Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

You were doing well.

You had found victory in the Lord.

But with the overwhelming bliss that accompanies the sweet taste of victory you had become distracted momentarily.

The devil, realizing the vulnerable state of his prey before him, prowled, then pounced, then preyed.

A moment was all he needed.

You manage to limp away bloodied and bruised, wondering how and why this had happened.

You have two options at this point, you can roll over, play possum and give yourself up to be devoured entirely, or you can get up, regroup, and come back better prepared next time.

This morning we are going to continue to consider the designs of the devil.

We’ve already considered how he works through deception and how he works through our own desires but this morning we want to consider how he works through defeat.

When we talk about battle strategies we are usually concerned with what we can do leading up to and during the moment of temptation.

Perhaps even more crucial than those strategies, are the strategies we employ moments after we’ve fallen in battle.

We will fall, that much we can be sure of.

The question is “how we will respond in those moments?”

That decision is a battle in and of itself.

Defeatism

Defeatism

Defeatism

What is truly devastating is not that Christians sometimes fall, but rather that they sometimes stay fallen.

We must begin our discussion with the idea of “defeatism” and how the devil uses defeat to our destruction.

We are so consumed by the idea of defeat either as a present reality or an inevitable eventuality that we are numb to its coming and are left paralyzed in its wake.

I think we find an example of this in Judas.

In we find a man who is so consumed by his sin and the horrors that resulted that he despaired of his own life.

He chose the darkness of death over the light of life because in the light all he could see were the depths of his defeat.

Read with me :

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There are at least two questions that I believe were eating at Judas and that often eat at us when we face defeat.

The first of those questions is:

How could God forgive me?

what I’ve done is so bad God can’t forgive.

Before we think that this idea is silly, we need to recognize that a lot of people have this struggle.

What’s the point in trying?

Judas learned the depressing lesson that we all come to learn.

You can’t take things back

I’ve already lost, what’s the point

I can’t win

How to Handle Defeat

“You don’t always do what your supposed to, but its what you do next that will define you.”

Dirty Guv’nahs

Realize that this defeat doesn’t have to define you:

You can’t change what you’ve done or who you’ve been but you can change what you will do and what you will be.

I saw a quote on Facebook from Wilson Adams that other day that speaks to this point, Wilson said, “It’s not too late to start doing right.”

It’s not too late to start doing right.

That simple truth can have such a profound impact on when experience moments of defeat.

“Such WERE some of you.”

1 cor

“But” is a powerful word, especially so in this case as it indicates the beginning of hope.

This is what they were but they didn’t stay that way.

I can go from the vilest of sinners to a child of God.

A perfect example of this point is the apostle Peter.

Notice in vv.

33 that Peter responds with his cavalier attitude.

Lk. 22.31-

Lk 22.

In Peter is redeemed as he gets the opportunity to reaffirm his love for Christ

Realize that you have an advocate with the Father:

- Satan wants us to deny that we have sin in our lives.

But if he can’t do that he’d rather that we our understand stops at v. 6. He’d rather us see ourselves as people who are forever in the darkness without any hope for seeing the light at the end of the tunnel that is God.

Satan want’s us to be so consumed by our sin that all we can think about is God’s wrath, and justice and holiness and forget about His mercy and love and forgiveness.

Satan wants us in vv. 8 and 10.

He wants us to deny that we have sin in our lives so that we might have some pretense of walking in the light all while walking in the darkness.

But if he can’t get us to deny our sinfulness he’d rather that our understanding stops at v. 6. He’d rather us see ourselves as people who are forever in the darkness without any hope for seeing the light at the end of the tunnel that is God.

Satan want’s us to be so consumed by our sin that all we can think about is God’s wrath, and justice and holiness and forget about His mercy and love and forgiveness.

This is the illustration we used in our first lesson from brother Jeff Smelser of the fish who, when he sees the net before him, swims so hastily to the other side that he is completely unaware of the plastic bag that awaits to trap him.

If Satan can’t get us to deny our sin, he’ll settle for us being consumed by it.

But as John writes these things he does so with the understanding that we have an advocate when we fall.

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Heb. 2.17

Satan wants us to deny that we have sin in our lives.

But if he can’t do that he’d rather that our understanding stops at v. 6. He’d rather us see ourselves as people who are forever in the darkness without any hope for seeing the light at the end of the tunnel that is God.

Satan want’s us to be so consumed by our sin that all we can think about is God’s wrath, and justice and holiness and forget about His mercy and love and forgiveness.

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You know how I know Jesus could have forgiven Judas?

A lesson that I’m continuing to learn, parents care more about their children.

Jesus forgave Paul, the persecutor of His children.

The chiefest of sinners

This is the illustration we used in our first lesson from brother Jeff Smelser of the fish who, when he sees the net before him, swims so hastily to the other side that he is completely unaware of the plastic bag that awaits to trap him.

If Satan can’t get us to deny our sin, he’ll allow us to be consumed by it.

You know how I know Jesus could have forgiven Judas?

A lesson that I’m continuing to learn, parents care more about their children.

Jesus forgave Paul, the persecutor of His children.

F

Finding Victory in Defeat

mt 26.

We

An opportunity to learn:

Wendell Phillips, a 19th century attorney, abolitionist, and political activist said this about defeat, “What is defeat?

Nothing but education.

Nothing but the first step to something better.”

watch film - two types before - familiarize yourself with your opponents schemes, patterns and plays.

After - watching the game tape to see where you could've improved, what mistakes you made, etc.

How could I have trusted in God more?

How did I make provisions for the flesh?

What was God’s way of escape and why did I ignore it?

An opportunity to fix:

A wake up call that your life isn’t what it ought to be

An opportunity to remember:

They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

I think thats what the Proverbs writer is saying in when he says:

It is the fool who repeats the same mistakes over and over again.

It is the fool who fails to recognize where and why he has fallen.