It's Battled With a Diabolical Vengeance - The Attack

The more you walk in obedience with God, and the longer you walk in obedience with God, the more difficult the life you live. Isn't that good news? Because you see, the more you walk with God, the more Satan gets angry. And the more angrier he becomes, the more he seeks to devour your life. The Bible tells us over in 1 John 5:19 that the whole world. Lies under the sway of the wicked one. The whole world lies under the sway of Satan and all of his devices, and we live in that world. We, as Christians, live in a society that's controlled and run by Satan.

And so Peter would tell us that we need to be sober, we need to be vigilant. We need to be the kind of people that are strong and stable and self-controlled. The kind of people that are alert, the kind of people that are watchful. Those are the commands that God gives. His soldiers. Be sober. Be vigilant. Be alert. Be watchful. Be awake. Why? Because your adversary. The devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking to devour your life. He's got a strategy. He has tactics. He's got a mission to knock you off guard.

He prowls around. He's dedicated to our defeat. And therefore, we need to be mindful of his tactics if we are somehow. Going to be able to defeat him. If you were to study the book of Ephesians, you'd realize that in the first three chapters, it talks about the definition of a true Christian.

And then when you study chapters 4 through 6, you see how a Christian is supposed to live. He walks in the S. He walks in wisdom. He walks in love. And the kind of Christian that does those kinds of things finds himself in Ephesians chapter 5. Loving his wife as Christ loved the church, and women being submissive to their husbands, and children being obedient to their parents, and parents not provoking their children to wrath, and slaves being obedient to the masters, and masters. Overseeing their slaves in a loving kind of way.

And then Paul closes out all that with what? The armor of God. Why? Because if you live like that, if you love your husband, your wife as Christ loved the church, if you're committed to your family and your family's committed to you, if you're committed to the workplace and being submissive one to another and honoring God, Satan is so angry at that. That if you don't have on the armor of God, you're in big trouble. And so Paul closes out the epistle of Ephesians with a reminder: you be strong, you stand fast in the Lord, and you put on the armor of God.

Because if you don't, Then you will be subject to great temptation and you will falter. And so, tonight, what we want to do is we want to talk about the attack. We understand that this intimacy with the Master is a tough battle. It's a battle. That we face every day with Satan and the principalities and the powers of the air. And we need to understand. The att on our lives. We want to make sure that we're able to put everything down in a concise manner to give you kind of an idea of what Satan does.

And the first realm of attack I want to take you to is found over in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. And we're going to call this Satan's deception. 2 Corinthians chapter 11 says this. Verse number three.

Paul says, But I am afraid lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray. From the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. Paul says: Look, as believers, you need to understand something: Satan is very deceptive. He wants to deceive you. And it's very easy for the minds to be led astray. It's a word that means getting off course or being sidet. Pulled off target with the hope of gaining full control. And that's what Satan wants to do. He wants to knock you off your mission, get you sidetracked.

To lead you astray. He does that by undermining God's character and credibility. Paul says, just as a serpent deceived Eve. How did he deceive Eve? He came to her in Genesis chapter 3 and said, Hath God really said that, Eve? I don't think so. That's not what he said. And if he did say it, you know why he said it? He said, You're not to eat of that tree, because if you do, then you're going to be like him, and he doesn't want you like him. That's the only rationale behind that command. He kept you from doing one thing, Eve, and that one thing will make you like him.

So he said, Don't ever do that. And so, what Satan did was challenge God and his authority, he began to undermine God's authority. He began to undermine God's credibility in the life of Eve. And so Eve began to doubt. And as she began to doubt the credibility of God, she was led astray. She was sidet. And of course, you know the rest of the story, right? Sin came into the world, thus death passed upon all men for all of sin. And thus we have the history of the human race going down the tubes ever since, Genesis chapter 3.

But that's what Satan did, he's very decept. And if he can get you to believe that God's a liar, you're on a path towards destruction. 1 John 5: says that if you don't believe God, you make him a liar. So, when we doubt God and don't believe what God says in His Word, we're saying, God, you are a liar.

And the only reason we would say that as a believer is because Satan is involved in the deception process. He wants to deceive us. And a great illustration of that, of course, is Anan of Fire, right In Acts chapter 5, Satan had filled their hearts with lies and deception. Dishonesty. The greater evil was not envy on the part of Ananias. It was dishonesty. It was hypocrisy. Because that's Satan's method. And you know the story. Peter confronted Ananias and confronted Sapphir, and they both died on the spot because they were unwilling to repent for their sins.

Now, that's very interesting, isn it? Because this past week I was driving by another one of those churches and they had this big sign out that said this, your search for friendly church end here. And I drove by that and I looked. And I drove back by after picking my son up for baseball practice and look again. And I thought to myself, there is no banner outside Acts chapter 5. After An and Sapphire were struck dead, ah, your search for a friendly church ends right here. No way. But yes, a holy church.

And God wants us to be a holy kind of people. So Satan's in the process of deception. Thus, we have people all over the world thinking that they're going to heaven. But in reality, they do not have a personal relationship with the living God of the universe. That's just one way in which Satan has designed his tactics to come after us. His deception. Number two is what I call his destruction.

If he can deceive you into thinking that God's a liar. And to doubt what God has done, he could destroy your life. 1 Peter 5, He goes about like a roaring lion seeking to what? Lick you? No, devour you. He wants to devour your life. That's an aggressive strategy. He'll stop at nothing to dispose of your testimony. He'll stop at nothing to destroy your joy because he hates. God. He didn't hate you as much as he hates God. And because God ind you, he's got to destroy all he has about your life. And so he 'll rob you of that joy.

And he wants to discourage you. And boy, I tell you, if he can get you discouraged because you doubt God, you're on your way down. He can destroy your life. How many people's lives are destroyed because they are just so downtrodden and so discouraged? Satan wants to discourage you, doesn't he? You see, we're involved in a battle. I'm not sure we quite understand that. And I want to let you know something. There is no rest. If you're looking for a reprieve, if you're looking for relief, roll aids don't help.

Okay? There's nothing going to help you. If you're tired out, if you're worn out, you can't retire from the battle. You can't say, you know, I'm so tired, I think I'll just rest from this warfare. You can't do that. George Duffield said this to this hymn: Stand up, stand up for Jesus. The strife will not be long. This day, the noise of battle, the next the victor's song. To him that overcomet, the crown of life shall be. He with the king of glory shall reign eternally. That 's the good news. That 's what awaits us.

And we look forward to that eternal rest. And we, I don't want to spend a lot of time here, but that whole destruction process begins with discouragement. It leads to distraction. And that's what Satan wants to do in every church, right? He wants to divide it, cause dissension. Every team, every group, every family, he wants to divide. Because if he can divide, he can what? He can conquer. He knows it. But boy, if you're one, if there's unanimity, man, Satan can't get in there. He knows it. And so that's why Paul would say: man, you've got to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.

Ephesians chapter 4, verse 1. Man, you to do all you can. You've got the unity because God's placed you in the body of Christ. And so, what you have to do is endeavor, work hard, fervently, do all you can to keep what's there. Because Satan wants to destroy it. But the third thing I want you to see is what we call his divers.

His diversions. Turn with me back to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. He will divert our attention. 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verse number 10. But whom you forgive anything, I forgive also, for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ. In order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes. That's important. You know the story about the man in 1 Corinthians who had had an incestuous relationship with his stepmother.

And there was the church discipline that was involved. Paul says you've got to turn him over to Satan. For the destruction of the flesh. Very interesting statement, isn't it? In a century or in a decade. With spiritual warfare, seminars all around our country. The Bible tells us that we're to deliver people over to Satan. Isn't that interesting? I'm not going to go off on that this evening, but one day I will. But to follow what the Bible says for a disobedient Christian who refuses to repent of his sin.

Paul says, You deliver them over to Satan. You take them out of the umbrella, the protection of the church, and let Satan have his way with them. And then we'll wait and see what happens. Evidently, this man repented. Evidently, this man was seeking forgiveness. And so, when you come to 2 Corinthians, Paul is saying, Look, you've got to forgive this guy. Why? The purpose of delivering one over to Satan, part of the discipline process, is so that there might be a reconciliation in his life, a restoration of his life.

He'll come to his sentences, repent of his sins, come back, ask for forgiveness. The church takes them back in, loves them, hugs them, and there's a reconciliation that happens, and they're able to understand the true function of the body of Christ. And Paul says, if you don't take this guy in, if you don't love this man, if you don't forgive this man, you know what's going to happen? Satan get the advantage. He wins. Isn't that important when it comes to relationships with you and me? Forgiving one another, even as Christ has forgiven us, Ephesians chapter 4.

That we need to understand what it means to forgive our brother and sister in Christ. Because an unforgiving spirit opens a door for Satan to take the advantage of our lives. And then Paul goes on to say, we're not ignorant of his schemes. An unforgiving brother becomes a bitter brother. An unforgiven brother becomes a confused brother. An unforgiven brother becomes one who wonders about what the body life is all about. And if Satan can get the church not to forgive a sinning brother, That no matter if that person repents or not, he can keep them discouraged and keep him down, and that's where he wants them.

He doesn't want him to be received back into the fold. So that his relationship is nurtured and he grows and becomes stronger in the faith. He doesn't want that. And so Paul says: look, we're not ignorant of what Satan is trying to do. He wants to divert everything away from the truth. The psalmist said in Psalm 147, verses 10 to 11: The Lord does not delight in the strength of the horse, he does not take pleasure in the legs. Of a man. The Lord favors those who fear Him, those who wait for His loving kind.

Boy, that's a great, great verse. He doesn't care how big and strong and fast your horse is. He can care less about your horse. He can care less about your legs, man. I don care how strong you think they are, how pretty you think they are. He doesn't care about your legs. Only thing he cares about is: do you fear him? Do you honor him and do you trust his loving kind? That 's what he wants. And Satan says, wait a minute, I know what you're doing there. You start trusting God, supernatural things begin to happen.

So, what can I do for you? So, He'll make you successful. He'll give you lots of money. He'll make you look real good. He'll make you begin to trust man in your own ingenuity, your own prowess, your own skill. And you say, Man, I am good. And Satan says, You are good. And all of a sudden, man, you think, Oh man, we are good. And God says, Oh, wait a minute.

Wait a minute. You've got to trust me. Are you trusting God for all things? 1 Corinthians 10. 1, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he falls. Boy, that's a wake-up verse. So many of us think we're standing, but we're falling. He gets you to compromise, doesn't he? The Bible says in 1 John 2, verses 15 and 17, that we're not to love the world.

The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, those things are all passing away. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. Why? Because those are all of the evil one. Every one of them. They're not of God. Only the one who does the will of the Lord abides forever. But you know what? Satan wants to get you sidetracked. And if we had a lot of time tonight, boy, I would take you through the book of Revelation and show you those seven churches, five of which were told to repent.

But you know, that one church in Ephesus lost his first love, didn't it? Got involved with the world. Boy, they are doctor sound. They had a good doctor statement, nice brochure, looked really good. You know, covered all the major points of doctrine. And they were disciplining those who didn't agree with their doctrine, but they lost their first love, they lost their passion.

They were in trouble. Their love for God had begun to grow cold. And very subtly, Satan gets his way in when you lose your first love.

If you go over from the church of Ephesus to the church there in Pergamos, it's very interesting to see what happens. Because that was the place where Satan dwelt. Revelation chapter 2, verse number 3. And Pergamos became married to the world. Married to the world. They really engulf themselves in the pleasures of the world. Ephesus lost their first love, and Pergamus was married to the world.

The Thy, they were celebrating their fourth anniversary with the world. They were really entrenched in the world. Just a progression of what happens in the life of an individual when they lose that passion for God. And Satan is into distracting us and to diverting our attention. So that we don't live a consecrated life, but we begin to live a compromising kind of life. You've got to be careful. It's very interesting. That Jesus Christ never told them to cast out any demons. Never did. He never told them to bind Satan.

Never did. It's not your job to bind Satan. God does that. Book of Revelation at the end. That's his job. But we had this wave of spiritual warfare seminars across our country. And I hate to tell you, but they got us focused on the wrong thing. You see, God never told us to bind Satan. God never told us to cast out the demon of doubt, the demon of lust, the demon of greed. Doesn say anything about that. He says, take on the whole armor of God. Jesus could have told the people that in the church of Thyat.

In fact, there were many strong Christians in Thyat. And God never told them, go around and cast out those demons. He just told them, rep from your sins. That 's the bottom line: rep. And we don't want to do that. We don't want to get involved in repentance. That's change. And it's a lot easier to go around talking about demons and casting them out than it is to repent from our sins. And Satan has his ways of diverting our attention from the truth of Scripture, which is our third thing we need to realize: that he wants to divert our attention from God's word to Human reason and experience.

Got to be careful about that. Boy, you know, I just, I really believe that, you know, this can't be God's plan for me. He must have something different for me. God doesn't expect me to have this kind of. Of turmoil. He expects me to live a happy life, and I deserve a happy life. And I really believe that this relationship will make me happy. And God wants me to be happy. If I told you how many times I heard that. Of course, my response is: if God wanted you to be happy, He gave you the happy Spirit.

God wants you to be holy, He gave you the Holy Spirit. And holiness is the byproduct. And happiness is the byproduct of holiness. Joy comes through living a holy, pure kind of life. But God ain into making you happy, He's into making you holy, right? I mean, it's very simple. All you got to do is read about it in the Bible. I mean, it's no, it didn't take a five-bit cap to figure that stuff out, right? It's right here. The fourth thing I want you to see is his denouncement, Revelation chapter 12.

Turn there with me if you would. Revelation chapter 12, verse number 10 says this. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation, the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ have come. For the accuser of our brethren. Has been thrown down who accuses them before our God day and night. Satan is the accuser of the brethren. He stands before the throne of God day and night, denouncing everything that we do. Ah, see, there he goes again. He cannot be one of yours.

Look what he did. Look what they said. Look where they went. Oh, you got to be kidding me. And you're saying to me he's a child of God? Oh, come on, Lord. That's where Satan is. People say, Where's Satan? He's in heaven accusing the brethren day and night. You say, Well, wait a minute. I thought he was cast out of heaven. Ooh, that's a good question. Geographically, he has not been cast out of heaven until Revelation chapter 12. Morally, he's cast out. But he has access to heaven's throne. He's no longer a part of what God's doing.

He's totally opposed to what God's doing. But you be assured of this. He stands in heaven denouncing everything you have done and saying this man is a sinner. And Jesus says, nope.

No, he's been washed in the blood of the Lamb. He looks to the Father and says, no, I've washed him. He's clean. We have an advocate. Who's that? That's the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ the right, he's called, pleading our case, always interceding for us. The prosecutor is there, and he is the one who says, Look what has happened. But the defense attorney says, Uh-uh, they've been washed in the blood of the Lamb. And that's good news. That's great news. Because you know what? Man, we blow it, don't we?

We are masters of blowing everything that God wants to do in our lives. And he stands there not only praying for us and interceding on our behalf, but defending us totally because he knows those who are his. Which leads us to the fifth element, our def. What is our defense? How can you deal with this cunning craftiness, his deceitfulness, his subtle attacks? Here's the answer. Do not concentrate on what he's doing. Concentrate on what you are doing. That's the answer. And Romans 16: says, I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.

That's what the Bible says. So we can't sit back and concentrate on Satan and what he's doing, and thinking that there's a demon behind every. Every table and behind every lamp, and behind every attitude, and behind all this, because next thing you know, it's Satan who made me do it. And no longer do we accept responsibility for our own sinfulness. For our own rebellion, for our own disobedience. Well, it's that demon of lust, it's that demon of drinking, it's that demon of greed. Oh, those dirty demons, they're all over the place.

2 Corinthians 10, 4 says that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. The weapons of our warfare are not designed or manufactured by human intellect, prowess, skill, or ingenuity. But by the armor of God. And I want to tell you this one phrase, and I'll say it to you again: that the spiritual armor of God and the spiritual weapons that we have can be summed up in one word: ob. Obedience. That's the key word. Having our minds controlled by the truth of God in His Holy Word.

By obeying his words, according to Ephesians 6:13, we will be ready for the evil day. What's the evil day? The evil day is every day since the fall of man until Jesus Christ binds Satan. That's the evil day. In order to be ready every single day, 24 hours a day, you've got to live a life of obedience to God, to focus on Him and to serve Him. And you can't live a life obedient to God if you're concentrating on Satan. You've got to concentrate on God. 1 John 4:4 says, Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

James 4, 7 says, Resist the devil. Stand firm in the faith. Peter said over in 1 Peter 5:8, 9, 8, and 9. Resist him. Resisting the devil is not a matter of speaking to him or rebuking him. We are never told to speak to the devil, and we are never told to rebuke the devil in the Bible. We are told to resist him steadfast in the faith. That's what the Bible says.

The Bible never says chase the devil. The Bible never instructs us to find the devil. The Bible tells us to stand against the devil, to resist him. If you're obedient to the Lord God, resisting Him steadfast in the faith, putting on the whole armor of God, then you will stand against the wiles of the devil. And you'll win the battle. May God help us to fight courageously as we go to war every single day.