Know your Enemy: Fighting Temptation (2 of 2)

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Last week we learned that our main weapon against temptation is the word of God which is the sword of the Spirit. We learned that we need to sharpen our swords by learning and studying God’s word and then we need to practice with our weapon. As Paul taught Timothy,

"But have nothing to do with irreverent and silly myths. Rather, train yourself in godliness." 

1 Timothy 4:7

As Paul says, this is done by submitting to those who are more mature than you are through study and small groups. But this submission is not like slavery, it is like an apprentice learning a new trade from a professional. If you don’t think you need to learn, then you won’t grow. 

Finally, after sharpening your sword and training, you need to be like Jesus and immediately go on the offensive by attacking temptations before they begin in your mind and body. 

"What is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy’s strategy."

1. Satan attacks when you are tired and/or excited

Right after Jesus had the spiritual high of being baptized, he humbled himself through fasting. It was in the midst of these two extremes that the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness. In the same way, the devil attacks us when we are tired or excited because this is when we are at our weakest,

"Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." 

Matthew 26:41

In response to temptation, Jesus tells his disciples to pay attention and practice the spiritual discipline of prayer because, after seeing miracles and having a passover with Jesus, they had experienced some real highs but they were now tired and weak. The devil attacks us when we are in the extremes because when, our self-control flounders, we make excuses. 

Ex: When we are tired or depressed, we give in because it’s just easier and when we do we make excuses and justify our sin because I “just can’t right now” but excitement can do the same thing on the opposite end with arrogance and pride. 

When we are excited, we feel untouchable, like nothing can stop us. We feel like we can conquer the world and we must remember that both being excited and being tired have their place. Being tired tells us we need to rest and being excited gets us motivated to get things done but both must be balanced with God’s word and God’s will otherwise we will compromise and fall into sin.

Neither are the real problems, a lack of true repentance is the real problem. If we deny our sin we usually blame the weakness itself, as if it isn’t us, and we say, “It’s not my fault, I was so tired” or “I was just caught up in the moment.” In this case, we lie to ourselves and say, “I had to” or “I I deserve it.”

Scripture gives us many examples of temptations coming on the heels of spiritual highs. Ex: Israel saw the miracles in Egypt and in a short time fell into idolatry. We see King David taking the throne, getting bored, and having sex with Uriah’s wife but Jesus did it right.

In the same way, after repentance, we must practice finding our rest and joy in Christ. Your rest, your sabbath time, should honor the lord, the answer to excitement is to focus on gratitude.

For relaxation, Jesus tells us,

"Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." 

Matthew 11:28

For our fun and exciting times,

"I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life. It is also the gift of God whenever anyone eats, drinks, and enjoys all his efforts." 

Ecclesiastes 3:12-13

The point is,

"Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for God's glory." 

1 Corinthians 10:31

Our lives ebb and flow therefore we need to regularly practice spiritual disciplines like prayer and study to make God an active part of the rhythm of our lives. More importantly, by finding your rest and joy in the lord, both are experienced as a part of something infinitely bigger. 

It is only by honoring God in our rest, work, and play time that our joy is perfected which is why, 

2. Satan attacks who we are and who God is

If the devil can’t get you to sin in your weakness, he will try to destroy your identity by challenging how you define things. Look at how Satan attacked Jesus,

After He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, He was hungry. Then the tempter approached Him…

First he comes when he is weak but he knows Jesus isn’t going to simply give in, so he jumps right into challenging his identity. If you are the Son of God…. But Jesus quotes scripture and says, You must not live by bread alone…..

Despite Jesus being hungry, this has very little to do with Jesus needing to eat, this is a battle over identity. It is a war over who Jesus thinks he is and how Jesus sees the world. In response, Jesus says God’s word guides his view of the world and who he is, Man must not live on…

This was the very same tactic used on Adam and Eve...did God really say?

Later the Israelites did the same thing in the wilderness and they also began to question the character of God. This is why Jesus quotes the words Moses spoke to these same Israelites.

They began to complain and test God to the point that they forgot who their God really was and they created a false god in his place. Let me say it a different way; even though they called him “God,” they began to redefine who God is. They started to decide what they wanted God to believe based on their culture. This led them to believe God was there to serve them. 

But when God didn’t serve them, they began to complain. They said God wasn’t holding his end of the bargain. They agreed to worship God in exchange for happiness. They agreed to accept freedom, as they defined it. 

In fact, when Moses tried to explain to the people what God wanted them to do, they revolted. They had abandoned God’s word and, even though they called it “God” they were no longer worshiping the God of the bible. 

⁴ [Aaron] took the gold from their hands, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into an image of a calf. Then they said, 

“Israel, this is your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”

Ex 32:4

In response,

"[Moses] named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the LORD, saying, 'Is the LORD among us or not?'"

Exodus 17:7

In a godless world, people debate definitions. What does it mean to be a man or a woman? Pedophiles debate the difference between a child and a man. We see churches testing God by redefining his word based on their culturally defined agenda which is based on feelings rather than the rock solid truth of logic and reality. When Jesus was tempted in this way, He said,

“Do not test the Lord your God.”

Yet, so many people, who call themselves “Christians” do. How was Satan able to do all of this?

3. Satan twists God’s Word and Will

When you change definitions, you change meaning. When you change meaning, you change purpose and we are told that scripture has a purpose and part of that purpose is to correct us and keep the human race on track which is why,

"We demolish arguments and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to obey Christ." 

2 Corinthians 10:5

But before we go and blame the devil or the liberals or whatever, we need to define the “we” in this text. Who’s responsibility is it to teach and lead our children, our cities, and our nations? Us. We are the ambassadors, we are the lights, and we are the salt of the earth. There is no one else. 

How many of us are ready to,

"Always be ready to give a defense…for the hope that is in you." ?

1 Peter 3:15

“Submit to every human authority because of the Lord…Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the Emperor.” ?

I Pet 2:13-17

"Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world." 

Philippians 2:14-15

Ask yourself, where have you failed in these very clear ways?

Finally, how many of us have taken the warning of Jesus seriously?

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled on by men.” 

Matthew 5:13

The fact is the devil doesn’t have to attack people directly, he just twists the truth and the very people who have the Holy Spirit, who are tasked with guiding and protecting this world by simply being lights, by just being different… regularly failed.

One of the most abusive and demonic examples comes from faith healers and the “Prosperity Gospel.” It is preached by false prophets like Kenneth Copeland, Jim Baker, Joyce Meyer, and the spiritual advisor to the president, Paula White. They claim to be prophets all the while they abuse scripture to control people and line their pockets. Like the devil, they twist scripture.

“I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.”

 John 10:10

They teach people that the purpose of life is wealth and health and those who don’t have both don’t have enough faith. Dying of cancer? You lack faith. Lose your job? You lack faith. Rather than point to the principles found in scripture and help people mature, like Satan, they tell their followers there is no need for sacrifice and, like Israel, they redefine God in their own image.  

These people call themselves “Christians” but rather than serve their congregations they grow their bank accounts. Rather than personally sacrifice and suffer, they deny the suffering of others because they measure God’s love for you by how much stuff you have…

4. Imitate Christ, honor God’s Will 

In the end, the devil shows his cards and just asks Jesus to worship him but that was the plan all along. He attacks us when we are low or high and, in both cases, he offers you a sinful solution. When we are low, he offers an easy out and when you are on a high he says, “You deserve it!”

When that doesn’t work, he challenges your definitions. He asks, “If God is real why is this happening to you?” which naturally leads to questioning God’s character, “Why doesn’t God do this instead? God doesn’t make sense.” Soon the devil has you convinced you know better than God does and you begin to complain because “God just doesn’t listen!” or maybe he’s not real.

But what has actually happened? Have you imitated the sin of Adam and Eve in the garden? Did you imitate the Israelites in the wilderness? Yes and yes but both are actually just doing what Satan did before he was cast out of heaven which reveals who your real “God” is.

“I assure you: Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin…

John 8:34

When they begin to argue, Jesus wasn’t shocked. He said, 

“You’re doing what your father does.” …

John 8:41

They fight back and say they worship God but Jesus says, “No, you don’t.”

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me….[which is to follow his commands] Why don’t you understand what I say? …You are of your father the Devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires…”

John 8:34-47

Worship finds its fulfillment in imitation. 

Your identity is grounded in your God. Who “God” is to you determines who you are. Your god determines how you see yourself, how you see others, the value you give things, and how you value life itself which manifests itself in how you act. 

Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.

I Cor 11:1

We live in a world where “experts” can’t even define what a woman is and people judge truth based on feelings rather than the grounded facts and whose job is it to help them see the truth?

People have had access to the love and grace of God since the beginning and yet it is God’s people who regularly point their fingers and refuse to imitate God and live by example. Again, every time you think about your anger and your frustration with the way the world is, take a step back and consider Peter. He loved Jesus and just wanted to stop Jesus from dying on the cross,

But [Jesus] turned and told Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns, but man’s.”

Now, be honest. How many times have you been caught up in your own concerns and not taken a few minutes to consider God’s word? How often are you angry at what someone has done and stopped yourself mid-complaint in order to pray for them? When someone has sinned against you, have you even considered the fact that Jesus died for you because you sinned against him?

To carry your cross means to be willing to sacrifice for others, to be willing to pray for your enemies, to be willing to be humble ask for forgiveness and, most importantly, after you have studied and you have prayed, how many times to you finish that conversation with your God and king by saying, “not my will but your will be done.”

Imitating and honoring the will of God is ultimately where we, the church, have failed. We want what we want. We don’t want to be told we’re wrong. We want our will to be done. We finally have to admit that Jesus did not spend his time pointing his finger at the liberal Romans, he spent all of his time pointing out the sins of the people who called themselves “followers of God”. 

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