1 Peter 5:8
Satan’s Tactics: Weak Spots
The Bible warns us of Satan, our adversary. That is because Satan is
so deadly, not only for the lost but for the saved too. He’s clever
and powerful but not invincible—at least not for a Christian. The
problem even Christians have in overcoming Satan is that we are not
knowledgeable of his ways so we need to constantly watch, learn, and
expose Satan’s tactics.
2Cor 2:11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of
us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
The point of Paul’s statement is that ignorance breeds defeat. If we
understand the devil, we can overcome him. If not, he will slay the
lost man’s soul and steal the saved man’s spirit.
Tonight, let me share some things with you that I have learned about
the devil.
Satan likes to attack weak spots.
I. Satan’s Nature
A. Some may think Peter’s statement to be nothing more than a
picture to describe Satan’s end goal, to devour the
Christian.
B. I believe it gives us a description of Satan’s tactics.
1. In Peter’s verse, he describes Satan’s nature as that of a
lion.
a. A lion is a predator by nature.
(1) A lion is a carnivore, a meat eater.
(2) A lion studies and stalks its prey.
(3) A lion will show no mercy to its prey.
(4) A lion will happily feed on the weakest, slowest
animal that it can find.
(a) A lion takes no pride in the size or the
abilities of its prey.
(b) It only wants to kill and to devour.
b. Peter tells us the devil is like that roaring lion.
(1) You and I are the meat the devil desires.
(2) Satan walks about, studying and stalking us.
(a) Satan has been studying humanity since the
first man and woman were created. By his
experience along, he can predict how most
will act in a given situation.
(b) But he has been studying each of us since
we were born.
(c) In fact, he has planted certain triggers
into each of us. Our sorrows, our joys,
our lusts: As God gave him permission to do
so, he has inserted those into our
character. Sadly, Satan has had a part in
molding us.
(d) Hence we must break the mold and walk not a
natural life but a supernatural life in
Christ Jesus!
(3) You can be assured that he will show no mercy.
(4) And Satan will certainly strike down the weak.
(a) It makes no difference to him if you are
sick, young, old, or ignorant.
(b) Satan takes no pride in what he kills and
devours, only that he does so.
2. This is the devil’s nature as surely as any lion’s.
II. Satan’s Strategy
A. As a predator, Satan sizes you up and then pounces on your
weakest, most vulnerable spots.
B. There are three kinds of weaknesses - moral, emotional,
physical.
1. Satan attacked Balaam at his weak spot.
2 Peter 2:15 Which have forsaken the right way,
and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam
the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of
unrighteousness;
a. Balaam wanted money and fame.
(1) He was not just thrifty. He was greedy.
(2) To be thrifty is wise. To be greedy is to be
immoral.
(3) Balaam’s weakness was moral.
(4) Greed will lead you to do bad things for wealth.
b. Such it is with all immorality.
(1) Immorality is to want something—anything—more
than right.
(2) Popeye’s Chicken came out with a chicken
sandwich. While working on this message, I
took a break to check out Facebook. I saw a
clip of fights breaking out across several
Popeye stores because they could not keep up
with the chicken sandwich orders. Somebody
wanted a chicken sandwich more than they wanted
right.
(3) An adulterer wants carnal pleasure more than
right.
(4) A thief wants money more than right.
(5) A blasphemer wants to be justified in his own
eyes more than he wants right.
(6) Balaam wanted money and fame more than right.
b. If you are weak morally, you are the devil’s easiest
target.
(1) You want money? You will be in the devil’s
pocket before the sun rises tomorrow.
(2) Want a good carnal time? The devil loves you.
(3) Want to be popular? You are one of the devil’s
favorites.
c. If you have an immoral character, the devil will size
you up in 5 minutes and take you down as often as he
wants whenever he wants.
d. You are like the crippled zebra on the African plains.
(1) He may not take you down right away.
(2) He may save you for a lean day, but you are his
whenever he chooses.
e. Such was Balaam. His moral weakness made him an easy
target.
2. Satan attacked Job at his weak spot.
a. The Bible described Job as a righteous man, perfect
before God and one that eschewed (avoided, stayed
away from) evil.
(1) Basically, that means Job did not have a moral
weakness.
(2) He did not like alcohol, fooling around,
gambling, etc.
(3) Those strengths did not make Job immune to
Satan’s attacks.
(4) Satan simply attacked Job in a different area.
b. Satan had to study him to find another kind of
weakness, but he did.
(1) The weakness Satan found was an emotional
weakness.
(2) He had a fear in his life.
Job 3:25 For the thing which I greatly feared
is come upon me, and that which I was afraid
of is come unto me.
(3) I don’t know that he ever told anyone his fear,
but Satan watched him and figured it out.
(4) What was his fear?
(5) Based on what the devil did to him, I would say
his fear was that he would lose everything and
everyone.
(a) I suppose everyone has fear, but Christians
must fight our fears with faith.
(b) We must grow so that we can trust God in our
darkest hours, and it is always best to do
so before the darkest hour comes.
(c) Why? Because Satan will do his best to
bring the thing that you fear most into
your life.
(d) That is just the kind of enemy you and I are
dealing with.
c. Satan did not just hit Job.
(1) Satan hit Job in the area that he feared the
most.
(2) Why? To do the most injury and to cause the most
pain.
(3) It did not bother Satan to cut short the lives of
Job’s children.
(4) He lost no sleep over taking a good man and
ruining him.
(5) To be honest, I do not know if Satan even took
thought of what he did to Job any more than you
and I take thought of what we do to a mosquito
when we kill it.
(a) When we do so, we are not thinking of the
mosquito at all.
(b) We are thinking of ourselves.
(c) I imagine that is how Satan deals with us.
(d) We are just insects which annoy him. He
hits us as hard as he can as fast as he can
with the intent of doing away with us.
(e) Satan is a predator.
3. Satan attacked Jesus at His weak spot.
a. Now if it was difficult to find a weak spot in the
life of Job, you know it would be difficult to find
a weak spot in Jesus.
(1) Jesus had no moral weakness and no emotional
weakness.
(2) So Satan waited and watched.
(a) He watched for thirty years.
(b) He watched until he found a time when
Jesus was physically weak.
Matthew 4:2 And when he had fasted forty days
and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3 And when the tempter came to him….
b. Satan could not find a moral weakness in Jesus so he
watched until he found an opportunity to exploit His
HUMAN weakness.
c. After forty days, Jesus was hungry and Satan tempted
Him to use His power to satisfy Himself.
d. I am not saying Jesus gave into temptation. I am
merely saying that we can see what Satan does.
III. Satan’s Defeat
A. The point is that Satan studies you to locate your weaknesses
and stalks you to exploit them.
B. Does that tell you something you need to do?
1. It should tell you to study your own life, see where you
are weak, and then fortify yourself in that area.
2. It should tell us that we must fortify ourselves to
prepare for Satan’s attacks.
C. How do I fortify myself?
1. In some situations, you can make yourself stronger in
your weaker areas. You grow your spirit.
a. Expose yourself to God’s Word.
(1) Read it. Study it. Memorize it.
(2) Stay under sound preaching even when it stings.
b. Exercise yourself in obedience to God.
(1) Find the things you don’t want and won’t like to
do, and do them.
(2) Then find the things that are impossible for you
to do, and do them.
c. Develop stronger will power.
(1) We must each learn to slay self to do right.
(2) We picture the Christians in the Bible as having
a natural desire to do the spiritual.
(3) They did not.
1 Corinthians 15:31 I protest by your rejoicing
which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die
daily.
(4) They made themselves do it until it either became
natural to them or until no one else could tell
that they were making themselves do it.
(5) So must we.
2. In some situations, you may have to avoid your weak areas.
a. If you have weaknesses around certain friends, stay
away from them.
b. If you have weaknesses around certain activities, stay
out of places where that activity is going on.
c. Stay away from anything that might stir your
temptation or passion.
d. And don’t worry that other Christians are in those
places or doing those activities.
(1) You are not responsible for them, only for
yourself.
(2) Do what is right for your spiritual walk.
3. In some situations, you may have to get someone else to
hold you accountable in your weak areas.
a. There is strength in numbers.
b. Accountability has helped many a Christian stay out of
sin.
Ecclesiastes 4:12 …and a threefold cord is not
quickly broken.
There are more lessons that I would like to share with you, but this
is the first. If you don’t want to be the devil’ dinner, don’t be
the devil’s sinner.
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