Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20000730.htm

OVERCOMING IN THE ANGELIC CONFLICT
Part III: Discerning Satanic Attacks In The Angelic Conflict
  1. Introduction
    1. Once the believer knows his hope of victory in Christ in the angelic conflict, and can identify general movements of Satan to pray well, he is ready to identify specific angelic attacks against him (and others).
    2. Scripture offers insight on discerning Satanic attacks against believers in the angelic conflict as follows:
  2. Discerning Satanic Attacks In The Angelic Conflict.
    1. Satanic attacks always arise through one or more of THREE defined avenues of temptation (as follows):
      1. Satan may use the lust of the eyes (aesthetic appeal) to try getting the believer to disobey God's Word (sin) and hence come under the discipline of God, 1 Jn. 2:16 with Gen. 3:1-6's "pleasant to the eyes."
      2. He may use the lust of the flesh (drives of the body) to try getting the believer to disobey God's Word (sin) and hence come under the discipline of God, 1 Jn. 2:16 with Gen. 3:1-6's "good for food."
      3. He may use personal pride (ego gratification) to try getting the believer to disobey God's Word (sin) and hence come under the discipline of God, 1 Jn. 2:16 with Gen. 3:1-6's "desired to make one wise."
    2. Then, Satan's attacks involve his strongly trying to upset a believer's use of Scripture to remove its inhibitions against his sinning; this makes it easy for the believer to sin and come under God's discipline:
      1. Satan may utilize an impressive messenger to remove his inhibition against sinning, Genesis 3:1,6.
      2. If this doesn't work, Satan may try to counter Scripture's influence itself on the godly so as to get him to sin, and that by altering one's use, belief or concept of what constitutes God's truth (Genesis 3:2-6):
        1. Satan may misuse Scripture's context to seduce the believer to misusing Scripture to sin (Mtt. 4:5-7 where he misquotes Ps. 91:11-12 to omit "to keep thee in all thy ways", ways ordained by God).
        2. Satan may try neutralizing one's belief IN the Bible itself so as to remove inhibitions to sin: (a) He may attack one's faith that Scripture has been adequately and/or accurately transmitted from its original manuscript to his current copy, causing the believer to doubt that his current Bible is accurate [Gen. 2:16-17 where God's words were originally spoken to Adam along with Gen. 3:1 where Satan leaves the door open for Eve to think Adam might not have transmitted God's original message accurately to her]! (b) Satan may try weakening the believer's confidence that he himself can properly interpret Scripture to counter his properly applying, Gen. 3:1b. (c) Satan may try undoing the credibility of Scripture in the believer's mind to get him to disobey it, Genesis 3:2-4.
      3. Once one's use, belief or confidence in Scripture is thus shredded, his inhibitions against disobeying it are removed so that Satan will try to get the believer to follow his 1 Jn. 2:16 lusts into sin, Gen. 3:1-6.
      4. Satan may influence an unbeliever or another sinful believer to entice a godly believer to sin:
        1. Satan may use a sinful believer to entice another to sin through worldly appeal, Gen. 3:6d; 25:29-34.
        2. Satan may use negative pressures from ungodly people to entice the godly to sin (2 Tim. 2:24-26; James 3:14-15): (a) Satan may influence the ungodly to slander the godly to entice him to revenge, 2 Tim. 2:24-26; James 3:14-15; (b) Satan may use the ungodly to compete against the godly in a sinful way to foster defensiveness from the godly in place of his trusting God, 2 Cor. 10:1-14; Jas. 3:14-15. (c) Satan may influence the ungodly to criticize the godly's human quirks that are the result of sin's effects to lure the godly to defend them errantly instead of depending on God and His spiritual enablings for him, 2 Cor. 10:1-14; James 3:14-15. (d) Satan may influence the ungodly to do such a flagrant evil that it goads the godly to react to it sinfully, Eph. 4:25-27. (e) Satan may urge the ungodly to supply constant accusations against the godly so as to get him away from trusting God to the extent that he abandons his service assignments from God, Zec. 3:1; Rev. 12:10.
      5. Satan flees when the believer trusts Scripture to handle the attack (Eph. 6:12-13, 16; 1 John 2:14b); hence, Satanic attacks are abundant when believers fail to know or use Scripture, cf. Isa. 8:19-9:2 NIV.
Lesson: We need to use Scripture to identify Satanic attacks by STUDYING it and BELIEVING what God's indwelling Spirit CONVINCES us that what we READ in it is INDEED God's TRUTH!

Application: For spiritual victory, we must (1) place a high priority on learning and trusting God's Word. That way (2) we can IDENTIFY the Evil One's pressures to get us to SIN (3) so as to ADHERE CLOSELY to Scripture's truths OPPOSITE the Evil One's efforts in a satanic attack!