Enduring a Satanic Attack - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, May 22nd. Satan's Strongest Weapon is Deception.

Let's discover how to stand firm on the truth of God's Word and recognize the enemy's deceitful ways in part two of Enduring a Satanic Attack. I'm Charles Stanley. Welcome to the In Touch Podcast. I'm Charles Stanley.

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast. And what he's talking about is really about him bragging a little bit. Your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and the purity of devotion to Christ. Now, in this verse, he warns us about who the enemy is. He says, I'm afraid lest the serpent, that is the devil, should do what?

He says three things. Deceive you. That is, make something appear to be what it is not.

Deception is to lie. Secondly, he says, deceive, he says, Eve, by his craftiness, his cunning strategy, and that your mind should be led astray or seduced. Now, realizing that the mind is indeed the organ of our thought and that all temptation, first of all, is offered to the mind, think about this. Think about that.

Think about the way you would achieve this need or this desire in your life. What did he do? Satan came to Eve and the first thing he did to her is one of the aspects of his strategy. Here's the first aspect of his strategy I want you to think about. And that is that Satan focused Eve's attention upon a specific thing. He always focuses our attention upon a specific desire or a specific need in our life. For example, in the life of Jesus, you remember the temptations that Jesus had been there 40 days and fasting and talking to the Father. And so what does Satan do to him?

He doesn't say, well, you're a bad man. He says, ah, there is a stone and you're hungry because the Bible says you're hungry. Just turn that stone into bread. It's real simple.

That's all you have to do. I know that you're hungry. What was he doing? He had pointed out something that Jesus desired, and that is he was hungry. He did desire to eat, no doubt. And he said, well, what you can do if you'll misuse your power and do it now before this fast is over.

Go ahead and do it now because you have the power to do it. He knows exactly how to deal with us. And so what does he do? He points out, he narrows it down to a desire or some particular need that we have. That's part of his strategy. The second part I want you to notice is this, that he, listen, he determines the time of the temptation.

Satan is not going to tempt us just any old time, any old place, any old way. You see, because he knows that all of us have weaknesses and frailties in our life. His strategy is that you hit the enemy at their weakest point in their most vulnerable moments. Any man who goes to war know you look for the enemy's weakness. You look for the flank that shows the weakest area.

You look for them at the point when they are not the most alert. When a person is tired and worn, it's very easy for Satan to interject his thoughts at that time. And so one of his strategies is to focus our attention upon some desire, some need that we have, and to misuse our attempts and our methods of achieving that. Likewise, he determines the time when we are the most vulnerable and we are the most susceptible. That's why the apostle Paul said in this chapter, he said, I fear lest by his cunning strategy he does what? By his cunning strategy, he will seduce us in our mind, in our thinking. We will begin to think the way Satan thinks.

We will begin to listen to what he has to say to us. So the third thing I want you to notice is this, and that is that he, one of his strategies is he creates doubt in our mind. If he can create doubt in your mind about God, well, if God were so good, why would he do thus and so?

If he can create doubt in the Word of God, he not only has a toehold, a stronghold, he begins to build a fortress. When you begin to doubt any portion of Scripture, somebody says, well, I believe some of the Scripture. Well, which part do you believe? Well, I believe this part and that part and I don't believe certain things. It's interesting to me what I've discovered when anybody has ever told me what portion of Scripture they don't believe. Usually, if you will keep talking, there is something about that portion that personally bothers them. Naturally, that's what Satan would do.

That's part of his strategy. And so people, what they do is they say, well, you know, that sounds right and I believe that's probably true in what we do. Listen, when we begin to doubt God in any area, we open the door for disobedience in other areas. You see, you're not just going to be disobedient in one area.

You hang in there with one act of disobedience and you keep failing in this area, you're going to start failing over here. In fact, I don't know of many sins, if I know of any at all personally, that you can commit in an isolated fashion without it, listen, spilling over into sinning in some other way. And so therefore, what does he do? He focuses our attention upon a desire, upon a need. And then he determines the time when he is going to lay that temptation or that trial before us because he knows the timing is so important. And then he's going to create some form of doubt in our mind in some fashion.

Then the fourth thing he does, he likes to engage us in debate. Now, oftentimes we think we're just talking to ourselves. And so here's some temptation and you think, well, you know, after all, I deserve that. I think that would satisfy me.

I should drive one of those or live there or wear this or do that or go here or go beyond or whatever it may be. Surely there's nothing wrong with that. And so you begin to talk yet something on the inside of you says this is not the right time or this is not the right way. This is not the right purpose. This is not the right plan. And so you begin to talk to yourself.

What happens? Haven't you found yourself talking your self into something that when you first thought about it, you knew it was wrong to begin with? No question in your mind. And the longer you talk to yourself about it, you talk yourself right into it. You say, well, I talked myself into it. No, you didn't. While you were talking, who do you think was interjecting these negative thoughts?

Who do you think? Listen, you think, well, I'm just arguing myself. No, that's what he does. He gets us in a debate.

The worst thing that Eve ever did was get into debate with Satan. You can't listen. You'll never defeat him. He is a master debater. Listen, he has a list of excuses and defenses for his arguments like you and I have never seen. We can't bring up anything that he doesn't have some excuse for, some rationale for tempting us and trying us to move in a direction that will lead us away from God and unto himself. That's the way he operates. The best way to handle him is tell him what Jesus said.

It is written. But he will get you in a debate. He got Eve in debate. He said, now, look, he said, now, did God really say this?

And so he got her in this conversation. Next thing you'll notice how absolutely cunning and deceitful he is. Listen, his key method of strategy is using, listen, using deception.

Now watch this. He is a deceiver. He is a liar. He makes things appear to be like they are not. And so here's what you'll find out as he began to work, for example, in Eve's life in trying to mislead her. We said deception is to mislead someone, to make them think something is what it is not.

It is to lie to them. Satan's never going to walk up and say, hello, friend, I'm the devil. He's never going to say that.

He's going to always come on looking as much like God, looking like he's on your team, looking like he's on your side. He's looking out for you. You have these desires.

You have these needs. He wants to help you now. He wants to help you get what you want.

Let me tell you something. Satan will indeed help us get what we want in order to get us what he wants us to have, which is ultimate destruction. That's the way he operates.

You see, what he says ultimately is this. God is not giving you his best. God is depriving you of his best. Therefore, if you want the best and you want your needs met, here's what you do.

I'll help you get them. He doesn't come on as the devil's saying that, but he comes oftentimes through other people, oftentimes in our thought processes, things that we hear, things that we see. It is his way of absolutely undermining and destroying everything good within us. He is a deceiver of all things. Satan is not in a hurry. Whatever it takes, he will do it and he'll take the time necessary to defeat us if he possibly can.

Why? Because he is an absolute deceiver. He knows exactly how to focus our attention so that we don't look at the real issues around us. We just see what we want. We just think this is the way to get it and this is the time to get it. And before long, a person is deeply, deeply in debt doing what? Well, they just went to the mall last Saturday and go into the mall once a week or every two or three weeks, and that's not going to hurt anything. Then they watch the TV and they watch all these ads and all these programs. They think, well, you know, I really ought to have one of those.

And after all, I work eight hours a day and five days a week. My, I deserve it. And so what does he do? He just plummets your mind with thoughts.

What is he doing? He's heading you in a direction. And what he's doing, he's doing it in such a fashion, we think, well, this is just the way I think and this is what I do and deserve. Not realizing, listen, Satan can throw, listen, his fiery darts of thoughts, negative thoughts, thoughts that lead us away from God, leading us away from financial responsibility. He doesn't say to a lost person, if you've not trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, but you're going to hell. Satan's never going to say that. Don't believe all that stuff about hell and about heaven and about judgment.

I mean, don't believe any of that stuff. What does he do? He majors on this. He majors on the satisfaction of the moment to the neglect of the future.

Don't think about consequences. And that is exactly what he does. He glorifies and magnifies the present so brilliantly, listen, so successfully that what does he do? He clouds our thinking so we never stop to think about what about the consequences? What about the other side?

What's on the other side of this? We don't think about that. Why? That's part of his strategy. And that is to deceive us as to the consequences of our disobedience. Well, one of his other forms of strategy is to create division.

Listen, this is one of his choice tools also. Create division, division between children and their parents, division between friends, division between employees and employers, division in churches, division in government, division in nations. Listen, to dislodge unity.

Disunity, disharmony, division, discord, all these things. He loves that. So what does he do? He's not going to stand up and say, well, listen, I'm the devil and I'm opposed to you. What does he do?

He gets one of your friends or one of your employees that is an employer or whoever it might be. That is, he always uses someone else creating division and strife. Well, what is his ultimate strategy? His ultimate strategy is to destroy us. Now, since we are believers, he can't destroy our soul. He can't destroy our spirit. He can't destroy our body. He can't do anything to us unless God allows him to do it.

Here's what he can do. He can sure destroy our joy, our peace, our contentment, our happiness and our assurance if we allow him to do it. His goal, the Bible says that he is a destroyer, a liar and a murderer and a deceiver. All those were a serpent, a snake. What a perfect term for someone who would try to destroy us, a slithering snake. Satan, a serpent, a destroyer, a deceiver, a murderer, a liar. He's the one you and I have to face in mortal combat day by day. He is there in every situation and circumstance he possibly can. Doing what? Using the strategy we just talked about.

Why does it work? All of us will have to admit we've been defeated at times. We will have to admit as you look in the Scriptures, he was successful in the past. He's successful today. He'll be successful in our life today and tomorrow if we allow him to do it. So what is the question?

The question is this. How do we win when we have a satanic attack? Well, turn back, if you will, to Ephesians chapter 6 for a moment and look at this passage.

Listen to what Paul says. He says in verse 10, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. How do we endure when we are under one of those vicious, penetrating, overwhelming attacks by Satan? What do we do?

Here's what we do. We stand firm in the strength of Almighty God. Thank you, Father, that he that is within me is greater than he that is tempting me. We draw strength from God. We stand firm in the strength of the Lord. The second thing we do is he says, even in this passage, he says we ought to resist. Listen, he says we ought to resist. And in, for example, also in James chapter 4, verse 7, he says, submit yourselves in the Lord God and resist the devil.

He will flee from you. What do we do? We stand firm in the strength of the Lord. We resist the devil in the strength of the Lord. Never in our strength, never in our wisdom.

No debating with him. We resist him. We stand against him. We say no to him.

In our heart, we say no to him. The third thing we do is we do exactly what Jesus said do, and that is to answer his enticements by saying it is written. It is written.

It is written. Why do you think he hates the word of God? Why do you think he wants to keep you so busy that you don't read it? Why do you think he wants to keep you so busy you don't study it? Why do you think he wants to keep you away from church listening to it? Why does he want you to come to church without a Bible, without a note, and without a pencil because he does not want you to listen to what is being said. He does not want you to remember it because the next time he entices you with temptation, he wants you to be suddenly, listen to what? Without anything to say back to him. Listen to what is that verse?

What was that? And so what happens? Jesus says it is written. Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God. Man shall not live by bread alone. Jesus answered Satan's vicious assaults upon him with a reply of the word of the living God.

He knew that Satan had no answer for that. What do we do? We say it is written.

Whatever the issue is, you name whatever. That is get yourself a verse or two of scripture or three or four verses or whatever it might be. But something that you're armed with. Something that you're armed with so you can say what Jesus says. It is written. So how do we stand? We stand firmly in the strength of the Lord. And listen, we stand submissive to the will of God. If you're not standing submissive to the will of God, you're not going to resist the devil.

Now this is the key. Listen, if I'm going to speak to the devil, if I'm going to resist him, I've got to be in the spirit. That means walking in submission to God's will. If I'm living out here in the flesh and Satan comes along with something, I'm not going to sense the strength. But listen, and what he'll do is he'll say, why should God answer your prayer? Why should God listen to you?

Look at you. This is why we need to walk in the spirit. That is walk in submission to the will of God in every area of our life possible. Now, so we said, first of all, we want to stand strong in the strength of the Lord. We want to resist him in the strength of the Lord. We want to say to him, it is written. And the fourth thing we want to do is to assume the authority that we have as a result of being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. And the Bible says that he that is within us is greater than he that's in the world. Why did the Holy Spirit come?

To do what? He says to live on the inside of us, to live through us the life of Christ, to be our comforter, our strength and our guide. It is he who is the power within us.

We have the right and the authority to say to Satan, listen, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, on the authority of his word, by his shed blood, Satan, be gone, get out of my life, get out of here now. Now, will he be back? Absolutely.

Absolutely. But at that moment, he'll be gone. God has given us a clear picture of who the enemy is and how he works. He's also given us assurance that we do not have to yield unless we choose to. I want to say to you, my friend, if you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your savior, he's got you.

And listen to what he says. He says he blinds the minds of the unbeliever so you will not believe in him. Do you realize that it's written in the Word of God, crystal clear and black and white, exactly what Satan has done to you? He's blinded your mind. So I don't believe this, I don't believe that, I don't go to this, I don't go to that.

You know why? He's blinded your mind. You say, well, are you calling me blind? Spiritually, if you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your savior, you are spiritually blind to the reality of who God is and what he's up to in your life and his love for you and what he wants to do for you by saving you and indwelling you and giving you heaven as your home.

Yes. And Satan will do his best to keep you blind. You say, well, what do I do?

Here's what you do. You say, Father, I'm going to accept by faith what the Bible says about your son, that he is your son. I'm going to accept by faith that when Jesus died at Calvary, he took all of my sin upon himself and paid my sin debt in full and I'm going to ask you to forgive me of my sins and I'm going to ask you to save me. Open my eyes, Father.

Help me to see the truth. Save me from my sins. You say, well, now, how do I know God will do that?

I am absolutely confident he will. You know why? Because it's this clear, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Period. Signed, God Almighty.

I know he will. Thank you for listening to part two of Enduring a Satanic Attack. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.