out the entire order in rebellion and God allows His anger to be known.  But with a scheme of Satan we also must have a protection and the protection for David would have been to stand firm against the enemy (Colossians 1:23, Ephesians 6:11, I Corinthians 16:13, Hebrews 3:14, Joshua 23:6, Philippians 1:27, Ephesians 6:13, Psalms 119:1) and in doing so refuse the ideas that were coming into his head.  David failed to take his thoughts captive and turn those thoughts to the things of God. (I Corinthians 10:5, Isaiah 26:3, Romans 12:2, John 8:31-32, Isaiah 26:3; Proverbs 1:23)  Finally David forgot to trust God, to simply trust the God that he knew to be trustworthy and faithful.  (Philippians 4:7, Ephesians 3:19, Philippians 4:9, I Corinthians 10:13) If David had followed these three guidelines he might not have sinned by ordering for a census however, he did sin and so he needed to reconcile with God.  As we go through the passage we see that David confessed that he was responsible for sinning.  (I Chronicles 21:8)  Confession is truly an important part of our reconciliation with God and with others.  (James 5:16, Leviticus 5:5, Leviticus 16:21, Leviticus 26:40, I Samuel 7:6, Ezra 10:1, Nehemiah 1:6, Psalms 32:5, Psalms 38:18, Daniel 9:4, Daniel 9:20, Acts 19:18, I John 1:9)  From the Old Testament law to the new testament Christ we are instructed to confess our sins.  Confession of our sins is necessary because without confession it is as if we are trying to hide our sins. (Joshua 7:19, Proverbs 28:13) I found Romans 10:10 especially interesting on the topic of confession for it equates belief with righteousness but confession is equated with our salvation.  Without doubt we need to confess our sins.  Confession is an act of both exposing who we are, accepting who we are and what we have done and seeking reconciliation for it.  It is part of our baptism. (Matthew 3:6, Mark 1:5) Nahum 5:7 tells us that when we confess our sins we are to pay full compensation for the wrong we have done and then some.  This idea of paying back is carried through to Ezra 10:11 where we are told to separate ourselves from our sin.  This separation seems to be something that David forgot as we move through I Chronicles 21.  David was in verse 8 confessing and in verse 13 he finally became in anguish over the sin he committed.  Nehemiah 9:1-3 talks about confessing with sackcloth.  Sackcloth was how the people of the day showed a brokenness.  David needed to confess with a brokenness over what he had done.
   Now, God was still angry with David for the sin that he had committed by disobedience in ordering the census and David apparently hadn’t done enough by confessing in brokenness.  God gave David three choices 1. 3 years of famine for Israel as punishment for the sin.  2. 3 months of Israel’s enemies fighting and winning battles or 3. 3 days of God’s wrath through the plagues that he would send.  God still needed David to learn something and so like a good Father God punished David.  (Job 5:17, Job 36:10, Proverbs 1:25-26, Proverbs 1:29-30, Proverbs 5:12, Proverbs 6:23, Proverbs 10:17, Proverbs 12:1, Proverbs 15:5, Proverbs 15:10, Proverbs 15:12, Proverbs 15:32, Proverbs 19:27, Proverbs 25:12, Proverbs 29:15, II Timothy 3:16, II Timothy 4:2)  This correction by God was one of the ways that God showed David that he was greatly Loved by God. (Proverbs 3:12, Hebrews 12:6, Deuteronomy 8:5, Psalms 94:12, Proverbs 3:11-12, Revelations 3:19) 
It is interesting that David chose God’s correction, God’s hand of over falling to his enemies.  Notice the reason why David chose God’s plagues because David knew that God was a merciful God. (I Chronicles 21:13) Even the very seat that He had the Children of Israel build for Him is called the mercy seat. (Exodus, Hebrews 9:5)  God is a merciful God and David would rather take his chances with God’s mercy than with the environment or his enemies and their lack of mercy. (Deuteronomy 13:17, Matthew 5:7, Matthew 9:13, Matthew 12:7, Matthew 18:37, Matthew 23:23, Mark 5:19, Luke 1:54, Roman 9:16, Romans 11:31-32, Romans 15:9, II Corinthians 4:1, Ephesians 2:4, Hebrews 4:16, James 2:13, James 3:17, I Peter 1:3, II John 1:3, Jude 1:21)  Even with this mercy 70,000 people were killed by the plagues that God sent before David was ready to move to the final step of his lessons.
I Chronicles 21:17 shows us a David who finally takes responsibility for his actions.  Notice that David needed to first take responsibility for himself and his sin, he needed to be broken by that sin but he also had to own it in obedience (II Samuel 24:19) and fear of the Lord.  (I Chronicles 21:30) To repent means to turn from your sin and turn to obedience.  In other words true repentance is marked by obedience to God. (Acts 2:38, Job 36:10, Psalms 7:12, Psalms 78:34, Isaiah 1:27, Jeremiah 15:19, Jeremiah 34:15, Ezekiel 14:6, Ezekiel 18:30, Ezekiel 33:14, Hosea 6:1, Hosea 14:2, Joel 2:12, Matthew 3:2, Matthew 3:8, Matthew 4:17, Matthew 11:20, Mark 1:4, Mark 1:15, Mark 6:12, Luke 3:3, Luke 3:8, Luke 5:32, Luke 13:3-10, Acts 3:19, Acts 8:22, Acts 17:30, Acts 26:20, Romans 2:4, II Corinthians 7:9-10, II Peter 3:9, Revelations 2:5, Revelations 2:16, Revelations 3:3, Revelations 3:19)  Love is the power to overcome the schemes of Satan but when we do fall to his schemes we can return to the God of mercy with confession, brokenness, and repentance that bears the fruit of righteousness.  Let us always stand firm, take our thoughts captive and trust God so that we do not fall to the enticing Satan tries to do in our thoughts.
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