Thursday, March 8, 2018 - Ephesians 6:11-12,  The Angelic Conflict, Pt. 26.  The Enemy, Pt. 23. 

Satan's Strategies, Pt. 3.  Lesson # 18-027

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YZzQaOMZLQ&feature=youtu.be

Grace Fellowship Church

Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard

www.GraceDoctrine.org

Stand in Warfare – Eph 6:10-20.

Outline of Eph 6 :10-24
1. The Empowerment, vs. 10.
2. The Enemy, vs. 11-12.
3. The Equipment, vs. 13-17.
4. The Energy, vs. 18-20.
5. The Encouragement, vs. 21-24.

2. The Enemy, vs. 11-12

Eph 6:11-12; Jer 17:5; Heb 2:14-15; 13:5-6; 1 Peter 5:7-9; 1 John 2:15-16

Continuing in Eph 6:11, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil,” we continue to note the strategies of Satan to keep people away from a relationship with God.

Seven of Satan’s Strategies, (continued).

1. Satan accuses believers of guilt before God the Father hoping to lead to condemnation.

2. Satan sponsors reversionism in both unbelievers and believers by providing false religion and doctrines.

3. Satan tries to get the believer to be disobedient to the Word and the Pastor’s authority in teaching.

4. His strategy is to frustrate the will of God in the believer’s life: Mentally, operationally, and geographically.

We continue with point 5:

5. It is the strategy of the devil to neutralize the believer’s soul through worry and anxiety. He tries to create a mentality of fear and anger in your life, so that you are distracted from the truth of God’s Word and His plan for your life. He tries to neutralize consistent doctrinal perception, metabolization, and application of God’s Word through worry, fear, anxiety, mental attitude sins, reaction to disaster(s), and even death, 1 Peter 5:7‑9; Heb 2:14-15.

1 Peter 5:7-9, “Casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. ⁸Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ⁹But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.”

Heb 2:14-15, “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

6. It is Satan’s objective to obscure the focus of the believer, that is your occupation with Christ and your advancement to the super-grace life. He does this in three ways:

 

  a. Getting your eyes on people rather than on God, Jer 17:5.

Jer 17:5, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the LORD’.”

  b. Getting your eyes on self, 1 Kings 19:10; 1 Cor 1:10-11.

1 Cor 1:11, “For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people, that there are quarrels among you.”

1 Cor 1:10, “Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

  c. Getting your eyes on things, Heb 13:5-6; 1 John 2:15-16.

1 John 2:15-16, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

Heb 13:5-6, “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, ‘I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,’ ⁶so that we confidently say, ‘THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?’”

7. It is the satanic objective to involve the believer in humanistic, temporal solutions to man’s problems so that Divine solutions are obscured and excluded. He tries to get believers distracted from walking in God’s plan by getting them involved in improving Satan’s world system by becoming preoccupied with temporal solutions, such as: Globalism, hyper-environmentalism, socialism, the welfare state, and other various temporal solutions to man’s problems.

From Isaiah 14, we see that in order for Satan to accomplish his strategies, he:

• Weakens the nations, Isa 14:12.
• Makes the earth to tremble, Isa 14:16.
• Shakes kingdoms, Isa 14:16.
• Makes the world a wilderness, Isa 14:17.
• Destroys the cities thereof, Isa 14:17.
• Does not open the house of his prisoners, Isa 14:17.

Chafer notes: “Next to the lie itself, the greatest delusion Satan imposes — reaching to all unsaved and to a large proportion of Christians — is the supposition that only such things as society considers evil could originate with the devil — if, indeed, there be any devil to originate anything. It is not the reason of man, but the revelation of God, which points out that governments, morals, education, art, commercialism, vast enterprises and organizations, and much of religious activity are included in the cosmos diabolicus. That is, the system which Satan has constructed includes all the good which he can incorporate into it and be consistent in the thing he aims to accomplish. A serious question arises whether the presence of gross evil in the world is due to Satan’s intention to have it so, or whether it indicates Satan’s inability to execute all he has designed. The probability is great that Satan’s ambition has led him to undertake more than any creature could ever administer. Revelation declares that the whole cosmos-system must be annihilated — not its evil alone, but all that is in it, both good and bad. God will incorporate nothing of Satan’s failure into that kingdom which He will set up in the earth.” (Lewis Sperry Chafer, “Systematic Theology,” Vol. 2, PP 100-101)

Larkin notes: “Satan is very subtle in his methods, and if it were possible he would deceive the very elect. He knows all the great Scripture subjects that are of universal interest to humanity, and he is too wise to attack them openly, so he adulterates them with false doctrine. He has tried to rob the Church of her "Blessed Hope" of the Lord's return by mixing with it a lot of false teaching and "time setting" as seen in "Millerism," "Seventh Day Adventism" and "Millennial Dawnism." To prevent mankind from turning to the Lord for healing, he has invented the systems of "Christian Science" and "New Thought." To satisfy the craving of the human mind to know what is going on in the Spirit World, Satan invented "Spiritism." Satan seeing that he could not stamp out the Church by violence and persecution has changed his tactics and is now trying to seduce her into conformity to the world, and to try to better an "Age" that God has doomed to destruction. His present purpose is to build up a "magnificent civilization," and he has deceived the Church into believing that it can bring in the "Millennium," without Christ, by the Betterment of Society. His hope is that the "Gospel of Social Service" will take the place of the "Gospel of Grace," and by diverting the attention of Christian people to "secondary" things, they will neglect the primary work of soul saving, and thus delay the evangelization of the world, and postpone the Return of the Lord, and his own confinement in the Bottomless Pit.” (Clarence Larkin, “Rightly Dividing the Word”)

So the question is, “How do we properly relate to Satan’s cosmic system in which we are presently situated in?”

1. Use it, but do not abuse it, 1 Cor 7:30b-31.

1 Cor 7:30b-31, “…. those who buy, as though they did not possess; ³¹and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away.”

There is nothing wrong with using the things of this world, as long as we are not abusing or overusing them. Do not let the things of this world have top priority; do not let your marriage be the most important thing in life, do not weep too long; do not be so happy you cannot be serious; do not put your trust in things you can properly buy, etc. To put greater emphasis in life on the things of this world is to abuse the cosmos. To have a “take-it-or-leave it” attitude while using these things is proper use.

2. Enjoy, but do not love the things of this world, 1 Tim 6:17; 1 John 2:15.

1 Tim 6:17, “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.”

What God gives us in this world can legitimately be enjoyed. As long as we realize that He is the provider of them, our dependence is on God whether He gives us little or much, Phil 4:12-13, and that all the things of this world are uncertain.

Phil 4:12-13, “I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. ¹³I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

So the next question is, “When does proper enjoyment become improper loving?”

That depends on each individual and the mentality of your soul. Each believer has to examine objectively and honestly his or her own particular circumstances. Nevertheless, if you love things or stuff, or even your own life more than God, then you are making an idol of those things, and therefore are loving them improperly. An idol is anything at any time that comes between a believer and his love for God.

And remember that God has given us the power to overcome all things. Because of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union overflowing into the Church Age, the body of Christ when ruled by the head, (our Lord Jesus Christ), has received the delegated Divine power to resist the devil, 1 John 4:4; 5:4.

1 John 4:4, “Greater is He who is in you, (omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit via the Word when you are led by God’s power) than He who is in the world, (power of Satan as ruler of the world and Cosmic System).”

1 John 5:4, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world-- our faith.”

Therefore, the believer can live victoriously in Satan’s world through faith in Christ who Himself has become the victor over Satan, 1 John 5:4-5. Every believer, whether new or mature, has victory simply because he is a believer. But to experience that victory every day and win the tactical battles within your soul, it involves victory over the habits and activities we are involved in, along with the defense mechanisms we put up within our soul. Faith in Jesus makes us believers and thus overcomers, and to live victoriously every day, we must put on the Christ-like nature as we live inside of Satan’s cosmic system.

2 Cor 2:11 states the general principle, “hold your ground against the devil, so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his strategies.”