Christian Warfare Part 1
The Deceiver
Genesis 3:1-7
INTRODUCTION:
I. Unfortunately, many people don’t believe that the Devil really exists. We characterize Satan as some fictitious person.
A. ILLUSTRATION:
1. Once a boxer was being badly beaten. Battered and bruised, he leaned over the ropes and said to his trainer, "Throw in the towel! This guy is killing me!" The Trainer said, "Oh, no he’s not. He’s not even hitting you. He hasn’t laid a glove on you!" At that point the boxer wiped the blood away from his eye and said, "Well, then, I wish you’d watch that referee. He sure is tough!" Some people are like that trainer they deny the obvious. (source unknown)
B. Do you believe that Satan & demons are real?
1. Jesus sure did.
ƒt Mt. 12:25
C. Jesus tells us two things about Satan & demons.
1. First, Jesus believed in them. For He personally recognized them by name.
2. Second, Jesus recognized that Satan has a kingdom.
ƒt 1 Jn. 5:19
D. Jesus not only believed in Satan & his troops, but He fought against them.
1. Jesus spent 25% of His ministry casting out evil spirits and demons.
2. 75 times in the gospels Jesus casted out evil spirits in ordinary people.
3. Jesus realized how real Satan & demons are, and we better as well.
II. Over the years, some Christians have had the misconception that Satan & his demons are no longer active today.
A. They say that they were active when Christ was on the earth,
1. However, their activity is no longer in existence because Jesus defeated them on the cross.
ƒt Col. 2:1,
2. However, the Bible teaches in (Rev. 20:7-10) that Satan will not be completely bound up or destroyed until after the second coming of Jesus.
3. So this means that Satan & his comrade’s are still active today.
B. In the Bible, we are warned time and time again to be aware of our enemy.
a. (Eph. 6:11-12
2. Paul is telling us that we have a fight on our hands. Our enemy is not against flesh and blood but our enemy is the "rulers, authorities, and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm." Our enemy is Satan & his demons.
ƒt (1 Pet. 4:8)
3. A lion is a predator. It constantly roams around looking for helpless animals to attack and kill. In a similar way, the Devil roams around the earth looking for Christians and non-Christians to attack.
III. Have you ever wondered how Satan can attack so many people all around the world virtually at the same time?
A. We must understand that Satan does not have the same qualities as God.
1. He is a created being; a fallen angel.
2. Since he is a created being, he is not omnipresent.
3. He cannot be everywhere at the same time.
4. He is finite.
5. So he sends his demons to do some of his dirty work.
B. People who say that Satan & demons are not active today are being deceived by Satan who according to (John 8:44) is the father of lies.
1. He wants people to believe that he is not active today.
C. We need to open our eyes and realize that we are in spiritual warfare with Satan & his troops.
1. We must take our heads out of the sand and stand up and fight.
2. We must fight in the power and authority of the Lamb of God, the Lion of Judah, and the King of Kings.
3. It’s time we fight in the name and power of Jesus Christ. Amen!
Over the next several weeks, we are going to look at strategies of Satan, How to detect him, and how to defeat him. We will look at four people from the Old Testament who had a direct confrontation with Satan. From their experiences, we will learn:
„« The Targets Satan aims at in our lives
„« The weapons he uses to attack us
„« The purposes he wants to achieve
„« The defense God has provided
I. The Deceiver. (Eve)
A. His target is your mind
1. John 8:44, Rev. 12:9, 2 Corn.11:3, 2 John 1:7, Gen. 3:1-7
B. When Satan wanted to lead the first man and woman into sin he started with her mind.
1. 2 Corinthians 11:3
C. Why the mind
1. Your mind is part of the image of God
2. God communicates with us and reveals his will to us.
II. Some have minimized the importance of the mind
A. God’s word emphasizes its importance
1. Col. 3:9-10
2. Eph. 4:17-24
3. Romans 12:2
B. God renews our lives by renewing our minds
III. Satan’s Weapon Lies
A. If Satan can get us to believe a lie, he can begin to work in our lives to lead us into sin.
1. Rev.12:9
2. John 8:44
IV. Satan’s steps
A. He questioned God’s Word
1. "Indeed has God said"
2. He did not deny that God had spoken
3. He simply questioned what he said
4. Maybe you misunderstood, you owe it to yourself to rethink what he said
B. He also questioned God’s goodness
1. If God really loved you He would not keep something from you
2. He tried the same approach with Jesus in the wilderness.
ƒt "If you are God’s Son, why are you hungry?"
C. He denied God’s Word
1. "You surely shall not die"
ƒt It is only a short step from questioning God’s word to denying God’s word.
2. They had never seen death, all they had was God’s word to go on, but that is all they needed.
ƒt If Eve had never listened to Satan’s questioning God’s word
ƒt She would not have fallen into his trap of denying God’s word.
D. He substituted his own lie
1. "You will be like God"
2. They were already made in the image of God
ƒt He tempted them with a greater privilege: to be like God
3. This was His sin when he was Lucifer
ƒt Isaiah 14:12-14
4. Satan is a created being, but he desires worship and service
ƒt Romans 1:25
5. Jesus gave him neither
ƒt Matt. 4:8-10
E. Where did Eve go wrong
1. She took away from God’s word
ƒt Compare 3:2 to 2:16
2. She added to God’s word
ƒt God did not say "or touch" she made the command more grievous
3. She changed God’s word
ƒt God did not say "lest you die" He said (2:1)
V. The penalty for disobeying God did not seem as harsh
A. She left herself wide open for Satan’s final trick
1. He allowed her to see the tree apart from God’s word
ƒt 3:6
ƒt She had to make a choice, God’s word or Satan’s
2. Truth or lies
ƒt God accomplishes his will through truth, Satan through lies
ƒt Faith in God’s word leads to victory,
VI. Satan’s purpose is to make you ignorant of God’s will
A. He attacks God’s word because his word reveals his will
B. Apart from the word of God, we have no understanding of the will of God, which is the expression of God’s love for us.
C. If Satan can make us ignorant of God’s will, he will rob us of all of God’s blessings
VII. Our defense
A. The inspired word of God
1. Only God’s word can reveal and defeat the lies of the enemy
2. Satan cannot be reasoned with or even safely talked to
3. Man’s wisdom is no match for Satan’s cunning. This is the weapon Jesus used.
ƒt Matt. 4:1-11
B. Our part
1. We must know God’s word
ƒt With the Holy Spirit’s help, John 16:13
2. We must memorize God’s word
ƒt Psalm 119:11
ƒt Psalm 37:31
3. We must meditate on God’s word
ƒt Joshua 1:8
ƒt Psalm 1:2
4. We must use God’s word
ƒt John 14:26
ƒt 2 Corn. 5:7
Spiritual Inventory
ƒt Read and meditate on God’s word daily
ƒt Do I seek to memorize scripture
ƒt Do I automatically think bible when I am tempted or when I face decisions
ƒt Am I better able to detect Satan’s lies?
ƒt Are there any lies in my mind that I am believing
ƒt Am I delighting in God’s will and doing it from my heart
ƒt Am I guilty of telling lies? Why do I do it?
ƒt Do I willingly take God’s word as true or do I argue with it?
ƒt Is God’s word becoming more wonderful to me? Do I enjoy it more than the pleasures of life? Psalm 119:127
Here are some random thoughts that Satan darts at people.
ƒt You don’t need to go to church in order to be saved. All church people are hypocrites anyhow.
ƒt You do not need to be baptized to be saved.
ƒt It’s all right to cheat on your spouse; no one will ever find out.
ƒt During our anger, Satan tells us, "Go ahead get revenge."
ƒt You’re not a good Christian, look at all of the evil thoughts you have; you might as well give up on your faith, for God will never save a person like you.
ƒt To the teenagers, Satan plants these thoughts: It’s all right to drink alcohol and do drugs; everyone else is doing it. It won’t harm you.
ƒt Go ahead and have sex before marriage; God doesn’t care. He wants you to have fun.
ƒt Satan hurls all kinds of misleading thoughts in our minds.
Satan is the mighty deceiver. He is after our souls. He wants us to commit sin after sin so that we will alienate ourselves from God. He is good at what he does. He can plant thoughts in our minds, so beware, and do not get taken in by his deceitful ways. Don’t follow his misleading thoughts. Stand strong in God’s ways and not Satan’s ways.
