There is an old fable that took place during the Trojan War. This is the fictional story of the Trojan Horse. During the Trojan War, which happened around the 12th century BC, the Greeks tried to gain access to Troy. It was very difficult to enter a city at this time as giant walls were surrounding almost every city. To get into the city, the Greeks created a massive wooden horse. The inside was hollow, which allowed the Greek army to hide in the horse. They presented the horse as a gift to the city of Troy. The horse was accepted by the Trojans and they brought it inside the city of Troy. After hiding in the horse for a few hours, the Greek army emerged from the horse at night and took siege of Troy. It seemed to be a good thing for the people of Troy ended up leading to their downfall. Satan does the same thing in our life. He will use things that are good or even morally neutral. However, these things are sometimes designed by Satan to be a Trojan horse and lead to our downfall. When we think of the work of Satan, we often think of him directly tempting us to sin. We think he simply tempts us directly to be prideful or to fall into sexual immorality. Satan is much more deceptive than that. He presents something as a good gift that ultimately leads to our downfall. We see this tactic from the very beginning. In the book of Genesis, God gives Adam and Eve one rule. That rule is not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, Satan is trying to deceive them into eating from the tree. Satan doesn't say, eat from the tree to join the dark side or eat this fruit so you can be evil like me. He presents eating the fruit as a good gift. Genesis 3, verse 4-5 says, But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. He presented the fruit as a gift that would open their eyes. It was a gift that would make them like God. He described the sin as something that would lead to life. However, when Adam and Eve ate the fruit, it led to them being kicked out of the garden. Satan will take bad things and dress them up like a Trojan horse to make you think they are a good gift. The devil not only dresses up bad things to make them look good, but he uses good things to get the bad out of you. The devil will often seek to enter our lives as something good such as a hobby or activity. For example, maybe you set up lunch with a coworker. That's not a bad thing. As a matter of fact, it can even be a good thing. However, Satan can use lunch breaks between male and female coworkers to lead to evil. This can open the door to adultery. While there is nothing wrong with two people eating lunch, Satan can use that for his evil purposes. Satan will do the same thing with entertainment. God allows us to make movies and music so it would lead to the worship of him. There is nothing wrong with watching movies and listening to music. However, movies with sexually stimulating imagery or music with sexually seductive lyrics can open the door to pornography or sexual immorality. Satan will dress up movies and music as a Trojan horse, but then will attack when we let him in the front door. We often make the mistake of taking good things and making them a God thing. We lift up the good things that God has made and make them ultimate things in our life. Satan has won the battle when we do that. For example, socializing is a great thing. God created us to be people who desire relationships. It is a good gift from God. The problem becomes when we make this good thing an ultimate thing and replace God. When those friends we socialize with take the place of God, we have a problem. When we spend more and more time with them and less and less time with God, we have made a good thing a God thing. We have put his good gift in the place of God. Another example of this is food. Food is a great gift from God. However, we should not live a life of continual excess. While there are appointed times to feast, our lifestyle should not be one of continual feasting. When we constantly overeat, we are taking something God meant for good and using it for evil. This is gluttony and Satan is satisfied with this because his Trojan horse worked. Computer software started to be developed in the 20th century. At the same time, people created computer viruses that would attack this software. The name of these viruses were often called Trojan horses. Viruses looked like they belonged in the software but would eventually attack the software and try to destroy it. The Trojan horses would damage or disrupt a computer's programming or try to steal personal information. Satan is trying to do the same thing in your life as we speak. He is dressing up Trojan horses that look like a good gift from God but this will lead to sin in your life. Sometimes the devil will dress up something that appears to be harmless. He may well dress up sin to appear harmless. But at the end of the day, that thing is straight from the pits of hell and designed to destroy you. That is why we must be aware and ready for the attack. What would have happened if the people of Troy had investigated the Trojan horse before bringing it into the city walls? They would have found the Greek army inside and prevented the destruction of their city. We should take heed and learn from the city of Troy. We must always be alert to prevent Satan from destroying our lives. Pray for discernment. Pray for the Lord to pour out his spirit in your life so that you would not be led into falsehood. We need to stand on the core principles of the gospel. A gospel that teaches us in John 14 verse 6 that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. And there is no other way that you and I can get to heaven or get to God without acknowledging that Christ died and rose again. Anyone who tells you that this isn't the case is a liar. We need to stand on the core principles of the gospel. The message of John the Baptist of Matthew 3 verse 2 is still relevant today. Thousands of years ago he preached the message of repentance saying, Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near. That same message of repentance is needed today. You do not mix holiness and sin. You don't mix darkness and light. Good and evil do not coexist. One displaces the other and so any doctrine that tells you otherwise will lead you to deception. Any doctrine that tells you that you can freely sin and walk with God is lying to you. In closing, I pray that you will hold on to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 14 to 17. To this he called you through our gospel so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. Now may the Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace. Comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
