I Peter 5:8
Satan’s Tactics: Reload and Repeat
Several weeks ago, I started a series of sermons on Satan’s Tactics.
While I have not felt lead to preach on the series consecutively, I
do believe the series is important and needs to be continued.
So far, I have preached three sermons on Satan’s Tactics:
1. Weak Spots
2. The Master Illusionist
Tonight, I want to preach on the Satan’s Tactic: Reload and Repeat.
What does that title mean? It means Satan likes to repeat an attack
that has been successful. Satan is not interested in using something
new on a person if the old is working. In fact, Satan may have
invented the phrase, "If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it." He is a firm
believer in the oldies.
This is one of the reasons why the same problems keep coming into our
lives.
Have you ever known anyone who keeps dating the same loser over and
over again? Now, I don’t mean the same person. No. The face and name
may change with the seasons, but it is still the same loser. They’ve
all got the same issues: maybe its alcohol issues, maybe drug issues,
maybe character issues, maybe abuse issues, or maybe all of the
above; but somehow after they get out of one bad relationship, they
get into the same exact relationship with somebody else. Why does
this happen? Because the devil likes to reload and repeat.
Have you ever known anyone with a work problem? He or she can’t
hold down a job. They may have had five or six jobs in the last two
years and at every place, somebody was out to get them, or somebody
was taking advantage of them, or someone lied about them, or the
boss was too stupid to work for. Why does this happen? Because the
devil likes to reload and repeat.
Have you ever known anyone with a drug or alcohol problem? They hit
bottom and you try to help. You pay for rehab; you get them the best
counseling you can; you weep and cry over them; you beg them to stay
straight; and maybe they do for a while. But then the bottom falls
out and you can’t even find them. Why does this happen? Because the
devil likes to reload and repeat.
Understand, the situations don’t have to be so major.
Have you ever know a church hopper. That’s someone who has tried
every church in the county; but something is wrong with everyone of
them. Either the preacher is too loud, or he is boring. The service
is too contemporary or it’s too old fashioned. Either the church is
unfriendly or they are in your face. Right now they are driving
cross-country to attend a church and have to pack a picnic lunch to
get there, but that’s all right because they won’t keep going there
for long. Why is that? Because the devil likes to reload and repeat.
It happens to us Baptists too. Have you ever decided to read your
Bible through, start attending every church service, go on
visitation, or get serious about praying for others—and you want to.
But just when you are about to get at it, Uncle Fillmore from Dora
drops in unexpectedly, or there is a change for some overtime at
work, or things back up around the house and you are too busy. Why
does this happen? Because the devil likes to reload and repeat.
Why would Satan want to try a new tactic on a person when the old one
works so well? What are some of Satan’s favorite tactics?
I. Desire
A. The first tactic Satan ever used on mankind was to tempt him
with desire.
Ge 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was
good for food, and that it was pleasant to the
eyes, and a tree to be DESIRED to make one wise,
she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and
gave also unto her husband with her; and he did
eat.
1. We all have bad desires.
a. A Christian man—my age or older—asked me not too long
ago if it was a sin to have bad thoughts.
(1) I told him no. We all have bad thoughts. The
sin comes when we keep thinking on the bad
thoughts.
(2) One of my pastors, Jim Rushing, said it this way
many years ago. "Bad thoughts are like birds.
You can’t stop them from flying overhead, but
you sure can keep them from building a nest in
your hair."
(3) The man seemed genuinely relieved.
(4) He said, "I didn’t know. I thought maybe it was
just me."
b. No. It’s not just you, and it’s not just men.
c. Bad thoughts come with a human body and a fallen
nature.
2. Interestingly, Satan doesn't give us those bad desires.
a. It may surprise you, but the Bible makes it clear that
the bad desires are from within us.
James 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is
drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth
forth sin: and sin, when it is finished,
bringeth forth death.
b. The devil does plant the seeds of bad desire but he is
an expert at exploiting them. The devil knows how to
produce a bumper crop with them.
3. How does he do that?
a. He does that by trotting out every kind of temptation
there is to see which ones you would go after.
b. Here is the advantage of leading a sheltered, spirit-
filled life.
(1) If you are being filled with Christ, the later you
are exposed to those kinds of temptations, the
less they will attract you.
(2) The key there is to be filling them with Christ
during those years, not merely leaving a void
within them; but if they are being filled with
God, they are stronger not weaker by being
sheltered.
c. The devil might call his process of finding your bad
desires fishing.
(1) He has a tackle box full of lures of bates of
temptations.
(2) Although the devil has many, he has some that are
his favorite.
(3) He begins to cast his lures in front of you to
see which ones you are attracted to.
(4) In this world today, you don't have to have any
age on you at all or even leave your home. Most
every temptation is invited into our homes
today.
(a) As a small child, you were exposed to images
that years ago would have been called
pornographic. The devil cast that in front
of your eyes and watches how you responded.
(b) If that lure did not get any interested, he
may have cast the lure of money. Maybe he
did not tempt you with Fort Knox, but he
put enough bait on the line to see how you
would respond.
(c) If that lure did not work, my may have tried
pleasure, or liquor, or drugs.
(5) Whatever you hit upon, the devil, the enemy that
stalks its prey continually, wrote it down and
knows it.
4. Regardless of which lure you hit on, you can mark two
things down as being true.
a. That temptation won't stop. No. Never. Why? Because
that is your weak area, and he is your enemy. You
have shown him your bad desire. He will use it
against you.
b. Things will get worse.
(1) You understand the concept of diminishing returns,
don't you.
(a) Whatever brought you pleasure the first time,
you will have to have more of it more often
to find that level of pleasure the next
time.
(b) It is sad, but that is the way the flesh
works.
(2) You have hit on a habit and the devil is going to
to use it against you.
(3) Understand that the first lure the devil casts at
you may not be the worst thing you can do;
however, it can lead you to the worst thing you
can do.
(4) Remember that while we can't always say that if it
is good it is of God (because the devil sometimes
tempts us with good things), we can always say if
is bad it is of the devil.
(5) The temptations always get worse.
(a) Look at a bad picture and next you will be
tempted to watch a bad video.
(b) Look at a bad video and next you will be
tempted to flirt with a bad woman.
(c) You can image where it will go from there.
(6) Question:
(a) Did anyone ever drink alcohol with the
desire of becoming an alcoholic? What
happened? They gave into one temptation
and the devil kept reloading and
repeating.
(b) Did anyone ever take their first drug with
the intent of becoming an addict? What
happened? They gave into one temptation
and the devil kept reloading and
repeating.
(c) Did anyone ever desire to lose their
marriage? to steal from their company?
to quit church altogether? What happened?
They gave into one temptation and the
devil kept reloading and repeating.
5. So get this.
a. We all have lusts and Peter told us that we have an
enemy that wants to destroy us.
(1) Guess what that enemy is going to use.
(2) Our bad desires.
b. That means we better learn to control our desires and
our lusts.
c. If we do not, we will be putty in the devil’s hand.
B. How to we control our lusts.
1. Start by admitting you have a problem.
a. If you are watching the wrong kind of films or
commercials or books, quit pretending you don’t have
a problem.
b. If you have a picture, a bottle, or a needle hid away
somewhere, face the fact that you have a sin problem.
c. Anything you have to hid, indicates a problem. Any
text, phone number, date, hobby, event, or pleasure
that you need to keep secret is a problem and you need
to face it!
d. It's strange but there are two ways you can go. You
can hide your problem or you can arrogantly boast
about it. People today have turned the corner and
parade their sin down Main Street.
e. Whether you hide your sin or boast of it, you need to
admit you have a problem.
2. You need to acknowledge it is a spiritual problem.
a. Every problem we have is a spiritual problem.
b. I understand that there are worldly causes to some of
our problems.
(1) There are chemical imbalances.
(2) There are physical failings.
(3) There are emotional scars.
(4) Even so, as Christians we are spiritual beings.
(a) We have a dimension and a power that the
world cannot understand.
(b) Greater is He that is in us than he that is
in the world.
(c) We have access to powers that the lost world
can only dream of.
c. The Bible is an amazing Book. You can read the first
65 books in the Bible and what you see is what man
perceives life is. In those books, man does something
and we wait to see how heaven will respond. But in
the last book, Revelation, we learn what life is
really like. There we find out that something is done
in heaven, we are actually waiting to see how earth
will respond to it.
d. You will never win a spiritual battle fighting in
physical war.
e. If on this earth you have a sinful attraction, it is
because in the heavens, you lack an attraction to
Jesus Christ.
3. Then separate yourself from that temptation.
a. If images is a problem for you, get rid of your
television and your cell phone and your computer
and anything else you must get rid of to avoid being
tempted.
b. If you are attracted to someone at work, get a new
job.
c. If you can’t tell your company that you are going to
church, don’t answer the door.
4. Spend more time with God in prayer and fellowship with God.
a. Even if it did not help, it would never be wasted
time.
b. But the more you resist the devil though fellowship
with God, the quicker the devil will leave you alone.
c. In fact, the only way I know to break the cycle of
Satan's attacks is to take what the devil is tempting
you with and associate something spiritual with that
temptation.
d. The devil is not a fool. If he finds out that when he
tempts you to do something wrong, you are going to do
something for God, he will quit tempting you to do
that wrong. (It might take a while, and he will
surely come around with it again, but it will work!)
5. Find a strong Christian to pray for you and to hold you
accountable.
Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in
a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an
one in the spirit of meekness; considering
thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
We need to take some steps to become the new man, the new woman in
Jesus Christ. You may have years of surrendering to bad desires, but
by the grace of God, you can be a new creature in Jesus Christ.
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