Maneuvering Spiritual Warfare
(I Peter 5:8-9)
1. We were shocked by the tragic death of Steve Irwin.
2. Stingrays, normally friendly, bear a deadly sting.
3. We have an enemy that can appear graceful and good, Satan.
4. 2 Corinthians 11:13-14 reads, "…. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness…"
5. To those of you who do not yet know Christ, Satan is attempting to blind your mind to the Gospel….
6. To those of us who have made a commitment to Jesus Christ, Satan’s goal is to minimize our impact and take us down
7. So we are engaged in the battle; we choose whether we fight it by default and take our losses or whether we are active and minimize our losses.
Main Idea: Satan and his demons may appear to be gentle, but they are out to destroy your effectiveness in the Kingdom of God.
I. Our M.O. (Mode of Operation) (8a)
A. SELF-CONTROLLED
• Good habits make a BIG difference, but this is more about our minds (unlike the English expression, Self-controlled, which is more about restraint)
• The word implies having a sound mind (and often translated that way), in contrast to being oblivious or drunk; being in a stupor
• William Hendricksen defines it , "self-control is man’s ability to look at reality with a clear mind"
• Mentally sharp and prepared (one reason we offer so many educational opportunities here; it implies an educated mind)
• This is like boot camp and basic training; we prepare our minds!
B. ALERT
Peter had given in to Satan on several occasions; was not alert…
1. -discouraged Christ from fulfilling His mission after his great confession of faith
2. Peter Himself had failed to be watchful (Luke 22:31-34) the night of the Last Supper. Jesus said:
"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."
But he replied, "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death."
Jesus answered, "I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me."
Peter had failed to watch and pray in Gethsemane (Matt. 26:36-45 passim)
Jesus said: "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."
"…Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation… He went away a second time … When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time…Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners."
3. Peter calls Satan "your enemy the devil" and likens him to a lion in search of prey. The word "enemy" ( antidikos , "adversary") meant an opponent in a lawsuit (BAG, p. 73; cf. Job 1:6 ff.; Zech 3:1; Rev 12:10).
• This takes us back to an anchor chapter of the Old Testament, Zechariah 3
C. Helps NIP attacks in the bud
Pretty much the same sort of activity we pursue to help us grow also defends us against Satan’s attacks, with these exceptions: we need to pray against Satan (for God to bind him), and we need to realize that temptations are not always random, but sometimes insidiously orchestrated…we need to perceive patterns that alert us, then, to pray.
II. The ACTIVITY of the Devil (8b)
a. The New York Times reported a study about the diminishing belief in the devil among Americans. Two-thirds of Americans do not believe in the devil as a living entity. In a randomly selected survey of over 1,000 Americans, pollsters asked whether they agreed that Satan is “not a living being, but a symbol of evil.” Sixty-two percent agreed with the statement. That means nearly 149 million Americans believe that Satan has no influence but that Satan is just a symbol of evil. We should know and understand that Satan is real and evil is real and that this is our number 1 enemy as believers in Jesus Christ. (Christopher Roberts, Sermon Central)
b. Perhaps many people doubt the reality of Satan because they see too many people using the devil for an excuse. We are responsible for our choices; we can never say, "The devil made me do it."
g. A little boy always went next door to play even though his mom had warned him against doing so. This worried his mom so badly that she asked him why he was so disobedient. He replied that Satan tempted him so bad and he did not know what to do. ? ?
His mom then advised him to say ’get behind me Satan’ whenever he was tempted. She then built a fence around the house. This worked for a week, then one sunny afternoon his mom looked out the window and there was her son playing on the neighbors lawn having cut a hole in the fence. ? ?
"Jeremiah", she yelled, "come here!" She then said "did I not tell you to say ’get behind me Satan’ whenever he tempted you?" ?
"Yes", the boy replied, "I said, ’get behind me Satan’, then he went behind me and pushed me through the hole in the fence." (source: jokes.christiansunite.com)
d. Two extremes to avoid:
(1) everything bad is caused by Satan, a demon behind every bush
(2) nothing bad is caused; his existence is just a technical truth of theology
A. PROWLING
1. Walking subtlety waiting to exploit an opportunity
2. The lion while hunting only roars when it springs. So the devil is stealthy and does not give warning of his approach. (B.W. Johnson)
B. VICIOUS
Full of rage
• Two years ago, someone stole the CD player from my van; last week, someone broke into Hannah’s Jeep and stole her CD player
• Both evil acts, violating the rights of others, one more vicious than the other…
C. SEEKING
• Fierce and hungry
• He has an insatiable appetite
D. Goal: To DESTROY
• Have you ever wondered why demons trouble lost people?
• Nature of good and evil; evil is the ruining of the good
•
III. How We FIGHT the Battle (9)
A. Presumes the right M.O.
If we haven’t been through boot camp and basic training, are we really ready to fight the war?
B. We must RESIST
antis/thte "stand against" stereoi\ "firmly, steadfastly"
Satans’s attacks often come as temptations….
1. James 4:7 provides us with a parallel passage: "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
2. The late English writer, Oscar Wilde, once said, "I can resist anything except temptation!" Wilde is also credited with the insight: "The best way to deal with temptation is to yield to it!"
We resist in several ways
1. We avoid tempting situations
2. We refuse to trust ourselves and we take precautions (Peter’s mistake)
3. We memorize, read, and meditate upon the Word of God
4. We distract ourselves
5. We make decisions on the basis of conviction & truth, not feeling
C. We must STAND FIRM in the Faith
* Satan’s attacks often come as false doctrine….discouragement…doubt
1. Doctrine and convictions matter – very much
2. But it is our personal trust – subjective faith – that also helps us stand
3. Speaking of believers martyred in the coming Tribulation period, John writes in Revelation 12:11:
"They overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb [objective salvation] and by the word of their testimony [subjective trust]; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
D. We are part of a LARGER resistance movement
* Like a lion, Satan prefers to attack an isolated weak creature
1. Modern society has discovered the importance of a support group
2. Christians have known about this for centuries…
CONCLUSION
Satan and his demons may appear to be gentle, but they are out to destroy your effectiveness in the Kingdom of God.
