Good afternoon, brothers and sisters.
We are talking about the way to the recovery of the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The brothers asked me to speak on Paul’s testimony: “I have fought the good fight.” They also asked if I would consider sharing on this verse: “We are not ignorant of the schemes of the devil.”
Because this is an afternoon session, we want to try to be a little more practical. So we will combine these two thoughts and look at this good fight: victorious over the schemes of the devil.
This afternoon, we want to look at one of the enemy’s main strategies, which is deception.
Let us turn to Ephesians 6, to these familiar verses regarding our spiritual wrestling: Ephesians 6:10-12.
Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might.
Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Then let us look at two verses in 2 Corinthians 2. Here we are dealing with the discipline of a brother.
But to whom ye forgive anything, I forgive also: for what I also have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, for your sakes have I forgiven it in the presence of Christ;
that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
— 2 Corinthians 2:10-11
Then we turn to Revelation 12, as our Lord gains great victory over the enemy. We will read Revelation 12:9-10.
And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.
And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accuseth them before our God day and night.
Notice how thorough the enemy’s scheme is in verse 9: he deceives the whole world.
Then we turn to our Lord’s words in Matthew 24, as He tells His disciples about the things of the end time. We will read verses 4-5, 11, and 24.
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man lead you astray.
For many shall come in My name, saying, I am the Christ; and shall lead many astray.
— Matthew 24:4-5
And many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray.
— Matthew 24:11
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
— Matthew 24:24
Now let us turn to two more verses in 2 Timothy. Paul is sharing testimony.
But thou didst follow my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, patience, persecutions, sufferings; what things befell me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: and out of them all the Lord delivered me.
Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
But evil men and impostors shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
— 2 Timothy 3:10-13
And then, in 2 Timothy 4:7:
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Our Father, we come to You in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only under His precious blood and only through the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
We expect an open heaven over us today. The enemy hates all exposure of his deceitfulness, but since Calvary You made an open show of him. So we feel we can come today and share this precious word.
Lord, we pray You would shine Your light into our hearts, revealing to us our Savior’s great victory, that we too might fight the good fight. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
I would like to change one word because, in English, it would be more meaningful. Where Paul says, “I have fought the good fight,” I would like to say, “I have fought the noble fight.”
This word in the original Greek speaks of character. It is a noble fight that Paul has fought.
What does that mean: a noble fight?
Now, you and I unfortunately get involved in a lot of fights that are not so good. We often waste a lot of energy fighting the wrong fight.
But Paul had saved his fighting for the noble fight. His fight produced gain for the kingdom of God.
Among Paul’s various fightings was the fight to expose the deceit of the enemy.
Paul himself, as a Pharisee, lived in deception. He even found himself fighting against the Messiah. But when the light shone from heaven, he saw his bondage of deception.
He repented and came to a knowledge of the truth. You cannot read Paul’s letters without realizing that he was a preacher of the truth. What a noble fight.
We read in 2 Timothy 3 some biographical references—the difficulties Paul had in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. Timothy was an eyewitness to these persecutions.
Timothy had watched Paul throughout his life, suffering and engaged in much warfare. He stood for the truth against the Judaizers and against false teachers.
We remember when Paul came to Ephesus. He was engaged in spiritual warfare against Artemis, witchcraft, and demons.
But listen to his testimony: “What persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me.” It was a noble fight on high ground.
When we listen to Paul’s last words—and this was probably the last letter we have from Paul—we see something most wonderful.
Why is this fight a noble fight? Because after thirty-three years as a Christian, fighting the good fight, the fight had not shaped him.
What had shaped the apostle Paul over those thirty-three years? The transforming work of the Holy Spirit in him and his pursuit of his Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul could say at the end of his life, “I have fought the noble fight.” He fought the good fight in the character of the Lord Jesus.
He had moments of discouragement and moments of trial, but the enemy could never draw him out into fighting against flesh and blood.
Here we see Paul in 2 Timothy. He is in jail, and what does he say? “I am still fighting the noble fight.”
The actual word fight in this passage is a Greek word, literally agona, from which we get agony.
He uses the same word as he writes his letter to the Colossians:
For I would have you know how greatly I strive for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.
— Colossians 2:1
Now think of Paul’s noble warfare. What would we do if we were sitting in prison for years and years? Would we quit, become discouraged, and begin to doubt?
Not Paul. Even in prison, he is still wrestling for the sake of the saints.
In this last letter, 2 Timothy, what do we find him doing? Spending time to help young Timothy fight the noble fight.
What a wonderful testimony of a man who had the testimony of Jesus in his life.
Now we are to fight the noble fight. When we go and share the gospel with this unclean world, we must learn to share and yet not become defiled by the world.
There is a noble fight to be fought even in church life—not those lesser fights, flesh against flesh; not those negative views of one another; not those personal grudges.
Rather, it is a fight to bring everyone perfect before Christ.
But if we are to fight the noble fight, we cannot be ignorant of the schemes of the devil. We must realize his schemes and his strategy.
Paul said, “We are not ignorant of the schemes of the devil.” This afternoon, I specifically want to talk about this scheme of deception.
We want to turn to 2 Corinthians 11, to see a little picture of how crafty and wily the enemy is.
For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ.
— 2 Corinthians 11:2-3
Here is a word for us as believers: we should not be deceived by the enemy’s scheme.
When we come to the Lord Jesus in simple faith, we are saved, and we are kept by our Lord. We focus upon the Lord Jesus.
Now the enemy has a project: to distract us from the Lord Jesus. He will use many devices to try to get our eyes off the Lord Jesus.
We turn to John 8, and we see that the enemy has been lying and deceiving from the beginning. We read John 8:44.
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and standeth not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.
When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof.
We see two things. He deceives us in order to draw us out of the will of God, and then he kills us. His end is destruction.
The Lord said that he comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. But, of course, he is a deceiver. He does not tell you that he comes to kill you.
Even as he deceived Eve, so he deceives man. The devil said, “Has God really said?” “Surely you will not die.”
When man fell into sin, he fell into a world of darkness. In this place of darkness, people are at the mercy of this deceiver.
We know that the enemy has a certain authority over mankind and even this world, but he must and can only rule out of darkness. If the light comes, it exposes his works.
Of course, we know his number-one deception. What is that? “I do not exist. There is no devil.”
A man who is lost and doing whatever he wants to do thinks he is independent and free. Little does the sinner know that Satan has him in his full grasp.
And so were some of us before we were saved. We said, “I have no master.” The devil said, “That is right. That is right.” But all the time he was master over us, driving our lusts and driving us to corruption.
He has corrupted everything in this world. Of course, we do not know it, but there is corruption in every nation, every marriage, every family, every job, and everybody.
We are on the way to death, but the enemy still says, “You shall not die.” People live in darkness, even as they do what seems right in their own eyes, but the end is destruction.
We know this is the way of the world, and that is why we have a gospel of light to share with those who are in darkness. But we see that the enemy particularly uses deception upon God’s own children.
He disguises himself. Deceit is lying with a disguise.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11 that Satan even disguises himself as an angel of light. He says, “This will be good for you. This will better your life. This will make you wise. This is the right thing to do.”
Many of God’s children through the ages have been deceived by his deceiving way.
God, through the ages, has given a hindrance to the devil’s scheme. By the light of the Word of God, the enemy is exposed. How important it is for us to know the Word of God.
When God gathered together the nation of Israel before Mount Sinai, it is no mistake that the second commandment was, “Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image.”
Mankind, since the dawn of religion, has been making idols. What could be wrong with idols? Even our father Abraham used to make idols. It is only a practical thing, a statue.
But why did God say, “No idols”? Because there are spirits behind idols that bring the children of God into bondage.
As soon as they worshiped the golden calf, they fell into immorality.
But men are ignorant. Today’s idol—American Idol—whatever we think is important, that is just the outward idol. There is a spirit behind it trying to bring us into bondage.
God’s Word says, “No idols.” Is it not interesting that John, at the end of his first letter, says, “Keep yourselves from idols”? It is because of what is behind them.
When the Lord was giving orders for the camp of Israel, He gave the strictest prohibition against any kind of divination, witchcraft, or necromancy because of the spirits behind them.
But man lives in such darkness. Even King Saul was taken over by an evil spirit, and in the end he went to a witch to find out what he should do rather than going to the Lord his God.
How easily we are deceived.
David had a perfect heart for the Lord, but we find this interesting truth in 1 Chronicles 21:1:
And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.
There are two opinions about why David took the census. Some say it was because of pride and he wanted to count the population of his empire. Some say the enemy struck fear in his heart, and he wanted to count so he knew how many soldiers he had.
Satan even provoked King David, and it cost seventy thousand people.
The schemes of the devil are seen throughout the Bible. Thank God for His precious Word.
The dear prophet Isaiah saw something behind Babylon, even Satan himself, in his great prophecy in Isaiah 13-14. He exposed Satan behind the kingdom of Babylon, seeking to sit on the throne of God.
Ezekiel saw a similar revelation. Behind the great kingdom of Tyre, Satan was also sitting there.
What an amazing revelation. There are world rulers, even today, empowered by the enemy himself.
Then it was Daniel who shed light on this great spiritual warfare over the kingdoms of this world.
You remember that Daniel was praying for several weeks. Finally, Michael came and said, “I had to wrestle with the great princes and spirits over Persia before I could come here.”
The world does not believe this, but behind the nations of this world there are invisible principalities, powers, and authorities at work, trying to destroy and to raise up according to satanic plans.
The Christian recognizes that when there is fighting going on, it is not merely fighting on earth. There is an issue behind it of a spiritual nature.
When God’s children lived in the light and power of God’s Word, the enemy could not deceive them and lead them astray.
But by the time of Jesus, Israel was creating its own light and living in it. Darkness had fallen upon them.
At the right time, the Lord Jesus came. It says of Galilee, “The people that sat in darkness saw a great light.”
When Jesus came, it was as if a great floodlight of truth fell upon the earth, and suddenly there were demons everywhere. Do you think there are any less today?
So proud and deceptive was Satan that he tempted Jesus in the wilderness. He used his best scheme against the Son of God.
He used Scripture to try to deceive Jesus, but Jesus was the Word of God. Jesus rebuffed every attempt of Satan to have mastery over Him.
As Jesus shared in His great parable, first He bound the strong man, and then He looted his house, setting the captives free.
Was that not a wonderful picture of Jesus in the Gospels? Wherever He walked, light fell on the place. Deception was exposed. People in the bondage of evil spirits were set free.
These spirits have no power in the light. Wherever Jesus walked, the light of God fell, and people were set free from generations of deception and lies.
When Jesus spoke, the enemy had to flee because He spoke the truth.
You remember when Jesus spoke in Matthew 13 on the kingdom of God. There is a great conflict going on in the kingdom of heaven.
There is violence in the kingdom of heaven, and those who will be servants of the kingdom must lay hold of the truth in this kingdom.
He spoke of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Why is it that something which starts out good—the kingdom of God—ends up being corrupted?
In Jesus’ parables, He began to expose the enemy.
You remember when the disciples asked Jesus, “What does this parable of the sower mean?” What did Jesus say? The seed that had fallen on the hard ground—the enemy immediately came along and snatched the Word of God away.
When the Word of God is spoken and the seed is scattered, why is it that for some it never goes into their heart? It is because the evil one is there, ready to snatch that seed away before it can germinate.
Jesus also shared the parable of the wheat and the tares. The disciples asked, “What does this parable mean?”
What did He say about the tares? These are sons of the evil one, sown into the kingdom. What a strategy.
Here is the kingdom of heaven, and when nobody is looking—in the night, in the darkness—he sows sons of the evil one in the kingdom.
But especially when we come to Matthew 24, concerning the end time, we hear our Lord say over and over again, “Be not deceived.”
There are those who will come with powers and signs. Do not be deceived.
Finally, the Antichrist will come, the personification of deception, and he will even try to deceive the elect.
Our enemy’s deceiving strategies will go on until he is finally judged at the coming of the Lord Jesus.
But, of course, we know that when Jesus died on Calvary, an open exposure was made of the enemy and his ways.
In Colossians 2:15, we read:
Having despoiled the principalities and the powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
What a victory our Lord won in His battle in the light.
In sending Jesus to the cross, Satan thought this was the greatest moment of strategy in all his deception. But it turned out that his own pride had deceived himself.
His wisdom was exposed as foolish. The greatest victory of all time was when Jesus died and rose again. The cross made an open show of the enemy and his defeat.
The rest of the New Testament continues to speak about this matter of fighting the noble fight against deceit.
Since Calvary, something significant has changed. When we read about spiritual warfare in Revelation or 2 Corinthians, references to the enemy’s schemes are made only in the context of Christ’s victory.
Do you understand what I mean? It is Christ’s victory that is foremost.
If we would fight the noble fight, we look at the victory of Calvary. We no longer dwell on the spiritual conflict because the foe was defeated.
It is important for us to understand his strategy. Why do we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers?
Because the church, the testimony of Jesus Christ, has a very important job right now.
The Word of God says that we are to make the enemy a footstool for the Lord Jesus.
We also see references to spiritual warfare in the book of Revelation. It looks like a pretty scary picture when you read all those various things that happen.
But what really happens in the book of Revelation is that the enemy is fully exposed and fully defeated.
You notice there is no more deceit. The enemy is out in the open: the Antichrist, the false prophet, the harlot, and the kingdom that followed them.
They are openly hostile to the Lamb, judged and defeated and sent to hell.
The book of Revelation is about the victory of the Lamb.
Now where does that leave us? One of the most important aspects of our wrestling is to overcome the deception that is in the world.
We have been saved by grace, but the truth of the matter is that our minds need to be renewed.
We often speak of Romans 12 and the need for consecration: that we are to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God; that we are not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
We see from this context that this matter of consecration is not optional.
Unless our minds are renewed by the Spirit, we will continue to be deceived by the enemy and the world.
Even as we have been here for this short time, for this one day, in our thought life the enemy still has things to say, until his lies are exposed in the light and dealt with under His precious blood.
It is still possible for Christians to believe a lie.
“Who are you?” This is what the enemy tells you. “You are not a very good Christian. You never can be such an overcomer. How can you be involved in tribulation in order to bear the testimony? No way.”
“Everybody else here is spiritual, but not me. I need to continue to fake it. I need to be deceptive, to pretend that I am a Christian, or my mother and father will give me a tough time.”
How many Christians live outside the truth that they are a new creation?
Most Christians lie. They say, “I am more a person of the world than a person of Christ.” But you know that is not true.
Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new.
— 2 Corinthians 5:17
I am telling you, the enemy will fight against who you are so that you will not claim all that you have in Christ.
Another thing the enemy is always deceiving and lying about is this: Who is God?
“I do not think God loves me. I do not think He is really my Father. I think He is angry with me. I think He is going to kick me out. I do not think I can trust God.”
“If I really gave my life to God, He will take everything away. I like video games. I just do not trust Him.”
Throughout the New Testament, we hear again and again: “Be not deceived. Be not deceived.”
The enemy continues to attack our soul, but we must begin to fight.
Here is the noble warfare: place your life on the altar. Give the Lord your mind for His renewing.
Let the Word of God dwell richly in your heart, and the light will shine. We must have done with the lies of the enemy.
Unless we learn to wear the armor that has been given to us in Christ, unless we have that helmet of salvation squarely on our mind, unless we are girded about with truth, we can still be deceived.
How about you? Are you deceived by the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life?
The enemy works for Madison Avenue, and he always packages these things in a beautiful way.
Now, let us be honest, brothers and sisters. Even the American dream is a deception.
There are some dear brothers working eighty hours a week for an American dream. All they do is work for wages with holes in their pockets.
The American dream is something the enemy is using in the church today. Be not deceived.
The enemy finds any way he can to get us into bondage, that we may not be able to fight the noble fight.
The church today has suffered great loss, especially the testimony. The enemy has gained great advances.
A Christianity without a cross is a deception.
We read earlier that Paul says all who would live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
Some people love the Lord and want to fight the good fight, but they define the good fight as a nice fight.
“Why cannot we just be friends in the church? Why cannot we just talk about good things?”
There is a whole school in the church now that says, “Do not talk about hell.”
There are many, many Christians today who do not really believe there is a devil. They do not think there is really any spiritual warfare. They think this is just religious talk.
All the time, they are suffering loss. Their marriages are falling into difficult times. Their children are being snatched away, and they say there is no devil.
The devil says, “That is right.”
We are in a great battle in this recovery of the testimony.
I think you understand how deceitful the enemy is. He knows our weakness, and he takes advantage of it.
The next two times I share, Lord willing, I want to share first on the fact that we wrestle individually in this noble fight, and then finally, Lord willing, on the warfare corporately.
But could I turn us to one last Scripture and let it be a trumpet call for us to fight the noble fight, gaining victory over deception?
It is just a few wonderful verses in Romans 13. We want to be living in the light.
Romans 13:11-14:
And this, knowing the season, that already it is time for you to awake out of sleep: for now is salvation nearer to us than when we first believed.
The night is far spent, and the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
Let us walk becomingly, as in the day; not in revelling and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy.
But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Now we know from the book of Revelation that, even as the end draws near, the church is sleeping.
The church of Sardis, which is still around today, has a reputation but no life. So the Lord said to the church of Sardis, “Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain.”
Also today we have the church of Laodicea: self-sufficient, blind to this spiritual warfare.
Oh, how we need to heed these words here in Romans.
Many of you serve the Lord, and just like Timothy, we are called upon to fight the noble fight. We need to help those who are younger than us not to live with deception, but in the light.
Could we spend the next minute and ask ourselves, as servants of God, these three questions from this Scripture?
Are we awake? Do we know what time it is? Do we know how near our salvation is? Wake up.
Second, cast off the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
It is time to have done with those things of darkness. May the Lord shine His light on us in these days and expose by His light those things that need to be cast aside.
But we cannot just stand there naked and vulnerable. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh.
Now this is the noble fight. May the Lord help us to be faithful. Shall we pray?
Father, we thank You for the great victory that was won at Calvary.
We see the testimony of Paul, that he lived in that victory. You shone the light on him. He turned from deception, and he fought the noble fight.
Lord, we pray that You would have mercy on us and help us in this late hour.
We do not want to be deceived by our sleepiness or deceived by our blindness, but to properly assess this warfare that we are in.
Lord, we want to be shaped by our pursuit after You.
We pray that You would deliver us from ignorance of the schemes of the devil. Help us, Lord, we pray, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.