Will the Real Enemy Please Stand Up?
Scripture: I Peter 5:8-9 Date: 19 March 2006
Purpose: To help the listener recognize the enemy!
8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
Introduction:
In the popular game show entitled, “To Tell the Truth” we would eagerly watch as three contestants claimed to be the same person. We would join with a celebrity panel as they asked them questions, trying to guess who was telling the truth.
At the end of the show, the host would say: “Would the real blank please stand up?” It was the highlight of many American’s lives to tune in each week to see just how good they were at picking them out.
We need to realize that even though “To Tell the Truth” was a television show, it tells us something about our lives.
Today it is difficult to spot the enemy but our inability to easily identify him has not stopped the havoc he sows and the destruction he causes. “Will the real enemy please stand up?”
Many of us would say that we don’t have any enemies. We may have some people that we don’t see eye to eye with or who may be bent out of shape about something that has happened and as a result they don’t like us, but we would not qualify these persons as enemies, because an enemy is someone who is out to hurt us and to destroy us.
Some of us to be sure do have enemies in our life- whose intent is to destroy us or at least to hurt us in everyway they can. We can relate to David in the Psalms who quite often speaks of his enemies that lay in wait to destroy him. This morning I want to dispel a false impression.
If you think you don’t have an enemy, you need to think again. Everybody has an enemy that is out to get you. Whether you agree or disagree will not change the facts.
His name is many: Beelzebub, The Serpent, the Ruler of the world, Satan, the devil and many more, but I can assure you he is not so much considered about what you call him as he is about how he can get a hold of your life and mine and keep it.
“Will the real enemy please stand up?” That is what you and I need to know. How can we identify the enemy and expose him for who he really is? If he is like a terrorist among us how can we know him?
I. Someone may ask, “Well what does he look like?"
A. First of all it is not his appearance that tips you off but his approach!
1. In verse 8 of our text, the devil is described as a Lion who prowls about. The ability to “prowl” implies that he has freedom of movement and thus does not appear to be the enemy among us at all.
2. Unfortunately the red suit, horns and pitch fork are not his usual attire! If we knew his face and what he was wearing, we could easily identify him, but my friend he is among us and we don’t even know it.
3. In II Corinthians 11:14 and following we read, “Satan masquerades himself as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness…”
4. So it’s not his appearance that we need to be so focused on, rather it is his behavior. Looks can be deceiving but behavior never lies.
5. Let us never forget one very important truth! Satan can only do his work through people. He does not do his own dirty work as he has limited power; he seeks to influence others to do it for him.
7. That is why Paul says in Ephesians 6:12 “for our struggle is not against flesh and blood…” Satan’s approach is to use people, sometimes even you and even me.
8. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to check our approach. People are not the enemy- Satan is the enemy! Now I have met some people - and I’m sure you have as well, that if there was a look a like contest for the devil they would come close.
9. But people are not the problem – Satan is. Peter, one of Jesus’ own trusted followers responded to Jesus in a way that revealed the approach of the enemy and Jesus told him,
In Mark 8:33“Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
10. Peter was a lover of God who had given up all he knew to follow Jesus, but in this moment, in this situation, he was being used as a voice for the enemy.
11. Like it or not, Satan tries to use you and I as his envoys to accomplish his will. That is why we must walk in the Spirit and pray without ceasing.
II. But what is Satan’s purpose anyway?
A. His first purpose is to challenge God!
1. In Isaiah 14 we learn that Satan’s desire was to be God. He wanted to rule God’s creation alone; he and one third of all of the angels rebelled against God and were cast out of heaven.
2. Satan has never gotten over his defeat. Though his goal was not achieved, he switched gears, thus his purpose is to challenge the work of God at every opportunity.
3. We live in a world of good and evil. Even Hollywood with its seeming bias against Christianity reminds us of the power struggle between good and evil.
4. It has recently been depicted in the story of Darth Vader who was seduced by the dark side.
5. But God cannot be harmed by the devil. In fact the devil is merely an annoying gnat to God, so the devil devised a better plan than an all out assault on God.
B. Satan chose to capture the heart and soul of the crown of God’s creation – men and women! Now that hurts.
1. His plan is to turn men and women away from God. This cosmic conflict is best illustrated in the Book of Job where Satan approaches God and basically says, Job serves you God, because you bless him, but you give him to me for a while and let me work on him.
2. All of us know that there are people who outright worship the devil. And I am in complete agreement with you that these people are not only lost, they are mentally deranged. We can easily dismiss these people as crazy.
3. But it is not these whom the enemy uses as much as he does those who are unsuspecting.
4. He comes to sew doubt in our hearts. Isn’t that why Eve ate from the forbidden fruit in Genesis 3:1? He made her doubt God’s command to not eat.
5. He is a wheeler and dealer- a schemer whose desire is to turn us away from God. In II Corth 2:11 we are told to be aware of his schemes.
6. His plan is to tempt us, to afflict us, and to deceive us. But again we need to remember that if he showed up in his red suit we would know who he is and not yield – so he does not come dressed as you and I suppose.
7. He oftentimes uses circumstances and situations in our lives to turn us away from God, but his best tactic is to use people – usually innocent, unsuspecting people.
Illustration:
The Chair of the Evangelism ministry in a well known church was a man who truly loved Jesus and he had a desire for everyone else to know Him as well. He would share his faith at every opportunity.
He organized visitation teams to visit in the community and spoke all the time of leading people to Jesus as the primary purpose of the church. Yet when the church began to grow beyond the people he knew by face or name – when walking down the isle at church he saw more strangers than neighbors, he began to strongly speak out against how the church was growing.
Here was a man whose heart and soul was to reach people for Jesus, who served as the chair of the Evangelism ministry and prayed all the time for lost people to find Jesus and yet he began to criticize the growth of the church. Talk about an oxymoron! Where did he think those new Christians were going to go?
He was deceived but the Holy Spirit revealed to him his contradiction. As he shared his story in church one Sunday morning, he was broken before God as he shared how he had been deceived.
III. But if we know the purpose of the enemy is to challenge God and capture our soul, then what can we do about him?
A. First, “stay the course!” “Hold the line!” don’t give up!
1. In our text we are told to “resist him, stand firm in your faith!” At times all of us have been or will be deceived by the enemy.
Illustration: The Great Wall of China is a gigantic structure which cost an immense amount of money and labor. When it was finished, it appeared impregnable. But the enemy breached it. Not by breaking it down or going around it. They did it by bribing the gatekeepers.
Are you able to be bribed? You may have an outstanding wall of faith on the outside and many that see it sees a strong and un-destructible wall of faith. But what’s inside is what matters.
2. In James 4:7 we are told to “resist the devil and he will flee from you.” But how are we to resist him? I have tried in certain situations and failed. Our answer is found in verse 8 of that same chapter.
3. “Come near to God and He will come near to you…” Our feeble attempt at resistance has no power or impact apart from God, the only way to defeat the enemy is to draw near to God and allow Him to defeat the enemy for us.
B. But God does not expect us to go to the battle with determination alone – go with the right weapons and fight!
1. In Ephesians 6 we are told to put on the armor of God. To wear armor is usually for defense. Verse 11, “put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”
2. But armor also can be used offensively. In verse 16, “in addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”
3. The enemy is laid low when you and I realize that the mightiest weapon we have in our arsenal is the Word of God. We speak the Word of God over our lives, over the circumstances and situations of our life, over people and the Word unleashes the power of God to work.
4. Just the mention of Jesus’ name, sends the enemy into a long retreat!
Conclusion:
Do you need help this morning? Is life wearing you thin around the edges? The Battle belongs to the Lord!
Whether we like it or not, each one of us has an enemy. He is out to destroy us but his means and manner are so subtle and cunning.
This morning, I would like to invite us to speak the name of Jesus over our lives – over our church! You may not be able to always identify the enemy but you can sure put him in his place this morning.
Do you need victory? Is the enemy toying with you like a worm on a hook? Many of us today need to take the authority of God for our lives and put the devil in his place.
We need to stop blaming people and get serious about who is the real enemy.
