Satanic Attack

The Third sermon in our series: "This Means War"

Scripture: 1 Peter 5:8-9

Dr. Nick Floyd

Senior Pastor

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Thank you for joining us today. At Crosschurch, we believe people need Jesus. People need each other. People change the world. And people leave legacies. Our desire is for you to understand, accept, and grow in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Thank you for listening. If you would like to know more about Crosschurch, please visit CrossChurch.com.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Well, all right, good morning, everybody. Can I be the first to tell you, welcome home, Highway 62, to your new brand new space? What do you think? You like it? It's pretty amazing. This is uh the result of a lot of people uh over a lot of months who have made a difference in uh constructing this and designing this and making this all come together and a ton of volunteers. And so if you've had any role to play in any of this, we say thank you, thank you, thank you. And uh what a significant day it is to get to see all of your faces here and to get to be together and to get to announce a new worship pastor, Wade. I call him just so you know, my nickname for Wade is the Wade Maker. All right. So you can call him that as well. You're gonna love Wade and his family. And uh man, what a uh what a tremendous job Noah, our campus pastor's done. These last can we give it up for Noah? Come on now. And uh man, we cannot wait to see what the Lord does uh today in our next service as well, and this service and uh in the future. So we're so glad you're here. If you're brand new, my name's Nick, the pastor here. Uh, I'd love to meet you. Mayor Defenna, my wife is here, my whole family's here today. And uh, we will be out in the lobby. We'd love to say hey to you, get to know you and your family, pray for you, uh, anything like that. All right, but we're glad you're here. And if you got a copy of God's word, let's grab it. Let's turn to 1 Peter chapter five today. Uh, if you don't have a Bible, uh, you're not gonna be left out. We're gonna throw all of this on the screen for you today. Uh, we're in the middle of a series on spiritual warfare that we're calling This Means War. And we're talking about the seven battles of spiritual warfare uh that all of us face as Christians. And so let me uh let me begin by giving you two truths. If you're a note taker, and I would encourage you to be a note taker, uh, I want you to write down these two things. Truth number one is this the Christian life is a battle. Has anybody ever seen that in your life? Christian life's a battle. Uh, people often think, well, once I give my life to Jesus, everything is gonna be easier and life's gonna be a casual stroll in the park. I would say, bro, it's the exact opposite. Like when you come to faith in Christ, the battle then begins. And so you got to be ready for battle. If not, uh, you are gonna be spiritually dominated again and again and again. Here's truth number two your Christian life is a battle. And then number two, you have an enemy called Satan. You have a real person, a real enemy called Satan. He's gonna do everything he can to ruin your life, ruin your influence for the kingdom of God, all those types of things. All right, everybody look up here. Um, anybody notice anything wrong with this shirt? Okay. This is the this is the same shirt that I'm wearing today. Huh? Huh? Okay. And uh this is the same shirt. Um, this was the first shirt that I owned. And then one day I was getting ready for church. I was gonna wear it like this, and it was a little wrinkled, and I I tried to like steam it with the iron, and I got too close, and I I burned straight burned a hole in the uh in the thing. You say, well, did that stop you from wearing it? No, I wore it like two other times, but I just turned it around and I and I wore something like this over it, okay? Now, this is many of you in your spiritual life, is that you you are following Jesus in many ways, but when it comes to this area of your life of spiritual warfare, it's not even in your mind. And so, like that, there's a hole in your spiritual life, there's a gap in your spiritual life, and uh and and what happens here is is ultimately you will live a wounded spiritual life and that you have an enemy who is dead set on destruction, and he will tear some holes in your life if you're not careful. And so I'm gonna come back to this here uh in just a little bit. You see that folding job, huh? Even I can fold clothes, right? It's kind of um, but uh, I want us to uh to look at uh this message title today. Here's what we're gonna talk about. We're gonna talk about satanic attack. Doesn't that sound like the perfect sermon title for a first day in a new building, satanic attack, right? You may have said, Nick, that feels a little heavy and a little like ah, we're like jumping right in. Here's what I tell you. Um, this campus is not beginning today. Like we began in February, and even the work of God is not beginning today, it's it's been going on way before February in Farmington, Prairie Grove, Lincoln, and beyond Fayetteville. And so, so what I just tell you today is we're a church who we're already walking through the Bible. And so we're not gonna do anything special today. We're just gonna walk through the Bible. Does that sound okay to everybody? And uh so I want you to look at it. 1 Peter chapter 5, and I want us to look at uh verses eight and nine. Here's what it says it says, be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, who's our adversary? The devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Verse nine, resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. Now, let's let's begin where the Bible begins. All we're gonna do, if you're new to our church, all we do is open the Bible, say what it says. Sometimes people come up to me after service, oh Pastor, that was a great message. And I literally joke with them, I'm like, it's cheating. I just open the Bible and I repeat back what it says to you, and then I explain what it means for your life. Okay, that's what we do every single Sunday here. If you're looking for a church, they're like, what do you guys really do? We actually open up the Bible every Sunday and we just read it back to you and we say, Hey, do that. All right, that that's the whole that's the whole philosophy of Christchurch right there. All right, nothing secret. That's what it is. So let's begin where the Bible begins. The Bible says this be sober-minded and be watchful. The idea of being sober-minded carries the idea of being self-controlled. Uh, if you even take the first word of that uh little compound statement there, uh the idea of being sober is someone who is not drunk. Okay, so a person who does not exhibit self-control. Uh, even the idea of being sober as opposed to being drunk means that I am under control. I'm acting in my right mind, I am alert. So here's the point we are to be watchful and we are to anticipate the devil's activity and attack in our lives. Let me let me like explain how this works out in my own life. Maybe it'll help in yours. Uh, here's how we think about it in the Floyd household. Any big weekend at church, we get ready for hell to fall. Or I guess I should say hell to rise, actually. You know what I'm saying? Uh, we we expect the attack of the enemy. Uh, so every like Easter weekend, and Meredith and I are about to get a little chippy with one another, you know, we remind ourselves everyone, hey, hold up. It's Easter week, let's come together. Even this week, we said that together with the opening of this campus and all that is is today and all that it revolves around. We said, Hey, let's stay together and we need to be on guard. In other words, we need to be sober-minded, we need to be watchful, okay? Uh, here's what I would tell you about your own life. Anytime you're making a difference for the kingdom of God, expect satanic attack. So, like, so so there's dads in the room today that are trying to change the course of your family. Expect satanic attack. There are teenagers in this room today who are like, man, when fall begins, like I'm gonna go back into my school and I'm gonna live for Jesus. Expect satanic attack. I got an email several months ago from a church member named Brock. Okay, Brock uh attends the Springdale campus. Listen to what he says, okay? His email said this, Nick, we have been serving in the nursery every other week since October, so we haven't been able to catch you in person as much as it was. Uh so it was great to see you whenever I saw him. He said, We have also been a host uh house to a bunch of C3 college kids on Thursday nights. It's been amazing. Really getting to know a bunch of these kids, and I'm pretty sure we're gonna host next semester too. He writes this. This is fascinating. He said, We are involved in a fragment of what you are in the church, and I don't think I've ever had so much spiritual warfare on us. It has been wild. The devil does not like what we're trying to do. There's 1 Peter 5, 8 and 9. Lived out in the life of one of your church family members right there. If you are trying to serve God with your life, if you're trying to be a godly man or woman in your business, a light for the gospel in your business, expect satanic attack. This explains uh those times in your life. Uh, anybody ever been like me? And you're like, Nick, um, you're like, uh, Lord, I am living for you. Like I'm living impurity, I'm living in holiness, like we're in church every week, we're serving in the church, like we're trying to share the gospel with people, and everything in my life is falling apart. And it sure feels like it should be the opposite. Like I know some people's lives who I wish they were falling apart, not my life falling apart. Whenever you are making a difference with your life for the kingdom of God, you need to expect satanic attack. I once heard uh someone say it this way. I can't even remember who. Um, so usually when that happens, I just claim that I said it. So many years ago I came up with this statement, all right? If you have the applause of heaven, expect the assault of hell. So when God is saying, Hey, well done, there you go, you need to expect hell to rise and you do expect the assault of hell. Because of all of this, what are we supposed to do? What does Peter say? Be sober-minded and be watchful. If uh if today's a big step, no doubt there's gonna be some of you today who you've been waiting on this building to open, or maybe somebody invited you to come today. And uh this is this is kind of all new for you. And so, but but you know, you know you need to get back in church. You may say something like that, or you know you need a change in your life. And so, man, this is a big thing for you to be here today, man. I number one, I am thrilled that you are here. Praise God that you are here. You know what I would tell you? Get ready, get ready. Anytime you're trying to make the right choices, anytime, uh, anytime you're trying to follow Jesus, hell will rise up through satanic attack. Okay, now let's let's go where Peter goes. He talks next of all just about the devil. He says, your adversary, the devil. Now, if you look at that word adversary, and and really if you look it up and study it, multiple scholars point out that this word uh speaks to a person on the opposite side of a lawsuit. Anybody ever been suited in the room today? And you think about the other person on the other side of the lawsuit. Here's what it is Satan is an opposer, he is on the opposite side of your life. Do not miss this. If you don't get anything else today, get this. He will stand against every spiritual decision that you ever make. I'm gonna say it to you again. Satan will be directly opposed. He will stand against every spiritual decision that you ever try to make. If you look at this passage in Greek, uh, the Greek word here for devil is the word diabolos. And a diabolos not only can be translated devil, it can also be uh translated with the word slanderer. Okay. Uh anybody ever uh felt shame over something that you've done? Raise your hand, all over. I'm raising mine. I could raise both of mine, honestly. Okay, we we've all done something and then later felt shame. Here's what that is: that is the chief diabolos in your life. That is the chief slanderer in your life. And so, so next time you're falling into sin, next time you do something wrong, you're like, Well, I don't I don't want to do something wrong. Well, guess what? This week, at some point, you are going to do something uh related to sin. And here's how you can tell afterwards who you're listening to. Am I listening to Satan, the chief slanderer, or am I listening to the voice of God in my life? Here's how you tell. Number one, when you sin, Satan will bring shame. So when you sin, Satan will bring shame. Uh let me say some some phrases, and I want you to tell me, anybody ever heard what I've heard before from the chief slanderer? Think about this way. Um, here's what Satan says after you sin. I can't believe you did that, man. If all these people at church knew who you really were, you would not even be allowed to walk in these doors. God is so disappointed with you, you are never going to get past this one. Anybody besides the preacher? Um you gotta have three good days of not sinning, and then God will like you again. And you better have some good quiet times in the middle of all that, too. You better be reading your Bible. Uh anybody ever heard this? There's no way out. There's no way out. This is the same story we are told from the enemy again and again and again, like a broken record. He will tempt us. He will say, Hey man, you deserve this. It's not that big of a deal. And the moment that he hooks you and hooks me, and we buy into sin and we do whatever sin it is, we commit that sin, then he turns and he becomes a slanderer. He goes from the tempter to, man, I can't believe you did that. If people only knew who you really are, right? We've all experienced this before. Louis Giglio talks about the moment that we give into sin and how Satan changes roles at that time. He writes it this way: he said, Satan shifts from being the entier and promiser to becoming the accuser and condemner. Isn't that true? From being the entier and promiser to being the accuser and condemner. When you sin, Satan will bring shame. Here's the opposite of that. Every believer, every person who can hear my voice today needs to understand this today. When you sin, God will bring conviction. When you sin, God, on the other hand, he will not bring shame, but he will bring conviction. God will say this yes, that is wrong. Yes, you were wrong, but come out of the sin. Uh, don't miss this. Shame says there's no way out. God says, I am the way out. I'm gonna say to you again. Shame says there's no way out. That's what the that's what the devil will tell you. There is no way out of what you're in right now. Jesus says, I am the way out. You come to me. So so maybe maybe you're under the conviction of God right now, and you're in this room, and you're thinking to yourself, golly, if that if that preacher only knew how far away from the Lord I was. If that guy only knew. And and frankly, I I don't know, and frankly, I don't care where you're at, I care where you're gonna be. And it's my desire that the word of God would push you together towards the Lord and out of shame and responding to conviction and coming back to where you need to be with the Lord and experience the open arms of Jesus even here today. Um, I I felt, and I I prepped this many months ago, okay? I felt impressed by the Holy Spirit right here in this part of the message, as I was writing the message to say this to someone today, and I don't know who it is, but if the shoe fits, I'm gonna encourage you to wear it today. There is a way out of the sin that you are in right now. There is a way out. Turn to God today, open up to other people about it, walk into freedom, and here's what I would tell you don't wait until it's too late. I meet with people all the time that they just waited, and they waited and they waited and they did not respond to the voice of God, but they just kind of ignored the voice of God, and before you know it, they're not on the cliff about to fall into sin, they're at the bottom, broken, and their family's broken, and they're looking up, going, How in the world did I get here? So listen, it's not too late to turn to the Lord. MacArthur writes it this way about this um this passage. He says, Satan is a malicious enemy who maligns believers. He and his forces are always active, looking for opportunities to overwhelm the believer with temptation, persecution, and discouragement. Satan sows discord. He accuses God to men, men to God, and men to men. He will do what he can to drag the Christian out of, listen this, out of fellowship with Christ and out of Christian service. So I want you to ask yourself some questions just internally today. Am I in conflict with someone because of the attack of Satan? Is there discord between me and someone else in our church or in our community or in my family because we have bought into the attacks of Satan? You want to know if you're fighting against the attack of Satan, you live in peace with people. That's how you know if you're fighting against the attack of Satan. Keep reading the passage, go back to it. It describes uh Satan like this says he prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. He prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Uh, don't miss this in the Bible, okay? And don't miss this like even throughout history and even in modern day times. Satan can only imitate God, he cannot be God. He can only imitate God, he cannot be God. So listen to this Jesus is the lion. Satan only tries to roar like a lion. Um, what is his intention here as he as he prowls around? Like, can you can you picture like me as a lion today? Huh? With a nice long flowing mane? And can you imagine just like what a lion does? He just kind of slowly prowls around, and what does he do? He roars, he growls, he he roars at his prey. You say, Well, why does he roar like a lion? He wants to produce fear in your life. Anybody deal with fear? Anybody deal with anxiety? Anybody deal with worry? One of the greatest attacks of the enemy is that of fear. He wants to prowl around and roar like he's all powerful. And in the midst of that, he wants you to fear him and fear the future. He is an expert of setting traps of sin, temptation to ultimately bring about devastation in your life. When the Bible says that he is seeking someone to devour, who does Satan often pick? The weak, the tired, and the vulnerable. You ever watch National Geographic on TV? And you're like watching some wilderness thing, and you got that lion prowling in the tall grass. And what do you see? You see like a herd of wildebeest, and you got the one with the broken leg that can't is like hobbling along, you know? Or you got you got the baby wildebeest. I'm sorry for all the mamas out there today, it's gonna be a little crude. Um, and then the music starts to hype up. And what does the lion do? The lion, you see him run and he goes after the one with the broken leg, and then somebody scares him away. Then he goes after the baby that got left behind, and and he and who does he go after? The weak, the tired, and the vulnerable. Here's what I tell you. If you today are weak, and you'll get weak some point, if you're at a vulnerable place, and we all get to vulnerable places sometimes, if you're tired, maybe that's you today, you you need to be sober-minded and you need to be watchful because you have an enemy who is seeking someone to devour. Okay, he he will bring his assault on you when you are at a weak place. So if you're there, it's probably a good idea to tell somebody else, hey, I just need you to like be checking in with me right now because I'm not at a good place. And I I just knew like I felt like the word of God was speaking to me today. Uh, I always encourage people to do this as well. Identify those weak moments or seasons in your life. Like uh, if it's at the end of a quarter for those of you in business, if you just had to do the big sales report for the board, after you just got done with this or that in your life, you need to identify when am I most prone to the enemy's attack in my life. Well, does this sound depressing to anybody so far? It's kind of like, okay, so he's gonna be constantly coming at me for the rest of my life, especially when I don't feel like I can stop it. So, what is the key to victory here? Here's where the passage goes: resist him firm in your faith. Resist the devil firm in your faith. This is the key phrase to defeating the attacks of Satan in your life. This is the how to of how to wage the war, wage the battle against the enemy. The word resist here means to withstand. And so it's not about attacking, but it's instead about defending. Uh people, anybody know any weird people? We all know weird people. And some of you someone else is thinking about right now. Okay? Like we're we've all got weird quirks and stuff. Um what this passage does not lead us to do is to be weird people who find a demon under every rock. And then we're praying against it. I'm not saying that's always wrong. It's just not what we're taught here in this passage. Does that make sense? And so so we live in a broken world. So sometimes when you pick up the rock, guess what you find? You live in a broken world, and only this will be right when Jesus comes again. And then other times you pick up the rock and you're like, that is 100% Satan is attacking me, and I need to withstand. Peter tells us the pathway to victory is not going after Satan, but it is withstanding. Like, think about the position I'm sitting in. I am I am standing strong against the enemy right here. I'm not I'm not running away in fear, I'm not cowering down. I mean, I am like firm in great position. I'm standing against the enemy's press in my life. Every morning I pray two things, and I have a much longer prayer list than that, but these are the two that I will not go without. Is every day I will wake up and I'll say, Lord, would you fill me with the power of the Holy Spirit? In other words, it's a yielding to God in my life. You run the show, I don't run the show today. I need your power to go before me. The second thing I do is I pray the armor of God. This is Ephesians chapter six, if you're not familiar with that. I pray the armor of God upon uh my family, like my immediate family. And uh I did that this morning. Sometimes I I even like touch the touch the part of my body. Or I pray the the helmet of salvation upon our family. I pray you guard our thoughts today. Pray the breastplate of righteousness. Would you guard our uh us against uh the wrong desires? I just kind of go all through the the the armor of God. And one of those things is the shield of faith. And here's how I often pictured in my mind is I I picture myself like not like a little bitty shield, like I can hold with three fingers, like okay, Lord, kind of blocking the arrows everything. But man, I'm I'm like full forearm and some holsters, and I am I am withstanding the attacks of the enemy, like the fiery darts of Satan. And I'm not even like withstanding not moving, man. I'm like walking forward in my Christian life, and I am hearing all the pelting of the arrows of the enemy, but I'm not I'm not cowering, I'm not stopping, I'm not retreating, I'm not running away, I'm just like progressing, I'm just walking with Jesus every single day, and I am counting on the shield of faith to guard me from the arrows of enemy. Make sense? So I I'm resisting the enemy, I'm guarded by my faith, I'm firm with my faith, I'm moving forward, I'm I'm withstanding, but still standing. I'm still standing. That was what you saw. Okay. Let's wrap up the passage, okay? Here's how the here's how the whole passage ends. It says knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. To be honest with you, like the first part of this passage is very familiar to those of us who are believers and have been around the Bible for a while. Uh I gotta be honest with you, for many years I I did not understand the end of the passage. Because it seems like kind of a diversion from the the whole thing's about spiritual warfare and spiritual attack, and then you know, you got people around the world, brothers and sisters in Christ, who are also experiencing stuff. So, what is it talking about? Here's what I believe. I think Peter, this is his message. Here's what he's saying to you. You're not the only one dealing with spiritual warfare. Your brothers and sisters around the world who also know Jesus, they are also experiencing the attack of Satan. Now, this is the exact opposite of what Satan wants you to feel. Satan wants you to feel this that you're the only one struggling with a particular sin. He wants you to believe that you're a terrible person for even thinking about it, much less doing it, and you are all alone in this fight. I just want you to heed and hear the word of God today. You're not alone. You're all facing spiritual warfare. I'm facing spiritual warfare. We're all in the battle together. Um, can I have your permission to be blunt for a second? Can I have your yes or no? I get free hugs after the service, right out there. Okay. Suck it up. You're not the only one. Okay? Now the enemy wants you to be discouraged, to be filled with shame. I'm the only one struggling. All these people have it all together. They're all perfect. Look at them in all their cute little dresses and nice clothes. I'm the only one struggling with this. I do not belong here. That's the Diabolos in your life. It's the slanderer in your life. And Peter raises this. It's like if you needed one more thing to tell you that you're not alone. Peter wraps up the passage like this, and just hey, just so you know, you're not the only one. You're not the only one. So can I can I just ask you three questions as we wrap up today and then we'll dismiss. Question number one is this Am I listening to the voice of the slanderer in my life? Am I listening to the voice of the slanderer in my life? Last week we talked about lies. Today, again, we we've we've seen that Satan does a lot of this, doesn't he? He's a talker. He's just a talker. And some of you are so dominated by the speech of Satan in your life that you are not living a victorious Christian life. Just because you're just listening. And he's he's still flapping his his gums over here, right? I'm sitting here in church, he's still talking. I'm trying to read my Bible in the morning, he's still talking. I'm trying to lead my family into godliness, he's still talking. So are you are you listening to the voice of the slanderer in your life? How many of you are living in shame instead of conviction? How many of you that there needs to be a transition of, listen, I I know I did wrong last week. I know that this decision was sinful and it was not right. And Lord, I'm coming back to you instead of living in shame of manna. Nobody else struggles like I do. Nobody else has the same worries that I do. Nobody else struggles and sin like I do. No, no, that's that's hogwash. We've established that, okay? Number two is this. Am I withstanding the attack of Satan in my life? Am I withstanding the attack of Satan in my life? Ask yourself this. Am I being firm in my faith? Am I living a protected life with the shield of faith that God has given me? And I'm just intentionally walking forward? Or have I given in to the attack of Satan in my life? Uh am I so casual in my walk that I'm being defeated on a daily basis? It's a question you gotta ask yourself as a follower of Jesus. Here's a third and final question. Uh Am I on a path to destruction if I don't turn to God? Every single person has got to answer that question today. Am I on a path to destruction if I don't turn to God? Many of you, let me speak to those of you who are Christians today. But maybe there's a secret sin that you're in. Maybe you are tied up in something, and uh and God's like throwing you a life raft today, and it's uh it's a last chance before like this thing goes real south and it ends up ruining a marriage, ruining a career, ruining a relationship with a child, something like that. Would you turn back to the Lord today? There are others of you who uh you've never turned to Christ and you are on the path to destruction. That's not my words, that's the words of the Bible, this book we're reading today. And that all of us are headed towards a real place called hell. We're all born sinners. We naturally gravitate away from the things of God, not towards God. And so we just do what's right, or at least what we think is right. We do what feels right, we do what sounds right, and all of this leads us to a life of we're just walking away from God and you don't even realize it. And yet, this is why Jesus Christ came to earth to free you from living a life for yourself, to free you from the penalty of this kind of life, which is eternity in hell. I'll come back to this uh great shirt I have today. There are others of you who you're living your life like this, and yet there's a hole in your heart. Amen. You you try to fill it with all kinds of things, you try to fill it with work success, you try to fill it with a new toy, like a new car, new house, kind of boat. Um you try to fill it with sexuality, try to fill it with a bottle, try to fill it with all kinds of things. And here's what I just want you to know. In every one of our hearts, there's a God-shaped hole that only he can fill. And so today, some of you are this. You may have been a good moral person, you may have been a church person, but if I were to really press you on this, have you ever repented of this kind of life and put your faith in Jesus Christ and allowed him to fill this hole? You'd say, Nick, I don't think I've ever done that. And today, I want to give you a chance to receive Jesus, to receive forgiveness of sins and to have this hole in your heart filled by the only one who could ever fill it. I want you to bow your head and close your eyes all over this room. Today, if you're here and you be honest enough with me to say, Nick, I know that I'm I'm not a Christian. I may have done some church things or some moral things at some point, but I've I've never trusted Christ like you just talked about, never turned away from a life live for myself, never put my faith in Jesus, then I want to give you an opportunity right now to do that. Just in the quietness of this moment, I want you to know this that God can hear your heart. And so, even just quietly in your heart, if you're ready to turn away from life of sin, the Bible calls that repentance. And if you're ready to put your faith in Jesus and to have him fill that hole in your heart like only he can, I want to encourage you to just pray a simple prayer. Just say it this way in your heart. Jesus, today, I turn to you. I repent of a life of sin and a life lived for myself. And today I put my faith in you. So wrap up your prayer like this: in the best way that I know how, I give my life to you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

If you have questions about what you have heard or would like more information about your relationship with Jesus, please email us at info at crosschurch.com or visit our website at crosschurch.com. At Crosschurch, our mission is to reach Northwest Arkansas, America, and the world for Jesus Christ.