Feb. 24, 2002

Satan's Subtle Sales Secrets

Luke 15:11-32

Benjamin Franklin once said that nothing in this world is certain except death and taxes, but I think I have found another certainty: salesmen. On the radio, on the TV, calling you on the phone. Pestering you.
These people aggravate you to death, but they know what works. And in this case, what works in the physical realm also works in the spiritual realm. So let's take a look at it. How does selling really work?

The first thing is: the sales person needs to make you discontented with your current situation. You need to be convinced that your current -whatever it is- is not going to satisfy you. For example: Dale, I'll pick on you; If somebody walks into your garage and asks you if their vehicle is OK just like it is, would you tell them: "Oh, it looks great, don't do anything with it, leave it just like it is! Bye, see ya." If you did that sort of thing very much, the place would go out of business, wouldn't it? A good salesman wants you discontented.

The next part of being a good salesman is - Today. You need to be persuaded that whatever it is you lack, you need to have it right now. Immediate gratification. The sooner the better. Once again; Dale, you don't tell somebody that; "Hey, it's OK to wait until next fall for new belts, hoses and windshield wipers, no hurry." Of course not! You want them to buy that stuff today, right? Sure.

The next thing is; the sales person needs to show you some greener grass. You need to be persuaded that whatever is that's for sale is better than what you already have.
Dale is going to show you how your timing belt is cracked and frayed, just looking for an excuse to break. But now here is a shiny new belt that won't break and destroy your engine. Your old windshield wipers are all dried out, they even look bad, but here are some good new ones - see how good they look? - these will work much better.

And all these things are valid and reasonable, none of these things are frivolous, it really is important to have your car running reliably and safe. A good salesperson is supposed to look and see if there is anything that needs replacing, and bring it to your attention. This is legitimate.

Now: depending on what kind of a product it is that's being sold, sometimes this next part applies, sometimes not; sometimes the salesperson needs to get you to focus on yourself. Focus on yourself.
Dale's garage doesn't sell accessories or decorations, but what if he was trying to get someone to buy a new set of shiny custom wheels, or a wing for the rear deck, or a $4,000 crushed mother of pearl and rhinestones paint job? He would have to shift their focus so that now they are thinking of their vehicle as an extension of themselves and their ego.

Now we have crossed over from what we need, to what will make others focus on us. Things that will help make us the center of attention. Things that appeal to the sense of pride, the ego, enhancing the masculine or feminine appeal, right? Getting the focus on our self.

The last item on the list of sales tactics is the rip off. The scam. I know that Dale's garage doesn't sell cheap junk, they prefer to use quality stuff that won't tear up in a couple months and just create problems for everybody. But some sales people make a practice of selling inferior products. Things that look good at first, but after a while, after it's too late, you realize that you've been had. Ripped off.

The same rules of sales techniques apply in the spiritual realm, because Satan is the master salesman. And we need to be able to see through his sales pitch, because we don't want to be buying what he's selling.

If you have your Bibles with you today, and I hope you do, turn to Luke 15 and verse 11; Jesus' parable of the prodigal son. Luke 15:11 "And he said, A certain man had two sons:
:12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
:13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
:14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
:15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
:16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
:17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
:18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
:19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
:20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
:21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
:22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
:23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
:24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
:25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.
:26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
:27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
:28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.
:29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
:30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
:31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
:32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found." Classic story, all of us are familiar with it, but I want you to look at it today as an example of the devil selling us a bill of goods. The techniques and methods stay the same, only the circumstances are different.

First of all, the devil wants you to be unhappy with your current situation. You need to be convinced that what you have now isn't good enough. He wants you discontented. As we look at the young man in this parable, it looks to me like he had it pretty good. In verse 17, the father has several hired servants, and they are all well fed. In verses 22 & 23, it appears that there are fine clothes, jewelry, and even a special animal fattened up for festive occasions, and the father has no hesitation to use them, he is not acting like a poor man, he is behaving like a man who is well off. So these folks are not hurting for any material needs. But something was working on this young man's head, making him discontented, making him dissatisfied, making him to where the things that he had weren't good enough.

Satan works on you and I in just the same way. He wants us to be discontented with things that ought to make us happy. And the things that ought to make us unhappy, he makes those things, the things that we want. We have a good spouse, a job that pays the bills, our health, and a good reputation, but he makes us dissatisfied with those things. He makes us want something else instead.

Cheap thrills. Saturday night fever. Feeling no pain. He wants us dissatisfied with the things that God has prepared for us to make us content. A good spouse, a job, kids, pets, family and friends. A church that loves us, and cares about what happens to us. The devil wants you dissatisfied with those things

And then he turns around and wants you to be satisfied and approving of those things that God tells us to run from. Faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, more money, and all the variations thereof.

Something that you need to remember: if you don't remember anything else I tell you today, remember this: once discontent is established in your thinking, anything is possible. Once you get it set in your mind that you are discontented where you are, the walls are down and the gates are open. Now; anything is possible. You will entertain imaginations that previously you would have thrown out as soon as they showed up. Beware of discontent. It is the enemy's opening move.

The next thing that the devil wants you to do is to think in terms of right now. Immediate gratification.
Verse 12; the young man wanted his inheritance immediately. It was his. It was part of his future, but he wanted it now. He didn't care if his demand inconvenienced the rest of his family, and it probably did.
It didn't matter if he had no plans of how to use it wisely, invest it, make it grow, all he cared about was that it was available and he wanted it now. Satan works on us the same way. Our culture is geared to immediate gratification. Fast food, quick loans, instant everything.

Last Sunday afternoon I took my sick, headachey, congested self to the clinic, got examined, and took my prescription to the pharmacy. The pharmacist is an old friend, and he told me: "Take this one with food, take that one on an empty stomach, drink lots of fluids, and get plenty of rest, and in ten days you ought to be feeling OK. Or else just go home, drink plenty of fluids, rest, and don't take anything, and in ten days you'll probably still be feeling OK." But I'd rather spend $50 on the chance that I might be feeling better in 7 days. I want my health back and I want it right now. Instant gratification.

Wanting our health back right now might be justifiable, but what about some other things? Money, happiness, sex, good feelings all over our bodies, "a relationship", some "silver bullet" solution to all of life's problems, or some other sort of "quick fix?" Once we begin to think and act on the basis of immediate gratification in those areas that God designed for long term results, we lose all our brains.
There are some areas of life that God intended for long term results, years of growth and development, but once you get committed to instant gratification in those areas, you will lose all your wisdom.
Caution and discretion are gone. You will think and act like children, and that is exactly what the enemy wants. Beware of the appeal of instant gratification, because once you get to that stage, then the devil has you set up for the next part of his sales pitch, the greener grass on the other side of the fence.

In verse 13, it says that after the younger son had gathered all his inheritance together, he left home and went into a far country. Have you ever noticed how a lot of sales pitches sound better when the product is exotic, different, unknown, and all you know about it is what you have heard and seen from a great distance? Words like Cancun? Acapulco?

When I was a little kid, I used to love reading cowboy books. I had a complete hardback set of all the Hopalong Cassidy books. I loved western movies, and I had all these mental images of this marvelous country called Wyoming. Last spring, Barbara & I drove through Wyoming. Whoopie Ty Yi Yay. It was OK. I guess. Shady Valley's prettier. The point is, Satan wants us to think in terms of the grass being greener somewhere else. He wants us to think that some other place, some other situation is so much better than where we are now. Or what we have now.

It doesn't matter if it is a person, a place, a situation, a lifestyle, it can be physical, moral, you name it. The important thing is that you have this notion that there is something else out that is just worlds better than what you already have.
Do you see how this is working? The progression is:
A.) You become discontent with where you are now,
B.) You think that there is some instant gratification for what ever itch you have that needs scratching, and
C.) There is some where else or some thing else perfect for getting that itch scratched.
Once you get it set in your head that there is a "greener grass" place somewhere else, it is going to be hard for you to stay where you are. It doesn't matter whether it involves your lifestyle, your spouse, or your morals, whatever. You will be ready to change.

The next thing that our devilish salesman tries to get you focused on is yourself. The young man was inconsiderate of his father and his family. The young man took all his portion of the inheritance and left. If we assume that there were only two sons, and that the father divided everything up and gave the younger one a third, imagine what that did to the household. Imagine what it would do to any of you financially and practically, if you liquidated a third of your assets and gave them away right now. That would be tough. It would put you in a bind. But that is what this young man did to his father and his family.
Thoughtless. Inconsiderate. All he cared about was himself. All his focus was on himself. And Satan uses you just the same way every chance he gets.

What affects Me. What benefits Me. What works out for well for Me. Because of the way our old fleshly nature works, we are all naturally selfish and self centered; Satan just takes our raw material and helps it along in the wrong direction. That's why Paul tells us in Philippians 2:4: "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others."

The last part of this Satanic sales pitch is the ripoff. If the young man had any idea that things would turn out like they did, he would never have started. Verse 14: "And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
:15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
:16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
:17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
:18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
:19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants."

Back before he left home, all he could see were things that he thought were positives. He thought things were going to be so good, everything was going to be fun and games, just having a great time. And it was for a while. The Bible never says that pleasure won't happen; there is pleasure in sin for a season. But eventually we find out that there are four seasons in a year. Our season passes, and so do the pleasures of sin, but the results of sin can stay with us for a looong time. When the devil is trying to sell you on some activity or plan of action, he does not want you to see how things are going to turn out.

How many chess players do we have in here? Chess is a game of strategy and tactics, right? For a number of years during Fun Fest, Kingsport would bring in this Russian chess master to play a whole bunch of people simultaneously, and he would always win against everybody he played against. Imagine what it would be like playing against somebody that was probably smarter than you are, and he has been practicing for about 6,000 years. And it's a high stakes con game: if he wins, he gets to ruin your life.
But guess what: you don't even get to find out how the game is actually played until after it's over. Fun game, huh?

That's the way the devil plays his con game. He always tries to hide the outcome, so that you buy into his scheme thinking everything's OK, but it's not until you end up broke, busted and disgusted that you find out that you've been scammed. And then it's too late.

What's sad is that it's so easy for the devil to con us. It's not that he does such a good job of hiding how things will turn out, it's that our pride blinds us to seeing the obvious.

We see it happening to someone else, we watch them and we can see what's coming from miles away, and we think we're so smart; it will never happen to us that way. Sucker.

We see some one else have an affair and their marriage falls apart, but we think we can play that game and not get caught. Sucker.

We see some one else with their life all tangled up by drugs and we think that it won't happen to us. Oh, maybe we'll do just a little bit here or a little bit there, but we'll be OK. Everything will work out fine. Sucker.

Do you know somebody who use to go to church, they used to delight in praising the Lord, they used to be surrounded with love and concern from the members of their church family, but somebody said something dumb and they got stubbed up and now they don't come to church anymore. And now they wonder what happened to the joy in their life. The devil knows what happened. And he's looking for someone to stub you up. Will he find somebody? Or will he use you to stub up somebody else? Be careful, he's sold his bill of goods for 6,000 years, and he's pretty slick at what he does.

Satan is a master psychologist. As a result, he is also a master salesman, and he wants to sell you whatever it takes to ruin your life, and ruin your effectiveness for Christ. Or that will keep you or somebody else from coming to Christ. Or living for Christ. He sold the prodigal son a real lemon; what steps can you take to make sure he doesn't sell you one?

Let's review his sales plan: First, he wants you discontented. Then he wants you expecting instant gratification. Next, he wants you looking at the greener grass somewhere else. Then he will get you focusing on yourself and ignoring those around you. And finally, he will hide the end result of where his sales pitch is gonna' end you up.

So where are you now? Are you content where you are? If you are honestly living way below your potential, and you need to get with the program, then you probably need to be discontented, and that's OK. However; if your life is good, if you are surrounded by things that God has put in your life for your benefit; both good and bad, things that are conforming you to the image of His Son, but you are discontented; then the red flags need to come up.

Why are you discontented? The normal Christian life has it's ups and downs, it's mountaintop experiences, and it's walks through the valley of the shadow of death; it's part of the program. Expect it. But if God has blessed you kind of like He normally blesses most people and you are all discontented, be careful. Be very careful that your discontent is not coming from some devilish snake oil salesman, setting you up to buy something you don't need, and shouldn't want.

How about instant gratification? Are you impatient? Are you in a hurry for God to give you all the best stuff yesterday? Then you are gonna' end up just like the hick kid in the big city, and the dude comes up and swings open his coat and says: "Hey kid, wanna buy a watch? Genuine Rolex, only $50." Sure it is. Sucker. Don't be impatient. God will give you what you ought to have when He thinks you're ready to handle it.

How about that "Greener Grass?" Don't be fooled by thinking that there is always greener grass on the other side of the fence; cows think that, and cows are stupid! Once Satan gets you discontented with where you are, and gets you thinking that there is greener grass somewhere else, you are an accident waiting to happen. Especially if you are into "instant gratification." Because you will act without thinking things through. Be careful.

Get your eyes off your self. Practice thinking about others and how your actions will affect them. Go read Romans 14 again. God gives us our liberty as part of our relationship with our brothers and sisters, and He expects us to consider their good.

Are there areas in your life where your behavior adversely affects your family, your church, your community? Why is that? Ask God to show you areas where you need a new attitude.

God wants all of us to have a servant's heart. How are you doing in that area? Are you just looking out for number one? How do others fit into your personal equation? Ask God to show you what you need to know.

The Bible says that "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; - He's not going to fuss at you for asking - and it shall be given to you. (James 1:5)
When you are considering some course of action, ask God to show you if it is wise to go through with it, and then act as He shows you. God wants us to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. He tells us this parable of this foolish young man so that we can apply this lesson in our own lives.

Probably some of us in here today have already been prodigal sons or prodigal daughters, but we don't have to do it again. Some of you have never been down the prodigal road, and believe me, you really don't want to go. God gives us this message so that you don't have to go.

Be aware. There is a spiritual warfare going on and if you are careless, it is easy to be deceived. But if you are aware that the enemy of your soul is setting traps and scams in your path, then you will stay close to the Lord. You will be skeptical of some of your own emotions and imaginations, and you will be cautious about the interesting temptations that seem to just "suddenly appear" in your path.

It's good to be cautious. It's good to be a little bit gun shy. When that inappropriate thought pops into your mind, it's good to step back and poke at it with a stick, reveal it for what it really is, instead of just picking it up and petting it. Get in the habit of treating the enemy of your souls like a telemarketer: when he calls, recognize the sales pitch, recognize who he is, and just hang up on him. Let's pray.