Facing a Satanic Attack – Dr. Charles Stanley

[Music] when is the last time you found yourself feeling very vulnerable in fact the temptation was so strong that you just think i can't handle this and uh you found yourself very very puzzled maybe because of why you've being tempted or you found yourself thinking this is the same old temptation i've faced over and over and over again or you might say well this was so alluring so enticing so inviting how can i possibly resist this that's the devil's line that's the way he talks so i would ask you this question when's the last time you found yourself facing something that you really had to struggle with turn away from turning away from or saying no to you felt great pressure you wanted to walk away you debated about whether you could or not or should or not oh you know you should but whether you would or not and maybe finally you walked away but maybe finally you thought well god understands and have i ever heard this god understands and you yielded whatever that temptation was so we can think all kinds of things but the truth is this if you're alive you're going to get tempted and we're living in the day when it's everywhere whether you hear it on the radio or the television or see it on the television or signs or insults whatever it might be we're living in a sensual age and temptation is everywhere and people respond in several different ways they just yield or they fight against it and survive or they fight against it and steal yield and then they have an excuse that they've used with god before now lord you know i this is not fair everybody doesn't fear what i feel on and on and on we go the truth is that was the beginning of sin in the world with temptation adam and eve it hadn't changed i mean when satan got through telling eve how fantastic it was going to be to have a bite of this fruit it's the same story it's just different elements involved and so uh when you find yourself in that position what what do you think do you stop to think where is this coming from is this in my heart where is this coming from i can tell you it is a satanic attack the devil knows exactly when you and i are the weakest he knows at what point and he knows exactly what it takes to get our attention and to make us think i've just got to have that got to have one of those forget the price i'm going to have one of those satan has a whole line of excuses that persuade us of what we deserve and nobody's perfect and god loves us and he'll forgive us and on and on and on he goes to set us up to position ourselves to miss out on god's best blessings in our life so i want to talk about facing a satanic attack and if you'll turn to ephesians for a moment and the first three chapters of ephesians are three are the most beautiful encouraging chapters in the bible because it talks about a believer's wealth what we have as a result of knowing christ as our savior and then beginning in the fourth chapter and the fifth uh here is our walk this is the way we should walk following the lord jesus christ then we come to the last chapter and we see there's a battlefield and that is a battlefield with satan god is so good to us he walks with us and yet there are times when we are tempted and tried and so i want us to look at you with the 10th verse and as he concludes this this epistle listen to what he says finally be strong in the lord and then the strength of his might he didn't say be strong in yourself he said be strong in the lord in the strength of his might put on the full armor of god so that you'll be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil for our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the powers against the world forces of this darkness against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places all of us are going to face temptation now when you think about it i would just ask you this question think about what is the strongest temptation you face in your life today i don't mean just this particular day but in your daily life today what's the strongest temptation why do you think it's why do you think the devil has used that to tempt you to turn you away from god to walk in a different path to ignore god's warnings to ignore his blessings his awesome blessings in your life but somehow you find yourself being tempted and getting in a position where the blessings god owns to give you he can no longer give you paul says we're to stand firm against the schemes of the devil he certainly has schemes so the first thing i want to do is to define what is a satanic attack a satanic attack is a deliberate willful assault by satan upon an individual with the purpose of doing them harm either in their spirit soul or body or all three look at that a deliberate willful assault by satan upon an individual with a purpose of doing them harm either in their spirit soul or body or all three and when is that any time anywhere satan knows exactly when you and i are the weakest he knows exactly what it takes to trip us up he may know who is the best the trip is up or what it is and we were allured by what does it take to trip us up every single believer is faced with temptation and if you'll think about today our whole society is geared to attempting us for something you turn on the radio you hear it we ought to buy this you watch the television you ought to buy this and see this i have that i have him i have her and you can look any way you want to look there is the temptation to have oftentimes what we do not need what we should not have and the result of temptation is division and destruction and so if i should ask you what's satan's objective in tempting you you're a fine christian person you love god what's his objective first of all to draw us away from god to himself satan wants to draw us away from god so he knows exactly what it takes to get our mind off of god or for spiritual things onto onto material things or onto sensual things he knows exactly what it takes what does it take what's his objective it draws away from god and to himself and to thwart god's purpose in that life in other words if the devil can change thwart god's purpose in your life he's got you where he wants you because remember this god has a will for your life here's a plan for your life he's got the best and so satan is not going to say well i want to destroy you no he just wants to move your attention from god spiritual things to earthly things material things sensual things and then to deny god that worship and glory do to him that is the devil isn't one you're worshiping god so listen he's given us a whole plate full of stuff to get our attention away from god because that's his purpose and then to destroy us satan's ultimate goal for temptation is destruction destroy our relationship to god destroy our interest in him destroy our faith in him destroy our desire to pray destroy our sense of eternal security destroy destroy destroy destroy destroy that's his goal and yet we know that and isn't it interesting that in spite of what we know how many sermons have you heard in your life you can't even count them and i certainly hope you're going to hear a lot more but the issue is what are you going to do about the truth that you hear satan knows about the truth that you're listening to and here's what he does he shows up to distract you from hearing the truth so you keep moving in a direction that'll take you away from god all of us face some kind of temptation in life i didn't say every single day but listen everybody has something that they can be tempted by it may be something that you keep having victory over time after time after time or you may feel defeated time after time but satan's goal is to get you away from god so he'll tell you why you don't have time to read the bible he'll say first of all you you've got you've got to be somewhere at a certain time secondly he says you don't need to read you don't even you don't even understand you don't understand why why read something what about deuteronomy and leviticus and for ii kings why do you want to read the bible anything he can do to get your mind off of spiritual things is what he'll do and he wants to divide relationships anything to divide families anything to bring divorce any kind of sexual sin anything that'll take your mind off god that is you ought to buy this order by that don't ask god about it you worked hard you worked 40 hours or 50 or 60 hours a week you've been working all these years you deserve it so think about it you're trying to reach your goals in life and he's working against you you're trying to live a pure life he's working against you you're trying to save your money he's telling you ought to buy this satan is your enemy now his strategy can be found in three words just three words i mean as complex as we may think the devil is strategist three words the first one is this his first step is to deceive us that is to lie to us if you believe a lie you've taken the first step to an absolute defeat and sidon up with the devil and oftentimes when people want to sin against god they'll take the truth of god and try to twist it all around and watch this i can i can hear this many times but you don't know about my situation well god knows about your situation you you don't know how long i've suffered well god knows how long you've suffered well you know you don't know how long i've been in need you can come up with all kinds of excuses remember this god's heard them all and they didn't come from god they came from the devil but the issue is this god has the best life for every single one of us and the devil has his best to do what to deceive us and to divide us you think about how many churches get divided over somebody disagreeing with us at nila nations of divided churches divided families divided friends divided divided divided divided separate separate separate because then you've got chaos no love criticism they say things they would say one day they wouldn't say the next satan is a divider he's a deceiver he is a destroyer that's his purpose to destroy our testimony to destroy our life physically they destroy our finances destroy our marriage destroy our families destroy destroy and destroy so deceive divine destroy that's all he needs deceive divine destroy the next time you feel tempted ask yourself the question is satan deceiving me and my feel am i being divided from what all i be doing and am i headed to a destruction if if a child of god if you a believer will stop when you are tempted and ask yourself those questions am i being deceived number one question is my mind being divided am i heading towards some destruction ask yourself the question so we need to be alert and watchful and as a child of god none of us can boast of being so strong that we'll never be tempted when somebody says well i may be tempted about some things but not that satan just puts check by that one none of us not any of us can say i will never be tempted by this that aila we think we aren't we we would almost swear we wouldn't be and we could give you a lot of reasons we wouldn't be but the devil wants a sense of self-confidence that's based on mush no foundation but based on mushy attitudes about what you really will not do and when i think of this great passage of scripture in um first corinthians 10 13 listen to what paul says everybody ought to know this one no temptation listen to that no temptation has taken you attempted you have tried you but such is is common to man listen come unto man and that being case god is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted more than you're able to bear but will with the temptation also make a way of escape that you can bear it we have a promise from god i do not have to do that i may want to do it i may want it more than anything else but i don't have to if i don't have to then i'll make the choice either i will i will not and when i think about the condition our nation is in and the things that temp people and the people who are being destroyed being destroyed self-destruction as a result of yielding the temptation deceive divide destroy so whether it's a nation whether it's a church whether it's a family satan's busy so when you feel tempted what do you do do you watch this carefully is your first response a sudden desire to find a real good sounding excuse or when you attempted did you know it's if you say this is of the devil it's not who i am it doesn't belong in my life i choose to i choose to reject this we have a choice now a person who's unbeliever they don't have a kind of choice i'll tell you why because they have a fallen nature and so when satan comes home with a very very strong overpowering event in their life or presentation of something they want they already have three strikes against them it's the way they've been living so it's sort of easy to slip into what you've been doing when you're a child of god you trusted him as your savior you begin on a platform of strength you have the holy spirit within you the first of all identify what you're facing as a sin that it doesn't fit your life it isn't of god and it's destructive it it cannot bring you anything that's good you have the holy spirit the person who's not a believer doesn't have that and the word of god is our greatest defense against the devil because we don't have to choose sin we have the holy spirit living within us he promises that you have the holy spirit what does he do he makes you aware of the temptation he reminds you maybe with some scripture or something he's already done in your life that god will give you victory he reminds you you do not you do not have to yield to this it is a choice you make and we can blame it on other people well my mother my father my sister my brother my friend my friends this that now that's not the issue if you want to if you want to keep living in sin all you have to do is close this book and don't open it up and just you can open up once a week it's not going to keep you from sinning god has given us watch this he's given us his written word and he's given us the holy spirit to live inside of us in order to interpret that word for us to remind us that the wages of sin is death and so we all have to face temptations only you know how you handle them somebody says well you know i think god understands that is not our excuse for or our explanation for living in sin because god wants the best for us and and their christian experience does not mean that you'll never sin against god all of us at some point at times in our life do things or say things or see things or whatever it might be we know a lot of god what do you do in other words you just give up and say well see i've tried to live a christian life i can't so forget it no the apostle paul never claimed perfection the other person who can claim that's jesus but a true believer when you attempted you turn to god lord here's what i'm facing i don't want this in my life i feel say help me jesus help me help me help me jesus whatever it takes you say well then suppose i yield anyway you ask god to forgive you to strengthen you to make you aware of that in your life that that's an area of weakness if i should ask you how many of you know at least one area of weakness in your life don't raise your hand no please no but how many of you know at least one area of weakness in your life we all do anybody who says they don't not telling the truth you know when if for example if it's a gossip if it's lust if it's uh overeating if it's the way you spend your money or if it's your lack of faithfulness or you know one another whatever it might be and besides that remember this god knows it in other words you never have to come to him and say god by the way let me remind you of something no he knows there is a weakness i think about how many families are destroyed by somebody falling into temptation whether it's a teenager or whether it's their parents think about people who go to jail because they feel the temptation of stealing they can justify it other people have it they don't have it therefore they'll just take what they want you can go right down the list of every sin in the bible we could give an excuse for it but it's not acceptable to god now here's what i want you to see you do not have to somebody says but i just couldn't help myself you have god who will help you through anything you face you say well suppose i sin then what here's what he says if we confess our sins that if we agree with god about the nature of our sins if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive me for my sins why because jesus christ is my savior i've yielded to him as the lord of my life and this is a point of failure and i'm asking you god to forgive me not on the basis that i deserve it but on the basis that jesus shed blood atoned for my sin and i have another chance god wipes away our guilt now you say well i've been to god about the same thing over and over and over again well god knows whether you really and surely are committed to him or not and some say watch this some sins leave scars that you can't erase remember this statement the scars of sin can last you a lifetime only the blood of jesus can atone for them but you know what scar is still there and we have to thank god for his awesome power to enable us to overcome them so i'm simply saying to you whatever the weaknesses in your life need to bring it to god will they help you through it yes so i would just ask you to consider in your own life what effect has temptation had on my life why have i reasoned that i could excuse myself why have i told god over and over again that i'm different i grew up in a bad situation i grew up with parents who didn't teach me i grew up with alcoholic parents i grew up with parents getting married three or four times i did this i did that i did the other god on the stands listen carefully god understands but god doesn't excuse sin he's willing to deal with he's willing to forgive he's willing to give you the strength that you need but you have to first come clean with him lord here i am and i'm weak in this area i desperately need you to do something for me and my life in this area in jesus name will they answer your prayer yes he will you say are we supposed to be perfect no no that's why he says if we confess our sins agree with him about him he's faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness in some sense we probably have all confessed some things over and over and over again but we have the holy spirit living within us to enable us to be strong enough to say no and the more times you say no the stronger you become you always have god enabling you warning you and strengthening you to be obedient to god amen father we thank you for your love for us we thank you in the midst of this dark generation which we're living that there is an awesome light that's eternal it glows within our hearts that makes it possible for us to live godly and to walk clearly plainly lovingly before you day by day i pray lord this morning that somebody seated here who is going through some terrible temptation or maybe is trapped by it right now that you'll give them this grace god the grace to remember they can be freed and the grace to remember that you love them in spite of all of it and the grace to remember that your power is greater than the temptation they face we love you we praise you we thank you we're trusting you daily to be our guide our savior our lord the master of our life show us how to live above sin lord in every way in jesus name amen [Music]

Channel: In Touch Ministries

Views: 406,011

Keywords: Charles F. Stanley, Charles Stanley, In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley, In Touch Ministries, Preaching, Bible teaching, Dr. Stanley, Intouch ministries, intouch

Id: zz9J4CLuOFE

Length: 25min 36sec (1536 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 31 2020