Common Areas In Which Satan Will Work Hard To Trip Up Christians (Part Iii)

In the past two messages, I believe that I have made the

case for the fact that Christians must be prepared properly

to guard against satan’s deadly arrows.

Eph. 6:18 - 18praying always with all prayer and

supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with

all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—

A. These arrows come in the form of some quite

common sins.

1. One reason for Christians to confess their

faults, one-to-another, is to bring to light the

commonality of satan’s arrows of destruction.

James 5:16 - 16Confess your trespasses to one another,

and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The

effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

We will not defeat these darts of temptation if we are

guarding areas that are very unlikely to be the areas of

temptation.

A. We must put on the whole armor of God and we

must identify the enemy, and after we have

identified the enemy, we need to face him.

1. When we only look at the horrible areas...the

areas that we probably do not need to worry

too much about........we expose our backs to

the area in which satan will definitely try to

defeat us.

In the last two messages I have addressed the following

areas of commonality:

A. Doubt and fear....the destroyer of faith.

B. The critical spirit......it’s still alive and in the

Church.

C. Misplaced priorities and/or procrastination.

D. Guilt.........for sins that have been covered by the

blood of Jesus Christ.

E. Envy, covetousness, and jealousy.....different

names.......same results.

Today, we will conclude with three final areas......common

areas to all of us who name the name of Christ.

A. Even though they are common, don’t let this fool

you.......they are life threatening.

Romans 6:23 - 23For the wages of sin is death, but the

gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1. This is the reward of ALL SIN!

a. Because we count it as “common” or

we can say that “everybody does it” does

not take away from the fact that the ends

of these common sins.....IS DEATH!

I. First, we see a very common arrow of satan......an

unwillingness, on the Christian’s part, to admit that I

am the one that the messages......the admonitions......the

exhortations........the rebukes...............are dealing with.

A. This is spiritual denial.

1. All of the messages in the world cannot

penetrate this kind of heart.

B. We understand that messages apply to many

individuals.

1. Our job IS NOT TO MAKE THAT

APPLICATION!!!!!!!!

a. Those that are making these applications

are busying themselves and distracting

themselves from the truth, as it applies to

themselves.

b. Those that are doing this are attempting

to justify their sins and shortcomings by

pointing out the sins and shortcomings

of others.

II Cor. 10:12 - 12For we dare not class ourselves or

compare ourselves with those who commend themselves.

But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and

comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

1.) This does not justify anybody’s

sins

a.) Our yardstick of comparison

is not to be found in others.

II. The next area which is all to common in the Church..

is the area of complacency.

A. If satan can cause us to be satisfied with

something less than what God wants.....satan has

won and God has lost.

I Thess. 5:5-6 - 5You are all sons of light and sons of the

day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6Therefore let

us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.

1. Being faithful to Christ is not a static thing....

being faithful to Christ is an ever moving

thing.

a. Hopefully we were faithful, we are

faithful, and we shall continue faithful

to the end.

1.) We have no Sabbath in this life...

we cannot take our ease and

ever think that we are through

laboring for Christ.

2. This applies to us as a congregation and it

applies to us, as individuals.

a. Just when we gain the victory in one

area, satan fires another fiery dart in

another area.

** Just remember this......everything is always the same

to a dead man.

3. Complacency kills by degrees.

a. We are slowly lulled to death.....we have

killed our consciences....we have

accepted wickedness as normal....even

O.K......we have ceased to feed on The

Word of God.

EXAMPLE: The old worn out....often told story of the

frog in a pot of water, comes to mind....(tell

it)

1.) WE ARE AT WAR......AND THE

SOONER WE WOULD

THIS AND LIVE

ACCORDINGLY....THE

BETTER EQUIPPED WE

WILL BE TO FOIL SATAN’S

ATTACKS.

3. If everything is going great and you have

no spiritual problems.....or only a few minor

ones.....WAKE UP......satan has lulled you

to sleep, spiritually.....you are in the grips

of complacency!!!!!!!!

** We have not been equipped for spiritual battle because