Satan, the devil, Lucifer, fallen angel, liar, father of it, evil spirit with legions of demons to help him accomplish his goal to defeat God and take as many people to the pit as he can. Once a beloved cherub/angel, kicked out of heaven because he wanted to be like God. “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? (Isaiah 14: 12-17)
Satan is a spiritual being who is the supreme personification of evil. One of God’s archangels who rebelled against Him and was cast down to earth where he functions as the devil. And though we do not know exactly how long he’s been around, what we do know is it has been for a very long time and that there is absolutely no good in him at all. He is not a friend, but an adversary. His biggest trick is to deceive us and his ultimate goal is to get us to sin and to die in our sins. Sin produces death spiritually, emotionally and ultimately physically. But thank God for Jesus who is the antidote for his poison. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6: 23) “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10: 10)
Satan is not what is depicted in the movies as having horns, a red cape and a pitchfork. He is an evil deceiver, crafty, murderer, tempter, thief and powerful, evil snake. He is an enemy! An enemy to us, to God and the cross. Always full of cruel, evil intentions, plotting, pursuing, trying to be in competition with God who will never surrender His authority and power to no one. Satan is 100% evil! He is relentless in his pursuit of us to destroy our very being. It is a spiritual battle between good and evil and we are the prize. God desires a relationship with us and He wants to bless us but Satan wants to destroy all of that. He is an enemy of all people, saints and sinners. Saints are prime targets of the devil. He will do his utmost to completely destroy anything that is essential for an abundant and eternal life. His plan of attack is to steal our minds, hearts, peace, joy, fruit, trust, purpose and ultimately our souls. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5: 8) “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” (Luke 22: 31-32)
Satan can transform himself into an angel of light and will lure you in and entice you with all the things that you love. For example, your favorite steak seasoned and cooked to perfection. But what he fails to tell you is that he laced it with poison as he sits back and watches your suffering and/or demise. Case in point: Eve in the garden enticed by the beautiful-looking, but forbidden, fruit. She and Adam ate, not knowing that their punishment for disobedience would be handed down to them by God. In a world of conflict between good and evil with powers beyond us, the devil has a specific strategy that he has used for an extremely long period of time. Why? Because it works. He reveals how subtle he can be in his manipulations, temptations, lies and deceptions. He will never tell us the full consequences of the sin he entices us to commit. “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8: 44)
Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold a possession and kept back part of the money instead of giving it all to the Apostles. “But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” (Acts 5: 3-4) Of course there was a consequence to his actions: “And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.” (Acts 5: 5-6) And consequently the same thing happened to his wife. “And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.” (Acts 5: 7-11) “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” (Galatians 6: 8)
Satan always comes in disguise, camouflaged under the radar and totally undetected with his clever schemes and strategies. He tempts us to find our weakness so that he can use it over and over. Little by little, step by step, he navigates us off course and away from God. “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren.” (James 1: 12-16) The enemy is strong but he pales in comparison to the awesome power of God. He seeks to replace God in your life. And he wants to be God in your life. It is vitally important to hear the word of God and keep it and do it so Satan won’t come and snatch us up so easily. “The sower soweth the word. And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.” (Mark 4: 14-15)
Demonic influences are real and satanic attacks are intentional and deliberate, intended to bring harm to us in a physical, mental, economical, relational or spiritual way. The objective is to draw us away from God and to depart from the faith. If he can get us off track, giving God the glory, honor and praise will be less and less. His deadly, vicious pursuit and goal is to destroy us literally and eternally. God’s commands are very clear, precise and absolute. We cannot serve two masters. God wants every inch of our hearts and in return He gives us His unlimited blessings. “This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me.” (Matthew 15: 8) “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9: 62)
Satan has been granted the ability to attack us with sickness, to affect our physical, emotional and mental state. He also attacks our peace and joy. He loves to stir up trouble, bring anger, confusion, frustration and misunderstanding to a relationship. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4: 7) But God gives us everything we need to combat assaults. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4: 13)
What the enemy has to offer us is feel good, look good situations. He never warns us or tells about repercussions of serving him. He creates a religion without a redeemer. He never tells us how bad, how long and painful a life in hell is going to be. He never gives us the choice of heaven or hell. There are no glimpses or sneak previews of either one of them from our enemy. His main objective is to destroy and kill you while in your sins. There are no dealings, trading or discussing our salvation with an enemy of our faith. Stay submitted and committed to God who is honest about eternal life as stated in the Bible. Day by day we have a choice to pursue a life of holiness that leads to an eternal life in heaven or disobedience that leads to eternal torment with an enemy that has purposely withheld a substantial amount of truth attempting to conceal where eternity will be spent. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9: 27) “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6: 9-11)
Satan actively seeks to destroy people from all walks of life. Marriages, friendships, children versus parents and nation against nation. Rebellion against authority has amped up, divisions in churches still exists and good is now called evil and evil is called good. “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5: 20) “Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house. He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.” (Proverbs 17: 13 & 15)
The devil hates the Father, His Son and we who believe and know the Word of God. The Word is our ammunition against him when in the battle. We can judge behaviors, situations and circumstances more accurately and we have the capacity to see clearly and to understand our enemy and what his tactics are. We have the discernment to see God’s viewpoint on being holy and unholy, clean and unclean. Our hearts should be totally consumed with God and our desires should be to run away from sin, to reject it when it comes across our path. “Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life. Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.” (Proverbs 4: 13-15)
A relationship with God takes time, effort and energy. It does not come naturally and it doesn’t just happen. It takes diligently seeking Him every single day. Be prepared and suit up for your mission because Satan is sending someone or something to confuse and to harm you. Give no place to the enemy. Greater is He that is within you than he that is in the world. Soldiers of God, when you enlist you will have to do hard battle. The battle is filled with bombs from the enemy. The trenches get cold and lonely. We can abort the mission at any time and lose our crown and heavenly home or we can fight manfully onward and take out our enemies one fight at a time. With each new day mercies and strength await us. God provides and equips us with skill, knowledge and everything we need to overcome the attack of the enemy. His Word is totally applicable to every situation we face.
Do not entertain any thoughts that are related to sin. This is where sin is cultivated. One thought leads to another and before you know it you are driven away and way off course in areas you shouldn’t be in. Satan uses these thoughts as strongholds. It takes a concerted, intentional and sometimes prolonged attempt to get these thoughts out of your mind. Satan plants cruel, dangerous and harmful thoughts of murder and suicide in the mind of those who will entertain these thoughts. God wants our thoughts to be pure and pleasing to Him and beneficial to our lives. Eve never should have allowed the devil to get beyond his first comment. She entertained a conversation with him that went way beyond her limits thus provoking her to know evil and bringing on the curses all the way down to us.
Likewise with David. He knew the laws of God and the principles of right and wrong, yet he watched Bathsheba, a married woman, as she bathed. His thought pattern took him deeper and deeper into sin that eventually cost the lives of Bathsheba’s husband and the child that she and David conceived in sin. (See 2 Samuel, Chapters 11 & 12) David had the power to turn his eyes away, to walk away, to refuse to listen to the enemy, but he ignored every warning sign and the godly response he should have made.
PLEASE JOIN US FOR THE CONCLUSION TO THIS SERMON IN "THE ENEMY - PART II"
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