The Pattern of Satanic Attacks and How to Thwart them

Satan's attacks have a pattern to them. God desires to equip us with his Gospel to stand against them.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

See, all of us have experienced God's love, the power of his word, experienced true life to whatever degree, but all of us have only done this in part. There's nobody that's tapped into this completely. Yet God has given his word to draw in every human soul and every human soul to the nth degree. So because his word is designed this way and he's given his spirit to bring us to enlightenment, then all of mankind is in this funnel from the Father to come into the greatness of all that he's arranged in Christ. That nothing's lacking. And that's what he's bringing all those who believe on Jesus Christ into. So he's working hard, so to speak, to bring people into this arrangement. Well, when someone believes on Jesus Christ, as we know very well repeatedly, we have entered this realm called by words. It's called in Christ, uh, it's called the kingdom of God, it's called a variety of things in the scriptures. What it is, we don't really have words to describe it. It is so magnanimous, you just don't have words to describe it. It talks about in the scriptures that it's going to take the ages to come for us to realize how big it is of what we've entered into. Well, because it is that big and it is designed to be a growing reality in God's people by way of the truth, coupled with us having the Spirit of God that enlightens us every step of the way, right? Because without the Spirit of God, there's no enlightenment, right? We're all in agreement with that. Okay, so he gives the truth and he's given us his spirit to enlighten us. Well, as we're growing in this, there's an arc enemy of God and the saints. All of mankind, but God first, the saints second, and then all of mankind. He's given titles like the devil. Devil means one who twists truth. He's given the title of Satan, one who is against the purposes of God in practice. He's given the title adversary. Uh the word adversary means against right, literally. So he's against what's right. Okay. From 1 Peter 5, it says that uh we stand against him by adhering to the faith. So in that context of him being called the adversary, he's against us standing in the faith. He's against what's right. What's right is for us to stand in the faith. Well, as the enemy, there is a work that is constantly going on to move us away from what this faith is, to block us, if he can, from being enlightened to it. And it's described in 2 Corinthians in chapter 11. 2 Corinthians 11. Paul had initially reached the Corinthians and spent a lot of time with them. Actually, he spent more time on record with the Corinthians than any other group of saints in a city. It started with a year and a half, which exceeded any other group, and then it he spent more time with them. So what he did was he introduced them to the realities that are in Christ. They get born again. That's where it starts, right? And then he encouraged them to get furthered in the same. Well, this picks up, we're gonna pick pick it up in verse 2 of 2 Corinthians 11. The enemy is at work to stop this from happening or distort it from happening. So the analogy of marriage is given here for a specific purpose. He says in verse 2, for I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I betrothed you to one husband. You're gonna see this, the clarity of a singleness, one husband, not to many, but to one. It's gonna make sense in a few minutes, so that to Christ, not to Jesus, not the man, but to Christ, reality that we have through him. So that to Christ I might present you a pure virgin. Presenting a pure virgin, dad, he's their father in the word, would present his virgin to a worthy man. Okay, but then that daughter is given to that man to solely have her focus be that man. And that's why the next verse, three. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, his subtlety, so your minds would be led astray from the, and there's two words here: words simplicity and the word purity to Christ. As a husband, simplicity is the opposite of simplicity, is duplicity. So we might say singleness, that your focus of attention is Christ. Then it says, and purity, that we're not mixed with the world's thoughts in our devotion to our husband. That's what it's talking about. And it again says the title Christ to Christ. Well, the first part of verse 11, let's go back to it. I'm sorry, verse 3 of chapter 11, says, but I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, as is a comparison word. So to understand how the serpent is trying to manipulate the saints away from reality in Christ, the faith, the gospel, how he's doing this work, we have to go back and look how Eve was deceived by him. There's a pattern that's given. So initially, Paul brought them this message and espoused them to Christ. That's part of the message. You know, he's our husband of undivided loyalty. That's the setup, right? So if we go back to see how Eve was deceived, this is a message I shared with you, Larry, on when you called, when I was on the coast. It's essentially it. I mean, there's a little more to it, but so in Genesis, how Eve got deceived, you have to understand, which I believe all of you do. I mean, all the way down to Calvary, I believe you guys do. God gave Adam and Eve a word. You can eat of any tree of the garden, but do not eat of the tree of the knowledge in good and evil. Because when you eat of it, you are going to surely die. So time went on, they lived abundantly in the garden. Eventually, the serpent started doing his work. And he doesn't just say, God lied to you, listen to what I'm saying, I'm your new Lord. It doesn't happen like that. He throws in an idea, he throws in a thought, he throws in a feeling or emotion, he gets you to get drawn into his way of thinking. The pattern given here, they were given the word, just like Paul brought the message of the gospel to Corinth, right? Given the word. Then chapter 3, verse 1 is where the serpent enters the picture. And the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Indeed, has the Lord God said? No, it says, Has God said? God is a title for the creator. Chapter 1 of the Bible, or chapter 1, verse 1 of the Bible, right? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He's noted right there with that title, God is the creator. If you attach the title Lord, which is Jehovah to that, he's the creator now in behalf of his creation, us. He is for us, he's fighting for us, protecting us, providing for us. He is for us, the people.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

What kind of a modern day one for new creation saints is father.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Yes, added to it. Right.

SPEAKER_02 8:17

Father.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

That would be something that might be subtle to the well, not even subtle people, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Yeah, and technically, father doesn't mean father, like it doesn't our world. Father means he began something and we're following it. The title Jehovah actually means all that he is toward us. Toured us his people. So Father adds a different dimension, but the word Lord here, the uh the serpent was more subtle than any beast in the field of the field, which the Lord God, Jehovah God, had made. Okay, in all of creation, he's still in behalf of his people, his creation. Then the serpent said, Indeed, has God said, the creator said, not the one who's concerned about you, that distant creator guy, that guy, has God said, You shall not eat from any tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat. But of the fruit which is in the midst or the middle of the garden, God has said, not the Lord God, she swallowed the baited hook. Not the one who will never leave you nor forsake you. Oh, that one that wants your attention. That one, if you're good enough, he'll be in your favor. These are all the lies tied into just the creator. But when you bring in the Lord God, Jehovah God, it's a whole new arrangement because it's God funneled into or in behalf of his people. That's why he calls us in our epistles the beloved and his beloved. He's focused on us. So, verse 3 again, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat from it or touch it, you will die. Now there's a pattern here. Okay, we saw that she swallowed the baited hook, that it's not the Lord God, but God. Okay, but from verse 2, she left out a point. And some of you probably already know this, but I need to repeat this because it has a lot to do with what we're talking about here. Verse 2 says, The woman said to the serpent, From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat. But if you go up to chapter 2 in verse 17, uh verse 16, the Lord God commanded the man, saying, From any tree of the garden you may eat freely, which is a synonym of the word grace. Now, when Paul brought the gospel to the Corinthians, he brought this message of the grace of Christ. It's grace. The woman responded to the serpent's suggestion to question what God said, and she deletes the grace part. You may eat freely. She says, We may eat. Then verse 3, she adds legalism. But from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, not the Lord God, but God has said, You shall not eat from it or touch it. She added to the word. She took away from it, then she added to it. But what she took away was the grace, what she added was law. And this is what Paul was concerned about, the Corinthians. That they were letting go of the grace of Christ and replacing it with legalism. This was his concern. So he said, I fear, you know, that as the serpent deceived Eve through his craftiness, so your minds would be corrupted from your husband Christ. So verse 4 says, The serpent said to the woman, You surely will not die. Now, because he led her that far away from what God said, he knew he had her. And this is what happens to saints. They, you know, they hear that their sins are paid for. Now they're made the righteousness of God, and they start getting introduced to things you need to do so that God continues to favor you, you know, to look good in God's sight. Well, this is a distortion from what God said. And ultimately, what they will start to say is you have to ask for forgiveness for your sins. What's the doctrine say of grace? We've been forgiven for his name's sake, like in 1 John 2.12. We have been forgiven. Past tense, it's actually perfect tense, which means it's done, never needs to be repeated. It's always the same, yeah. So we've been forgiven for his name's sake. So I'm gonna ask to be forgiven for what I've been forgiven for. Do you see any kind of insanity in that? I hope so, because this is one of the serpent's manipulations. He turns what God says ultimately to say the opposite. You need to ask for forgiveness. For what we've been for, God says we're forgiven. You end up thinking you need to ask for forgiveness. That's the opposite, saints. So here in chapter 3, again, next verse, look at this verse 5. Watch this. The serpent continues talking to her, for God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Where did this concept come from of being like God? Well, hold your place here. Look at Isaiah 14. You got the craftiness of the crafty one himself. Isaiah 14. Here's where it came from. It cropped up in Lucifer's heart before he started his mutiny in uh the kingdom of God and got kicked out. This is what he said. Uh Isaiah 14, and it's starting in verse 12. How have you fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, O son of the dawn? This is all uh tied into the star of the morning. He was the bright one, you know, God's right hand man, so to speak. O star of the morning, son of the dawn, you have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations. But you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven, I will raise my throne above the stars, referring to angels of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. Clouds are large groups of men or angels, and in this context, it would be angels. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I'm going to make myself higher than all the other angels. Then he says, less part of verse 14, I will make myself like the Most High. From that, he was kicked out of God's arrangement, heaven. So he approaches Eve back to chapter 3 of Genesis. You can be just like God. You can follow the same trap that I fell into. And I know it'll work because I went for it. I know you're gonna fall for it. So he worked her and worked her until she got convinced that she could be just like God. Now, this is the way of mankind today, living as if mankind, the individual, is God, trying to raise himself up higher and higher in society. You know, I'm gonna ride a skateboard better and faster. I'm gonna have the best house on the block, I'm gonna be the president of a company. I, I, I, I will, I will. Well, this was the heart of Lucifer before he was kicked out. So he transferred that desire right over into the lap of Eve. You know, in uh you know, talking this morning, uh, you know, in in the medical field, they have what's uh you can sign what's called a uh DNR, it means that stands for do not resuscitate. You know, in other words, if my body starts going down, I don't want you to try to revive me. Well, mankind has been tricked by the adversary to wear a DNR on his shirt or on his forehead. Do not resuscitate, don't bother me. I want to be my own God, my own man. Don't interrupt me with this distant God. We're not. We're talking about the one who loves you that takes you way further than you can ever take yourself. Where do you experience joy when you cannot on your own? Genuine love where you cannot on your own. What do you mean, do not resuscitate? Listen to this, right? And you ignore the t-shirt and you go right for the heart, right? Yeah, right. So when he brought her to this point, you can be just like God. Look what he used against her, her own desires, what she wants, like Lucifer. I will make myself like the most, I will do this myself. Verse 6 when the woman saw, right, saw that the tree was good for food, not when she saw God's word more clearly, no, when she saw that the tree was good for food. For who? For her. So I'm gonna benefit myself here, and that it was a delight to the eyes. Whose eyes? Her eyes. See, in our culture, we're pushed into what delights me, what makes me happy. What, Daniel? How do you mean? Oh, that's the most dangerous stuff. Yeah, absolutely. That's some of the most dangerous stuff.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Oh, yeah, emotional cracking. Or just area demolition.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, the the point, I don't know if you heard this, uh, you know, you guys online or in the recording, but you know, can this these desires look good? Like, oh, I'm going to feed the poor, I'm going to do this, that, and the other thing. But if it's for self-glorification, then it's delighting self. It can look good on the outside, and these are the most dangerous ones because they're greatly accepted by the masses. So the third point, first, what she saw for benefit to herself, then what was going to delight herself. Then it goes to the rest of her six, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise. To make who wise, yeah. See, this is self-provision. See, pleasing self aimed at what I like, how I want it. See, be careful of those, because we're all surrounded by them and we're infected with it from the world. So God wants to free us up from these. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. If she would have responded with, no, God says to not eat of that tree of the knowledge in good and evil, or I will die in the time that I do. Period, and walk away. Like we would say, no, Christ died for this. Don't try to throw that thread at me, condemnation or guilt. Right? Christ died for this.

SPEAKER_02 19:44

She would have said, Jehovah God told me. Oh, yeah, good point.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

She kept that hidden.

SPEAKER_02 19:47

Yeah, man, he's my, you know, you missed that.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

Yeah, Jehovah God. Yeah, yeah, in her situation, or we can say the same thing. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so what we get from this is the the serpent used her own desires for herself, self-benefit against her. Well, let's go back to 2 Corinthians 11. Look at this a little more closely. 2 Corinthians 11. In that verse 3, where Paul was concerned for these Corinthians because they were being manipulated away from the truth, what Christ has accomplished for mankind, the new covenant. So he says, by the way, how he knew this, he was hearing reports. It says that in 1 Corinthians and uh well, there for sure. Anyway, so verse 3 again. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds would be led astray or corrupted from that undivided loyalty to your husband that I espoused you to. See that your minds would be not your actions, oh, I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna do that for God. Not the actions being corrupted, the minds. Because the actions follow the mind. So he brought, like Eve, God gave her the word. Uh sorry, God gave the church the word, just like he gave Eve the Word. Okay? Our word is the faith, what Christ has accomplished. So the next maneuver is to pose a question that is aimed at distorting what God said. And this is what happens in our hearts. Well, I have the right to hold this against so and so. They wronged me, and they keep wronging me. Do we have the right to do anything contrary to the doctrine? If that's a saint, they are wholly without blame, no matter what I think. Or say, or any actions I take contrary to them, they're a saint. See, the adversary will just subtly throw in these little curves. Well, why do they always say this to me? Or why do they always do that? See, and get us to think incorrectly, contrary to the truth about a saint or any aspect of the truth. And this is how he subtly works. So Paul says, I am afraid, that's the word fear. I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve through his craftiness, his subtlety, his twisting of truth, that your minds would be led astray or corrupted from this undivided loyalty. Well, we have a better example of how to handle these temptations in Matthew 4. Uh I'm not going to go there now, I'm just not going to take the time really, but in Matthew 4, follows chapter 3, in the end of chapter 3, Jesus was baptized by John, and this voice from heaven comes and says, This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. The next verse says, then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Tempted of the devil. And it says he had fasted for 40 days. So he's going to be what? Hungry? Yeah, major hungry. I mean, 10 days will do it to you. 40 days? He was hungry. So the manipulation of the temptation came. If you are the Son of God, well, God has just told him he is. Right. Take care of yourself. Exactly. And if you look at these temptations, every one of them follows the same pattern that was thrown at Eve because the serpent knows this almost always works. Use their personal desires, what they want, against them. They go for it almost every time. And he knows it.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

It's not like Satan just says comes in obviously says, hey, you know, you're a sinner. Yeah, it's something. Yeah, it's not like it's obvious, you know.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

No, right? Okay. I want the dark.

SPEAKER_02 24:59

Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

That's where I was going to get on.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

Right. Yeah, it's not, you know, to build on that point, it's it's not that being a good mother, good father, uh, being kind to people is contrary to God, but he uses that to get you to think, oh, I am gonna get recognition from this would be one problem. Um you know, or what? Or what? Yeah, or judgment for the left. That's a good one, too. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Right, we're no longer about your friendship anymore. Now that you're now we're back to the leverage, where now it's upon you to maintain that arrangement. Yeah, so it isn't always for the sake of recognition. A lot of times it's right contrary to that arrangement of grace. Right. Yeah for the elect, I would say.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

Yeah, well, and this is why Paul was afraid because he saw the pattern, he knew the pattern from Genesis. He he knew. So he was concerned about them and trying to bring them to the awareness that there's an enemy working against you, and he's going to use the same pattern that he used against Eve. You can be your own man, you can call the shots for your own life. But when we came into this, we confess Jesus as Lord. That means boss. That means he's the new head of my head, my body, he's the new head of my mind, he's the one in charge. So, what does that mean? Well, Paul's saying you're being corrupted from this doctrine, see, that I brought to you. That's the aim. So Jesus gave us a great example. Every one of the temptations, he responded first with, it is written. And if we were to respond to those thoughts, those feelings that are contrary, those you know, waves that are that we recognize as contrary with God. No, wait, God says that I have been made whole through Christ. God says that's my brother in Christ. God, and if you stick to what God has said by the words of the covenant, it pushes that light, pushes that enemy out like right away. It's a push. He'll come back, but it pushes them out at the moment.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

Make a point on that. I was gonna say it like you said it's a help if you guys implement what Mike just said, God said, or one of the areas that you know, I like to say is from God's perspective, when I understand it, but when you start saying that, it puts the authority where it needs to be. So it's just an encouragement to consider adopting that, you know, God said, because really it's what God said, you know, it's not what I said or you said, it's it's what God said, and it really kind of stamps that authority, like a king would stamp his signature on there and says, Hey, thus saith the king, well, thus saith God, our father.

SPEAKER_00 27:53

Good help. Well, yeah, uh, in light of that, it's the next the closing point here, but it's uh we're gonna go to two places. It says the same thing in different words, but first Peter in chapter five. The the way it says it here is to stand against the adversary, the one who's against what's right, stand against the adversary by adhering to the faith. Stick to the faith. What's the faith? The the one faith, according to Ephesians 4, verse 5. There's one faith. Verse 13 of Ephesians 4, same chapter says this faith is where we have our unity. We have unity of the faith. The faith produces the unity. This is why the church is so you know, uh disband, you know, so separated out from each other, because we're not realizing or accepting the faith as a whole, because the faith unifies. That's what God says. He's not wrong, it unifies. So here in 1 Peter, talking about you know, the same dude, the adversary, in verses eight and nine, be sober, be on the alert. You know, it's like stay aware. Something's you need to be aware of this point. Your adversary, one who is against what's right, the devil, tells who he is, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Anybody that'll swallow the bait at the moment. He's just looking. But resist him. Resist means to, it's the word against and the word stand. Stand against him. Stand against him, firm in what? It should say the faith. Some say in faith, some say your, but they, you know, they say yours and uh added to the text because it's just stand firm in the faith. Know what the faith is, what God wants us to believe, and keep holding to it. That's how you resist these attacks. Light dispels darkness. There's an interesting thing I just learned recently, it's in Ephesians 6, it's on the same point. You know, go back to what God says. It is written, God has said, you know, as my father, he has said this, and that's to lead me, right? In Ephesians 6, verses 10 and 11, it says, finally, the last point in Ephesians, it's finally, this is what that means, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Now, watch. Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able, be empowered to stand against the schemes. It's it's a Greek word we get our word methods from. Tactics. Wilds is another good one because it shows that tactics are deceiving, they're they're trickery, so that you will be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Uh, if you jump down to verse 13, this word stand shows up three times here. We just read it once in verse 11. Verse 13 says, Therefore, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything to stand, stand therefore. This word stand isn't a word which means conquer. Jesus did the conquering, the cross conquered the enemy. He's not telling us to conquer, he's saying to stand. Stand means stay put. And actually, this translation, which is accurate, says stand firm. Don't, don't, the opposite would be uh being movable, right? Uh adjusting, you know, adapting to something else. Stand means to stay put. What are we to stand in? What have we been given to stand in? It's saying stand, stay put. In what? Well, this is how we resist the devil. By staying put in the doctrine we've been given. This is why, if you if you ask out there, what is the gospel, like I did for about a year and a half, you're going to hear some wild answers. Because our brethren, many of them, do not know what it is. And let me tell you something. Going to pastors' meetings in LA, pastors could not give me a straight answer. The best answer I got at the time was from a six-year-old on what the gospel is. That Jesus died for our sins. Yeah, pure and simple. There it is. Not that one gave me an hour and 10-minute, 15-minute uh answer to what the gospel is. I said, come on. The gospel has been made so simple that we can understand it as people, and then stay put in it, stand, don't budge. And this is how we resist the devil, and when we resist him, he has to flee. At the end of Jesus' temptations in Matthew 4, it says, and the devil left him for a season. When as soon as Jesus brought up it is written, he's trying another temptation because he just lost. Jesus defeated him. We just stand in what Christ has accomplished. And that that's really it. What, Daniel? Yeah. Yeah, actually, quite a few times. Yeah, so it's only for that season. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

It's gonna be nice if he was gone, but he's not. He's still the adversary, but we have a greater weapon.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

Yeah, the interesting uh trait, I should have said this earlier this morning with the king, because where the gospel I think is most useful is that it actually um digs further in with the resistance. What do you mean? Yeah, when the adversary presses the um the aspects of the gospel dig further in if one holds to it.

unknown 34:04

Digs further.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

Yeah, it takes deeper, it takes deeper. The the re the reaction uh to Satan's um uh engagement seems for my always seems to be further development of the gospel interperson rather than a moving away from.

SPEAKER_00 34:20

You know, a weight lifter gets stronger and gets more bulky. Why? Because of resistance. Oh well, that's exactly what you're saying, right, Daniel?

SPEAKER_01 34:30

I'm not saying it's the same for everybody, obviously.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

But yeah, but that resistance makes you stronger.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

Well, say that he simply says stand firm, right? And resist, meaning there's a potential for you moving away from. Oh, yeah, right. So you just like emphasize what you're I feel like you relate to that same experience with all the pressure you've received and come against you, the result has been per development of the gospel in our person.

SPEAKER_02 34:56

You know the verse that that communicates that to me? Same thing, is it's the spirit energizes the moral body. So the more I focus on the spirit, in context, you know, set your mind on things, or you know, you're setting a mind on the spirit, it absolutely is causing more strength. So I mean absolutely it's the it's the only thing that does that is it's you know, that resistance strengthens us. That's not fascinating, yeah. Yeah, it's interesting. That's a trip, right? Empowering, yeah. Like those that receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, what? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

So if you receive it, the adversary's push seems to further my development in the thank you.