Turn to Revelation 12, and
get Revelation 12:9. And, with the other
hand, get Luke 22 and Job
2. All right, Job 2, Luke
22, and Revelation 12.
All right now, first of all, in Revelation
12, about the devil, in Revelation 12:9:
And the great dragon was cast
out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the
whole world: he was cast out into the earth." "And the great dragon
was cast out, that OLD serpent.
All right now, the statement is, "The devil deceives
the whole world." Nobody's big game for him; they're all small pickin's.
The next thing is, he's old; he's been around a long time. He's been
around for six millenniums. When you read your Bible, did anybody
ever get in the ring where the devil got knocked out? He got Moses
to kill a man; he got Moses to lose his temper and hit a rock; he got David
to commit adultery and murder; he got Simon Peter to swear; he got Daniel
to let a king bow down and commit sacrilege in front of him; he got Joseph
to lie about the silver cup; he got Paul to lose his temper when the fellow
hit him in the Sanhedrin. Anybody he deals with in that Bible messes
up--except Christ.
So the first thing about the devil is that he's been
around a long time, and he's able to deceive anybody. That's the
first thing.
All right, the next thing--Luke
22:31: And
the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that
he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith
fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
All right, Satan wanted Peter. And He said, "Satan
wants to sift you and work you over." And when you study what the devil
did to Simon Peter, if he didn't read his mind, at least he knew him better
than his mother knew him.
For example, in this chapter you're reading, look at
Luke 22, the same chapter, look at this thing
on the sword with Simon Peter. Verse 33:
I'm ready to go...to death. Verse 36:
Get you a sword. Verse 38:
Two swords...it's enough. Now what did Simon Peter do this
same night we're reading about here? Didn't he draw a sword in the
garden and hack off a guy's ear?
Now, do you realize the devil had that thing all worked
out? And, when the devil had that thing, he knew Simon Peter.
And he said about Simon Peter, "Now, Simon Peter's trouble is, he's impetuous.
He likes to fight. And the Lord said to him, `Get you a sword.' So
now Peter's got a sword. Now I'm going to fix Simon Peter!"
And he gets out there in the garden, and they come in
there, and the devil says, "OK. Action!" And he draws the sword.
And the Lord says, "Put it up."
And Peter says, "What do you mean, `Put it up'?
You said get one Luke 22. You said get
one Luke 22!"
And Christ said, "If you live with the sword, you're
going to perish with the sword. Put it up!"
And Simon Peter put it up, and then he was mad with the
Lord! The reason why Simon Peter denied the Lord was not because
he was afraid; he was mad at Him! And, when he got down by that fire,
and they said, "Are you one of them? Are you one of them?" he said,
"Blank blankety-blank blank, NO, I'm not one of them!"
Do you know what was wrong? He was mad at the Lord!
And he was mad at the Lord because the Lord said, "Get you a sword," and
he got him a sword--and then the Lord wouldn't let him use it. "Put
it back up!"
Now, you've got to admit that's a pretty carefully wrought-out
thing the devil worked out with Simon Peter. He knew his mind.
Turn to Job chapter 2.
And in Job chapter 2, at verse
9, look what Job's wife says to him, when he finally winds up smitten
with leprosy, or whatever it was, from head to foot. Look at Job
2:9: "The said his wife unto
him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die."
Where did his wife get that from? Look at
verse 4, up in heaven: And Satan answered the Lord, and
said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he
will curse thee to thy face.
Verse 9, down on the ground:
Curse God, and die.
Now, do you know what that means? That means that
Job's wife had a direct hotline right to the devil. And down there
on the ground, she was saying what the devil wanted Job to do, and the
devil was using her to get Job to do it.
So, I'm saying, in view of that and some others, the
answer to the question is this: That, although the devil can't read
your mind, he at least could know you better than your mother or father
knows you. And your mother and father know you pretty well!
I'd say, since the devil has six thousand years of experience in dealing
with people, he certainly knows anybody here better than their parents
know them. And he wouldn't have to do much reading by them to mess
us up.
And then again, we do things to betray what we're thinking
when nobody else is around. The devil sees that.
So he's pretty well prepared, and we're pretty unprepared.