Read at beginning of service:
1 Peter 5:6-11 (NIV)
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 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 and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
INTRODUCTION
Every single one of us in on a spiritual journey ? whether you think you are or not. However, not everyone has the same destination. The Bible is very clear that some people?s journeys will continue everlasting in life and some people?s journey?s will continue everlasting in death. Our journey?s never really end ? the destination is more of a second beginning. However, the staging point for that destination is the life we live now. What we choose in the limited time we have here on earth will determine our spiritual destination for eternity. We have a choice between life and death everlasting.
I want to paint a picture to hopefully help you understand what I?m saying ? it?s not a perfect picture but it might help.
Every person at a certain point in their life will experience bodily death. I want you to kind of think of that point as a moment where you come to a train station where there are only two trains that stop. Each train has a different track it?ll take and once you get one you?ll never get off again. The passenger cars of these trains are a bit unusual because they aren?t really like your typical passenger car.
On one train the interior of the passenger cars are filled with the joy and laughter of a people who have found a wonderful peace. Words cannot describe the splendor of this train ? the decoration is opulent with every imaginable precious jewel and fine metal and wood intricately carved and place in perfect form and function. As you walk through the passenger car you notice that not a single person is sad, not a single person is sick, not a single person is weary, not a single person is lonely. In fact, before you even took two steps you have been surrounded with people welcoming you and talking to you and including you in the conversations. Over the mirth and joy you hear the raucous voice of another person and this person?s voice sounds familiar and yet evokes incredible feelings of excitement and joy. You eagerly look down at the end of the passenger cabin where you see Jesus walking down the cabin towards you. He looks at you and cradles your face in his hands as he says, “Welcome friend! Welcome to my home!” As he embraces you the last remaining pieces of anxiety flee your being and you begin to get excited about all the things left to discover and enjoy on this beautiful train.
But what about the other train? Let?s say it?s the train you get on instead. When you walk in the passenger cabin of this train the first thing you notice is how dark, and dreary it is. You bump your head on the roof of the car and realize that it is oppressively cramped as well. Over the loud noise of the train?s wheels clickety-clacking on the track you here groanings and wailing and sounds of people in pain. The air is also stale as you begin walking down the cabin. As you look side to side for a spot to sit on the plain vinyl covered seats ? people shuffle to the edge as to protect their spot. And wretched people they are. Packed like sardines in a can their faces show their agony, sorrow, and are etched with loneliness. No one is talking. Most are just staring resignedly into space. This passenger car reeks of death. You glance around frantically looking for a glimmer of a smile ? hoping someone would notice you and shake your hand. It would be nice if you could even hear a hello! But nothing but the clickety-clack, the groans, and long faces. This is going to be one long, boring, and painful ride.
Folks, everyone is born into this planet with a ticket for the train called hell ? the train of everlasting death. Written all over the front of the ticket in black lettering are the words sin ? if you look even closer at the fine print you?ll find written every hidden, evil, destructive, and wrong thing you?ve ever done, are doing, or will do. However, God sent his son Jesus to Earth to bring another ticket for any who would receive it. For every person, at some point in our lives the news of this other ticket is brought to our attention. It is a ticket for the train called heaven, the train of everlasting life. It was a ticket that didn?t come cheaply. Jesus paid the price for that ticket dearly with His own life. It was the only way to cancel the terrible consequences. There is only one way to get the ticket Jesus offers ? first you have to acknowledge that your carrying in your wallet the ticket for the other train. The ticket marked with sin. Then you have to believe that Jesus died on the cross for you and that he has another ticket to exchange with you. Then you have to give that “sin” ticket to Jesus and receive the one he offers.
When we come to the station of death for this life the ticket we have will determine the train we get on. Here?s the point ? God is on one train and not on the other. The train he?s on is full of life and everything good (because He is life and everything good) ? the other train is empty with death and everything that is evil. Which train would you rather be on going into eternity? You know what? God would rather you be with him as well ? that?s why for a brief moment in eternity Jesus stepped off His train and came to earth ? he had some tickets he wanted to pass out.
Now that?s a lot to chew on in an opening statement for a message! But I wanted to begin this way to reinforce the truth that we?re all on a spiritual journey in this life ? one that has great significance for what happens in the after life. Of course the picture I painted for you is limited in so many ways but I wanted to capture the stark contrast between hell and heaven. Here?s another reason why I started this way. In the scripture that was read this morning we learned of a being who is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. This being?s name is satan and he is hates God. His final destination for eternity is already written in stone but he is doing everything in his limited power to drag people along with him. Not only is he the enemy of God but he is your enemy as well. He doesn?t care about you but he?ll use you to try and get back at God. And he?ll do everything he can to keep you from getting the ticket God offers to His train or to get people who already have that ticket to lose it. Why? Because that?s one thing the enemy knows well ? that God doesn?t want anyone to get on the train marked hell.
Friends, I believe the devil knows all the right buttons to push to get your spiritually off track. Satan does everything he can to get under your skin and keep you from knowing about God or to get you to forget about God. Today, I?m going to spend some time talking about what the devil (and his minions) do to get under our skin. Here?s nine buttons he pushes?
Satan gets under my skin more by creating confusion than he does by creating conflict.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 (NIV)
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
In the Garden of Eden when Satan came to Eve his first words were: “Did God really say, ?You must not eat from any tree in the garden??”
Satan first tactic was not to try and create conflict. He didn?t say at first to Eve, “God told you not to eat of the tree but you can go ahead and eat from it because it will be OK.” He did eventually say something along those lines but first he tried to create confusion by getting Eve to doubt exactly what God did say!
When Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness, in the second temptation that Satan threw at Jesus he quoted Scripture and tried to confuse Jesus as to what it really meant. Jesus countered wisely by saying that you should not test God. Satan?s primary purpose was to create confusion more than conflict.
Matthew 4:5-7 (NIV)
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
In the scripture I read to you from Corinthians, Paul is teaching the Corinthian church (and us!) that satan has placed his people in positions of authority in the church for the purpose of confusing other Christians. Not only that, but Paul warns us that satan is more effective in using confusion over conflict ? after all, Paul writes, satan masquerades as an angel of light.
So satan will push the button of confusion more frequently than conflict to get under our skin. One more thing on that point: conflict is nearly always the product of confusion!
Satan gets under our skin more by trying to outwit us than he does by trying to over power us.
2 Corinthians 2:9-11 (NIV)
9 The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10 If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven–if there was anything to forgive–I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
Satan loves when we have an unforgiving spirit towards some one because he knows at that point that he?s outwitted you. He?s convinced you that it?s okay to hold a grudge.
Satan loves when we don?t confess our sin and instead use another sin to cover it up because he knows at that point he has outwitted us. We didn?t use what God has given us: the freedom to confess our sin! So Satan has out smarted us.
When you get mad at God because something terrible has happened in your life and you know God could have stopped it then satan has outwitted you. He knows if you get mad at God, you will not follow Him and won?t want anything to do with Him. Satan knows if you draw near to God that God will draw near to you and so he is glad you are pushing yourself away from God out of anger.
Satan gets under our skin more by promising things that he can NOT deliver than he does by delivering us the wrong things.
John 8:44 (NIV)
44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
The third temptation that Jesus encountered in the wilderness was a promise by the devil that if Jesus would bow down and worship him then the kingdoms of this world would belong to Jesus. But it wasn?t his to give away because Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and all kingdoms belong to Him. Satan was promising Jesus something that he could not deliver.
The Bible teaches that every good and perfect gift comes from God. Satan, on the other hand, doesn?t have anything of value to give me and so he has to lie about everything he that he gives me?
Satan will tell me that the next drink will be the one that brings me pleasure. That the next weed I smoke will take all my problems away. He?ll say the next spouse will be that perfect one for me. He?ll say that the next item I buy will ring me happiness. He?ll say that just a little foreplay can?t hurt when we?re fooling around with someone we?re not married too?”after all, your not going all the way?” he?ll say.
It is not what Satan gives to people that is the biggest problem ? they have no value yes BUT it?s more of a problem the lies that we believe about what he gives. If we quit believing the lies that satan speaks then it would be easier to turn away from what he offers.
The truth is that satan gets under my skin more by promising what he can not deliver than he does by giving me the wrong thing.
Satan gets under my skin more by accusing me of something I didn?t do than he does by accusing me of something that I did do.
Revelation 12:10 (NIV)
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.
Satan doesn?t have as much power to accuse me of the things that I did do wrong because greater is He that is in me then He that is in the world. The Holy Spirit was sent to convict us of what we do wrong and will lead us to confess that sin and receive the forgiveness of God.
Where satan has a field-day however is when he is accusing people of something that he says they did wrong but they really didn?t.
For example, many children of divorced parents blame themselves for the divorce of their parents like they had something to do with it. Some young women who have experienced the horrible tragedy of rape blame themselves for being raped. Some family members blame themselves if something happens to another family member.
This is where satan can do some of his harshest work ? when you blame yourself for something you did not do ? something that was out of your control. That is where he gets under your skin and starts pushing spiritual buttons to get you off the right spiritual track.
Satan gets under my skin more by causing me distractions than he does by out and out confrontation.
1 John 2:15-16 (NIV)
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world–the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does–comes not from the Father but from the world.
Satan would rather distract me than battle me because he knows that if I call upon the power of God he will have to flee. So if he distracts me, catches me off guard, then he knows I will not yell for God?s assistance.
How does he distract me? By enticing me with the things of this world. John tells us that Satan distracts us with everything that we can see. What he does is divert our attention and priority from the creator to the creation. From enjoying everything that God offers to everything that the world offers.
Satan gets under my skin more by getting me to see something from the wrong perspective than he does by putting temptations in my path.
Satan has pushed this button when we begin thinking things are worse than they really are and that the only one that cares about my situation is me. Or when we think things are better than they really are. Or when we make assumptions about what someone has said or done because of our perspective of the situation.
1 Kings 19:14 (NIV)
14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
If you continue reading forward in 1 Kings you?ll discover that Elijah was in fact NOT the only one who remained faithful to God. Elijah saw things worse than they really are and he began to think that he was the only one who cared. But God said that there were 7000 people who still followed him in Israel (1 Kings 19:18).
What is one of satan?s favorite strategies? To get us to think that God doesn?t care about us. One of the places you can see satan using this strategy in the Bible is with the Israelites as they traveled through the wilderness,
Numbers 21:4-5 (NIV)
4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
They complained that there was no bread and no water and yet they had been receiving manna from heaven each day! What they were really saying to themselves is that God doesn?t care that we eat the same thing over and over again.
James tells us that we put temptation in our own path more often than the devil. He is not going to waste his time using temptation because we do a pretty good job ourselves. Satan would rather give us a wrong perspective so that he can catch us off guard.
James 1:14 (NIV)
14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)
13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
Don?t get me wrong ? satan uses temptation in our life especially if he believes we will fall to it. But more often we fall to a wrong perspective and so that is what satan uses more.
Satan gets under my skin more by seeing my desires unfulfilled than he does by fulfilling my desires.
Proverbs 13:12 (NIV)
12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
A lot of people think that satan gives people what they want so that they become content with this world. He does do that on occasion but more frequently, satan would rather not give us what we want so that we become discontent with God.
Remember that satan?s struggle is not against people ? he is using people as pawns in his battle with God. He can never hurt God directly so he?s trying the only way he thinks will work and that?s to hurt God?s creation and keep people from learning about and following God.
When satan attacked Job, he didn?t give Job more things of this world but rather he took away all the things of Job?s world. And it was because satan wasn?t trying to make Job comfortable with this world but rather he was trying to make him discontent with God. Job?s wife certainly fell for it because she tells Job to curse God and die.
Satan is sometimes the master of keeping things away from us so that we might become discontent with God.
Satan gets under my skin more by causing me to find a few things wrong rather than finding everything wrong.
1 Corinthians 10:10 (NIV)
10 And do not grumble, as some of them did–and were killed by the destroying angel.
Think about this in terms of a church. If you find everything wrong with a church, what are you going to do? Simply, you are going to quit going to that church. But that is not going to be the best strategy for the devil. His strategy is to let you find a few things about that church that you don?t like so that you might begin grumbling inside the church. He would rather you grumble in the church instead of leaving the community of believers. Why? Because he knows that grumbling in a community of believers within the church is eventually going to hurt the church.
In your marriage, ladies and gents, Satan will help you find a few things wrong with your spouse. And when you grumble about it your marriage will be gradually rendered loveless and joyless.
You see, satan knows that God hates grumbling?
1 Peter 4:9 (NIV)
9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
Satan gets under my skin by causing me to see others as spiritual competitors and not co-workers.
Matthew 20:20-21 (NIV)
20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. 21 “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”
Satan would love for me to keep track of all the things that I do for God. And satan would love for me to track all of the things I think you can do for God but don?t. Why because that creates dissension. He causes churches or ministries within a church to see each other as competition so that we avoid working together for the kingdom of God.
Satan will even do that in marriage. He will cause husbands and wives to keep score instead of seeing themselves as co-workers.
Satan wants us to believe that competition is healthy. It may be healthy in sports but it is never healthy within the church.
CONCLUSION
Satan is very subtle in how he attacks us. Most people aren?t even aware when the enemy is at work in their lives because he doesn?t come boldly from the front instead from the side or rear in the places where we aren?t expecting him ? or for some who don?t even bat an eyelid at the thought they may have an enemy working actively to keep them from knowing God.
(?Recall story of ticket and give invitation)