I had the privilege of attending a screening of “The Passion of the Christ for Pastors only and was audience to an interview with Mel Gibson regarding his movie. He stated one of the most profound insights I have ever heard from any theologian, let alone a movie star. Mel was asked “Why was the devil portrayed by a person that you could not clearly identify as a beautiful woman or a hideous man. Sometimes this character looked good, other times this character looked ugly.” Mel Gibson said “I wanted it this way because that is how the enemy is. Evil looks good until you turn it around a little and see the whole spectrum, then you see the ugliness.” What a statement.
So often when we think of Satan we think of scary movies or evil atrocities in society. Though these may be evidence of Satan’s work, he does his best work looking good. He counterfeits God. He uses something so close to the truth that it is almost unrecognizable as evil. This clever approach makes all believers as vulnerable as unbelievers when we are not aware of his schemes. The lost man has no clue how to identify evil, but believers have the clear gospel of grace to help us see through the evil one’s schemes.
As in any sport you must know your opponent. As a basketball coach for the past 18 years, (from young children to varsity), I realize that the best team is the most well prepared team, the team whose coach scouts the opponents. The well prepared coach profiles every player, watches game film, understands the environment of the game site and guides his athletes with a balance of confidence and humility. The same is true of every Christian; before we can be victorious here on earth we must be aware. We must know the enemy and this will allow us to prepare our lives for battle. We always want to tell people to put on the full armor of God, which is biblical. But friend, a soldier in battle garb without knowledge of the enemy is as worthless as an anchor without a ship. He is weighted down and sinking fast. Let’s learn how to resist Satan in times of trouble.
To resist Satan in times of trouble…
1 Peter 5:8 (NIV)
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
The first key to resisting is…
You must:
1. Know who He is.
We live in a society that believes in evil but writes off Satan as a character in cartoons with a pitch fork and horns. This image has reduced the truth about the enemy to a mere fairy tale. Let’s get something straight, Satan is a real created being, and the Bible tells us that his first job was that of an angel. He did not believe God’s word and was obsessed with self and pride; so he rose up against God and was cast out of heaven and condemned to a future in hell. Since that time he has been trying to rob God’s glory from him by deceiving mankind. He is dragging others down with him. Let’s look at his profile. Be familiar with the enemy so you can see him in a crowd.
Profile
• A fallen angel. (Isaiah 14)
He is a one time messenger of God. He is a beautiful creation. This heavenly musician became full of self and desired God’s praise. He wanted to rule his life.
This struggle is the same one that all people battle. We want control. We want to rule our lives. We want the final say; when actually all the power, glory, honor and praise belong to God. As Christians we must realize no matter how much we feel in control, we are not. Satan was so full of pride he thought he could be God. Only when we realize God is in control can we sense God’s power in our lives.
He is….
• A constant accuser of God’s people.
Job 1:6 (NLT)
One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan the Accuser came with them.
Circle “accuser”. This is Satan’s best job. He accuses the saints before God. He continues to try to find fault. But when he comes with his accusations, Jesus our advocate keeps saying “It’s under the blood.” So when Satan realizes that there is no way God will hear these accusations; he whispers in our ears. “You’re not worthy.” “You’re no good.” “You’re a liar.” He gets us to doubt ourselves and it works in many instances. We feel guilty. Yet Jesus died not only for our sin but the guilt of our sin.
Psalm 32:1, 5 (NIV)
Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered… Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
Remember he’s an accuser not the judge jury or prosecutor. Don’t let him overwhelm you with guilt. Your sin is covered under the blood.
Satan is also…
• A master deceiver.
Revelation 12:9 (GW)
The giant dragon was thrown down out of heaven. (He is that old snake called the devil or Satan, who tricks the whole world.) The dragon with his angels was thrown down to the earth.
Satan does a great job of tricking us. He makes evil look so appealing. He tells us what our flesh wants to hear. He is an illusionist. Remember, he has no power over our lives except what we give him.
Illustration– Have you ever run across that person who is a salesman extraordinaire? They could sell sand to an Arab. They get you all fired up. You sign on the dotted line, then they leave and you say “Why did I order that 5000 volume series of Time Life books?” This is what Satan does. He makes us believe that fame is all it’s cracked up to be so we pursue the praise of men only to find out the more fame you have the less life you have. He tells us that affair will be worth the pleasure only to find out later that 30 minutes of pleasure costs us a lifetime of pain. He tells us that money will solve all our problems; but, then when we have a pile of money; we have a new set of problems. His lies are endless. He is the master deceiver.
And finally he is…
• A counterfeit of all that is good.
2 Corinthians 11:14 (MSG)
And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel
of light.
Satan will most likely never appear in your life in a way that horrifies you. He knows that the best way to get Christians and even unbelievers to follow him is to look good on the outside. I believe Satan does better work in the local church then he does in the local bar. Satan works through preachers consumed with power, people consumed with gossip and slander, churches that use dead programs, traditional methodology and stagnant worship. The average church in America has less than 200 members and sees an average of two people come to saving knowledge of Jesus a year. This is an atrocity. Regardless of the number of people in our churches we need to be reaching out. We need to grow spiritually and numerically. If we preach the clear gospel of grace, this will happen just as it did in the book of Acts and the early New Testament church and this has been the case in every clearly and consistently major awakening worldwide. God adds to the number of our congregations when we faithfully preach salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. Unfortunately many churches don’t do this. People come for social activities; they are consumers not contributors. They are not fulfilling God’s purposes; and worse yet, the Elders and Pastors let this happen. Satan has fooled us into believing that his counterfeit is the real thing. He keeps us busy so much of what we want to do. We strive to please people and in turn we fulfill the work of God’s enemy.
Illustration – How do we change this? How can we recognize a counterfeit? We do it the same way new bankers are taught to recognize counterfeit money. They make you handle, study, touch and feel the real thing so much that when a counterfeit comes through you see it clearly. We need to know God’s truth, His word, His purposes so well, that when we see legalism, stagnant traditionalism and heretical theology, we recognize it right away. We must be so familiar with Jesus that Satan is easy to recognize.
Know who the enemy is. You must also…
You must:
2. Know what He wants.
Be aware of Satan’s plan. It really has not changed. He wants two things desperately.
He wants…
• God’s place.
Isaiah 14:14 (NLT)
I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.
God’s word tells us in the Ten Commandments that there should be no other God before Him. Satan wants God’s place. He knows he can’t have it; but, he will try with all his might to attain it.
This truth has a very practical application. How do you know when you’re being filled with the Spirit? Or fooled by the Devil? It’s simple. When you have God in first place; he receives all your attention. You do everything you do for him. When Satan has fooled you; then, you do what you do for self, for the praise of others. You do what you do for personal gain. Remember, anything you live for other than God is called “Idol worship.” Selfish pride is Satan’s greatest working ground to bring about his schemes.
Satan also wants…
• Man’s praise.
When Satan tested or tempted Jesus his true colors showed through. He wants every person’s worship. Now remember, we may be worshipping him without ever truly realizing it.
Matthew 4:9 (TEV)
"All this I will give you," the Devil said, "if you kneel down and worship me."
We are worshipping Satan when we forget God in a transaction. When we want what we want and not what God wants; we are giving Satan just what he wants. Remember when Peter was asked by Jesus, “Who am I?” Peter boldly replied, “You are the Christ.” Peter was sure of his faith. He believed in Jesus. But in only a moment he would allow the devil to lead him astray. He would allow his pride to overtake his faith. Satan loves to see this from believers.
Mark 8:29, 33 (NIV)
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ”…But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
Get behind me Satan. Jesus had just blessed him with praise; but Peter didn’t realize how cunning and crafty the devil was. Jesus predicts his death and Peter gets very upset about it, almost belligerent toward Jesus. He doesn’t want to see Jesus die because he doesn’t understand God’s will.
This is so stereotypical of all of us. We can go from praising God to cursing man, from a victorious work on the mission field to a hateful heart toward those we were sent to care for. We must be aware of the enemies wants. He wants God’s place and man’s praise; and, he will do whatever he can to try to get these things.
Illustration -
How do you resist the devil? Just remember these simple truths.
Here is a simple way to resist Satan. It starts in our mind, so think on these phrases.
Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst;
he promises honor but pays with disgrace;
he promises pleasure and pays with pain;
he promises profit and pays with loss;
he promises life and pays with death.
This sums up his wants and how he will do whatever he can to achieve them. We know who he is; we know what he wants; now we must….
You must:
3. Know where to turn.
As a child I always heard the plans of the enemy were fierce, his desires purely evil. I heard he was deceptively clever and I heard who my refuge was. But I never heard how to actually counter his approach. The Bible makes it very clear that there are two things we can do to guarantee success when the devil fires his flaming arrow our way. We must turn…
• Away from the Devil.
James 4:7b (NIV)
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Resist the devil. In the original language the word is “oppose”. In other words, let him know boldly that through the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of prayer you are
saying NO! I will not listen to your lies. Satan does not like to be opposed; but, because he is powerless over the children of God he has no choice but to flee. He heads the other direction. The best thing you can do to resist the devil is to know God’s word. Yes, you must yield to God’s spirit and pray; but, if you don’t know the word of God, you have no basis for your fortress. You will eventually give in. Remember even as Jesus was being tempted by Satan; he modeled for all believers a strategy when Satan comes calling.
Matthew 4:4 (LB)
But Jesus told him, “No! For the Scriptures tell us that bread won’t feed men’s souls: obedience to every word of God is what we need.”
We are made strong by obedience to every word of God. Are you recognizing this theme throughout our study on the cast? Apart from God’s word we are powerless!
Charles Spurgeon illustration:
I would recommend you either believe God up to the hilt, or else not believe at all. Believe this book of God, every letter of it, or else reject it. There is no logical standing place between the two. Be satisfied with nothing less than a faith that swims in the deeps of divine revelation; a faith that paddles about the edge of the water is a poor faith at best. It is little better than a dry-land faith, and is not good for much.
As we profiled Satan; we began with this character’s downfall, his pride, his unwillingness to believe in who God is and his innate desire to overtake His position. His life disgusts us. We mock his failure, yet we give into his plan frequently. Will I submit to God or do my thing? (Ultimately the enemy’s thing)
The key to overcoming the proud one is to choose the opposite of what he throws your way.
James 4:7a (NIV)
Submit yourselves, then, to God.
• In humility toward God.
Humbly submit to God. Make yourself subject to God. Let him be ruler of your life.
As we talked about last week, be like Mary. “I am your servant Lord.” Service does not appeal to our flesh, it does not go hand in hand with the world’s system, but it is God’s way. Be humble and serve.
When accomplishments happen in our lives; we can choose to glorify God or give Satan the reins. When we give Satan the reigns we rob God of His due praise. I love the humility of Samuel Morse.
Wakefield tells the story of the famous inventor Samuel Morse who was once asked if he ever encountered situations where he didn’t know what to do. Morse responded, "More than once, and whenever I could not see my way clearly, I knelt down and prayed to God for light and understanding."
Morse received many honors from his invention of the telegraph but felt undeserving: "I have made a valuable application of electricity not because I was superior to other men but solely because God, who meant it for mankind, must reveal it to someone and He was pleased to reveal it to me."
How to Resist Satan in Times of Trouble- Outline
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8 (NIV)
You must:
1. Know who He is.
Profile
A fallen angel. (Isaiah 14)
A constant accuser of God’s people.
Job 1:6 (NLT)
One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan the Accuser came with them.
Psalm 32:1, 5 (NIV)
Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered… Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord"-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin.
Selah
A master deceiver.
Revelation 12:9 (GW)
The giant dragon was thrown down out of heaven. (He is that old snake called the devil or Satan, who tricks the whole world.) The dragon with his angels was thrown down to the earth.
A counterfeit of all that is good.
2 Corinthians 11:14 (MSG)
And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel
of light.
You must:
2. Know what He wants.
God’s place.
Isaiah 14:14 (NLT)
I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.
Man’s praise.
Matthew 4:9 (TEV)
"All this I will give you," the Devil said, "if you kneel down and worship me."
Mark 8:29, 33 (NIV)
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am”? Peter answered, “You are the Christ”…But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
You must:
3. Know where to turn.
Away from the Devil.
James 4:7b (NIV)
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Matthew 4:4 (LB)
But Jesus told him, “No! For the Scriptures tell us that bread won’t feed men’s souls: obedience to every word of God is what we need.”
In humilty toward God.
James 4:7a (NIV)
Submit yourselves, then, to God.
