What Lies Beneath
Ed Doss Sunday July 23, 2000
Rev. 12:7
The Bible says that there was a great war in Heaven.
~ Satan and his Demons fought against God and his Angels
~ But he was not strong enough and the Bible says that he was hurled down to Earth and there was rejoicing in Heaven
~ But woe to the Earth because though his time his short he is with fury making war against the Church.
So what are we to do? What is our recourse in light of this great enemy?
~ Must realize that we are not fighting against flesh and blood, but Satan is a spirit and our flesh and blood is weak in the battle.
~ God has given us his HS to fight for us.
Vs. 11 They overcame by the blood of Christ, and by the word of their testimony.
~ They were outwardly focused.
~ While in the battle “They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”
They knew who their enemy was and were not blind to his schemes.
~ Satan’s battlefield is confusion and he depends on deception to weave his way into our lives.
~ The bible says that he is crafty, and clever and comes as to us as an angel of light. .
So if we are to have victory over Satan in this life we like the FC disciples must not be unaware of his schemes.
“What Lies Beneath”
Job 1: 6-12
Satan is just as purposed in his mission as Jesus was.
~ Luke 19:10 says Jesus mission was to “seek and save the lost” Satan’s mission is just the opposite. To seek and lose the saved.
~ He will do anything to keep you from knowing God and to wound the Christian.
Let’s look at the schemes he used on Job.
Vs. 13-22
1.) The unaware scheme
~ Have you ever just had a passing thought that seems to have come out of nowhere?
Lustful or hateful. These are Satan’s fiery darts and we are under attack.
2.) The blame God scheme
Vs. 16 “the fire of God” This wasn’t the fire of God but of Satan, too often when things go wrong in our lives or when tragedy strikes who do we blame? God
3.) The Financial Crisis scheme
Job just lost his wealth. Job could’ve used this one. Satan gets you distracted with financial responsibilities and you begin to place God on the “back burner”. I mean after all you have bills.
4.) The harm to your family scheme
Vs.18
Nothing gets your heart bitter toward God faster than when something happens to your family.
Too often I’ve heard that the reason people don’t become Christians is that they are holding some kind of grudge toward God for a loss of a loved one.
~ They are unaware of Satan’s scheming, he will stop at nothing. There is no boundary that he will not cross.
5.) The no time to pray scheme
There’s so much to do. Camels to be replaced, funerals to be arranged.
~ All these good works and sometimes spiritual responsibilities and Satan gets you off your knees.
~ Think about it. What got you off your knees this morning or this week?
Satan will stop at nothing to keep you off your knees.
~ you get called into work early, alarm doesn’t go off, the children need you.
Vs.20 Job prayed – he knew where his strength would come from.
Let’s look at even more schemes
2:1-8
Satan is still single minded in his mission.
6.) The bad health scheme
And you thought it was just the viruses and the pollen.
Think about it; most people do lousy spiritually when their sick and get so inwardly focused. This is not just illness, it is Satan.
~ How do I know this? Because way too many of you at the slightest hint of a sniffle want to miss church and other meetings of the body.
~ You’ll go to work, because you need the money or because you have no more sick days and feel obligated to be a great employee, but surely God will understand that I can’t come to church.
You are under attack.
When we get sick, we baby ourselves. When we get sick, we get into ourselves. When we get sick, we think we have an excuse for not drawing close to God.
Some even look forward to getting sick so we can take a break.
7.) The using people scheme
2:9 The person that had to be closest to Job, his wife, mocked his commitment.
~ This wasn’t the only time he tried this. Also on Jesus.
~ When Jesus talked of his commitment to the cross – Peter said no, you can’t.
Jesus knew who it was – Satan.
Has there ever been close people in your life that have tried to keep you from getting baptized?
~ Tried to put doubt in your heart about God and your commitment?
These people have good intentions but make no mistake – it is Satan.
8.) The lack of fellowship scheme
Vs. 11-ff
Ever had a BT like this? Nothing but bad things are happening and no one says anything.
~ You know you can remove yourself from real fellowship and still be present.
9.) The false prophet scheme
Jobs 3 friends seemingly speaking the word of God. I remember when I first read Job. I thought these guys had some great points. Only to find out that God was angered by their words.
This one of the most deceitful things.
We can read in O.T. and see; yes there are false prophets. N.T. Yes there are false prophets.
~ But for some reason we find it difficult to accept that there are false prophets today.
People in our lives that look good and sound moral but teach blatant false doctrine.
We cannot be confused when we see good people preaching false doctrine and think that they’re O.K.
Now the sad thing is Job eventually blew it.
3:1
What did it?
10.) The domino scheme
Satan hit job in all of his weaknesses at he gave up.
Ask yourself : How many of these schemes has Satan used or is using in my life right now?
What’s to be done?
John 3:1-5
If you are not a christian, you need the spirit of God that comes at baptism. To be born again.
Something awesome about births. I cried at Alexas. Garret was old hat – we were reading the paper.
Even more awesome is a spiritual birth. We are spiritual beings being born into a spiritual kingdom.
What will it take for you – a good life and moral life full of good intentions? No, but a spiritual rebirth.
Excited to announce that Dan Greenfield was baptized on Wednesday night.
Gal.3:1-5
If you’re a Christian, the question for you is; has humanism crept back into your hearts?
~ We start off excited and faithful – end up thinking that we just need to push through and set our minds to more work and somehow we’ll obtain the victory. WRONG
~ The spiritual world is Satan’s battlefield and you have to fight the battle on a spiritual level.
Isa.30:19
Follow the spirit.
Rom.8:26
Revive spiritual prayer. The spirit communicates what you can’t.
Fight the battle on your knees.
Someone once said
The prayerless Christian is the undertaker of all of Gods truth and Gods church. He may have the costliest caskett and the most beautiful flowers, but is a funeral notwithstanding the charmful array. A prayerless Christian will never learn Gods truth and will never be able to teach Gods truth. Ages of Millennial glory have been lost by a prayerless church. The coming of our Lord has been postponed indefinitely by a prayerless church. Hell has enlarged herself and her dire caves in the presence of the dead service of a prayerless church. The best and the greatest offering is the offering of prayer.
If we are going to have victory over Satan and his schemes that lie beneath, we need to fall on your knees everyday and declare spiritual bankruptcy and pray for God to move in your life.
