The Devil is described in a number of capacities in the Bible. He is the tempter, Matt 4:3; the deceiver, Rev 12; the accuser; Rev 12; the liar, Jn 8:44; the destroyer, 1 Cor 10:10, 5:5; and the roaring lion, 1 Pet 5:8, to name a few. In Jn 10:10 the devil is a thief. He is very active today and he is in here with us at this moment.
Paul said in 2 Cor 2:11 that we are not ignorant of his devices. In order to stand against him, we cannot ignore his devices. We must know our enemy. There is more to learn about him than we can cover in one sermon. So, we will limit our study, today, to Jn 10:10. In this verse, the devil is a thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy.
The Devil is a Thief – he came to steal. He stole the world. Originally, he was the anointed cherub that covereth, Ezek 28:14. Now he is the god of this world, 2 Cor 4:4. In the context of our text, he steals sheep. He will steal your children. He will steal the word of God sown in a wayside heart. As Lk 8:12 says, “then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved”.
The Devil is a Murderer – he came to kill. According to Heb 2:14, he has the power of death. He wanted to kill Job. He would kill you if you were a target of value, and if your shepherd gave him permission. Our good shepherd protects us from him. Yet he “kills” some Christians by leading them away from the Lord. Prov 21:16, “He that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead”. In Eph 5:14, when Paul wrote the Christians in Ephesus, he said, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give the light”. These are like dead Christians in a dead church. Likewise, carnal Christians are “dead”, Rom 8:6.
The Devil is a Destroyer – he came to destroy. The Jews who murmured in the wilderness were destroyed of the destroyer, 1 Cor 10:10. Paul turned a young man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh in 1 Cor 5:5. The devil destroyed the body of a woman 18 years in Lk 13:11-16. How many others that Jesus healed were being destroyed by the devil. Today he is destroying good churches with division, discouragement, and distraction. He is destroying good homes, too. And like the demon possessed man in Mk 5, he can destroy your mind, as well.
The Remedy is found in Jesus Christ and his abundant life. Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world, 1 Jn 4:4. We know how this world is going to end. Jesus is going to return one day soon and take us out of here. He will assemble us as his great army in heaven and we’re going to return with him to defeat his enemies, Rev 19:11-16. The devil will be bound in the bottomless pit for a thousand years, while we rule with Jesus in his millennial kingdom. After that the devil will make one last attack against the Lord and he and the armies that fight with him will be defeated by fire from God out of heaven. The devil will be cast into the lake of fire and that will be the end of him forever. Hallelujah, our King Jesus will win and we will win with him!!
For more on this topic listen to Resist the Devil.