and faithful to the Lord.
If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to 1 Peter.
1 Peter chapter 5, we're in a series called The Real War
because I am convinced that we are fighting battles
that are unseen but very felt.
And we need to understand because we can't quite see it
with the human eye.
We can see the evidence of it.
We need clarity on what exactly we're facing.
And how do you fight or stand against something
when you don't even know what you're fighting?
When I was a child, my dad went out one night
to walk the dog.
And it was a night and a walk that he's never forgotten.
He spoke of it a couple of weeks ago,
and we've never forgotten it either.
It was in the dead of winter in the upper peninsula of Michigan
where my father was stationed at Kincheloe Air Force Base.
That's about 11 miles from the Canada line
and cold is not the word for it.
I walked to school in three foot of snow.
It was not uphill and I was not barefooted,
but when a five-year-old walks in three foot of snow,
it is uphill.
And when it's ten below, you are barefooted,
no matter how much you got on your feet.
We had a well-trained dog and we had a big set of woods behind the house
and he could let that dog run at night
and Dad took him out for a walk.
One night, the dog got into something.
Dad went running to find out what was wrong
and they both got sprayed by a skunk.
When they came back to the house, neither were welcome.
But we had to let them in because they would have died.
It was so cold.
And so I'm just going to tell you,
I don't know how else to tell you,
Pop stank for days.
I mean stank.
And we had to roll the windows down in that Buick station wagon
in the dead of winter just to survive
when we rode with him for several days.
It helps to know what you're fighting.
It really does.
And before you go into battle.
So I want to be clear.
You're in a war.
And you'll face some battles.
Thank God the war's been won,
but there's still squirmishes going on.
There's still battles being fought.
And if you don't realize that,
you're going to lose way too many of them.
It helps to know who you're going to take a stand against.
Who are you dealing with?
And we can find out a lot about the evil one
when we study the names that he is called in Scripture.
These names are given as descriptive titles
of what he stands for.
And his traits are shown through these names.
But I want to begin by looking at Peter's advice to us.
Thank God's also inspired by the Holy Spirit of God
and given to us by the Lord.
1 Peter 5, verse 6 says this.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God
so at the proper time he may exalt you,
casting all your anxieties on him
because he cares for you.
Be sober-minded.
Be watchful.
Listen now.
Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion
seeking someone to devour.
Resist him.
Firm in your faith,
knowing that the same kind of sufferings
will be experienced by the brotherhood throughout the world.
And after you've suffered a little while,
the God of all grace,
who's called you to his eternal glory in Christ,
this is worth underlining, folks,
will himself restore, confirm, strengthen,
and establish you.
To him be the dominion forever and ever.
Amen.
I don't have time this morning to talk about restoring
and confirming and strengthening and establishing,
but man, I wish I did
because that is good stuff.
That's not our topic this morning,
but I'm telling you,
I read that at 9 o'clock,
and it blessed my heart,
and I read it again,
and it blesses my heart
to know that we have a God that's there for us
when we need him,
regardless of what we're going through,
and I'm going to tell you what you're going through
because we can learn a lot
about the evil one
by the way God defines him through his word.
And so I want to look at various names
and learn about his schemes
because his schemes are the real problem.
I want you to hear me.
It is not our kids that's the problem.
I know what Sunday mornings are like in the home, okay?
It's not our kids.
It's not our spouses.
It's not our opponents.
It's not the bullies in our life.
It's not the nemesis in our life.
It is the demonic schemes of the evil one,
and oftentimes that is seen in other people's lives,
and oftentimes it's seen in our lives.
But when we study the names of God in Scripture,
we learn about his attributes
and the ways that he leads us
and ministers us and helps us,
and by understanding the names of the devil,
we learn the way that he steals from us.
We learn the ways that he attempts to destroy us,
that he strives to kill us.
And the first one I want to talk about is one,
and I'm going to talk about real popular ones today,
ones you've heard of probably,
but in our passage, he is called the devil,
which means the slanderer or the accuser.
I call him the whisperer,
and the reason why is do you ever notice
when you have something good and juicy on somebody
and you want to tell somebody else,
you just look around, you lean in,
and you say it real soft.
Y'all don't know what I'm talking about
because y'all ain't never told anything juicy on anybody,
have you?
Praise the Lord.
We got one problem solved.
That's what the devil does.
He leans in,
gets our attention,
and whispers to us.
Now I want you to hear me.
He's not after you.
He's after Christ.
He does not want to discredit you.
He wants to discredit Christ.
However, if he can discredit the people of God,
he can discredit God.
And he does that through his whispers.
He tells the lost,
Jesus is not the only way.
That is, as long as you are sincere in what you believe,
that God will save you.
You can be a Muslim.
You can be a Mormon.
As long as you're a churchgoer,
then you're safe.
And I want you to be clear about something.
Don't ever think that your presence here,
or that a baptism that you've experienced,
will get you to heaven.
Because it won't.
Sometimes it causes confusion.
Because it's not real in your life.
If you've not committed your life to the Lord Jesus Christ,
if you've not admitted the sin in your life,
and asked him to forgive you,
and to cleanse you,
and to come into your life,
and to change you,
you'll have hell to pay.
There's no confirmation process.
There's no Bible knowledge that you can have.
There's no grandpa in ministry
that'll save your soul from an eternal hell.
It only comes when we surrender our lives to the Lord.
And the devil don't want you to realize that.
The devil don't want you to understand that.
Just like the serpent in the garden,
a manifestation of the evil one himself,
said to Eve in the garden,
and he said,
did God really say?
Did he really?
You see, the devil is a liar,
he's a slanderer,
and he whispers to the lost.
But not only the lost,
he whispers to the saved.
He'll make you doubt your salvation.
He'll tell you Christians,
well, they don't really sin.
Look at you.
He'll tell you that God gets tired of you.
He'll tell you there's no need for you
to confess that to God again.
Because God's written you off.
He'll make you doubt your salvation,
and doubt will steal your joy.
And when your joy is stolen,
you won't share your faith with others.
You're not even sure you have it.
You sure ain't gonna share it.
And the state of being unforgiven
because of a lack of confession
will serve,
listen to me, Christian,
unconfessed sin serves as a facilitator
for stumbling blocks in your life,
for strongholds in your life.
You let sin just fester in your life.
It's like watching grass grow in your yard,
hoping it's gonna be shorter by next week.
We're in the dead of summer, folks.
It ain't gonna get shorter.
It's gonna be worse.
And so it is with an unforgiving heart.
As our passage says,
he's prowling around,
looking for an opportunity.
He'll lie about God.
He'll lie about others.
He'll tell you not to forgive others.
He'll tell you to hold it against them.
He'll put thoughts in your head
about how people are just out to get you.
How somehow you're the focus
of everyone else out to get you.
Get you so keyed up,
so full of hate and worry.
You're so pondering on that
when somebody says hey to you,
it's like they said boo,
scares you to death.
Afraid they're coming after you.
Why?
Because of his whispers.
Because of the things he says to you.
He'll whisper to you about God.
He'll whisper to you about yourself.
He'll whisper to you about others.
He'll lie to you.
He'll slander.
He's the devil.
But he's also called Satan.
And whereas devil is
a transliteration of the Greek,
Satan
comes from the Hebrew language,
which the majority of the Old Testament
is written in.
And it means adversary or accuser.
That is the word that's used
in Job chapter 1,
verse 6 and 7.
When Satan walks into the courts of heaven
and the Lord says,
where have you been?
Now let me just say this.
God never asks questions
because he don't know the answer.
God will ask you questions.
Not audible.
Louder than that.
In your heart.
He knows the answer.
You need to know the answer.
And so God confronts us sometimes
with questions.
He does that in Scripture as well.
He didn't have to ask Eve
where they'd been.
He didn't have to ask them that.
He knew where they'd been.
He wanted them to face that.
And he does the same thing.
So when we see this question
that he's asked,
he's not asking it
because he don't know
where the evil one is.
He's asking it
so we can understand that.
And he answers,
Satan answers,
I've been going to and fro
on the earth.
Sounds a lot like the passage
I read in 1 Peter chapter 5.
He's like a lurker.
Satan's walking around
looking to see
what he can get into.
What he can mess up.
Kind of like a group of punks
walking around
or riding around
the neighborhood at night,
just midnight,
just looking for something.
Up to no good.
And that same word Satan
is used in 1 Chronicles
chapter 21 verse 1.
When Satan incites David
to number Israel.
In other words,
what he said was
take a survey
and find out
how powerful you really are.
Do you really know
how big this army is, David?
Why don't you just
get them to count?
And so David
wells up a little bit.
He goes to Joab,
his commander,
and tells him
to take a census
of the army.
And I want you
to listen to Joab's response.
And I want you
to notice in the text
where the word
Lord is capitalized,
okay,
and where it's
in small case
because when he's speaking
and it's in small case,
he's calling David Lord,
not because he's his savior,
but because that was
a title given
to somebody
who you're under.
It means sir.
It means master,
commander,
whatever you want
to call it.
Notice what he says.
He says,
may the Lord,
that's the Lord,
add to his people
a hundred times
as many as there are.
Are they not,
my Lord the king,
all of them,
my Lord's servants?
Why then should
my Lord require this?
Why should it be
a cause of guilt
for Israel?
But the king's word
prevailed against Joab,
so Joab departed
and went throughout Israel
and came back
to Jerusalem.
Now what Joab's saying is,
listen,
God's got this.
We don't need
to count these folks.
Don't you know,
David,
that everybody
is behind you.
Everybody will rise up.
No matter what it takes,
we'll make sure
we get the job done.
We don't need
to do this.
Don't take pride
in your numbers.
Trust God
to take care
of the matter.
David wouldn't listen.
He got the men counted
and then he welled up
with pride.
But verse 7 says,
but God was displeased
with this thing
and he struck Israel.
My friend,
that is exactly
what Satan will do.
He will fill you
with pride
and he will use pride
to lead folks
to fall.
Satan is mentioned
in the book
of Zechariah
and in that situation,
he's piling up
insults
on a man
named Joshua,
the high priest
who came before
the Lord's presence
and when he came
before the Lord's presence,
he was unfit.
He was dirty.
He was not right.
And Satan
is just piling
on the insults
and we live
much of our lives
unfit.
And every time
we're stained,
every time
we're dirty,
every time
we're unconfessed
before the Lord,
it opens us up
to the evil one's
accusations
and he'll make us
squirm
like the snake
that he is.
Now the key
to that
is to stay clean
before the Lord.
The tighter
you are with the Father,
the less wiggle room
you give
to the evil one.
When Jesus
told his disciples
that he was
to go to Jerusalem
and die,
Peter,
Peter wanted
no part of it.
Peter was zealous.
Wore a dagger
on his thigh.
That's why
he cut that man's ear
off when he tried
to arrest Jesus.
I mean,
you know,
he had a big mouth.
His foot
fit
exactly right
in his mouth.
And some of y'all
know exactly
what that means
but I won't point you out.
Peter tried
to correct him.
He said,
far be it
from you,
Lord.
This shall
never happen
to you.
However,
what Peter
didn't understand
was that part
of the will
of God.
And Jesus
didn't need
to hear somebody
trying to dissuade
him
when he was
in the midst
of not only
taking on
the cross
that he would
endure
but bigger
than that
what he called
the cup
in the garden
which was the cup
of God's wrath.
That means
the sin
of the weight
of the world
was to fall
upon his shoulders.
He had a bunch
on him.
He didn't need
anybody else
putting it on him.
And he responded
to Peter
and said,
get behind me,
Satan.
You're a hindrance
to me.
Now,
was Peter
Satan?
No.
Jesus knew
that Satan
was trying
to throw him
off his game
and he used
Peter to do it
just like he did
to Adam and Eve
in the garden
when he tried
to throw them
off their game
just like he
attempts to quote
scripture to Jesus
in the desert
of temptation.
Why does he
accuse and hinder?
Satan opposes
the agenda
of God.
He works
against the plan
of God.
He does it
in our lives.
He does it
in our church.
He does it
in the kingdom
of God.
In the book
of Thessalonians,
the apostle Paul
talked about
wanting to come
back to Thessalonica.
and see them
and every time
he tried
he said Satan
hindered him
from coming.
Now,
why would Satan
hinder Paul
from going back
to God's people?
Because Paul
was encouraged
to see them
and he encouraged
them to be strong.
He was encouraged
by them.
He called the church
that he nurtured
and strengthened
his glory
and his joy.
And the devil
don't want anything
to do with that.
He don't want us
to enjoy worship.
He don't want us
to grow together
in the Lord.
He wants to hinder
that and be careful
what he puts
in your path
for that.
That's what the
adversary,
the accuser does.
He gets in the way
of the work
of God.
He assaults people.
He whispers sweet,
nothing is in your ear.
Or like David,
he leads you
to seek after things
for your glory
and not God's glory
because his attack
is toward God.
He's Satan,
the accuser.
And many times
the false accuser.
Because I got news
for you today.
If your sin is confessed
and you've been forgiven
and you've,
it's been removed
by the shed blood
of the cross
of Christ
and you've repented
and changed directions
and walked away
from that sin,
it's gone.
And I don't know
how many people
I've met
that's been haunted
by something
that happened
in their life
years ago
or months ago
or weeks ago
that they've repented
of and walked away
from and yet
they still feel
the weight of that.
That's not of God.
That's the evil one
just continuing
to pepper you.
Because see,
if he can beat you
down enough,
you'll give up.
You just won't try.
And we've been
challenged by the Lord
to live for the honor
and glory of God.
Man, that's hard to do
when we're beat up.
Don't listen
to Satan's smack.
He's your adversary,
your opponent
that tries to agonize you.
He's also called Lucifer.
And it only happens
one time.
It's in Isaiah chapter 14,
verse 12.
And it's translated
in different ways.
It's fascinating.
It's the word study of this.
In the ESV,
they call it the Daystar.
That's what I read out of
the English Standard Version.
And they call him
Daystar there.
In the King James,
it says Lucifer.
And that is actually
from a Latin translation
called the Vulgate
of the Old Testament.
And from that word,
it's a Latin term,
Lucifer.
But it's translated as
bearer of light
or sun,
S-O-N,
of the morning.
That's what he was.
When you look back
at his history
as we did last week,
God created a beautiful creature
and gave him high standing.
But pride got in the way
when he tried to be
greater than God.
And he went from
the sun of morning
to the father of night.
So,
so,
why is that sun of morning,
that description of him
so important?
Because it helps us
to understand
why his approach
is sadly often successful
in destroying people's lives.
whoever told you
that Satan
is ugly
and scary
and would cause you
to run
lied to you.
Satan was created
attractive.
He was winsome.
An angel of light.
And it is that way
that he tries his best
to present himself.
Paul warns the church
in 2 Corinthians 11
that there are false apostles,
deceitful workmen,
disguising themselves
as apostles of Christ
and no wonder
for even Satan,
listen to this,
disguises himself
as an angel of light.
So it is no surprise
if his servants
also disguise themselves
as servants
of righteousness.
Satan will short sell you
every time.
He does it again
and again
in so many ways.
I want you to listen
to the proverb writer
when he warns
about adultery
and what a common trap
for the evil one.
Sexual sin
is something
that the evil one
loves to trap us with.
loves to destroy us with.
And he's having a heyday
in the country.
He really is.
In so many ways
we celebrate sodomy
as a country.
And if we're not clear
about what the word of God says
and what God says about it
and we don't speak to that,
it'll never be heard.
So we need to be clear.
Proverbs 5 talks about
how easy it is
to fall into
sexual sin
and the proverb writer
was writing
to a young man
and he says this,
for the lips
of a forbidden woman
drip honey
and her speech
is smoother than oil
but in the end
she's bitter as wormwood,
sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death,
her steps follow the path
to Sheol.
She does not ponder
the path of life,
her ways wonder
and she does not know it.
Keep your way far from her
and do not go near
the door of her house
lest you give your honor
to others
and your years
to the merciless,
lest strangers
take their fill
of your strength
and your labors
go to the house
of a foreigner.
For at the end
of your life
you groan
when your flesh
and blood
are consumed
and you say
how I hated discipline
and my heart
despised reproof.
I did not listen
to the voice
of my teachers
and incline my ears
to my instructors.
I'm at the brink
of utter ruin
in the assembled
congregation.
Let me just rest
there for a minute
because the evil one
whether it be
sexual sin
or some other type
of sin
the evil one
don't want you
to come back
to church.
He don't want you
to walk faithfully
with the Lord.
He don't want you
to be reminded
of what the Word
of God says.
He don't want you
to feel the Spirit
of God move
in a place
like we have
this morning.
He don't want
that to happen
so he'll try
his best
to hinder you.
Now Proverbs 5
is written
from an older man
to a young man
to warn him
about the adulteress
and ladies
if that's offensive
to you
I got news
for you.
Adulterating men
are sorrier
than her.
Don't be appeased
by them.
Young people
save yourself
and if it's too
late for that
then start afresh
today
because I'm
telling you
you can be
clean before
the Lord.
He'll wash
you clean
and renew
you
but the devil
wants his best
to suck you
in
to a pattern
in your life
that'll cause
great distress.
Lucifer's sweet.
He's sinful
and he's sensual
in his suggestions
and they ruin you.
It sure doesn't
seem ugly.
When I was
a youth minister
I used to tell
young people
if the devil
wants to entice you
he don't come
down the school
hallway
with a skull
on a stick
saying let's party.
He brings
the most beautiful
girl.
he brings
the most
athletic boy.
He brings
the folks
that you're
most attracted
to
to drag
you into
a pit
that you
have a hard
time rising
out of.
He doesn't
sell himself
as one
that'll ruin
you.
He doesn't
sell himself
as one
who'll cause
you to be
bound in sin.
He'll tell
you it's
your life
you do
what you
want to
with it.
Don't
let nobody
tell you
what to
do.
He don't
sell folks
on addiction.
He don't
tell them
how they
can get
involved
with alcohol
and become
addicted
and ruin
their life.
He don't
tell them
how they
can be
involved
in drugs
and how
that can
absolutely
ruin their
life.
It just
seems fun
for a moment.
He
don't
tell you
how you
become
addicted
to porn
and ruin
your life.
He
don't
share
those
things.
No,
he makes
it about
social
status.
He
makes it
about a
relief
from what
woes
you.
He
makes it
about an
ease of
pain.
However,
it's all
schemes.
as Jesus
put it,
to steal
and to
kill
and to
destroy.
He's
Lucifer.
He's
attractive to
follow,
but he's
condemning in
the end.
It's not a
game.
It's a
war.
And we
must battle.
So,
three things
quickly.
One is,
don't be
enticed by
the evil
one.
He'll
whisper sweet
little lies
in your
ear and
it's easy
to get
enticed.
Don't
do it.
The second
thing is,
don't be
entertained
by the
evil one.
Because the
accuser wants
to sidetrack
us, I
promise you.
He wants
to throw us
off our
game.
More
importantly,
he wants
to throw
us off
what God's
got for
us.
So,
don't be
entertained
by the
evil one.
And lastly,
don't be
enamored
by the
evil one.
One day,
a quick,
big-fangled,
fast-talking
hobo
came to
Mayberry.
And he
started getting
Opie's
attention,
and it
would lead
Opie down
a wrong
path,
and Andy
got involved.
And the
hobo said,
well,
Sheriff,
maybe I
do things,
look at
things a
little
different than
other people
do.
Is that
wrong?
I live
by my
wits.
I'm not
above bending
the law
or to
keep clothes
on my
back or
food in my
stomach.
I like
the kind
of life
that other
people would
just love
to live
if they
only had
the courage.
What's
to say
that your
boy wouldn't
be happier?
what's
to say
that the
boy would
be happier
your way
than mine?
Why don't
we let
him decide?
And Andy
replied to
the man
that would
the next
day strike
oil in
another TV
series,
black gold
Texas tea,
and move
to Beverly
Hills.
Andy replied,
nah,
and listen,
I'm just
going to
say this,
and if you
don't know
what I'm
talking about
with either
one of these
series,
shame on you.
There's
enough apps
to find
this stuff.
Andy replied
to him and
said this,
nah,
I'm afraid
it don't
work that
way.
You can't
let a
young'un
decide for
himself.
He'll
grab at the
first flashy
thing with
shiny ribbons
on it.
And then
when he
finds it,
there's a
hook in
it.
And it's
too late.
The wrong
ideas come
packaged with
so much
glitter,
it's hard
to convince
him that
other things
might be
better in
the long
run.
And all
a parent
can say
is wait.
Trust me.
And try to
keep temptation
away.
Don't be
enamored by
the evil
one.
Don't reach
for flashy
things.
That's a
ploy of
the evil
one.
And there's
a hook
in it.
The Lord
is saying
wait.
trust me.
Trust me.
And I'm
thankful today
that we
can.
I just
want you to
know who
we're dealing
with.
And
scripture's quite
clear when
we look at the
examples that it
gives us.
With every head
bowed and every eye
closed, I ask
you today,
has there ever
been a time in
your life when
you've surrendered
your life to
follow the Lord
Jesus?
When you've
confessed your
need of Christ,
your need for
forgiveness,
ask him to
save you,
to forgive you,
to empower you
by his Holy
Spirit to
change your
life.
If that's
never happened
to you,
I want you to
know that he
will save you
today.
Today's the day
of salvation.
He'll change
your life.
We're going to
stand in just a
moment and we're
going to sing and
as we start, I
want you to
come.
If you've never
given your heart
and life to the
Lord Jesus, you
come and tell me.
I'd love to take
time with you right
after the service to
speak to you just
for a few moments
about what it
means to give your
heart and life to
the Lord Jesus.
Maybe you're here
this morning and you
have done that, but
you've never
acknowledged that
through baptism,
which I believe is
the first step of
obedience based on
what scripture tells
me.
Jesus, by his
example and by his
commission, told us
that if we're ashamed
of him before others,
he'll be ashamed of us
before our Father,
which means it's not
really legitimate if
we're ashamed of it.
He tells us to
acknowledge what
Christ has done in
our life as
believers through
baptism, physical
process, to honor him
and obey him in that
way.
If you've never done
that, I'm going to
tell you, it's not
just a procedure.
It's a hindrance in
your life if you've
never done it.
The devil would use
that to slow you
down.
Maybe you're here and
God's drawing you to
First Baptist Church.
God's doing a wonderful
work in our midst and I'm
thankful for that.
God's leading you here.
I'd love to guide you in
that.
But for all of us,
we're in a battle.
And some of us are
losing it, at least in
some area of our life.
And today you can walk
clean.
You can make a decision
that, God, I want to
lean on your power and
strength.
I want to do what's
right in you.
I want to trust you
instead of my own
judgment.
And I don't know what
everything holds for that,
but I'm just going to
trust you with it, Lord.
I'm going to give it
over to you.
I'm going to ask you to
empower me to change
today, to please you
with all of my life.
Don't get caught in the
stare that he'll set for
us.
Lord Jesus, today, I pray
that you'll allow us to
honor you by giving it
over to you, by entrusting
you with it.
Oh, God, I pray.
Lead us, Lord, to honor
you with all of our lives.
In Jesus' precious name,
amen.
Amen.