Eph. 6:10-13 - 10Finally, my brethren, be strong in the
Lord and in the power of His might. 11Put on the whole
armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil. 12For we do not wrestle against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against
spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may
be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to
stand.
We should know that satan hurls his fiery darts at us on a
regular basis.
A. I am sure that we understand that those darts are
not physical arrows.
1. If we understand that, we need to understand
just what they ARE.
The arrows that can kill us, spiritually, if we don’t use the
armor which God has given us......these arrows are the
many areas in which we are susceptible to temptation.
A. Understand that satan will, most likely, not tempt
any one of us to take drugs, get drunk, commit
suicide, kill someone else, etc., etc..
We need to be prepared for reality.......for that which we
could, very probably, be tempted.
A. The best way in which to be prepared is
KNOWLEDGE AND RECOGNITION!!!
1. We must know where the attacks will come
from.
a. We’re in the army of God........an army
will never win a battle if the enemy has
the advantage of surprise.
Let us take a look as some of the areas in which satan will,
quite often, tempt and trip us up.
I. We are susceptible to doubt........doubt is the opposite of
faith.
Heb. 10:22-23 - 22let us draw near with a true heart in
full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
23Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without
wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
A. Doubt is an attack, by the devil, upon our belief
structure....upon our trust in the unseen and
that which we have not physically experienced.
1. Doubt......if allowed a foothold......can and
often does produce a defeating attitude.
2. Doubt can cause one to resist the truth.
a. satan will work in traditions......those
things or habits that are already familiar
to us.
1.) Doing something differently or
something that challenges our
strongly held beliefs, can lock us
up in fear.
a.) This fear will cause us to not
step out on faith.
EXAMPLE: There are many examples......in physical
realms, where a person has died.....rather than
do what is necessary to live.
a. Won’t jump into a net from a burning
building.
b. Won’t make a leap to a rope to escape
a raging flood.
c. Won’t jump from a crashing plane even
though he has a perfectly good
parachute.
** Doubt produces fear..........fear incapacitates a person
so that he/she won’t act in his/her best interests.
b. There are times when we must throw off
the shackles of traditions, previously held
beliefs, and doctrines of men.
1.) Resisting the truth as we can know
it from God.......locks us in our
prejudices, false beliefs, and
traditions of destruction.
a.) Just because we have “always
believed something”.......this
should not be the validation
of that belief......God’s Word
may....and often does.....
challenge our pre-formed
ideas...........WE MUST BE
ABLE TO STEP OUT, ON
FAITH AND REJECT
ANYTHING THAT GOES
AGAINST THE WORD!!
B. Doubt will block God’s blessings that He has in
store for the person of faith.
James 1:2-8 - 2My brethren, count it all joy when you fall
into various trials, 3knowing that the testing of your faith
produces patience. 4But let patience have its perfect work,
that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 5If
any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to
all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to
him. 6But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he
who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by
the wind. 7For let not that man suppose that he will
receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded
man, unstable in all his ways.
1. God only blesses in proportion to our faith.
a. More specifically, we can see....over-and
-over again that God blesses in
proportion to OUR MEASURE OF
FAITH.
** Doubt will block some or all of the blessings that God
has in store for us.
C. Doubt will block our hearts best impulses......
doubt will hold us back from doing the right thing.
1. The Holy Spirit cannot work, in an effective
way, in the heart of one who has little or no
faith.
a. Our doubting limits or rejects the Holy
Spirit working in our lives.
II Peter 1:1-4,10-11 - To those who have obtained like
precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and
Savior Jesus Christ: 2Grace and peace be multiplied to you
in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3as His
divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life
and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called
us by glory and virtue, 4by which have been given to us
exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these
you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped
the corruption that is in the world through lust.
10Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your
call and election sure, for if you do these things you will
never stumble; 11for so an entrance will be supplied to you
abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
II. We are also under attack by satan when he tries to
kill us, spiritually, with the arrow of the critical spirit.
Luke 18:10-14 - 10“Two men went up to the temple to
pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11“The
Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank
You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust,
adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12‘I fast twice a
week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ 13“And the tax
collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his
eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be
merciful to me a sinner!’ 14“I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone
who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles
himself will be exalted.”
A. Let us establish some truth and live by it.....
PERFECTION ONLY COMES BY AND
THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESUS
CHRIST!!!!
1. Man will give you “reasons” why this is not
the case, in certain situations.
a. The truth is the truth and it applies to all
mankind and in every situation.
** THERE IS NO PERFECT OR SINLESS MAN
IN THIS WORLD, TODAY.........NONE....AND
THAT INCLUDES YOU AND ME!!!
B. A constant reminder of our human weaknesses
is found in our continual spiritual failings.
1. If we were better than others......we should
not need the blood of Christ.
2. If we are so much spiritually ahead of anyone
else, there would be no need for us to receive
spiritual instruction, exhortation, and certainly
absolutely no need for us to be rebuked.
3. As spiritual as some people think that they
are......why even open the Bible?
** I hope that I have made the point........none of us is
so good......so spiritual......so lacking in error.....so
righteous...................that we could look down our
collective critical noses at anyone else!!!!!
B. Instead of criticizing and judging........we need to
recognize our common weaknesses and our
common goal..............and we need to help others
in whatever way possible.
1. Encourage in areas that others are doing
right.
2. Correct others, in love, in patience, in
kindness..........in areas in which they are off
the narrow path.
II Tim. 2:23-26 - 23But avoid foolish and ignorant
disputes, knowing that they generate strife. 24And a servant
of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to
teach, patient, 25in humility correcting those who are in
opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so
that they may know the truth, 26and that they may come to
their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been
taken captive by him to do his will.
3. Pray for, and with (if possible) those who are
not living the right Christian life.
4. Ask for and give forgiveness.
** We must remember that the ones who criticize the most
often have the most to change in their own lives.
1. This too we will be judged by.
Matt. 7:1-5 - 1“Judge not, that you be not judged. 2“For
with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and
with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
3“And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye,
but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4“Or how
can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from
your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?
5“Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye,
and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your
brother’s eye.
III. Another.....seemingly innocent area that the devil will
use on all of us, at some time.....is found in the area
of priority setting and/or procrastination.
A. It is in this area, alone, that satan spiritually kills
so very many Christians who would not give in
to the more obvious temptations.
Eph. 5:15-17 - 15See then that you walk circumspectly,
not as fools but as wise, 16redeeming the time, because the
days are evil. 17Therefore do not be unwise, but
understand what the will of the Lord is.
1. The putting off of good spiritual things
is inexcusable.......it is sin.
James 4:17 - 17Therefore, to him who knows to do good
and does not do it, to him it is sin.
a. Procrastination stems from physical
and spiritual LAZINESS!
b. Procrastination can come about
because of FEAR AND A LACK
OF FAITH!!!
2. There is not one good spiritual example
of procrastination in the scriptures.
a. Jesus never procrastinated.
b. Never did the Apostles procrastinate
and it was put in a good light.
A. When satan gets a person to put off doing what
God wants done.....satan wins in so many different
ways.
1. He gets us to sin by not using, wisely, the time
and opportunities that we have been given.
2. He gets us to give in to being lazy sluggards.
3. He gets us to give in to him.....and not to God,
in fear
Rev. 21:8 - 8“But the cowardly, unbelieving,
abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers,
idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which
burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
4. Lastly......and MOST IMPORTANTLY.......
that which God desires.....that which should
be done.......ISN’T DONE!!!!!!!
CONCLUSION:
Time constrains me to touch on all the things that I want to
point out.........that I know God wants me to warn everyone
about.
A. For that reason, I will conclude this part of the
message.
1. I will have, however, a second message, next
week.....Lord willing......in which I will
conclude the most common areas that satan
uses to destroy us with.
Let us make some conclusions concerning the things
discussed this morning.
A. We are all well prepared to resist the terrible....the
gross.....the devilish things that use to hold us in
their grips......when we were in and of the world.
1. Since we have become Christians......we have
rejected these things and stand guard against
the repeating of these terrible things.
a. satan cannot read our hearts so he still
might........from time-to-time try to test
us in these areas.......
1.) He just doesn’t know if we have
slidden backwards in that area and
he doesn’t want to waste the
opportunity.
B. satan does not rely on catching us at an incredibly
weak moment in our lives......if he did, he would
be very handicapped.
1. No......satan works in the areas in which he
knows you and I are very susceptible and
weak.
a. He works very hard in the area of doubt.
1.) It’s real simple.......if he can get us
to doubt God and/or His Word....
he has won.
b. He also works on us and helps us to
believe that we are more spiritual than
any one else.
1.) We are then all too ready to look
down our pointy noses at everyone
else and find all of the faults that
we know that are there.
a.) If we give in to this kind of
thinking, we become proud...
pride is a sin and satan has us
where he wants us.
b.) If we give in to this kind of
thinking, we offend God by
judging our brothers and
sisters.
c.) If we fall into this kind of
thinking, we are ready to
condemn.......but not half
as ready to help those in
spiritual need.
c. The final area that we discussed in this
message, is the area of procrastination.
1.) When satan can convince us to
put God and spiritual issues in a
low priority......he has won.
a.) God will not play second
fiddle to our will, wishes, and
desires.......He will be God, or
we will have satan as our
God.
All of these are areas that we, as Christians, need to guard
against.
A. If one are looking to the north for the attack and
the enemy sneaks up from the south.....one are in
lots of trouble.
1. Likewise, if we are expecting satan to tempt
us to smoke, drink, kill someone, etc.,........
we are being unrealistic in our preparations.
a. Let us, in addition to these things, also
make especially sure that we are
prepared for satan in the areas that he is
going to more realistically work to defeat
us.
