Know Your Enemy
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Know Your Enemy
Know Your Enemy
INTRODUCTION: Roger Nielsen - Canucks coach (Christian, by the way). He earned the name Captain Video - because in the days before
Nielsen was the coach who began the playoff tradition, in Canuck-land, of waving a white towel. A symbol of surrender to the refs who seemed to have it out for the Canucks. And Canuck fans have been surrendering ever since. But that particular year was 1982 and the Canucks were a
- - want to see your opponent in action - recognize how they play.
We are dealing with the subject of Spiritual Warfare - the Armour of God, as given to us in - the goal of all of this is that we, the people of God who have been called to faith in Jesus Christ and given new life in him - will be able to walk in the joy and peace that He intends His people to enjoy. And you know - that’s not an automatic. Life, on this side of eternity is filled with traps, with quicksand, with enemies all around - - and far too many Christians live this life with far too little joy. It doesn’t need to be that way. It shouldn’t be that way. But you need to know you’re in a war. I want to help you wage warfare as God would have it waged. And to do that, you need to know your enemy.
This week and next week, we will be dealing with our enemy - Satan. Today I want to focus on his identity. Next week we will examine his strategy - - the way he works against us. Three things ...
____________________________________________________________________________
1 A REAL, PERSONAL ENEMY
Verse 11, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”
When many people in our society hear the word, ‘devil’ or ‘Satan’ - what image do you think comes into their minds? Bright red suit, pitchfork, horns and a squiggly tail - a cartoony character. “That’s the devil” - is it any wonder that they laugh … and ignore.
We live in a scientific age - we will not believe in anything that can’t be touched or seen or stuck in a petrie dish and studied in a lab.
But oh how our world searches for an explanation of the evil that assaults on a daily basis.
In some ways, there are really two views of a human being. One view is there’s nothing to you but matter. There’s nothing to you but the material. There’s nothing to a human being but the chemicals. There’s nothing to the human being but the physical. That’s it. When you die, that’s the end. Your body falls apart. That’s all there is to you. The other view is you not only have a body but a soul. There’s not only a material but an immaterial part to you. There’s a soul which is not something that dies but something that moves on.
I think I may have mentioned this a week or two ago. People who really believe human beings don’t have souls can never, ever live consistently with that. You can’t do it, because if it’s really true a human being doesn’t have a soul, what really makes a human being different than another bag of chemicals, from a tree, or from a muskrat? What really makes them any different? Why do you treat them as different? Why do you treat them with respect and dignity you don’t give to any other configuration of chemicals on the face of the earth?
We all know inherently, and we have to live, even if you don’t intellectually believe it, that we have souls. There is something about us that’s immaterial and, therefore, doesn’t die. The classic Christian understanding of a human being is you have a soul, and it goes on forever in one condition or another. What are those conditions?
If today you decide to do something selfish, you know it makes it easier tomorrow to do it again. Don’t you remember, some of you, how horrified you were with yourself the first time you did something, which now you do fairly regularly? It makes a mark on your soul. It gets easier and easier to do that. At first, you grumble, but then after a while, the grumble sort of sinks in. So grumbling becomes part of, not just what you do, but who you are.
We know that happens over a period of time. If you decide to cut people’s throats in order to get up the corporate ladder, if you decide to elbow people aside, if you decide to be selfish and get up the corporate ladder, you’ve done something to your soul. Over 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, things change, and you become a more selfish person and a harder person. What if the thing you’re really making a mark on is not your body so much, because your body eventually goes, but your soul? What if it’s making a mark on your soul? And what if …?
After 20 years of selfishness, you might be a little bit more of a grumpy, selfish person, but after 2 million years, what will you be like? If it’s true you’re not just a bag of chemicals, that means everybody in this room, 2 million or 2 billion years from now, will still be alive as a personal being. If that’s true, the marks you’re making on your heart, and the marks you’re making on your soul right now, are going to affect you for all eternity.
If you decide you’re not going to do the cutthroat thing, if you decide you’re not going to do the selfish thing, if you’re not going to do the cruel thing, if you’re going to do the honest thing or the compassionate thing, and you find out, because you’ve done that, you haven’t gotten ahead in your company the way some other people have, don’t worry about that because you’re making marks on your soul.
What happens is the things you do now count forever. As one writer said, a zillion years from now, we’re all going to be around, but we’re going to be in very different conditions. We’re either going to be, because of the marks we’re putting on our soul … Someday some of us in this room are going to be bright, radiant, immortal creatures who are pulsating and glowing with glory, joy, love, nobility, power, and wisdom.
Some other people in this room, and none of us really know who’s who at this point … Some of us are going to be like monsters because we are going to be so completely consumed with self-pity. After 2 zillion years, the little spells of self-pity can sink in. Do you know what that does? It makes you feel sorry for yourself. It makes you mad at yourself. It makes you mad at the world, a monster, a person just racked with self-pity, rage, bitterness, and complete self-consciousness.1
1 Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
The Bible says that Satan is not a figment of our imagination - he is real and he is NOT a vague, impersonal force or category used to describe all evil .... He is personal.
Jesus speaks that way through all of the gospels. In , Jesus is speaking to Peter, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.”
“Satan, not a foggy force, but a real person - says, ‘I would like to take hold of Simon Peter’.” And Jesus tells Peter, “Satan has been asking for you - - he wants to destroy you. But I have prayed for you.” Satan is real. He is personal. He wants to destroy you .... And Jesus loves you.
___________________________________________________________________________
2 A FALLEN ANGEL
We meet Satan in , almost at the very beginning of human history - when he comes, in the form of a serpent, slithering into the Paradise Garden of Eden - He pursuades Eve into sin and seduces Adam to do the same. Sin and death and destruction and pain - they all enter the human race because our first ancestors fall into the trap of this enemy - - but WHERE DOES SATAN COME FROM?! Have you ever wondered about that?
falling into the trap of this enemy - - but WHERE DOES SATAN COME FROM?! Have you ever wondered about that?
The Bible tells us that Satan is a fallen angel. Let me take you to 2 OT passages that deal specifically with the devil. There are more, but we’ll just look at 2:
and
: How are you fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!
You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High;
(15) But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.” - - - THERE IS THE FALL OF SATAN - there is the original sin .... HE WANTED GOD’S PLACE.
- This is a prophecy against the king of Tyre - and in it, God speaks as if the king was the embodiment of the devil himself. Look at what God says, in verses 12-16:
“Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD God:
You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
(13) You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz and diamond, beryl onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared.
(14) You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you, you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.
(15) You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you.
In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned;
so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God,
and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
(17) Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground.”
Don’t miss the way that v. 13 AND v. 15 together proclaim - “… on the day that you WERE CREATED.” That’s critical. Throughout history there have been those who look at the universe - and see what seems to be a battle between evil and good - and they fall into the trap of thinking: “There must be 2 equal and opposite forces fighting against each other for dominance in this world.”
Even among Christians: “Heaven is where God reigns … this world belongs to Satan. God wishes things were better here - He wants good to come out on top … but He just can’t do much now. This is the devil’s territory.” There is no contest for dominance: God spoke; Satan was created. Satan sinned - God threw him out of heaven. End of story!
: “And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day ...”. The shackles are around his wrists - right now.
, “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment ...”.
When you look at what the Bible has to say, you find that there is no battle between God and Satan in this world
- no need to worry about whose plan will prevail. Who holds the future? The Creator.
In fact -
_________________________________________________________________________
3 A DEFEATED ENEMY
The third thing the Bible clearly tells us about Satan, is that he is a DEFEATED enemy. He had no power over Jesus when the Son of God came to earth and was tested by him in the wilderness. He certainly has no power over him now.
, “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming.” Stop right there. People seize on these words and say, “SEE - right there - Satan is the ruler of this world. God may rule in the heavens - but Satan rules this world.” But CONTEXT. Keep reading. Don’t miss Jesus’ very next words, “… the ruler of this world is coming. He HAS NO CLAIM ON ME ...”. The devil doesn’t rule over all the world - because he doesn’t rule over Jesus.
, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might DESTROY THE ONE WHO HAS THE POWER OF DEATH, that is, the devil, (15) and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”
, “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him.” Wait - in our text, in , Paul tells us that our enemy is not, ultimately, ‘flesh and blood’. We wrestle against ‘the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness - -” .... and he’s telling us, in , that these rulers and authorities have already been DISARMED and put to open shame, by Christ himself.”
And - for more encouragement - one more passage: , “The God of peace will soon CRUSH Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” “God of peace WILL SOON CRUSH Satan under YOUR feet.”
We wrestle, Paul says - - - and oh how we wrestle. Hand to hand combat … you are carrying with you, right now - the wounds of battle.
BUT DO YOU SEE WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU, CHRISTIAN?! You, battle-weary, wounded Christian. You sit here this morning, battling hopelessness - - the enemy of your soul seems to know exactly the right buttons to push, so that you come to the end of the day wondering, ‘How in the world do I have any chance of >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
“The God of peace WILL SOON crush Satan under your feet.”
It means that life is a war that has already been won .... “The God of peace will soon CRUSH Satan under your feet.”
ILLUSTRATION - Pilgrim’s Progress - the Lions
Can Christians be ‘Demon-Possessed? A question that inevitably comes up when you talk about spiritual warfare and the devil as a personal enemy is this: “Can Christians be demon possessed?” You can go into the Christian bookstore, search the Christian section of Amazon - and you will find best-selling authors who say, “Absolutely yes!
A Christian can lose control over his or her actions to the devil. Now if that’s true - it’s MASSIVELY SERIOUS. So is it true? I say ‘no’. But don’t take my word for it - - look at what the Bible says:
What does the Bible say? The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ has given us VICTORY -
, “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, (10) and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.” If you are born again, Jesus Christ has FILLED your life. You are filled by the One who has defeated the devil once and for all - and now, when God looks at you - He sees Christ.
, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.” In other words - God has brought you, Christian, into a Kingdom - His Kingdom, behind unbreachable doors to which the Devil does not have the key. He is not welcome here and He cannot break the power of the king.
, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?”
, “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for HE WHO IS IN YOU is greater than he who is in the world.
So, we can be sure that, if you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit lives in your life - He has taken possession of us and He is not about to vacate the premises so that Satan can move in.
“Oh,” but some of you may ask, ‘What about that passages in , where Jesus talks about an evil spirit being cast out of a person - - -
43, “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. (44) Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’. And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. (45) Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”
This passage is pretty clear: It is possible for people to be possessed by demons. It also makes clear that it is possible for demons, having BEEN cast out of a person, to come back, bringing along MORE demons, to create a worse, more hideous torment than was ever known before
… IF THAT PERSON IS NOT FILLED WITH CHRIST. If that person does not, in the meantime become the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Christian, you need to know:
When God’s Word says that the Holy Spirit takes residence in your life - it means the HOLY SPIRIT has taken up residence in YOUR life. He is the SEAL of GOD’S ownership of you. And He doesn’t take in roommates - certainly not Satanic ones. So every time the devil comes and knocks on your door - trying to slither inside. When the doorbell rings and you hear the voice - “Avon calling” - as he waits for you to open the door - just wide enough for him to stick his foot inside and then push his way in … it is the Holy Spirit who answers the door - and He WILL NOT be fooled. He will say,
“You have the wrong address. This one has been bought by Jesus Christ. This is a child of God .... so, Mr. demon … you can go back to hell!”
Oh, demon possession is a reality in this world. It is a tragedy. But if you are a Christian, you will not ever be possessed by a demon.
Let me give you one more example: - Jesus’ prayer: “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.” Now, you do you think that Jesus would ever ask the Father to do something for His dearly loved children that the Father is not WILLING to do? No.
Do you think that Jesus would ever ask the Father to do something for one of His dearly loved children that the Father is not ABLE to do? Of course not.
, “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one DOES NOT TOUCH HIM.” Period.
The devil cannot possess you, Christian. He cannot CONTROL you, either. What he can do - is pass you the chain - - and with his seductive speech, appealing to your lusts, knowing your weak spots, he can pursuade you to take that chain and wrap it around your own wrists and ankles until you can’t move. You may feel the outward attacks of the devil and his minions - Job sure did.
You may feel his punch in your face and his whip on your back.
And if you don’t belong to Jesus Christ - then my plea to you, this morning is this: “How will you defend yourself against the one who hates you and wants you to blow apart your life with maximum impact?”
But if you are a Christian - you belong to Jesus Christ in simple trust in His finished, saving work for you - - then know this: There is no place in the New Testament - check it for yourself - nowhere in the entire New Testament that we are given instructions to respond to Satan’s schemes in the lives of believers, by casting him out of a Christian - - Nowhere.
How does God’s Word tell us to fight this battle? Verses 10-11 of our text this morning, “Be strong in the Lord .. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand.” And as James puts it: “Submit to God and resist the devil .... and he will flee from you.”
We are in a spiritual battle - but friends, the Lord is faithful.
Let’s bring this home: How does this glimpse into the reality of our Satanic enemy apply to us? Well, I’ll give you a challenge and a comfort.
First - the challenge. Why would you mess around with Satan’s toys - when he is a loser?
Second - the comfort.
1 Satan is not omniscient: You don’t have to lie awake at night, wondering if he knows what you’ve thought throughout the day. He is not omnipresent - can’t be everywhere at once. He is a creature. He is not omnipresent - we have probably not been on the receiving end of Satan’s direct attention. He has his supporting cast of demons to carry out his work. But it does mean something that he can’t be everywhere.
2 He’s not omnipotent - As we saw with Job - Satan can do only what God allows him to do and cannot cause you one ounce more suffering to you than God permits him to do - - and God will use that very pain for His good purposes for you.
2 He’s not omnipotent - As we saw with Job - Satan can do only what God allows him to do and cannot cause you one ounce more suffering to you than God permits him to do - - and God will use that very pain for His good purposes for you. Satan is a chained enemy. He is chained, 20 feet away from the cross with a 15 foot chain. Stay close to the cross - and you are safe.
In Pilgrim’s Progress, (which I would highly encourage you to read), Christian is on his way to the Celestial City (which is heaven), and at one point in the treacherous journey, he is trying to make it to a place called the Palace Beautiful, where he is hoping to find lodging for the night. The problem is, the palace is up a hill, called Difficulty and two men have just come running past him, from that very hill, running away from it, warning Christian that there are terrible dangers ahead - lions even. While he is climbing the hill Difficulty, getting close to the palace, the pathway leads him into a very narrow passage - and it’s getting dark - - and Christian can see in this narrow passage that there are two lions in his way.
He thinks about turning around and following those two others in the opposite direction. Just then, the Porter of the palace, named Watchful, cries out to Christian, “Is your strength so small? Don’t fear the lions - they’re chained! They’re placed there for the trial of faith, to find out where it is and to show those who don’t have any. Stay in the middle of the path, and no injury will come to you.
So, Christian did - he went forward, shaking with fear of the lions. He can hear their roar, almost feel their breath - - but sure enough, just as the Porter said - the lions couldn’t do a thing to him - because as long as Christian walks in the middle of the pathway - the chains around the necks of those lions - wouldn’t let them touch him. The chain was too short.
Satan is a chained enemy. He is chained, 20 feet away from the cross with a 15 foot chain. Stay close to the cross - and you are safe.