Promises, promises, promises. Lies, lies, lies. Satan is good at making promises that look good on the outside but are a bunch of lies on the inside. He is a distracter. A liar. A cheating schemer. Satan wants to make us look at the pleasures of sin without realizing the consequences. Satan promises a good time and happiness. He wants us to have fun and enjoy whatever we want. “Live it up.” “Eat, drink, and be merry in pleasing yourself.” He wants us to be “ignorant” about God and the fact that God will punish all who are in sin with eternal fire in Hell. The sorry devil tells us not to worry about Hell. “Just have fun and enjoy yourself,” he says. Unfortunately, Satan is good at it. It is the reality of this fleshly life that we face each day. But we have to fight against Satan and be wise toward his schemes. That’s why we have God’s Word.
Peter warns us about those who promise good times and pleasure without realizing the reality of the consequences. 2 Peter 2:18-22 says, “For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh… They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: ‘The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.'” They boast of great things. They promise freedom. Pleasure. A life lived their own way. But the sad reality is it is sin and God will punish all in sin.
This has been the problem from the beginning. In the garden Satan deceived Eve by getting her to look at the pleasure of the forbidden fruit and not to take God’s threat of punishment seriously. Eve only saw her fleshly desires and pleasures. She soon learned that God wasn’t joking about the punishment (Genesis 3). Israel was constantly deceived by Satan as they traveled with God through the wilderness. When things got hard they often talked about how “good” they had it in Egypt. When in reality they were suffering in slavery and even crying out to God for saving. But their fleshly desires made them ignore the harshness they faced in Egypt and only focused on their supposed pleasures (cf. Exodus 16 & Numbers 11). Paul says that we can be deceived into thinking that God’s not really going to punish anybody for the things the Bible calls sin. But Paul warns us not to be deceived because God is going to punish those in sin (Ephesians 5:6).
Satan lies every day. Satan wants us to believe his lies. Satan tells us not to take God seriously. “Don’t worry about that,” he says, “just enjoy yourself.” Satan wants us to think that having sex before we’re married isn’t a big deal. It’s pleasurable. Who says you have to be married? Just do it now. Or Satan wants us to think that there’s nothing wrong with having an extra relationship with someone who isn’t our spouse. Just have fun. If they don’t like it then just leave them and live with whomever you want. All of this with no worry about Hell. No worry about God. Satan says that cussing and foul language ain’t no big deal. It’s fun and/or feels good. Satan says that it’s okay to steal things. It ain’t going to hurt anybody. Satan says that God loves you so it’s okay to be homosexual or change your gender. Satan says it’s alright to lie. It’s okay to hate those you don’t like or are mad at. Satan says it’s not a big deal to be racist. Satan says a lot of things. But he doesn’t want us to realize that even though those things may be enjoyable in the flesh they lead to eternal punishment in Hell.
There are a lot of people who are blinded by the god of this world, Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4). If we are not careful we can be one of those people. Sin is real. The pleasure is real. Hell is real. We can’t let Satan fool us. We have to listen to God. We have to ask God what are pleasurable things that are acceptable to Him; done His way. If we live Satan’s way, then we can have pleasure in this life but then face an eternity of punishment in Hell. If we live God’s way, then we can enjoy this life and then enjoy an even greater life in Heaven with Him. Which do you want? Choose the eternal pleasures of God and not the passing pleasures of sin.
A Cord of Blue 