Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11; John 8:44; 1 Peter 5:8-9
Subject: Satan – His Tactics and How to Defeat Him
INTRO:
Grace and peace today in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
A few months ago on Interstate Highway 24 (I – 24) between exit 11 and exit 24 (between Clarksville and Springfield) there were quite a number of pot holes. Some of them were pretty wide and deep.
As you know hitting a pothole can cause all kinds of bad issues with your vehicle. Pot holes can cause bent wheel rims, alignment problems, shock and strut issues and even internal tire damage. If the pot holes are large enough they can cause you to lose your muffler and even damage the underbody of your car along with creating some potential transmission problems.
During the day time pot holes are usually not hard to miss. But during the night time you can be upon one before you are aware of it. I remember last winter as I would travel some at night I had to memorize where they were located so that I could avoid them. Every so often, you would forget and then you would feel the jerk and wonder if there would be any lasting damage.
Again, it’s important to know where there are potholes and their depths. You have to keep aware. You have to make sure you are watching. If you don’t you might find yourself with not only a damaged car but an empty wallet as well.
Have you ever heard about a man named Sun Tzu? He lived around 500 BC or around the same time as Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther.
Sun Tzu was a Chinese general, philosopher and military strategist. He is famous for writing the book, The Art of War. His book, The Art of War has been one for the most read books relating to strategy of warfare for the past 2,500 years. Each of its 13 chapters were dedicated to explaining different aspects of warfare.
Sun Tzu’s book is still required reading in many parts of the world including here in the United States. It is still being used by the KGB in Russia. Sun Tzu’s tactics were commonly used by the Vietcong officers during the Vietnam War and they helped the Vietcong defeat our forces more times that we would like to admit. Many of the Vietcong officers had committed the entire 13 chapters to memory.
Impressed by their tactics and learning about the book, The Art of War, the United States and other Western Countries starting studying it and seeing if they could use some of Sun Tzu’s strategies and tactics. During the Gulf War in the 1990s, both United States Generals, Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. and Colin Powell employed principles gleaned from Sun Tzu’s book related to deception, speed, and striking one's enemy's weak points.
Today, the book is listed on the Marine Corps Professional Read Program and is recommended reading for all United States Military Intelligence personal. It is also required reading by those who want to be in the CIA or any other secret service organization.
Over the last 50 years the book, The Art of War has found its way into the world of finance, business, sports and video games. Its principles and strategies have been used by lawyers to help them be better negotiators and win their cases more often in court. New England Patriot Football Coach, Bill Belichick is known for not only reading the book, but, using its lessons to gain insights in preparing for upcoming games. And today, many of the strategic video games have been designed by people who use Sun Tzu’s book as a resource.
Now, what has all of this to do with our subject this morning? Let me take one quote out of Sun Tzu’s book and I think you will be able to put it together. Listen to this:
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” – The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Let me read that again:
– If you know the enemy
And know yourself
You need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
-If you know yourself
But not the enemy,
For every victory gained you will also suffer defeat
-If you know neither the enemy
Nor yourself
You will succumb (lose) in every battle.
He also gives us this piece of advice as well:
“All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.”
? Sun tzu, The Art of War
All this month we have looked at what we have called – SCARY THINGS …
+We have looked at fear and how in Christ and through the power of His Holy Spirit we are able to be victorious over fear and anxiety.
+We have looked at the reality of demons and how in Christ we do not have to be either afraid or suffer defeat. We can live a life of victory.
+We have looked at subject of Hell – the fact that it exists. The fact that Hell is Honest. But the Good News is that in Christ we can enjoy the wonders of Heaven and avoid the fires of Hell.
This morning, I would like for us to finish our series on “Scary Things” by looking at this fallen angel that the Bible calls Lucifer, Satan, the Devil, Beelzebul, the Evil One and the Tempter.
It is important this morning that we spend a little time talking about this being – The Devil. Why?
1. Because we are witnessing a revival of Satanism in these Last Days
In 1 Timothy 4:1ff we read these words
“Now the Holy Spirit expressly says that in the last days some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron…”
Jesus shares these words in Mark 13:22
22 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.
And with the rise of Satanism and the following of Satanism the Bible tells us that we will see a change in our world – a change that 2 Timothy 3:1-5 explains:
“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”
Not only is there a rise in people choosing to follow Satan, but Satan himself is undergoing a radical make over. TV series like “Lucifer” and “The Good Omen” are trying to make the case that it is actually the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY who is unfair and that Satan has merely been misunderstood. These shows and others are doing their best to promote the idea that even though Satan does have many unredeeming qualities, the fact is, he also has many positive qualities as well.
He is more grey than black. He lends to be more neutral than evil. And when we really understand his heart, we will understand that he actually loves human beings, wants them to enjoy a life of full physical, emotional and spiritual freedom. There are those that want us to just listen to Satan and we will finally understand that it is he who will show mankind the truth path of happiness.
Wow! What a bunch of lies!
Our world is greatly misinformed and greatly misunderstands the realities of Satan. The world greatly misunderstands his personality and his passion.
So, who or what then is Satan?
II. Satan’s Identity
Before we go fully into Satan’s identity let’s go back to Sun Tzu’s quote for a minute or two. It is righteous. It is imperative that we understand our enemy if we are going to be victorious in this life. We need to understand who the Devil is, how he thinks and some of the things he uses to defeat us.
That is what the Apostle Paul was referring to in Ephesians chapter six as he wrote about the Devil, and the demons that seek to harm each one of us. If we don’t know who they are and what they try to do then more times than not we will find ourselves being oppressed, full of fear, becoming depressed and living a life way below the life Christ wants to give us through His Holy Spirit.
We have to be aware – we have to be prepared – much like we see in the game of football.
Right now in high schools, colleges and in the NFL teams are sitting in meeting after meeting looking at tape, studying plays and tactics about the team they are getting ready to play. At times those teams send out scouts to watch their upcoming opponents play so that when the time comes they will be ready to play them and beat them.
Do they have a great running game? Can they throw the ball? Is their offensive line any good? What about their Wide Receivers – can they catch the ball? Can they tackle? Can they stop the run? What are their weaknesses and strengths?
NFL coaches like Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll are paid over 11 million dollars a year to know such things. College coaches like Dabo Swinney of Clemson and Nick Saban of Alabama are paid over 8 million dollars to know the same things. Each one of them has to make sure that they spend time to know each of their opponents; their strengths and their weakness so that they can give their teams the best chance to win.
Businesses do the same thing. They not only study their corporations but they study their competition. Kroger studies Wal-mart and Publix. Amazon studies Wal-mart and Google. Dunkin Donuts studies Starbucks.
But you have to be smart. Ford and General Motors were so locked in on one another that they failed to notice that Toyota was not only growing but took over being the #1 car company in the world. Pepsi and Coke were so locked in on one another that suddenly before they knew it Red Bull had come in and taken a whole section of their markets.
In the same way, we have to be smart as individuals, as families and as churches to understand who the Devil is and what are his mission goals.
-He passionately wants nothing more than to see us be divided, thrown into chaos and eventually destroyed.
-He passionately wants us to be powerless and at his mercy.
- By the way – the Devil never gives any mercy to anyone.
-He wants us to be deceived, tricked and manipulated.
-He wants us to be a reflection of Hell than a reflection of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
However, in too many peoples’ lives and in too many churches only a very few people really know anything about Satan. Most Christ followers don’t know their most powerful and their deadliest enemy.
At times, too many people in the Church act like the Devil does not exist. They don’t pray against him. They don’t ask for Heavenly protection. They don’t seek Heavenly wisdom and guidance. Too often Christians find themselves fighting against one another than against the One who is really the enemy – the Devil.
So, with that in mind just who is the Devil?
+He is first of all a creature – a being that was created
He is not God's counterpart, because God has no equal. God has always existed, and everything else that exists now, including angels, were created by God.
The Devil is not omnipresent (everywhere), he is not omniscient (all knowing) nor is he omnipotent (all powerful).
The Devil is a fallen angel – most likely an arch angel – his equal would be more like Michael.
The devil's power is laughable compared to the power of God. He has never and will never be as powerful as God. Yet, he was a real threat to other angels and is today still a real threat to humans. He has the capacity to ruin a person's life and tempt them to not accept God’s grace and mercy and therefore causing them to miss Heaven.
The Devil is older than us, smarter than us and has had thousands of years to hone his skills. He loves to mess with our minds and with our hearts. He loves to confuse us and manipulate us. He loves to have us believe his lies.
But he cannot be at two places at once. He does not know everything. He does not know the future. He’s power is limited. He is powerful but in Christ and through the Holy Spirit we are more powerful, smarter and have more vision, discernment and knowledge.
At one time the Devil went by the name Lucifer – Morning Star. He was beautiful and radiant like an array of diamonds and other jewels. He had the ability to bring forth the sweetest of music and praise. We find all of that information in Isaiah chapter 14 and Ezekiel chapter 28.
But he rebelled against God. He declared that “I will be like God!” “I will be God!”
Seeing the beauty of man – the fact that man was made in the very image of God, the Devil decided that he would one up mankind and become God himself. He would take over the throne of Heaven and be God. He would rule over all creation. All of creation – including God Himself would bow down and worship him.
Pride filled his heart. Hate entered into his being. Rebellion burst forth from his lips. Lies become his language. Murder became his passion. Stealing became his mission. And as a result, God cast him and those other angels who sided with him out of heaven. No longer would this once beautiful, once worshipful angel be called Lucifer but would now be called the Devil, Satan, Liar, Murder, Thief and Destroyer.
The Bible doesn’t tell us what he looks like today. Most of the images we think of when we think of the Devil do not come from Scripture but from the Middle Ages. Most of our images come more from Dante’s Inferno than they do scripture.
And while we don’t exactly know what the Devil looks like we do know that at times he can appear as an angel of light – 2 Corinthians 11:14.
The fact is this – the best use of our time is not to spend on what the Devil looks like as to what he does and his strategies. For that is what the Bible does share with us this morning.
III. Satan’s Plan and Strategies
Satan’s greatest weapon is Deception/Lying
First and foremost the Devil is a Liar
In dealing with some of the Pharisees who were doing their best to stop Jesus, Jesus had some rather harsh words He had to share with them. Notice what Jesus says about the Devil in his words:
4 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. – John 8:44
Plain and simple, the Devil is a liar and a murderer from the very beginning. Once he fell, he wanted nothing more than to destroy any part of God’s Good Creation – first the other angels, then heaven, the earth and mankind.
There is positively no truth in the Devil. There is no Honesty. None. Not one iota of truth is in his being. The Devil’s native language is lying, deception and falsehoods.
That is one of the reasons why King David’s penned these words in Psalm 139:23-24 (NIV)
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive (lying way/deceiving way) way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
That is why the Apostle Paul was so adamant in his letter to the Colossians in chapter 3:9 – “Do not lie to one another …
Satan is also a Thief
Jesus’ tells us in John 10:10
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.”
That is the perfect image of what Satan did in the Garden of Eden. He used lies and deception to tempt Adam and Eve. He presented what he called ascended life (knowing good and evil – being like God) to them but in the end all the Devil wanted to do was to steal their authority and power, to cause them to have to experience death and to destroy their ability to live in the Garden of Eden and have a perfect relationship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
He never wanted to help Adam and Eve; but to harm them. He never wanted to give them anything but to steal what they had – perfect innocence, perfect fellowship with God, with one another and with all of creation.
Every time Satan opens his mouth – it is to deceive and to lie.
Every mission of Satan’s is to steal, to kill and destroy.
He wants to steal our joy, our innocence, our unity, our peace, our generosity and our patience. He wants to kill our relationship with God and with one another. He wants to kill our family’s unity and peace. He wants to destroy our happiness here on this earth and on the New Earth to come.
Satan does not care who he has to destroy as long as he gets power and control. He doesn’t care about any human at all – be it a child, teen, adult or senior adult. He doesn’t care about any creation other than himself. He doesn’t even care about other demons – he just uses them.
And all Satan needs is a little toe hold in our lives or as one person put it just a little nail.
Dr. Tony Evans shared this illustration that came from the land of Haiti.
There was this particular man who wanted to sell his house for $ 2,000. At the time houses sold for next to nothing in Haiti. He couldn’t find anyone to buy his house but there was one man who did offer him $ 1,000.00.
Seeing that it was the best offer the owner made a proposal. He would sell the entire house except for a nail above the back door. The man didn’t think anything about it so he agreed - $ 1,000 for the house with only the nail above the back door still being under the control of the original owner.
After some time the original owner came back and wanted to repurchase the house. He had decided that it was a great house and he wanted it back. However, the new owner and his family had settle in and were living quite nicely. They politely refused.
During the night the original owner found the rotting carcass of an animal and hung it on the nail he owned over the back door. The new owner couldn’t do anything about it because in the contract he signed he stated that he would allow the original owner to own that nail and have authority over it.
Of course you know what happened. The family couldn’t stand it. The smell of rotting animal was just too much. They knew that once this animal was gone the man would just find another. They finally gave in and agreed to give back the house. There was just no way they could stand living there.
That is a perfect picture of the Devil. He doesn’t want our whole house at first; just a small place to hang his nail. Then when we don’t expect it our lives are filled with all kinds of rotting things – evil things, evil habits, evil thoughts and evil actions. In the end the Devil will be in total control. That is why the Apostle Paul stated so strongly in 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22
“Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”
We are never to get into a conversation with the Devil. Once a temptation comes whether it is from him or from one of his demons we are to shut it down with prayer and scripture.
Notice what Jesus does in Matthew chapter 4 –
We need to understand that the Devil has never been any match for Jesus. How could he be – the Devil is a creation – Jesus is God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But Jesus endured the temptation to tell us how we are to face temptations
+As soon as something suspicious came to his mind, Jesus checked it against the Word of the LORD
+Any reply Jesus’ gave was saturated with God’s Word
+Over and over again Jesus spoke about His Absolute Commitment to God and God only
In the end, Jesus put all of His trust, obedience and status in His Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit.
This morning, we face an age old foe – one that has been around a lot longer than we have been this morning. He is crafty. He will lie – He does lie. He will manipulate, deceive, create chaos, attempt to divide, and attempt to have us focus on the mundane, the earthy and the flesh.
But as powerful as he is; let me say this a thousand times – He is no match for God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He has never won a battle against God or anyone who puts their trust and life in God.
Satan does not absolute power. Like Job, the Devil may try to harm our bodies but he can never harm our spiritual soul or our new body to come.
We need to be aware of him. We need to know his tactics. We need to saturate ourselves in God’s Word, in God’s Presence so that we can hear the Holy Spirit warn us and share with us when there is a problem.
We do not need to fear him. For the Devil is a roaring lion.
But, do you know what a roaring lion is this morning? I read this recently about roaring lions.
“When lions get old and lose teeth, they are no longer able to hunt and attack, so they become the guards of the pride. Their entire purpose is to roar and scare any approaching prey towards the younger lions, so they can attack. The young lions do not waste their time roaring, they only attack. The Bible says the devil is a roaring lion; when we put it in this context, we understand that this means he has no teeth! He is a defeated foe! All he can do is roar to scare us. Our pastor shares an acronym that goes along with this; Fear is False Evidence Appearing Real. This is exactly what the enemy wants! He wants us to fear him, but it’s all a farce!” (http://infamousmorris.weebly.com/marriage/roaring-lion)
The Bible tells us that we are to resist the devil, and he will flee. If we do not feed into the fear, he has no other option but to give up. Whenever we sit and dwell on a worry or fear, we are giving the enemy place in our minds that he has no right to. We have to line up our thoughts with what God has said for us.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7
This morning, we need to understand that there is a Devil. He is our enemy. But on the Cross and in the Resurrection our Savior and LORD Jesus defeated our enemy. All the Devil can do is lie, manipulate and deceive.
God’s Word. The Holy Spirit. Our being open to hearing God. Our continued obedience to God. Our unity in Christ and unity with one another. Our asking God for power, for wisdom, knowledge, protection and strength. Our abstaining from the very appearance of evil. Our keeping our first love. Our never grieving the Holy Spirit. Our oneness with God. Our looking above and not focusing on things of this earth. Our be watching and ready for Christ’s return. Our sharing the Good News. Our interceding for one another. Our surrender to the Holy Spirit and bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit – if we do these things then we will not only be victorious over the Devil in our own lives we will be a light for others to find victory as well.
Let us Pray/Benediction
Handouts – These where placed in our worship folders as extra helps to the sermon
Facts about the Devil/Satan
While there are many things that we do not know about Satan there are some things that the Bible does share with us.
1. He Is A Created Being
Scripture makes it very clear that all things were created by God and for God (Romans 11:36; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Col. 1:16-17). In this sense then we must conclude that all beings that are not called Satan and evil spirits (demons) were created by God. But equally clear is this second fact:
2. God created EVERYTHING GOOD
Nothing was created evil. God only creates what is consistent with His nature – Love, Holiness, Beauty ( 1 Timothy 4:4: 1 John 1:5; James 1:13). Satan was created to be an angel – a ministering being who would serve and honor God. Satan was created to be beautiful and to bring only good into all creation.
3. Satan and other Angels Rebelled
How and when Satan’s and the other angel’s rebellion happened we are not fully certain. All we know is what scripture tells us – 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 6. At some point they abandoned their proper dwelling and chose to follow Satan in rebellion.
4. Satan has authority in the realm of demons.
Scripture calls Satan the “prince of demons”. Since he was the first sinner the Bible says that Satan’s “been sinning from the beginning” (1 John 3:8). The Bible refers to Satan (the Devil) as the “prince of demons,” it seems likely that Satan launched and led this heavenly revolt (Matt. 12:24). Satan, then, was the first sinner; indeed, he’s “been sinning from the beginning” (1 John 3:8) “the evil one” (Matt. 13:19), “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31), “the god of this age” (2 Cor. 4:4), and “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2). We witness him spearheading attacks on God’s people (Job 1:6; 1 Chron. 21:1; Zech 3:1), with “power” (Acts 26:18) to “bind” (Luke 13:16) and “oppress” (Acts 10:38).
SATAN’S GREATEST STRATEGIES
Deception, Lying, Indifference, Division
Some Ways Satan Does His Best to Infiltrate and Influence
1. He tries to keep us busy with non-essentials
2. He tries to get us to overspend and go into debt.
3. He tries to make us think that we have to work long hours and maintain tired bodies, minds and souls.
4. He tries to have us maintain lifestyles that are empty – chasing after things that have no lasting value.
5. He does his best to get us to not spend quality time with our family and friends thereby breaking down the family and community.
6. He does his best to over-stimulate our minds – more and more today with social media
7. He does his best to get us to trade our Bible time, prayer time, meditation time for a good book, a sports game, a hobby, work or some other activity.
8. He wants us to focus on outward (physical) beauty instead of inner beauty. That way we will always allow the physical body to supersede our spiritual body and spend our time, energy and resources trying to always be younger, more alluring and in competition with others.
9. He wants us focus on always wanting more – materialism. The more we trade our time in for a new fad, car, phone, furniture etc… the more time we will spend away from creating a deep fellowship with God and with one another. We will always be wanting more – seeking more – desiring more.
HOW TO DEFEAT SATAN!
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” – The Art of War
We live in a world in which the natural interacts with the supernatural. All around us is a spiritual realm that while we can’t always see it or feel it we need to understand that it exists. The more we realize that fact the more we will 1. Learn that God is on our side 2. Realize that there are spiritual forces at work seeking to lie to us, steal from us and destroy us.
However, we always must understand that Satan is not in full control. He would love for us to believe that lie. He is never, ever to be trusted or believed.
God has given us everything we need to resist and defeat the Devil, any demon or any evil temptation. The Bible makes it clear that we are to never be afraid of him or his attacks. We are to listen to what the Bible says so that we will be faithful until death and receive the Crown of Life that Jesus has paid the price.
1. GIVE EVERYTHING to the LORD!
"Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." - James 4:7
2. SATURATE Yourself in God’s Word
“ For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” – Hebrews 4:12
3. DEPEND on The HOLY SPIRIT
“He (the Holy Spirit) the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” – John 16:13
4. Put on the Armor of God
"A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:10-12)
5. Pray, Pray and Pray some more!
“Likewise the Holy Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but he Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” – Romans 8:26-27
6. Know Yourself and Stay Alert
"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith." (1 Peter 5:8-9)
7. See Yourself as a Victor and Not a Victim
“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth” -Colossians 3:1–2
“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” – Romans 8:3
