SATAN, THE TEMPTER AND THE ACCUSER
DR. JIM DIXON
1 PETER 5 6-11
DECEMBER 12, 1993
On February 8th, 1855, it snowed in Devon, England. That was unusual. It rarely snowed in Devon, but that night the Exe River froze over, and 2 inches of snow fell. The next morning when children went out to play, they saw something even more strange and unusual They saw hoof prints in the snow, but these were not hoofprints of a quadruped. These were not hoofprints from a 1-legged animal: These were hoofprints from a 2-legged animal. Everybody knows there’s no such thing Now, strangely enough, these hoofprints in the snow did not circumnavigate buildings and houses but went right over the top of them. The hoofprints just went right over the rooftops of the houses and the buildings. The hoofprints continued for 100 miles. It was a great mystery and hundreds of people contacted the authorities. What was going on? Some of the local clergymen decided that it was the devil, that these hoofprints were from the devil himself.
Media picked up on this. In the London news, the headlines read, “The Devil Walks In Devon.” Now, they never did figure out what made those hoofprints in the snow. I’m relatively confident that those hoofprints were not made by the devil. There is nothing in the Bible to indicate that the devil is a hoofed bipod who likes to climb over houses and buildings. You see, that view of the devil is little better than the secular view of the devil which regards him as the mere personification of evil. The secular view of the devil which regards him as the fabrication, the mythological creation of ignorant and uneducated people.
What does the Bible say about the devil? Who is he? What is he trying to accomplish in this world? What is the devil trying to accomplish in your life? This morning we’re going to seek to answer these questions from the Bible as we explore two titles given to Satan. The first title is the title “ho peirazon.” This title is given to the devil in Matthew, chapter 4, verse 3. It’s given in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 3, verse 5. This title is implicit throughout the Bible. Ho peirazon. Those words mean “the tempter.” The devil is the tempter. It was the devil who tempted man and woman in Eden at the dawn of human history. It was the devil who tempted Jesus in the Judean wilderness. It is the devil who tempts men and women today. The word tempt means “to lure” and “to entice.” Every temptation of the devil, every enticement of the devil, should come with a warning: “Dangerous to your faith.”
You may have read recently about the man in Chicago who was a car thief and he was trying to quit stealing cars. One day (it’s a true story) he was walking down a street in Chicago and he saw a brand new car. Nobody was around and it was his favorite car. It was a Toyota Forerunner, his favorite car, and it was the color he most liked. Nobody was around, so he couldn’t resist it. He decided he was going to steal it. He took some of the tools that he carried on him and, combining that with his talent, he was able to quietly open the door. He triggered the ignition, and he was taking off, but he didn’t know that that car belonged to an animal trainer and there was a pet leopard sound asleep in the back seat. took off and he hit a big bump and the leopard just woke up and jumped up roaring. This guy sees it in his rear-view mirror, and he just loses it. Just runs that Forerunner right into a building and crashes. Fortunately, neither the thief nor the leopard were hurt. The thief said, “I’m cured!” He said, “I’ll never steal another car.”
Now, you see, the temptations of the devil, the enticements of the devil, are just like that new car. Attractive. Alluring. But there’s always a leopard in the back seat. There’s always a leopard there because, you see, the enticements of the devil are enticements to sin. They are enticements to break the law of God. The Bible tells us in the book of James that, “Sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.” You see, Satan is ” ho peirazon.” He is the tempter, because he wants to lead you into sin and death, death both physically and spiritually. Ho peirazon.
Now, in exploring this title, we need to perhaps respond to the question, “Does God tempt us?” It says in the book of James, “Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God. God cannot be tempted with evil.” It seems pretty clear God tempts no one. But if it’s so clear, why does our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Lord’s Prayer, tell us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation” if God never tempts anybody? In Matthew, chapter 4 we are told that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. Why does it say there that the Spirit of God led Jesus into the wilderness in order that he might be tempted by the devil?
When we say that God tempts no one, does that simply mean that God is never the primary agent in temptation? Does that simply mean He uses the devil to tempt? You see, the solution to this problem is in the word “periozo,” the word in the Bible that means “to tempt.” The word “periozo” does not only mean to tempt. That word also means “to test.” Now the Bible is very clear that God does test us, and the Bible is clear that Satan tempts us, but they both are rooted in the same word, “periozo.”
Now, you may have a trial in your life. It doesn’t matter whether that trial came from Satan or from God. In either event, God obviously allows it. He’s obviously allowed it. You see, that trial in your life is meant by Satan to be a temptation to lure you into sin and evil. But that trial in your life is meant by God simply to be a test to make you strong and build your character. It’s the same trial, but Satan and God have different purposes. God never wants evil for any of us. He always wants good. Satan never wants good for anybody. He always wants evil. In the midst of that trial, Satan is trying to lure you into evil and God is trying to lure you into good.
Satan has the power to prompt within you. He has the power to lure you and entice you at the level of your flesh, what the Bible calls the “sarks.” Satan not only tempts you externally towards sin. Now, God also has the power to prompt you from within. He comes at the level of your spirit and seeks to prompt you towards good, prompt you towards character building and sanctification. In the midst of the same trial but at the level of your soul, at the level of your “psyche,” you have volition. You have moral autonomy and there you can express your choice and you can choose to respond to the devil’s promoting in your flesh or to God’s prompting in your spirit. You can choose.
Satan’s pretty subtle. He tempts us with money, tempts us with sex. He tempts us with power. I’m sure there’s a lot of you thinking, “Well, you know, I’m doing pretty good. I don’t get tempted by those things.” But Satan’s pretty subtle. When you go to a restaurant and they overcharge you on the bill, what do you do? You always bell the waitress or the waiter. You tell them that they’ve overcharged you. You don’t think “I’ll just go ahead and pay the extra money.” You don’t think like that. What do you do when they undercharge you at a restaurant? They’ve just left something out. You see, Satan views that as a moment of temptation and Satan wants you to say, “Thank God they made a mistake.” Satan wants you to say, “If they can’t add, they don’t deserve their money.” That’s what Satan wants you to say. But, you see, God views it as a test. Not a temptation but a test designed to make you stronger and develop your character and your honesty.
When you’re having dinner with friends, and they say they’ve just gone to a movie, you ask them how they liked it. They say, “Well, it was okay. Quite a bit of nudity and a lot of gratuitous sex.” You see, Satan wants that to be a temptation. He wants that to be a lure and an enticement. He wants to grow lust in you. But God wants it to be a test that develops your character, that you learn self-control and you learn to say no to things.
Sometimes we think that Satan is only concerned with tempting us in areas of money or sex or power, but biblically Satan really wants to tempt us, perhaps most of all, regarding our attitude. He wants to lure you into a bad attitude. He wants you to grumble and complain. He wants you to view life as just a bummer. He wants you to despair. In the midst of all the trials of life that are brought your way, he wants you to grumble and complain. The Bible says God hates grumbling and complaining. The Bible tells us that the children of Israel were not allowed to go into the promised land for 40 years primarily because they grumbled and complained in the midst of their trials. But, you see, Satan wants to lure and entice us into a bad attitude too.
This past week I got two letters. On Tuesday I got a letter saying that this person was not going to give to the relocation and not going to give to the new building project because they believe that this relocation was just a lust for power. On Friday I got another letter telling me that my sermons were horrible and telling me that the Holy Spirit is never present when I preach and telling me that I shouldn’t use thematic messages or storytelling techniques. I should preach the Bible, and if I preach the Bible, maybe the church would have money.
Now when you get letters like that… I know God definitely wants us to be open. He wants us to see if there’s any truth. If there’s truth, He wants us to be humble and He wants us to make the changes we need to make. If there’s not truth in letters like that, God wants us to overcome that trial and wants us to give thanks in the midst of that circumstance. He doesn’t want us to lose our joy, He wants to build our character.
Now, you see, in the midst of that situation, Satan views it as a temptation. If there’s truth in letters like that, Satan wants us to become defensive so that we wouldn’t make any positive changes if they’re needed. If there’s not truth in those kinds of messages, Satan wants us to believe it. He wants us to believe the lie. He wants to bring despair. He wants to bring despondency. He wants to bring a lack of faith. He wants to bring bitterness. These are the kinds of temptations and enticements that Satan brings.
I share this not to give an apologetic for our relocation or an apologetic for my preaching, but to say to you what’s true of this is also true of you. You have a lot of trials in your life. Every day in your life there are things to overcome. Every day in your life there are tests and trials. Is that not true? And, you see, God is trying to grow your character. He wants you to rise above. He wants you to learn to give thanks in all circumstances. He has said, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, if there is anything gracious, if there’s any excellence, if there’s anything worthy of praise, think on these things.” He says, “Rejoice always.” Satan is trying to bring you down, trying to bring despair. In the midst of your tests and trials in life, he is ” ho peirazon.” He is “the tempter.” He lures and entices you into sin, including grumbling and complaining.
Now, there is another title that is given to Satan that I wanted us to take a brief look at this morning. It is the title “ho diabolos.” This title is used of Satan many times in the Bible. The titles oftentimes translated “the devil.” Ho diabolos, But the word doesn’t literally mean the devil. The word literally means “the accuser.” Satan is the accuser. Now, I know if you’ve been reading the newspapers and watching the news, you’re familiar with what’s going on with Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson has been accused by a 13-year-old boy in southern California of sexual abuse. Michael Jackson’s sister from Tel Aviv this week, Latoya Jackson, has also accused him, saying that Michael is guilty of crimes against small innocent children. Now if those accusations are false—and I don’t know whether they’re true or false—they’re diabolical. The word diabolical comes from this word “diabolos,” the word for the devil , but it refers to accusations. Usually, when accusations are diabolical, they’re false! When we think of Satan as the accuser, we think of him as the one who makes false accusations. We think of him making false accusations within us, that he accuses you to yourself that you might be brought low. We think of him as bringing accusations to other people, perhaps, about us—slander, gossip, false accusations.
Certainly Satan does those things, because the Bible says Satan is a liar. But that is not the primary meaning of the word accuser because, biblically, Satan is not primarily concerned with making accusations to you or giving accusations to people in general. But he makes his accusations to God. This is what you see in the book of Job. Satan accuses us before God and, of course, even though Satan now no longer has access to the throne room, the courtroom of heaven, it doesn’t matter. His goal is to see us condemned in the courtroom of heaven. That’s his goal and this is so important that we understand this, that you understand what Satan is trying to do in this world: He wants you to be condemned in the courtroom of heaven. That’s his goal, as even he was once condemned. He brings accusations. He doesn’t want them to be false accusations.
He wants them to be true accusations. He knows that in the courtroom of heaven it won’t do any good if you’re falsely accused. He wants you to be justifiably accused and that’s why he’s the tempter. That’s why he seeks to lead us into sin, that we might be truly accused in that heavenly court and that we might ultimately be condemned. Now, the Bible tells us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. The Bible says that we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ. He’s the defense attorney. The word diabolos and even the Hebrew word “Satan” were used in the Greek, Roman, and Hebrew world in that they were used of a prosecuting attorney. Satan is like a prosecuting attorney who wants to bring you to condemnation, but Jesus is like a defense attorney. He is the advocate, the Bible says, if you believe in Him as your Lord and Savior and you’ve embraced Him.
In that day when you stand before the Lord and Jesus would step forward and He would say “1 paid for those sins. I died for those sins.’ He would be your advocate. He would say ‘My righteousness has been imputed to him” and you would be declared righteous and holy in the courtroom of heaven. Satan knows this and that’s why Satan is not simply trying to lead people into sin, but Satan is trying to keep people from believing in Jesus Christ. He is trying to destroy faith in this world. He’s trying to keep people from believing in Jesus Christ in order that they might be ultimately condemned in the courtroom of heaven.
Now, I’ll tell you a little story. At first it might seem irrelevant but it’s not. A couple of weeks ago I was talking to one of our missionaries, our missionary to Kenya who lives in Nairobi. His name is Vail Ted. He works there in Nairobi with the poorest of the poor. He’s involved in trying to get food to people who are starving. He also wants to get food for their souls. He wants to share the gospel with them that they might fall in love with Jesus Christ. So he’s working just relationally, sharing the gospel at the grassroots level in Africa. But he’s discouraged, he said, because it seems like Christianity is losing there. He said, “It seems like Islam is winning. It seems like the Muslims are winning in Kenya.” He said, “It’s not at the grassroots level, because the Muslims don’t even focus at the grassroot level.” He said, “They attack the centers of power.” That’s their strategy. He says the Islamic people come into Kenya and Nairobi and they attack the centers of power. They try to take over the governmental arena, the executive, the legislative, the Judicial branches of government. They try to place Islamic people there in positions of power.
Then they attack the educational arena, another platform of power in any culture or society. They attack the educational arena and try to place Muslims in teaching positions and in administrative positions in the schools. They have just passed a law that in every school throughout Kenya now there must be a mosque, even though Islamic people are a very small percentage of the population.
Now they’ve attacked the media arena, another great platform of power in any culture or society. Now in Nairobi the two major newspapers are both owned by Muslims or by Islamic groups. Through seizing the centers of power in that nation, they are trying now to influence the way the people think, both in the educational arena and the media arena. Then they try to use governmental power to restrict the growth of Christianity.
Now, Ted Vail said that maybe we need, as Christians, to rethink our strategy. I must say I really believe that Christianity was primarily meant to grow at the grassroots level as the power of the Holy Spirit simply works through everyday people in relationships and we share our love with Jesus Christ and other people fall in love with Christ. But we shouldn’t be naïve. No naivete. Here in America the centers of power—the political arena, the educational arenas, the media—are not held by Islamic peoples. Here in America the centers of power are held by secularists. They have seized the centers of power the governmental centers of power, the educational centers of power, the media.
Don’t get me wrong. I know there are wonderful people working in the government, working in the media, working in education. You might be a teacher. You might be working in the political world. You might be working for the media and you’re wonderful and I think it’s great. I’m glad you’re there. But, you see, the overall drift is toward secularism in each of those platforms of power. We would be horribly naive as Christians if we didn’t understand that behind this there are fallen powers, spiritual powers of darkness. We would be horribly naive if we didn’t realize that Satan was at work. He seizes platforms of power. Why does he do that? Why does Satan want the platforms of power in a culture or society? He wants that in order that he might keep people from having faith, that he might keep people from believing in Jesus Christ and that he might lead people more and more into sin.
I know our time is almost up. There is a lot I wanted to say. I want to just say something about Bill McCartney. I know that this is sensitive. It really isn’t a matter of what you think of Bill McCartney. Personally, I really like and respect Bill McCartney. I really respect him. What you think of him isn’t really the issue. He, of course, is coach of the football program at Colorado University. He was greatly criticized in the newspapers this past week, tremendously criticized in the newspapers. One article in particular really concerns me. To me the issue isn’t what you think of Bill McCartney. It’s a matter of fairness. One article condemned Bill McCartney and the problems at CU and blamed it on his mixing religion and the Bible with his work. The article said that if you take a literal view of the Bible, it produces a black and white view of the world and that is a mistake Bill McCartney has made. In the article it says, “Bill McCartney should just leave the Bible and his Christianity out of his coaching.”
It occurred to me that the sports writer who wrote that article didn’t mind making comments about the Bible. He did not mind criticizing the Bible, making some strange evaluations and comments. It also occurs to me that at the University of Colorado there are many professors who will not hesitate to attack the Bible. Many professors at the University of Colorado are perfectly free to attack the Bible and to attack the Christian faith, and I tell you truly, they do it. If they are free to criticize the Bible and the Christian faith, why isn’t someone on the faculty at CU free to say something positive about the Bible and the Christian faith? It’s a double standard. Monodirectional freedoms. Freedoms only given to one side.
You see, it’s a manifestation of what is going on in our culture and time. The centers of power—educational arena, political arena, the media—are moving into the hands of secularists. In truth, they are being seized by Satan. His purpose, his strategy, behind all of this is to keep people from faith and to erode Judeo-Christian values and move a culture and society into sin. “Who is wise and understanding among you?” Jesus said, “Many of you have eyes to see and cannot see. They have ears to hear, and they cannot hear.” Jesus said, “You are the salt of the world. You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, if salt has lost its power, if salt has lost its potency, how is its saltiness to be restored? It is worthless. It is thrown away and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on the hill cannot be hid. Nor does one light a lamp to set it under a bushel basket, but place it on a lampstand that it might give light to all who are in the house. So let your light shine among men.” Jesus said, “You have not chosen Me. I have chosen you, and I have appointed you to go and bear fruit, that your fruit might abide.” We are at war. It’s not a war against flesh and blood. It’s against the principalities and powers, it’s against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
God calls His people today to faithfulness. We have an enemy. His name is the devil. He is “ho peirazon.” He is the tempter, and he is “ho diabolos.” He is the accuser, and he wants to bring the world into condemnation. We’ve been sent forth into the world with good news, a message of hope, a message of faith, and Christ calls us to greater faithfulness today. Let us close with a word of prayer.