The Christians Constant Battle With The Devil

• After the first round, he returned to his corner with his nose bleeding. But his manager wanted to encourage him so he said, “Good fight champ, he never laid a glove on you!”

• After the second round he returned to his corner with his nose still bleeding and now he had a black eye. But again, his manager wanted to encourage him so he said, “Good fight champ, he never laid a glove on you!”

• After the third round he practically had to crawl back to his corner. Now his nose was bleeding and he had two black eyes. But his manager said for the third time, “Good fight champ, he never laid a glove on you!”

The fighter took his mouth piece out and said, “You keep telling me that he never laid a glove on me. Do me a favor and keep an eye on that referee because somebody is beating the devil out of me!”

Christians need to open their eyes, because the devil is beating the stuffings out of them also!

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? The problem is, as a church today many pastors and Sunday School teachers do an excellent job when it comes to:

• Educating God’s people on what the Bible teaches about doctrines of the Bible

• Educating God’s people on how to pray, study God’s word and witness to a lost world

However, one of the weak areas in educating God’s people is in instruction on how to fight the enemy – SATAN!

WHY IS THIS A PROBLEM? It is a problem, because-

• Some do not like to think about things that might depress a congregation. Their motto in life is “STAY POSITIVE”.

• Some preachers believe if you want trouble in a church, just start preaching on Satan. The devil has frightened them to the point they seldom ever mention Satan from the pulpit.

They feel that the best things they can preach on are the passages in the Bible that talk about the greatness of God.

The Bible has a great deal to say about the greatness of God, and it is important that every Bible preacher preaches on that subject. But the Bible also has a great deal to say about Satan, and it is the responsibility of the church to educate the people of God on this subject also.

Today’s church has shirked its responsibility for educating the people of God on the teachings about the devil. This kind of preaching today has become so scarce that many now think of the church as a PLAYGROUND, where we come together time after time, and have a GREAT TIME IN THE LORD!

There is a lot of truth to this, but this is not the whole truth! While God’s church could be compared to a PLAYGROUND it must also be compared to a BATTLEGROUND!

Every church has the responsibility to inform God’s people that once they become a CHILD OF GOD they also become A SOLDIER IN THE ARMY OF GOD.

And as a soldier in the army of God, Christians need to be informed we are at war! When we do not educate them to this fact, we place them at a great risk. To keep that from happening, let’s look at OUR CONFLICT WITH THE DEVIL.

The New Testament tells Christians how we can overcome the attacks of Satan and live a victorious life. First, we must be able to-

I. RECOGNIZE THE WARRIOR

I am sure that if I asked you to mention some warrior that you knew:

• Some would mention some of the great Indian warriors , such as Cochise or Geronimo

• Some would mention great American warriors, such as Davy Crocket, Daniel Boone, and Ely Parker

But the greatest warrior of all is the Lord Jesus Christ. He has never lost a battle, and according to Revelation He never will.

But the second greatest warrior that has ever existed is Satan himself. Since the beginning of time he has been in one battle after another, and has won many of His battles. We do not want to give the Devil any praise, but honesty compels us to RESPECT his talents! Every day of our life we Christians are at war with that rascal.

Illus: President George W. Bush told the American people that our war on the terrorists will be a long war, and we do not know when it will come to an end.

But when it comes to our war with Satan, the Word of God makes it clear that we, the children of God, will be at war with Satan as long as we live on this earth.

• It is never going to become a cease fire

• It is never going to come to an end