Sermon Tone Analysis

During the early days of WW2; British forces were being soundly defeated in their efforts to keep out the invading Germans from North Africa.

German General Rommel came to be known as the “Desert Fox” because of his swift moving tank divisions that won him victory after victory in the dessert regions.

So one-sided was Rommel’s victories that the British didn’t know what were worse; the rumors circling around Rommel or Rommel the man himself.

When the US became involved in war in N. Africa there was almost something mysterious about their German enemy by then; so much that; C. J. Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief of the Middle East Force wrote the following order to all commanders and chiefs of staff under his authority:

"There exists a real danger that our friend Rommel is becoming a king or magician or bogey-man to our troops, who are talking far too much about him.

He is by no means a superman, although he is undoubtedly very energetic and able.

Even if he were a superman, it would still be highly undesirable that our men should credit him with supernatural powers.

"I wish you to dispel by all possible means the idea that Rommel represents something more than the ordinary.”

With such renewed diligence, Rommel was driven back and eventually forced to return to Germany.

Can I say this evening that we are in a similar situation with our enemy the Devil?

Sometimes you don’t know which is worst; the exaggerated rumors about the devil or the devil himself!

Just as the American general consulted his troops, not to think of Rommel as something more than the ordinary; I think Paul would have us this evening consider some of the ordinary devices of our enemy the devil.

Notice, again v11, Paul says “/Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”

/ Firstly, Paul warned about the devil getting an advantage of us.

What do you think Paul meant when he used the word “advantage”?

Well, it means exactly the same as we would use the word today.

When you have the ‘upper hand’ over someone; so to speak, you have the advantage over them.

When you are superior in areas where they are not; you have the advantage over them.

When you have a dominating position, simply by experience or know-how; you are in a position of advantage, over the inexperienced.

Paul is saying that we don’t want the devil to take advantage of us, to dominate us, to rule us, to have the upper hand over us!

I don’t think Paul wanted the devil to gain the advantage of him at all!

I don’t want the devil to take advantage of me either!

Oh, what a can of worms Paul opens up!

To be a Christian, who is saved, born again, redeemed, but to have our lives instead of lived for God they are  taken advantage of by the Devil!

Too be under the very control of the devil and not even knowing it!

That’s what I believe God wants me to speak about for the next few weeks for Sunday evenings.

How that the devil is slowly gaining more and more advantage of individual lives and families and churches that belong to the Lord!

Paul wouldn’t have warned us unless there was the real possibility of this happening.

That right there is enough for me to sit up and take notice to what Paul has to say.

Paul finishes the verse by saying that the devil gains the advantage through means of his devices; “/for we are not ignorant of his devices.”/

So the devil gains the advantage over us when we fall prey to one of his devices; his traps, his snares and once we have taken the bait he gains control in our lives.

What a sad state to be in!

To be saved, a child of God but to live in such a way that the devil has more say and control in our lives than the God that saved us!

Before we get right into the first area; does it surprise you to know that just to be saved is not enough?

Just being saved is only half the battle; it’s not the end of the conflict but only the beginning!

Just being saved doesn’t make us exempt for making bad decisions, dumb mistakes, and sometimes even fatal blunders!

Salvation has given us a home in heaven; but before we reach heaven we have a life to live, that life can either be the best life possible lived with God’s blessings here and with rewards to look forward too in heaven.

Or we can live a miserable life; fought with care, selfishness and sin, down here and no rewards to look forward too in heaven.

/ /

It does matter how you and I live our lives as a Christian!

Now in this sermon I want us to consider the “why” instead of the “How”.

In the next few times to follow we will see how Satan gets the advantage, i.e. what he uses in the lives of believers to gain the advantage; but for now I want us to see why Satan wants the advantage over us, what’s His purpose?

The first purpose that I can see from the bible is that he wants:

I. TO MAKE YOU IGNORANT OF GOD'S WILL

Satan is first of all a deceiver.

Gen.

3; 1-7, John 8; 44,

2 Cor.

11; 3, 2 Jn. 7, Rev. 12; 9 Here we see just one side of the devil, that is a lair, deceiver!

He will tell you any lie if it will take you away from the one source of knowing God’s will.

Satan attacks God's Word because God's Word reveals God's will.

/Thy word is a lamp //to my feet, and a light to my path.

/Psalm 119:105

/I delight //to do Thy will, 0 my God; Thy Law is within my heart.

/Psalm 40:8

Apart from the Word of God, we have no sure understanding of the will of God.

The will of God is the expression of God's love for us.

/ The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

/Psalm 33: 11

God's will comes from God's heart.

It is not an impersonal thing, but a very personal matter with the Lord.

He has a personal understanding of each of his children-their natures, their names, their needs-and he tailors his plans accordingly.

God wants us to /know /his will.

/“And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will...” /Acts 22:14

   He also wants us to /understand /his will.

/Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

/Ephesians 5: 17

He wants this understanding of his will to fill us and control us.

/We have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and under­standing.

/Colossians 1:9,

The result of all this is the believer, /but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart /Ephe­sians 6:6

God's will is not a duty; it is a delight.

The Chris­tian delights to discover the will of God and then obey from the heart.

The will of God is his nour­ishment.

/Jesus saith unto them, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work."

/John 4:34

 

You and I must pray as did, /Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God./  Colossians 4: 12

If Satan can make you ignorant of God's will, he will rob you of all the glorious blessings God has planned for your life.

You will make bad deci­sions, get involved in sinful activities, and build the wrong kind of life.

And, sad to say, /you will influence others //to go wrong!

/

 

Christians who are ignorant of God's will lose the enjoyment of God's peace and power.

They cannot grow into their full potential, nor can they accomplish what God has planned for them.

Instead of traveling first-class, they travel second-or third-class, complaining all the way.

They live like paupers because they have cut themselves off from God's great wealth.

They spend their lives-even worse; they /waste /their lives-when they could /be investing /their lives.

/And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

/1 John 2: 17

 Why does Satan want the advantage over us?

To keep us away from the Will of God!

 

II.

TO MAKE YOU IMPATIENT WITH GOD'S WILL

 

Nothing is harder to be patient with than suffering.

When suffering comes we want to know why, so we a least can rest our minds, right.

Why then do we suffer?

We sometimes suffer simply because we are human.

We suffer, too, because we disobey the Lord and need to be chastened.

We also suffer that God might perfect our faith and help us ma­ture.

Not all suffering is Satanic in origin.

But there is a kind of suffering that is Satan's weapon, and that is what Job experienced.

It seemed that all of the calamities in his life had perfectly natural explanations: the Sabeans took the oxen and donkeys; fire from heaven perhaps light­ning) burned the sheep; the Chaldeans took the camels; and a great wind (a 'tornado?)

wrecked his oldest son's house and killed all of Job's chil­dren.