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Rev. Dr. Levi Howard Wright, Pastor & Founder
“You Better Beware.... Satan Is Trying To Destroy And Kill You”
Peter 5:8-11(Contemporary English Version)
8 Be on your guard and stay awake. Your enemy, the devil, is like a roaring lion, sneaking around to find someone to attack. 9 But you must resist the devil and stay strong in your faith. You know that all over the world the Lord’s followers are suffering just as you are. 10 But God shows undeserved kindness to everyone. That’s why he appointed Christ Jesus to choose you to share in his eternal glory. You will suffer for a while, but God will make you complete, steady, strong, and firm. 11 God will be in control forever! Amen.
INTRODUCTION
Jesus is the Good Shepherd and He described Satan as a Thief whose whole purpose in life is to Steal, Kill, and Destroy the Flock of God. Yes, His purpose in life is to steal the sheep and lead them into strange pastures where the grass looks greener, but in reality it has been poison and laced with false doctrines and false teaching.
➣ Satan will lead you into strange pastures where Pit Holes has been dug to Trap you and Rob you of your Joy.
➣ Satan will lead you into strange pastures where Cess Pool has been dug to Drown you and Rob you of your Holiness, Righteousness, and Sanctification.
➣ Satan will lead you into strange pastures where Hornets has been stirred up to Sting you and rob you of you Love, Happiness, and Peace.
➣ Satan will lead you into strange pastures where the Enemy is hiding and awaiting to Ambush and pierce your heart with Fiery Darts laced with Lies and Slander.
➣ Satan will lead you into strange pastures where Smiling Face will greet you, but in reality they are awaiting an opportunity to Cut your Throat and Kill you.
The Devil.... He is like a roaring lion seeking to devour all whom he can. He is a is anger, ferocious, and cruel roaring lion looking for someone to destroy.
He want to destroy and kill you and all of your offsprings. You better beware of his trick and trickery.
Satan He is....
➣ The accuser of our brethren. Rev. 12:10
➣ The adversary and the roaming lion. 1 Peter 5:8
➣ The angel of the bottomless pit. Rev. 9:11
➣ The evil spirit. 1 Samuel 16:14
➣ The father of lies. John 8:44
➣ The murderer of the righteous. John 8:44
➣ The old serpent. Rev. 12:9; Rev. 20:2
➣ The power of darkness. Col. 1:13
➣ The spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience. Ephes. 2:2
➣ The tempter. Matthew 4:3; 1 Thes. 3:5
➣ The god of this world and the wicked one. 2 Cor. 4:4
➣ The unclean spirit and wicked one. Matthew 12:43
➣ The Prince and Ruler of the darkness of this world. Ephes. 6:12; John 12:31; John 14:30; John 16:11;
Scripture says he roams about roaring in anger and cruelty and ferociousness of his strength, seeking someone to attack and devour.
How can Satan devour a person?
➣ Jesus tells us in one of the most shocking statements ever made about man.
➣ He said that a person who does not trust and follow God as his Father is actually being led and following the devil as his father.
➣ In other words, Jesus says that all unbelievers have the devil as their father.
✞ “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44).
Our text this morning teaches us two very important things.
First... every Born Again Believer in Christ has an enemy who desires to steal, kill, and destroy you and the work that you doing for the Lord.
➣ You must “Beware of this enemy and must be guarded against and resisted spiritually.”
Second.... It is God’s will to give His people the abundant life or a life of fulfilled promise and blessing.
➣ However.... We need to actively process this abundant life as the children of Israel did and as they went in and possessed the Promise land.
➣ They had to slay Giants in the land, and we too must fight Giants and Spiritual Enemies who seek to Steal, Kill, and Destroy us.
Notice with me that Jesus is teaching us how Satan devours man.
Jesus said..... Satan destroy and consumes man by leading them to LUST.
a. The devil leads us to lust. He tempts us to give in to the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
✞ “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16).
Jesus said..... Satan destroy and consumes man by leading them to MURDER.
b. The devil leads us to murder. The devil is behind the murder of human life The devil destroys life and all abundant living when he can: all love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, discipline.
✞ “When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the wayside” (Matthew 13:19).
✞ “Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face” (Job 1:9-11).
Jesus was saying that one thing is certain: God is not the father of murder.... but—the Satan is.
They who commit murder are children of the devil.
✞ In Matthew 5:22 Jesus revealed .... “But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”
Murder is...
➣ anger
➣ bitterness
➣ enmity
➣ an uncontrolled spirit
➣ desiring a person’s ruin
➣ envying and killing a person’s happiness
➣ striking out at a person
➣ slandering, speaking ill about a person, and destroying a person’s image (who is created in God’s image)
Jesus said..... Satan destroy and consumes man by leading them to REJECT THE TRUTH.
c. The devil leads men to reject the truth.
✞ “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).
Jesus said..... Satan destroy and consumes man by leading them to LIE AND DECEIVE.
d. The devil leads men to lie and deceive.
✞ “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Cor. 4:3-4).
“You Better Beware.... Satan Is Trying To Destroy And Kill You”
3. What is our duty in standing against the attacks and temptations of Satan?
Our duty is twofold.
1. We must resist the devil; we must resist him stedfastly in the faith.
The word “resist” (antistete) means to withstand the devil; to stand firm against him; to strive and struggle against him.
Note that we must be stedfast in our resistance. We must not...
➣ let our guard down
➣ slip one step
➣ look at temptation one time
➣ touch sin at all
➣ taste a single bite of dishonesty
➣ listen to one word of gossip
➣ think a single thought of evil
➣ give way to any desire of the Lust of the Flesh, Lust of the Eyes or the Pride of Life.
It might look good, taste good, and feel good, but we must resist the desire and lust and be stedfast in our resistance.
➣ We must not give in at all. Giving in one step leads to a second step, and before we know it, we have caved in and are engaged in the sin. Satan will devoured us.
Our duty is to resist the devil and to be stedfast in our resistance.
Note what it is that Satan is after.... He trying to destroy the believer’s faith.
He wants the believer to deny his faith and .... to turn away from Christ.
The devil want to DESTROY your TESTIMONY and he tell you to say...
➣ “Oh come on! It won’t hurt you.”
➣ “Do your own thing.”
➣ “You’re a fool if you don’t get all you can.”
➣ “Its alright to lie, steal, cheat, and kill.”
➣ “Live, drink, and be merry.”
The temptation will always be there to turn you away from Christ and His righteousness.....
➣ And to turn you away from your faith and for you to return to the world and its ways.
➣ Our duty is to resist the devil stedfastly in the faith, trusting God for the necessary strength to conquer the temptation.
When a believer refuses to go along with the world and its ways, he is misunderstood, withdrawn from, ridiculed, mocked, abused, and persecuted by unbelievers.
✞ “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God” (Romans 6:13).
✞ “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Cor. 10:13).
✞ “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil” (Ephes. 4:26-27).
✞ “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephes. 6:13).
✞ “Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men” (Proverbs 4:14).
✞ “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
✞ “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” (1 Peter 5:8).
Every Christians’s faith will be tried and tested.
➣ It is part of God’s plan for His people to learn how to overcome and trust Him in difficulties and challenges times.
➣ This does not mean that we are to be fatalistic and accept every negative thing that comes into our lives.
➣ We have been called to fight the good fight of faith.
➣ The key is to walk in fellowship and worship and praise the Lord in the midst of trials.
We are not praising God for the trials.
We are praising Him as an act of worship in the middle of a trials.
As Christians we are not to live “stressed-out” and “burnt-out” lives.
Part of being spiritual is learning how to cast our care upon God and let Him carry the load.
The secret is to be able to release those things to the Lord and to trust Him totally to take care of us.
Satan hates Christians because their lives testify to the reality of Jesus. We are to recognize the fact that Satan is actively looking for people to attack and destroy.
Satan is a coward and bully who attacks people when they are weak and down.
If you commit your way to the Lord and walk under His umbrella of protection, you don’t have to fear Satan.
The Lord will “Restore and get us Abundant Life”. David said with splendor and completeness.... The Lord... “Restores my Soul.”
This means He replaces “Spiritual Death with Spiritual Life”....
CONCLUSION
We need to be totally committed to the Lord. I heard an illustration that was given by a Haitian pastor. He said.... A certain man wanted to sell his house for $2,000. Another man wanted very badly to buy it, but because he was poor, he couldn’t afford the full price. After much bargaining, the owner agreed to sell the house for half the original price with just one stipulation: He would retain ownership of one small nail protruding from just over the front door.
After several years, the original owner wanted the house back, but the new owner was unwilling to sell. So the first owner went out, found the carcass of a dead skunk, and hung it from the single nail he still owned. Soon the house became unlivable, and the family was forced to sell the house to the owner of the nail.
The Haitian pastor’s conclusion: "If we leave the Devil with even one small peg in our life, he will return to hang his rotting garbage on it, making it unfit for Christ’s habitation."
Christians must not fear being destroyed by Satan .... nor ignore the his power.
The hog nosed snake is an evil looking reptile which responds to the threat of danger with two tactical manoeuver.
First, it impersonates a pit viper, coiling and striking and hissing viciously. If this fails to intimidate the attacker the snake turns belly up, opens its mouth and licks its tongue out and play dead.
➣ If it is picked up and placed right side up it simply turns over and resumes to play possum and death.
➣ It seems to realize that if it cannot bluff , it way out of danger, it will mimic and play dead.
➣ As Born Again Believer.... we don’t have to play dead. We are covered and protected by the Blood of Jesus Christ.
✞ Jesus said.... “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10
We are more than conqueror through the Lord Jesus Christ, so “You Better Be Aware And Put On The Whole Armor Of God And Resist The Devil and He Will Flee.
Amen...Amen...Amen..
