The Four Ways Satan Works

“And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old, who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.”

Notice there are two pictures: the dragon, the serpent.

The dragon—it’s large, it’s fearful, it’s fierce, it’s awe-inspiring, it threatens, it terrifies, and it tramples and destroys. On the other hand, the serpent or the snake is small, sometimes scarcely visible. He doesn't come in that same way as the dragon, but he kind of inserts himself through some little crack or hole. Well, that, again, is how Satan operates. He can be a dragon, or he can be a snake. He can be large and fierce and awe-inspiring and terrifying, or he can be very slimy and slippery and come in through some little hole where you wouldn't expect an enemy to come.

And then turn to John 8:44, and this is what Jesus says to the people who were trying to kill him:

“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Notice the three titles there: murderer, liar, and father of lies.

And then in John 10:10, Jesus gives another designation:

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

The thief there is a person, of course. It's Satan. He's contrasted with Jesus. Satan is the life taker; Jesus is the life giver.

And then notice what Jesus says about the reason that Satan comes into our lives. He says, Satan, the thief, “comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” There are three purposes that Satan has: to steal, to kill, to destroy. Whenever Satan comes into our lives, that's what he comes to do. He'll disguise his motives, he'll seek to conceal his presence and his activity, but his ultimate objectives never change: to steal, to kill, to destroy. To steal means to take away that which is rightfully ours, our inheritance in God, the blessings that God wants us to have.

To kill is to take our life physically. Remember, he's a murderer. He kills people physically. To destroy goes beyond time into eternity. To destroy is the ultimate, ongoing, eternal destruction of the lost soul that's been deceived and ensnared by Satan.

Now, let's look at some of the main ways that he works. What does he do against us? Let's go back to Revelation 12, verse 9, for a moment.

“And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old, who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.”

That's the first and most characteristic operation of Satan: he deceives. He works through deception. He's a liar. He does not come with the truth. He does not present facts as they really are. He deceives us. And only after he has deceived us can he accomplish his other purposes against us.

So we need to bear in mind continually that Satan operates on the basis of deception. Deception is the way he initially ensnares his victims. Once he has us deceived, then he can do against us the other evil things that are his purpose. So always be on your guard against deception. The real safeguard against deception is the Word of God, the truth of Scripture. The Scripture is true.

And if we're persuaded of anything contrary to the Scripture, somewhere behind that persuasion is the enemy, Satan, and his aim in deceiving us is to destroy us. We'll turn to Matthew, chapter 4, verse 3, a picture of the temptation of Jesus by Satan in the wilderness.

“The tempter came to him”—Jesus—“and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’”

Notice the title there given to Satan: the tempter. To tempt is to entice. Satan entices us to do evil. He sets before us something that seems desirable and attractive, and once we're deceived by him, it's pretty easy for us to believe that it's desirable and attractive. Then he says, “If you want this thing, then this is what you need to do.” But this that he's trying to persuade us to do is always something that's in disobedience to God. He tempts, or entices us, to disobey God on the basis of something apparently attractive or worthwhile that he's offering us.

And then in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 2 and verse 18, Paul writes this:

“For we wanted to come to you”—that's the Thessalonian Christians—“I, Paul, more than once, and yet Satan thwarted us.”

And another version says, “Satan hindered us.” That's another typical activity of Satan, especially towards the servants of God. He thwarts, he hinders, he opposes their intentions. He puts obstacles in their way. He resists. That's one of the meanings of Satan: the resister.

And then we look in Revelation 12:10, speaking of Satan again:

“For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.”

Another typical activity of Satan: he accuses. He accuses us primarily to God. Why does he accuse us? What's his motive? His motive is to prove us guilty. See, the greatest single tool that Satan has against us is guilt. If he can keep us feeling guilty, then we are never a match for him. We can never rise up, take the offensive against him, and defeat him. So he is continually accusing us. He's misrepresenting us. He's bringing out all our bad points and overlooking our good ones, and saying everything bad that can be said against us, his aim being to make us guilty.