The Present Work of Satan (4)

We have been looking for some time. Now actually this is our fourth study in the work of Satan, the present work of Satan, what he's doing. It's good to be alert and aware of his strategies. And so that's what we're trying to do on these Wednesday evenings. Find out what the Bible teaches about what he's doing in this world so that we can be alert and not cut off guard. We've been looking at his work in relation to God, what he's doing as it relates to God himself also in relation to the nations and in relation to the unsaved. Last week we started looking at what Satan is doing in relation to Christians, what he's doing to us who know the Lord and who love him. And we saw that in general he's seeking to defeat us both individually and corporately as bodies of believers. And he has a number of strategies that he uses. Paul said in second Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11 that we are not unaware of his strategies, not blind to what he's doing. So what we're trying to do now is pull together what the Scriptures teach about what Satan does as he seeks to defeat us as believers. We looked at a couple of things last week and we'll pick it up this evening. The first we looked at last week was he is waging warfare on us Ephesians chapter 6. We looked at the armor that God has provided us which gives us clues as to how Satan attacks us when we when we see how God tells us to protect ourselves. Obviously that that gives us some idea of how God or how Satan is attacking us. So we took some time to look at that. Then we saw that Satan is also accusing and slandering us before God and maybe even in our own conscience as he he does that to continue pushing at us our past sin or guilt for things that we've already confessed to the Lord, gotten right with him. So he is constantly attacking us in that way as well. But thankfully as we saw we have a defender. An advocate the Bible says Jesus Christ who takes our case and pleases before the Father. Okay, that's where we left off last week. Let's pick up this week with the third way that Satan is active against us as believers and that is through planting doubt. Satan plants doubt and a good way to look at that is in Genesis chapter 3. We're not going to put this one on the screen because there's several verses here. So let's look at it. Please open your Bible to Genesis 3. Satan began his attack against God's people, Adam and Eve by planting doubt in their minds, hearts, doubting God's goodness, doubting his concern, doubting his word. And notice how he does it in the temptation of Adam and Eve. Verse 1 of chapter 3 in Genesis. Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden? You see the planting of doubt there? He raises a question about what God said. Did God really say that? Just that little planting of doubt. The way the question is asked would motivate any of us to think, well, did he really say that? Did he really mean that? There's a planting of doubt here and the implication is that God's restrictions are unjust. That's the implication Satan is driving at. God has placed a restriction on you. That's unjust. That's unkind. That's unloving of him to place some restriction. He's really told you that you can't do this. That is a very common approach of Satan in our own lives and hearts, isn't it? And it comes through many avenues, comes through other people. It comes through the loud megaphone voice of this world to us. God really said that. You mean God really restricts you? You mean God really teaches that? That planting of doubt about the goodness of God and His restrictions being just. And then notice Eve's response. The woman said to the serpent, we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden and you must not touch it or you will die. It's well known that Eve actually adds a little bit to the restriction that God gave her when she says that you cannot even touch it. But notice his response, Satan's response in verse four, you will not certainly die. The serpent said to the woman, here's another planting of doubt. And this is a little more bold. This is a little more direct. What Satan is getting at here is that God's warnings are simply untrue. First of all, the planting of doubt that God really say this and now the more bold approach, planting doubt about God's word itself. You can't trust what God says. God's word is not really true. You won't die. And just that that implication that doubt of God's word is a common approach of Satan. And then the third one is in verse five, his approach as far as the tactics of casting doubt on God. Verse five, for God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing, good and evil. Here is casting doubt on the very character of God. And that is God is selfish. God's interests are self-centered. He's not looking out for you. He's looking out for himself because he knows that if you eat, you'll be like him. And he doesn't want to share that with anybody. So really God's looking out for himself. He's not really eating really care about you. He's not looking out for you. He's looking out for himself. And that's the reason why he's limiting you from all you could know, from all you could be, from all you could do. We don't those approaches sound familiar as far as how our culture looks at the moral values of Christianity. Casting doubt on God's goodness is concern for us. His character casting doubt on his word impugning God's motives and really making God look like the bad guy in the whole situation. So that is our culture is so full of that. And it's approach to what we believe God's word teaches. So Satan, one of the ways he attacks us and works against us is to plant doubt about God's goodness and his word and his character. Comments or observations about this passage. Okay, then let's move to the next way in which Satan works against us as believers. And that is intempting us to sin. Now that's a broad category and has a lot of manifestations, a lot of ways in which Satan tempts us to sin. And so I'm going to give you six of them tonight, six ways that that Satan tempts us to sin. Obviously this is not exhaustive. There are many, many, many ways. But these six will find in the scriptures quite clearly and there would be others as well. For one thing, Satan tempts us to lie. He tempts us to lie. In Acts chapter five and verse three, remember the story of Ananias and Sephira? Then Peter said, Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit? And if kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land, you remember the story of many of the people in the early church were selling their property, giving the funds to that group of believers to distribute to people who had need. This is early on when a lot of people are getting saved, there's a lot of need created by the fact that people are turning their back on family, on friends, and to follow the Lord. And so people were helping each other. Well, Ananias and Sephira decided that they could play with that a little bit. And so they sold some land and rather than doing like the others were doing and giving the proceeds to the apostles. They gave part of it and kept back part of it, but made it look like they were giving everything. And Peter even said to them in this passage, while the land was yours or while the money was yours, it was yours. You're not obligated to give any of it to God, but you made it look like you were doing like everyone else and giving everything when you kept part of it back. That was the problem. That was the lie. And so Satan who is the author of lies, tempts us to lie as well and directly stated here that Satan filled the heart of Ananias to lie to the Holy Spirit. And he suggested that prompting came from Satan himself. I'm going to question about that before we look at the next one. Okay, he also tempts us to sexual sins. 1 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 5, again Paul directly attributes this kind of temptation to Satan. Paul says in teaching in 1 Corinthians 7 about singleness and the responsibility of marriage partners, he says, do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time so that you may devote yourself to prayer, then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. If the normal need for sexual fulfillment is not found in marriage, then the Bible says Satan can tempt you because of our inborn lack of self-control. So he promotes sexual sin and promotes it in so many ways, again in our culture to be fulfilled, the sexual desire to be fulfilled outside of the marriage bond. And all of that which is outside of marriage is of the devil. It's a part of his world system, his world view. And again, it seems as though he has taken the day. Hasn't it when it comes to this particular area of temptation because our culture in our world is full of views that are directly opposite to what the Bible teaches about sexual fulfillment. So that's one of the ways he tempts us. The third way that he tempts us is to an occupation with this world, to be occupied with the things of this world. And that affects all of us somewhat. But let me just remind you of the verses in 1 John 2, verses 15 through 17, we've looked at those verses many times. Do not love the world or anything in the world if anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them for everything in the world. The lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. So this world system is one of the tools that Satan uses. Remember his the God of this age or of this world, the Prince of the Power of the Air, the Prince of this world, the Bible says. And so he uses this world system which is centered around three basic philosophies, the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life. He uses that to tempt us to be occupied with those things, the gratification of simple desires, the pursuit of materialism, what our eyes can see, we want to have, and the pride of life, the desire to be recognized, known, honored, exalted, the exact opposite of the humility that God blesses. So that's Satan's world system that he pushes at us. So he tempts us to lie to sexual sin, to occupation with this world. Fourthly, he tempts us to rely on human wisdom and strength. There's a very interesting example of this in the Old Testament where David, in a time of peace and prosperity in his kingdom, pridefully decides to number his troops. There's no need for that. It was only necessary and warfare to know the strength of your army. But notice how book of Chronicles, first Chronicles, phrases that Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a sense of Israel. So this prompting, this desire to do something that was outside the will of God is prompted by Satan. Remember when Peter, and we've looked at this passage before too, in Matthew 16, where Peter said, when the Lord was talking about going to the cross, Peter said, not so Lord, it will never be. And Jesus said, get thee behind me, Satan, for you're not thinking the thoughts of God, you're thinking the thoughts of men. And so Satan prompted him to rely on his own human wisdom, his own thinking, his own ability to figure things out. David and Peter both relied on their own wisdom, their own mind, rather than on the Lord. You're not thinking of the thoughts of God, Jesus told Peter. So it's another way that God tempts us, or Satan rather tempts us, and that is to rely upon our own strength and our own wisdom, rather than upon the wisdom and strength of the Lord. A fifth way, he tempts us, is he tempts us to pride in spiritual matters. First, Timothy 316, the warning for spiritual leaders, he must not be, a spiritual leader must not be a recent convert or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. Pride in spiritual things is a tremendous temptation. You get a little bit of knowledge of the Bible, enough to be dangerous. You get a little bit of experience or success in doing something for the Lord, and it can easily inflate your ego and easily make you feel proud. And when that happens, you are ready for a fall, ready for a fall, falling into the same judgment as the devil. Not Jesus or Paul is not saying that you will be cast into the lake of fire like the devil, but just as the devil's fall from his position in heaven was generated by his pride, so your fall can be generated by pride. And that's where pride always leads. The privilege of spiritual leadership has its perils. And if God allows us to be in places of leadership, and that begins to become an ego trip, becomes something that you become proud of, then be careful. You will have to watch out because that can lead easily to a fall. Satan tempts us in that way to pride in spiritual matters. The sixth one is he tempts us to discouragement. He tempts us to discouragement. Peter 5, look at that one, please. First Peter, chapter 5, verses 6 through 10, Peter says, humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and have sober mind. Your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. And this Tim, standing firm in the faith because you know that the family believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of suffering. And notice the promise in verse 10, and the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong firm instead fast. Satan is walking about as a roaring lion seeking whom you may devour. And in the context here, this is a context of talking about anxiety, suffering. So in this particular context, the way that Satan is seeking to devour us is through problems, through difficulties, through discouragement, through being overcome with the cares that attack us. So that will become distracted and defeated. And that's why the commands are humble yourselves under God's mighty hand. In other words, recognize what God is allowing and doing. Cast the anxiety on him. Be alert about what Satan's doing. Verse 8, stand firm in the faith knowing that you're not the only one suffering. The other brothers and sisters throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of suffering and trust in God's grace to restore you in verse 10. So all of those positive commands are designed to help us overcome the attacks of Satan in this area of discouragement. So those are just six ways that Satan tempts us to sin. Lots of other ways, no doubt in the Bible. Any comment or question you might have here on being tempted to sin, we all have a lot of experience with that, don't we? And so not a lack of understanding there, right? We understand that from experience. Okay, Satan wages warfare against us. He accuses and slanders us. He plants doubt. He tempts us to sin. And then fifthly, he incites persecution. He incites persecution. We have seen that in Revelation 12 where Satan persecutes Israel and other believers during the tribulation time. But this is another passage with another thrust to it in Revelation 2. Jesus is speaking to one of the churches, one of the seven churches that he addresses in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. And this church in a town called Smirna, he says this, do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you the devil will put some of you in prison to test you and you will suffer persecution for 10 days. Be faithful, even to the point of death. And I will give you life as your victors crown throughout church history from this point in the first few centuries, first century on believers have suffered persecution. There are organizations calling upon the church to be praying on April 17th for Christians who are being persecuted in the Middle East, particularly under the genocide that's being carried out by ISIS. Many believers are being targeted, churches are being targeted, people are being killed, people are being made refugees and running from everything they have. Satan has always done that. Israel and the church are his primary targets. And I'm talking about the church and talking about believers. And it is quickly, quickly coming to our doorstep. Israel will continue to be persecuted. That is not going to stop, it's only going to grow. And believers also will continue to be targeted and persecuted and maligned. We are seeing a quick rise of that in our country. And I believe we will continue to see that. So it's one of the ways that Satan is very much at work in citing persecution. Comments there. That's a good question, Frankie. Why does the government not want to look at the ISIS atrocities as genocide? There was kind of a grudging admission of that on the part of the Secretary of State about a week ago. But up until that time, the United States was the last major world power to call it that, to say that, which has legal and military ramifications. I don't know to be honest. I'm not enough of experienced and politics to know why our government would not do that. There probably are spiritual reasons behind that, but I don't really know. I need to say it. It's obvious. It's obvious to everybody else in the world what's happening over there. Other questions. Another way that Satan works against believers is to prevent service. Preventing service in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, in verse 18. Paul talks about this. He says, for we wanted to come to you. Certainly I, Paul did again and again, but Satan blocked our way. He's speaking to the Thessalonians. We'd looked at this before. And remember the book of Acts tells us he was only able to be there for three Sabbaths. And then he was literally run out of town. His life was threatened. He could no longer stay there and went to the next town, Berea. And tried to go back, wanted to go back to Thessalonica several times, but says Satan blocked our way. So Satan was, was preventing Paul from getting back to Thessalonica. Now, how he did that is not sure. We're not sure. Was it, was it through illness? Was it through human agency? Was it through logistics, circumstances? We don't know the tools that Satan used, but Paul very clearly says Satan blocked our way. Now, we know the bigger picture. Don't we? I mean, God works all things together for good. And God is ultimately in control of all things. So even what Satan does to block our way ultimately, God allows that and uses it for good. And Paul was able to write two letters to the Thessalonians. He received reports from others of his co-workers about that church that greatly encouraged him. You can read about that in the Thessalonian letters. And we recognize from those letters that the church in Thessalonica ended up being one of the best churches that Paul ever founded. Right. And ranks right up there with the church at Ephesus, probably for the one that receives the most commendation from the Apostle Paul. And so God overruled and did his work anyway, but Paul was hindered from going back himself because of Satan's intervention. Okay. Comments, questions? Yes. It's a good point, Bill. It is through persecution that we are driven to our knees and we do rely on the Lord more. And God gets glory to himself even through that. You know, there's an expression that has been well worn. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. And that has proven through, proven true throughout church history that when persecution comes, the church thrives. First of all, those who are a mixed multitude are driven away. They don't want any part of the persecution. And so there's a more pure focus on the word and on the gospel. And those who are staying true are fully dedicated because they're willing to pay the price of giving their lives. And so there's a purifying effect of persecution. And certainly that was that was seen in Thessalonica. Yeah. Yeah. I've heard those reports as well that believers in persecuted countries will pray for us that we might be purified even through persecution to be a stronger church. Okay. Very good. Preventing service. And then Satan also attacks and gets tries to defeat us through infiltrating the church. And this is one of his most effective tactics. We've looked at some of these passages before. I'm going to have you just turned to one here in a moment. But remember the passage in 2 Corinthians 11 where Paul talks about false apostles, those who masquerade as the apostles of Christ. And he says no wonder for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. And so there are people in positions of spiritual authority and leadership that are not genuine, not true. There are false apostles and false leaders actually doing the work of Satan in spiritual garb, if you will, in positions of spiritual leadership. And then we saw in Matthew chapter 13 and verses 38 and 39 we saw that Satan sows tears among the wheat. Tears being the imitation looks like wheat but is not the real article. And he sows that among the wheat. He doesn't sow it in his own field out here in salgrow a bigger field with more than you've got. He sows it among the wheat indicating in Jesus is telling that in the midst of a chapter that is dealing with the parables of the kingdom. The form that God s kingdom takes in this present age, probably referring to the church age. And so he s referring to our time where Satan is at work sowing false professors, those who really do not know Jesus s savior amidst true believers, false teachers, people who just profess to be believers but really aren't. The passage I want you to look at is second Peter, since we're close here in Jude. Let s look at this one in second Peter chapter 2. This is a scorching passage which is almost identical to the book of Jude in its warning about false prophets and false teachers. And look at the way it starts in second Peter 2 verse 1. But there were also false prophets among the people just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly notice Satan s tactics here. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign lord who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them and their destruction has not been sleeping. And that he gives examples from the Old Testament of God s judgment on those who are representing him falsely or turn against him. So Satan disguises false teachers and followers even in churches. Peter says these teachers will be among you. Among you true believers there will be teachers that are false. When you read about these teachers in the Bible, these false teachers and they are feeding the flesh and more concerned about their own welfare, I saw an article the other day about the 15 richest pastors in the world. And it intrigued me. I think I was looking at some emails and that news thing popped up on my computer and it intrigued me and I looked at it and it was pretty amazing. The lifestyles, the kinds of teaching involved in these, many of them prosperity gospel teachers, some of them worth well over 150 million dollars. It was just amazing. If you read these descriptions in the New Testament about what they will be like, it was almost like reading that article. It was very sad. But the church today, Christianity as a whole, has been infiltrated by many false teachers and many people who are not genuinely believers. Satan is sowing those people into professing Christianity as a whole to confuse and to disrupt, to dilute and defeat the truth. That's his goal. So he's infiltrating the church. Now, please understand this can be abused. I have heard preachers use passages like this and so forth to attack people who have said things or disagreed with them about maybe something the church is doing. And so that poor soul that just doesn't agree with the direction the pastor's headed sometimes gets labeled a tear and that this can be abused and misused. So be careful with this. But certainly the scriptural warning is clear that Satan is infiltrating the church with false teaching and false teachers. And then one final way that I'll mention tonight is that he promotes division. Satan is attacking us by promoting division. Second Corinthians 2, we looked at this passage earlier, but I want to read a traditional verse with it. It's on the screen for you. Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven, if there was anything to forgive, I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake in order that Satan might not out with us for we are not unaware of his schemes. Now, if you read the verses prior to this and get the whole context, Paul is talking about a man who has sinned, who has been dealt with by the church. Probably the man from first Corinthians chapter 5, who Paul said you need to discipline from the church because he is living in an insesituous relationship with his stepmother, a sin that not even the Gentiles approve of. Not even pagan immoral Gentiles would approve of that. And the church was saying aren't we so gracious to be able to forgive this person. Paul said, no, no, you need to discipline him from the church. Not even have any fellowship with him. Well, they evidently did that, but Paul comes back to them in the second letter. And he says in one of the verses just prior to verse 10, he says the man has suffered enough evidently the man had repented and Paul is now encouraging them to receive him back into fellowship. And he says, he says, if anyone you forgive, I have forgiven. If you're waiting for the apostle to give his okay, I'm giving it to you. I have forgiven the man in order that Satan might not out with us. But as in what Paul seems to be saying is that when there is a divisive spirit in the church, Satan can jump on that and use that as a tool to begin to do his sewing of his work in the church. So yes, take a strong stand against sin discipline people who need to be disciplined, who are bringing public rebuke on the name of Christ, but when there is genuine forgiveness or when there is genuine repentance, then forgive, restore the relationship. Don't continue to be divided. You know, when situations like that happen in churches, anger, anger gets the best of us. People become very angry about these kinds of issues of church discipline. And it is a way for Satan to gain a foothold in a church Ephesians chapter four verses 26 and 27. Paul says in your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry and do not give the devil a foothold. See, anger gives Satan a little place to stand, a little way to start getting in the door. We might, we might even relate better to the picture of he's got his foot in the door. And you can't get the door closed now. He's going to wedge his way in a little more. That's the idea here with giving Satan a foothold that he can use to begin doing his work when there are situations in a church that are not dealt with properly and anger results Satan loves that. And it gives him a foothold to begin to move in and create discord. And so Satan is very active in promoting division among believers. So in relation to Christians, those are some of the things he's doing. There are lots of others no doubt. So, a sampling from the Bible as to what he's doing. I have not given you much time to talk this evening. But now's your time. You've got two minutes. Any comment or question? Governor of Mississippi and the governor of North Carolina are both targets. Big targets right now. It's a sign of our age. Sign of our age to twist something to make it look like discrimination when it isn't. It's not to point it all. There's so much I'd like to say about that, but our time is short. I think we have to recognize that these attacks against the Christian faith and against Christian morals and against people who seek to protect themselves from going against their biblical conscience. I think those kind of attacks. First of all, we must understand they are a sign of our age. They are just an indication of how much the philosophies of Satan and his kingdom have taken root in this world and in this country. And while it is somewhat alarming for those of us who understand that the Bible says that's going to increase in the last days, it should not be alarming. What it should do is exactly what Libby said. It should cause us to rally. First of all, to support each other and rally to our Lord to find strength in him to stand for his truth lovingly and graciously but firmly. To stand for his truth and not back down because the day could come when it an ordinance like that comes to our area that did in Lewisburg. If it can in Lewisburg, it can happen here in Princeton for sure. So just make sure we keep our focus on the Lord in these days that we live in. All right. Let's bow in prayer. Father, thank you for your word and for the warnings so that we will not be deceived and fooled by Satan's strategies that he will not out with us as Paul says. We pray Father that we will recognize his attacks and his attempts to very cleverly introduce his program into our hearts, our lives, our minds, our churches, our fellowship with one another. So Father help us to recognize his working and may it may it as we saw this evening drive us closer to you and purify our hearts, purify our churches. In these days, may we stand against the attacks of Satan. We ask in Jesus name, amen.