Beware Of The Enemy. Join Transformation Community Church for this week’s inspirational and encouraging word of the LORD: “Beware Of The Enemy” We hope this message will bless you in your walk with God and Jesus Christ. Many blessings!
Beware Of The Enemy
I recently read of a reporter who was interviewing an old man on his 100th birthday. The reporter asked, “What are you most proud of?” The old man replied with, “Well, I do not have an enemy in the world.” The reporter said, “What a beautiful thought! How inspirational!” “Yep,” added the centenarian, “I outlived every last one of them.”
As Christians, we live in this world with our fair share of trials and tribulations. Nothing is given to us on a silver platter, and we have to work for what we want to achieve. God has promised us abundance, protection and a happy life but as His children, we need to prove that we can overcome these obstacles and that we are indeed faithful enough to hang onto Him even when things get rough. Today, I’m going to share with you the three enemies we should watch out for.
#1 – The Devil
When thinking about the Christian’s primary enemy, most people would start with the devil, Satan. He is the usual enemy although there really is no reason to fear the devil.
Revelation 20:10 (NIV) says, “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
Now, the Bible gives us a lot of information about this enemy called the devil. Throughout the pages of scripture, the devil is at work from Genesis in the Garden of Eden all the way until Revelation and Armageddon. I believe that the Bible gives us so much information about the devil because with knowledge comes wisdom. We need to know who we’re up against because the devil has many faces of evil.
You see, the Bible tells us that the devil was once a mighty angel who fell because he sought to elevate himself above God. He was an angel who was found to have the spirit of pride. He desired to be worshiped. He desired to be all powerful. The Bible tells us that our enemy, the devil, was cast to earth and he has since sought to make war against God’s people.
This enemy called the devil is a deceiver. The Bible tells us that he is a thief and the father of lies. We are told that he is an accuser of God’s people. We are even told that he masquerades like an angel of light.
Surely the devil is a formidable enemy. But the Bible also gives us the tools to defeat the devil. The Bible tells us in James 4:7 (NKJV) “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Apostle Paul tells us to put on the full armor of God to protect against the principalities and powers. Jesus reminds us that scripture is a powerful defense against the devil from his experience of being tempted in the wilderness. And so the devil is an enemy who comes in many forms. But thankfully the Bible tells us exactly how we can deal with him. We can resist him. We can fight him with the full armor of God. And we can use God’s word against him.
#2 – The World
Now another common enemy we ought to be aware of is the world. The Bible tells us that friendship with the world is enmity with God. The Bible best states it in 1 John 2:15 (NIV), “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.” As Christians, we are told we are to be in the world but not of the world. Now, let’s be clear. The world is not the people of the world. We’re not called to be separate from people.
The world, as the Bible describes, is a system that operates against God. It is the world system. It’s the world’s moral standards that we are told to be separated from. It is the system that started with Cain in Genesis 4 where he decided he would establish his own rules and way of living. It’s the system that led to the world being destroyed by a flood and Noah building an ark under God’s instruction.
The world systems are what led to Sodom and Gomorrah being judged by God. You see, as believers, we are told that the world will hate us because they have hated Christ and we are his. However, we are also told that Christ has overcome the world. Therefore, we need not fear the world. So, we’ve established the following. The devil is our common enemy as believers. The world is also our common enemy as believers. Now listen, I personally believe that our greatest enemy is not the devil. I believe our greatest enemy is not in this world.
#3 – Yourself
Listen, I submit to you that the greatest enemy that a Christian must face is self. It’s the flesh. You can resist the devil and he will flee according to the Bible.
You could be put in the world but not of the world according to the Bible. Our flesh can be our greatest adversary because we can’t separate ourselves from ourselves. The flesh won’t flee if you resist it. It will come to tempt you again and again.
You can resist your flesh today, but that same temptation will come back to test your flesh tomorrow. And you’ll have to resist your flesh once more. Consider this. When the devil wants to tempt you, he predominantly appeals to the flesh. When the world tempts you, it appeals to the flesh. Jesus tells us that unless we are born again, we cannot see the kingdom of God. Unless the flesh (the self) is reborn and recreated into a new self. We will constantly be in battle within ourselves.
The Bible tells us that in Christ we are new creations. Paul describes an elaborate internal battle in Romans 7:15-16 (NIV) when he says, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.” This intense internal struggle describes not only Paul’s experience but all of ours. We all have this internal struggle within us. We all have this battle between our flesh and the spirit. The spirit tries to pull us toward God. The flesh pulls us away from God. The spirit pulls us toward life. The flesh pulls us toward death. The spirit is our inner light. The flesh is our inner darkness. The spirit produces fruit of the spirit. The flesh produces its various lusts. One of the solutions that the Bible presents is that we must crucify the flesh. Now, what does that mean?
One way to look at it is that there are two types of seeds in us. There is a seed of light and a seed of darkness. The seed of darkness is the flesh, and the seed of light is the spirit. Now, keep in mind that Jesus Christ said, “I am the light of the world.” Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
The more of Christ you have, the brighter the light in your life. If we feed and water the seed, which is your spirit, it will grow brighter and brighter, and this light will give no place to darkness. However, if we feed and water the seed of darkness, which is our flesh, then the darkness is what will grow. It’s the things we watch, the things we listen to, and the company we keep. All of these things determine whether the light of Jesus Christ takes over in your life or the darkness of sin takes over.
So crucify the flesh really means starving the seed of darkness within you. We must starve the flesh. That means we can’t watch everything the flesh may want to watch. We can’t listen to everything the flesh may want to listen to. We can’t hang out with the people that will only feed our fleshly desires and intents. We must starve the flesh. We must starve that seed of darkness that seeks to sin and rebel against God.
Now, how can we feed the light? How can we feed the spirit? Psalm 119:11 (NKJV) tells us, “Your word I have hidden in my heart that I may not sin against you.” This means that the way we feed the spirit is by diving into the word of God. The way we feed the light in our lives is through the word of God. We need to allow the word to speak to us and flow through us.
The word of God is the best instruction manual when it comes to how we can defeat the devil, the world, and the flesh. According to Psalm 121:7-8, “The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.” (NKJV)
As I’ve stated, our greatest enemy is the flesh. Because it’s an enemy that we have to fight daily. It’s an enemy that we have to crucify daily. However, the good news is that we have the tools to subdue our greatest enemy. God has given us the power through the Holy Spirit to defeat the flesh.
When you focus on Jesus Christ, when you focus on the word of God, when you focus on prayer, then the light of Christ inside of you will grow brighter and brighter.
I want to share a very powerful passage of scripture that we should all meditate on. Romans 6:5 states, “Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was.” (NLT)
We know that our sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ, we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God.
So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. Do not let sin control the way you live. Do not give into sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God. For you were dead, but now you have new life.
So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.
Closing Illustration
When Billy Graham was driving through a small southern town, he was stopped by a policeman and charged with speeding. Graham admitted his quilt, but was told by the officer that he would have to appear in court.
The judge asked, “Guilty, or not guilty?” When Graham pleaded guilty, the judge replied, “That’ll be ten dollars — a dollar for every mile you went over the limit.”
Suddenly the judge recognized the famous minister. “You have violated the law,” he said. “The fine must be paid–but I am going to pay it for you.” He took a ten dollar bill from his own wallet, attached it to the ticket, and then took Graham out and bought him a steak dinner! “That,” said Billy Graham, “is how God treats repentant sinners!”
Some things we need to look out for are: