In this sermon, the speaker discusses the strategy of Satan and how to defeat him. He outlines four basic tactics that Satan uses and emphasizes the importance of understanding them. The speaker then examines four individuals in the Bible who had personal encounters with Satan, including Eve, David, Job, and Jesus. He highlights the specific targets, weapons, purposes, and defenses that Satan employed in each case. The sermon concludes with a call to dedicate our bodies, minds, and wills to God in order to resist Satan's attacks and fulfill God's will.

You've discovered, I'm sure, in your Christian life, that the Christian life is not a playground, it's a battleground. Before I was saved, according to Ephesians chapter 2, I walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Before I was saved, according to Ephesians 2, I walked in the lusts of the flesh, and those are the three enemies the Christian faces, the world and the flesh and the devil. We're seeing across America a tremendous satanic revival. If we could have a spiritual revival of the dimensions of the satanic revival we're having, we'd win the world. I walked into a very prominent bookstore in Chicago some weeks ago and surveyed shelf after shelf after shelf of books about the occult. You can walk down Wells Street or Michigan Avenue and meet people who are promoting Satanism. The Satan Church today is officially recognized. You won't do it, but if you did give a donation, it would be tax-deductible. I think Satan has had more churches than those who have just officially been recognized, by the way. The Christian has to know how to handle this battle against the devil. I hear people say, here's a fellow going down Clark Street, he's reeling, he's drunk, the devil's got him. That's the flesh. It's the flesh that makes a man lust. It's the flesh that makes a man drunk. I'm not defending the devil, but I do want to explain from the Word of God that Satan's tactics are far more subtle than that. There are Christians in Chicago who are being taken in by Satan and don't know it. It's possible there are some Christians in Wichita being taken in by Satan and they don't know it. So let's spend our time tonight, I trust profitably, in looking at the strategy of Satan. In order to follow the strategy of Satan and learn how to defeat him, we're going to do it the easiest way possible. We're going to talk to four people in the Bible who had a personal encounter with Satan. Interestingly enough, all four of them are in the Old Testament. Did you know that Satan is mentioned at work only four times in the entire Old Testament? He's there the whole time. Don't misunderstand me. But you're going to find four episodes in the Old Testament where Satan is dealing personally with somebody. I seriously doubt whether Satan has much to do with me. I'm not that important. He has some junior demon, I think, assigned to my frequency. You remember in the book of Acts, the apostle Paul was casting out demons and some Jewish men came along and thought they'd do the same thing. And so in trying to cast out this demon, they said to the man, in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches, sort of a secondhand kind of a formula, in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches, come out of him. And the demon spoke up and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, who are you? Now, it's rather interesting, they knew who Jesus was, obviously. And they knew who Paul was. I imagine out there in the satanic atmosphere where Satan and his armies rally, the name of Paul was cursed over and over again because Paul had invaded their territory. If you start invading the devil's territory, the demons will get to know you. Now in the Old Testament, you're going to find four persons who had a personal encounter with Satan. If you're the kind of person who takes notes, the outline is going to run like this. In each case, there was a target, a weapon, a purpose, and a defense. In each case, when Satan came to these persons, there was a target he was aiming at. There was a weapon he was using. There was a purpose he was seeking to achieve. And thank God there's a defense that we can use against him. Now with the Lord's help tonight, and you must pray as you listen, with the Lord's help tonight, I want us to be able to go away recognizing the strategy of Satan. You say, well, Pastor, are there only four tactics that he uses? There are four basic tactics that Satan uses. You say, I thought it was more complicated than that. No, men have made it more complicated. But there are four basic tactics that Satan uses. And if you and I can grasp these, we'll be well on our way with the Spirit's help to having victory. Genesis chapter 3 is the first person we're going to meet in the person of Eve. Genesis chapter 3. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden. God has said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. The serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And of course you know the rest of the story. The woman saw and she desired and she took, and their eyes were opened, but not quite the way she expected, and sin has now entered the human race. Now what was the target at which Satan was aiming? Keep your place in Genesis 3, but turn back to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. The greatest commentary on the Old Testament is the New Testament. And so when you read your Old Testament scriptures, always trace your cross-references. I meet many saints of God who have these beautiful cross-references in the middle of their page or on the edge of their page. Never use them. Now we're going to follow our cross-reference back to 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 3. Paul says, but I fear, lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. His target was her mind. Now why in the world would Satan want to aim at my mind? For this reason, when God wants to communicate his truth to me, he communicates his truth through my mind. Why is it that many, many Christians have the idea that when you walk into the house of God, you take off your hat, you take your brain off with it, hang both of them up someplace, and come in and sit down? The Bible was written for the mind as well as for the heart. God's truth must be taught to the mind. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind. One whole book in the New Testament is devoted to the mind, the book of Philippians. Some eighteen times in that four-chapter letter, Paul talks about thinking, remembering, knowing, the mind, the mind, the mind. Your mind is important. A man said to me one day, he said, Pastor, when I pray, I just empty my mind. I said, you do that, and Satan moves right in. God never asked anybody to empty his mind. Some folks don't have to work too hard, but God never asked anybody. God never asked anybody to empty his mind. We have all kinds of brethren. We have the United Brethren and the Plymouth Brethren, who rarely drive Plymouths. They most often drive Cadillacs and Lincolns. We have the River Brethren, but Paul hit the nail on the head. Paul said the biggest denomination of all, the Ignorant Brethren. I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren. People say to me, they say, oh, you know, I don't know my Bible. Why? We ought to know the Word of God. You say, well, I haven't got time. I talked to a young man yesterday who was a member of our church, teaches one of our Sunday school classes, was saved out of a cesspool of iniquity as a job that would break my neck. He's in construction, and he's a supervisor in construction, which often means 14 hours a day work. He devotes two hours a day to the study of the Word of God. It's fantastic. He attacked her mind. Now what was his weapon? His weapon was lies. Now Satan's a liar. Jesus tells us that over in John 8.44. He said to that religious crowd, ye are of your father the devil. He's a liar, and he's a murderer. It's rather interesting. God's truth brings life. The devil's lies bring death. You say, well, I'm sort of neutral. You can't be neutral. If a person doesn't believe truth, he ends up believing a lie. God has so constructed the human mind that if we do not accept truth, we end up accepting lies. Now his weapon? Lies. Notice how he does it. Go back to Genesis 3. He comes as the serpent using one of the beasts of the field. He never comes in his true guise. I stopped in a bookstore a couple of weeks ago. I spend a lot of time going through bookstores because I love books, and I want to see what people are reading, especially my young people. Here was a table stacked up with books on the occult, with pictures of Satan. I'd fire the artist. Satan doesn't look like that. A horned, hideous creature with a tail and a pitchfork, that's ridiculous. That came out of the comic books. That didn't come out of the Bible. But Satan never comes in his true guise. He always comes disguised. He's a masquerader. Notice what he does now. In verse 1, he questions God's Word. Yea, hath God said. That's always the first step. The question mark. I can't help but think a question mark looks like a serpent. Here's the question mark. Yea, hath God said. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Yea, hath God said. It's wrong to cheat on an examination. Yea, hath God said. You shouldn't gossip about your neighbor. He questions God's Word. Then the next step is he denies God's Word. Verse 4. Ye shall not surely die. You see, if you listen to the question, you'll end up getting the denial. And Eve listened to the question. He questioned God's Word, then he denied God's Word, and finally he substitutes his own lie. And his own lie is something rather interesting in verse 5. Ye shall be as gods. Now, who can turn that down? You see, Satan himself became the enemy of God because he wanted to be God. Back in Isaiah chapter 14, we have Lucifer, the light bearer. Lucifer, one of God's creatures. In fact, probably the highest of the angelic creatures. He's called the anointed cherub that guardeth. And Lucifer said, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will be like the Most High. God said, oh no, you won't. Now, by the way, it's worth noting in verse 5 that this is the lie that is running the world today. Back during World War II, Mr. Goebbels, who was Adolf Hitler's propaganda minister, said if you tell a lie long enough and loud enough, people will believe it. And Satan has told this lie long enough and loud enough and people believe it. What is the lie? That man is not a created being who has an obligation to his creator. Man is his own God and has no responsibility to a creator. Paul picks this up over in Romans 1 when he tells us about people who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, not a lie, the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator. I don't know about Wichita, but most of the people in Chicago are living for the creature and paying no attention to the creator. Consequently, our city is in trouble. So he questions God's word, he denies God's word, then he substitutes his lie. Now, notice what Eve does. Eve falls for the trap, and in verse 2, she takes away from God's word. We may eat of the fruit. God didn't say you may eat. God said you may freely eat. But she took that word freely out. Young people come to me and say, why is God so hard on us? We can't do this and we can't do that. We can't do something else. And I say, have you ever stopped to think of how good God's been to you? Freely you have this and freely you have that. And she drops the word freely and takes away from God's word in verse 2. And in verse 3, she adds to God's word. Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it. Now, we don't have any record in chapter 2 that God said they shouldn't touch it. I'm sure it was wrong to do that. But she's adding to God's word. She takes away from his graciousness. She drops the word freely. And she adds to his judgment. Don't touch it. But worse than that, she changes God's word. It's bad enough to add to it and take away from it. She changes it. At the end of verse 3, she says, lest ye die. And God didn't say, lest ye die. God said, ye shall surely die. But Satan's got her. My friend, once you and I question this book and begin to tamper with this book, Satan's got us. That's why he hates the Bible. That's why he hates churches that preach the Bible. I was chatting with a fellow in Chicago not long ago who was describing to me the iniquitous kind of life he was living without any blushing or any shame, telling me the dirty life he was living and backing it up with Scripture. Backing it up with Scripture. Satan had so gotten a hold of this fellow's mind that he could use the Bible to endorse his sin. His target, the mind, his weapon lies. Now, what was his purpose? His purpose was to make Eve ignorant of God's will. Ignorant of God's will. Now, friends, if you and I don't know the will of God, we're sunk. We're absolutely sunk. Here's a young couple establishing their home. If they don't know what the will of God is for the home, they're done for. Here's a young man setting off for university or college. If he doesn't know the will of God for studying and learning, he's going to be in trouble. Here's an older couple coming to retirement if they don't know what the Bible says about the way older people are supposed to live. And by the way, it does tell us a lot about how older people are supposed to live. I'm studying up on it. I want to be ready. They're going to have problems. Here's a church seeking to serve the Lord. If they don't know what the Bible says about pastors and deacons and members and churches, they're going to have difficulty. Your pastor has this experience, as all of us do. Folks come in to see you, and they sit down. You pray and say, now, what's your problem? They start to tell you this long, detailed problem that they have. Some of these situations are like trying to unscramble an egg. And there they sit and tell you about it. And you stop them, and you say, folks, I want to ask you a question. Do you two ever read the Bible? No. Don't you day by day just read the Word of God and feed your soul? No. No, we don't do that. Well, no wonder you've got problems. No wonder. Satan wants to make us ignorant of God's will. I have a friend who thought he knew the will of God about something. He took some very foolish steps. What he thought was faith was presumption. Almost wrecked his whole life. You say, well, I don't pray about the will of God. You better. You better pray about the will of God. And here's where we find the will of God. In the Word of God. And if Satan can come along with lies, and fill our mind with lies, or even one good lie, quote unquote, he's got us. I've seen homes wrecked by one lie. I've seen Sunday school classes completely disrupted by one lie. Somebody in that class believes some lie about somebody else. It's very strange. People don't come to me with gossip. You know why? I don't listen to it. Whenever folks come to me, I say, just a minute, you got some witnesses? Do I have what? Do you have some witnesses? The Bible says in the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be, no, I don't, then shut up. You say, you're rather, you're rather harsh. No, I'm sorry. I'm not scriptural. You want to wreck a church, just start some lies going around. Young people, you want to wreck your youth group, just start some lies going. Satan's the liar. His target, the mind, his weapon, lies. His purpose, to make us ignorant of God's will. Now what is our defense? The inspired Word of God. The inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God. It's interesting that when Satan came to Jesus and tried to tempt Him, Jesus didn't argue with him. He could have. Jesus Christ is the sum total of all of God's wisdom. He didn't argue with Satan. He just quoted Scripture. You're hungry for 40 days. A couple of weeks ago, I heard heaven announce, this is my beloved son, beloved son. This is what you call love? You're hungry? What kind of a father do you have? Why don't you turn these stones into bread? Just bring that up to date. Oh, you're one of God's children? How come your wife's in the hospital with cancer? God loves you. How come your son lost his job? How come you had that auto accident? If God loves you, what are you doing hungry? Now, why don't you just take a shortcut and turn those stones into bread? Now, Jesus didn't sit down and give Satan a long theological argument. He just simply said, it is written. And by the way, He didn't have to use a concordance to find the verse. If the old serpent shows up on many of us and starts throwing something, there's a verse someplace, you know. Oh, no. He just said, it is written. Pulled out that sword. Man shall not live by bread alone. Imagine using a verse from Deuteronomy to defeat the devil. I thought you were supposed to use the Gospel of John. Deuteronomy. He says, oh, you're going to quote the Bible? Two can play at that game. Takes him up on top of the pinnacle of the temple and says, now it says in the Bible that Satan can quote the Bible. A man came in to see me one day and proved to me from the Bible he was supposed to divorce his wife. Isn't that interesting? Satan knows how to use the Bible. He said, now the Word of God says if you cast, He's going to give His angels charge over you to keep you in all, to keep you, period. He didn't put in all thy ways. He left that out. Now, why don't you jump down and let's see if God will do it. Jesus said, it is written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Deuteronomy. Then He gets him up and shows him all the kingdoms of the world. He said, I can give this to you if you'll just once, just once, not fifty times, once, bow down and worship me. And Jesus said, it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve. And Satan said, I didn't say a word about service. Jesus said, wait a minute, whoever you worship, you serve. How did Jesus defeat Satan? He said, well, he was God. Jesus did not defeat Satan in the power of deity. Jesus defeated Satan with the same power available to us. Don't ever get the idea when you read the four Gospels that Jesus accomplished what He did in a way different from our way. The Holy Spirit of God gave Jesus Christ the sword of the Spirit and energized Him for battle. He'll do the same thing for us. Don't ever sit back and say, well, I'm not God. I mean, He was God. Uh-uh. His first words were, man shall not live. I'm not here as God, although I am God. Satan, I'm going to fight this battle the way every one of my followers is going to fight this battle, with the Spirit of God using the Word of God. By the way, do you spend time every day in God's Word? Have you got an artillery of good promises? Precepts and principles from the Word of God you can take and use on the wicked one? I hope so. Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee. The inspired Word of God. Now, the second person we're going to visit tonight is a very well-known person. His name is Job. Job is the second one over in Job chapters 1 and 2. He came to Eve, his target the mind, his weapon lies, his purpose to make her ignorant of God's Word, our defense, the inspired Word of God. Now, Job. You know the story of Job. Job was wealthy and godly and had a godly family. And unknown to him, totally unknown to him, up in heaven, there's a conversation. Now, Satan has access to heaven. Not until the middle of the tribulation will Satan be thrown out. And so Satan comes up and God says, Where you been? Oh, he said, Going to and fro upon the earth. Peter later on adds, Seeking whom he may devour. And God says, Have you considered my servant Job? He says, You bet your life I've considered your servant Job. I've had my eye on him. But I can't get my hands on him. You've hedged him about. You've protected him. And Satan said, I'll tell you one thing. If he loses what he's got, he'll curse you to your face. He's what they call in the mission field a rice Christian. Sure, he's rich. He's got a great family. Why shouldn't he be religious? God says, All right. You can go to work, but you can't touch him. Aren't you glad that when God permits Satan to work, he sets the boundaries. Whenever the Lord puts you through the furnace, he always keeps his hands on the thermostat. Don't ever worry about that. He knows how much we can take. He knows how much we can take. And so in one day's time, the stock market crashed. Lost his flocks, lost his herds, lost his children. He didn't lose his wife, but the way she acted, maybe he'd have been better off if he had. I don't know. Can you imagine here the dear man, his wife just falls apart? Of course, he needed her later on because they were going to start all over again. He loses everything. What does he do? He says, When I was naked, I came out of the womb. Anybody can say that. And naked, I'm going to leave. Anybody can say that. The Lord gave. The Lord has taken away. Anybody can say that. Blessed be the name of the Lord. It takes a saint to say that. Now, the next test was a little harder. Satan shows up in heaven and God says, I told you. And imagine all the angels watching this drama. You know, the angels are watching us today. They are learning through the church the ways of God. I wonder how much they're learning. I wonder. The angels are watching and God says, I told you. That man Job. Sterling character. Satan says, Sure. But skin for skin, all that a man hath he'll give for his life. Let me touch his body. God says, Alright, but you can't take his life. And you know the story. Job woke up itching one day. Before long, he was covered with a noxious disease with running sores. He describes it in the book. His breath got so bad chlorophyll didn't even help at all. His breath got bad. People stayed away from him. There he sat. Just a complete bundle of misery. Now, what was Satan's target? His body. You say, you mean Satan attacks the believer's body? That's right. Why does Satan want to attack my body? For several reasons. Number one, my body is God's temple. And when God permits Satan to attack my body, he's attacking the temple of God. Secondly, my body is God's treasury. Over in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, Paul says we have this treasure in earthen vessels. And God has deposited this treasury of grace in our bodies. Satan fights us. But the main reason, my body is God's temple and my body is God's treasury. According to Romans chapter 6, my body is God's tool. Paul says in Romans 6, yield the members of your body as instruments, tools, or weapons of righteousness. My hand can be doubled into a fist and I can hurt somebody or my hand can pick up a pen and I can write a letter and encourage a missionary. God can use my feet and my ears and my eyes and God says I want your body as my tool. And Satan says I'll wreck that tool. His target is the body. Now what is his weapon? His weapon is suffering. Dear Christian friend keep in mind that there are two kinds of suffering in the Bible. Please keep this in mind. Otherwise you may get into discouragement and defeat. There is correcting suffering and there is perfecting suffering. Now correcting suffering is over in Hebrews chapter 12 where God chastens me to make me what He wants me to be. When Jonah ran away from God God sent a storm and in that storm and in being thrown into the water and swallowed by the fish and then regurgitated again in all of this experience God was correcting Jonah. But not all the storms of life are corrective. One day Jesus said to His disciples I'll meet you on the other side of the lake. Remember that? And He went off and they got in the boat and halfway across boy a storm moved in like they'd never seen before and these seasoned fishermen were scared. Now why were they in that storm? Because they obeyed God. Jonah was in the storm because he disobeyed. There are times when God permits perfecting suffering to come and sometimes He'll allow Satan to do it. A few years ago I was rounding the curve of a very quiet little highway about three miles from our home when we were pasturing down in Covington, Kentucky and a drunken driver came around the bend so fast I didn't see and he was going about ninety miles an hour ran right smack into me he was killed instantly five more minutes I would have been dead and I'll never forget those weeks of recuperation a week or so in the intensive care ward and then in the hospital and then at home and the chaplain of the hospital who did not happen to be a Christian believer just a nice guy said to me boy it's too bad this happened here you are a preacher and this happened to you I thought well you poor blind fella I said listen I have learned more about the grace of God in this hospital than I ever learned in five years at seminary because when you go through it you know it I said quite frankly it's worth being within five minutes of death just to find out how real the whole thing is that's perfecting suffering and God knew I needed that just to help me grow and that's what God was doing with Joel his target the body his weapon suffering his purpose now this is the important thing you say boy pastor where's me I felt it in my body there are dear saints of God who come to this church week after week whose bodies hurt if they were my sissies like some other people we know they'd stay home they keep coming they pray and say oh God why why here I want to serve you and I want to do your will why what is Satan's purpose he wants to make us impatient with God's will now class Job is mentioned only one time in the entire New Testament anybody happen to know where it is that's right over in the book of James chapter 5 you know of the what patience of Job here's the book of Job with all these long chapters some 40-42 chapters and yet when the New Testament zeroes in on Job it grabs one thing about him patience now my friend if the devil can make us impatient he's got remember the last time you got impatient with God's will the mess you made out of things did you ever go through your Bible and make a list of the people who lost their patience Abraham got impatient one day married the wrong woman begat a son and that boy's descendants have been given the Jewish people fits ever since impatience he got impatient one day went down to Egypt almost lost his wife almost lost his life Moses got impatient one day and killed a man and buried him God had to put him over in the desert for 40 years taking care of sheep then he brought him back and put him to work and well again one day Moses got impatient and smote the rock and he lost his ticket into the promised land he had to wait until the transfiguration to get there David got impatient one time numbered the people 70,000 people died Peter got impatient one night pulled out his sword aimed for a man's throat got his ear and Jesus reached over and healed the ear it's a good thing there would have been four crosses on Calvary you see impatience is evidence of unbelief back in the book of Isaiah chapter 28 verse 16 the prophet says he that believeth shall not make haste and when you find yourself getting nervously impetuous weight unbelief is an evidence or impatience is an evidence of unbelief and impatience is an evidence of immaturity little children are always impatient when we were living in Covington my family lives up in Hammond, Indiana it's a long trip from Covington to Hammond we'd get in the car during vacation days to drive up to see Grandma and Grandpa we'd stop at the first stoplight and my little Judy would say are we there? I'd say no we've got six hours and fifteen minutes more to go I'll never make it you see a lot of people grow old who never grow up and they're still just as impatient as children impatience is an evidence of immaturity that's why James chapter one says count it all joy when you're falling into various testings knowing that the trying of your faith works patience but let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect mature wanting nothing boy if the devil can get a hold of an impatient Christian he can wreck a church he can blow up a home he can split a Sunday school class because impatience is one of the works of the flesh his target the body his weapon suffering his purpose to make me impatient with God's will what's my weapon when he comes at my mind I have the inspired word of God when he comes at my body I have the same thing Paul had the imparted grace of God one day Satan went to work on Paul and lest I should be exalted above measure wrote the apostle to meet your need by the way make a list someday of all the unanswered prayers in the Bible have you lived long enough to be thankful for unanswered prayer take it away God said Paul if I took that away you'd be a flop why you've been up to the third heaven and if you want to have great experiences like that there's a price to pay you get your hands out and God loads your hands with blessings if he keeps on loading your hands with blessings you know what'll happen you'll fall flat in your face so he puts some burdens on your back to kind of balance you that's right and Paul said Lord take it away and God said I won't do it I want you to be the great apostle Paul I'll tell you what I'm going to do my grace is sufficient for thee then Paul changed his tune and said most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities for when I'm weak I'm strong the imparted grace of God I'd love to linger on that but I'll just drop this into your mind into your heart you were saved by grace you have to live by grace if you can explain what God is doing in your life if you can explain what's happening in your life God's not doing it that's right if you can explain what happens in a church God's not doing it you say well we have a great church because we have no no it's God who has to do it God's grace why what do we deserve we deserve hell grace aren't you glad he's the God of all grace he's cornered the market on grace the God of all grace suffering grace my grace is sufficient for thee here's the bank book here's the guide book he's the God of all grace and the Bible is the word of his grace and his throne is the throne of grace and when a child of God who's been saved by grace comes to the God of all grace with the promises of the word of grace at the throne of grace he can say with James he giveth more grace are you living by grace tonight now when Satan brings some circumstance to your life that makes your body uncomfortable doesn't have to be sickness and accident it could just be waiting at a railroad crossing I've seen saints lose their sanctification waiting for an elevator I was stranded at O'Hare field one day which is not unusual and I've learned to accept these things from my father's hands all things work together for good what can you do anyway and so and so I'm sitting there reading I always carry a book with me I read an entire I've read I read two entire books sitting in Tulsa one day waiting for a plane to show up I'm sitting there and here's a fellow pacing around and swearing and smoking one cigarette after another and he said to me how can you be so calm so I told him I said you know I said Delta doesn't run this airline my father does and I've learned that my father arranges things and I'm just not going to work he said do you really believe that I said yes I do and he just shook his head he thought he was cornered with an idiot of some kind I think but isn't it true we get impatient the imparted grace of God we've got to hurry now would you turn to First Chronicles 21 Pastor may I continue a few more minutes alright you'll be here if nobody else will First Chronicles chapter 21 now if I were to ask you what David's great sin was you'd probably say Bathsheba and it was a great sin he committed adultery he made a man drunk he killed the man he lied about it for a year and because of his sin four people died but you know in First Chronicles 21 David commits another sin and 70,000 people died it was not a sin of the flesh it was a sin of the spirit First Chronicles 21 and Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel now once a year the Jews were supposed to number the people starting from 20 years old and on up and get a half a shekel from them for the sanctuary this was redemption money once a year the Jew would pony out his half shekel as a reminder you're not your own you're bought with a price nothing wrong with numbering the people if you do it to the glory of God but David wanted to be sure he was in the top ten David wanted to be sure his press releases were good he calls in Joab and Joab was far from being the most godly man in the Bible Joab was a scoundrel he said Joab number the people Joab said the Lord grant to my Lord many more don't do it isn't it amazing how a fellow like Joab had more sense than David David said do it or else he did it they spent some ten months numbering the people counted them up and issued the press release and God said you know what David you've sinned I'm going to give you a choice now what do you want gave him three choices do you want to fall before your enemies what do you want David said let me fall into the hands of the Lord great are his mercies please don't let me fall into the hands of man well how true that is pestilence hit Jerusalem they began to die like flies carrying them out on wagons and David went out oh it's a sad thing David went out and he found the threshing floor he saw the angel of God with his sword and David bought the threshing floor where he saw the angel and he offered sacrifices and God stopped the plague the interesting thing is this the site of that threshing floor became the location for the temple it's rather amazing David committed two great sins Bathsheba and from that Solomon was born and numbering the people and from that he got the territory for the temple and Solomon built the temple where sin abounds grace much more abounds but 70,000 people died and the devil did it now what was his target not his mind he was not deluded or deceived not his body things were never going better for David by the way watch out one of the biggest mistakes we Christians make is wasting our victories David had won a victory here and won a victory there and things were going great and he relaxed it wasn't his body it wasn't his mind it was his will pride he attacked David's will and his weapon was pride what was his purpose not to get him ignorant of God's will he knew he was out of God's will did it deliberately not to make him impatient with God's will things were going great he wanted David to be independent of God's will he was saying to David hey David you're somebody important I don't think you really know how important you are let's number the people let's find out how important you are and pride welled up within David's heart and pride goeth before destruction pride is Satan's sea and the Bible warns us in the New Testament about falling into the snare of the devil which is pride his target the will has Satan ever swooped down upon your will and sought to capture your will and said hey you can do this and get away with it what is your defense when he attacks my mind I have the inspired word of God when he attacks my body I have the imparted grace of God when he attacks my will I have the indwelling spirit of God it is God that worketh in you both to what will and to do of his good pleasure Philippians chapter 2 verses 12 and 13 there have been times in my life times too many to number when Satan has just swooped down upon my will and said do this and I've had to cry out to God and say oh God by your Holy Spirit get a hold of my will and the Holy Spirit does it you know Paul had a problem Romans chapter 7 he said boy to will is present with me but how to do it I find not you ever have that problem the things I should do I don't do the things I shouldn't do I do oh wretched man that I am what's the answer the Holy Spirit of God down inside the average Christian doesn't trust the Holy Spirit oh you say Pastor Worsby I face some awful temptations my will is weak ah but the Spirit is strong and our weapon is the is the indwelling Spirit of God who takes the will and controls it to the glory of God now I've got to rush because you'll never invite me back if I keep you here too long would you turn to the book of James please chapter 4 James chapter 4 James makes a a very important statement here we have to lay hold of James chapter 4 and verse 7 resist the devil and he will flee from you that's not the whole verse though is it what does he say before that submit yourselves therefore to God resist the devil look right up here you and I cannot fight the devil until first we submit ourselves to God you say fine what should I submit I want you to quote two verses with me quote them out loud would you Romans 12 1 and 2 here we go I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God what does it mean to be dedicated to give God three gifts my body my mind and my will these are the areas that Satan attacks he says present your body he attacked Job's body he says don't be conformed to this world let your mind be renewed he attacked Eve's mind that you might prove what is that acceptable will of God he attacked David's will first thing tomorrow morning before you get out of bed while you're lying there say thank you God that I belong to Jesus take my body take my mind take my will just give it to him then get out of bed open your Bible and let him renew your mind then get on your knees and pray and let him get a hold of your will and you know what when you step out your door you have submitted yourself to God he has your body your mind your will and during the day when Satan attacks you the spirit of God goes to work to give you victory you've got the inspired word of God you've got the indwelling spirit of God you've got the imparted grace of God well if you submit then you can resist there's one more person I won't keep you much longer just be patient now a fellow said to me one day he said where is it when I listen to you I get numb on one end and dumb on the other I don't want that I don't want that to happen to you these three weapons Satan uses on earth he came to Eve on earth attacked her mind he came to Job on earth attacked his body came to David on earth attacked his will but you know when we do sin we shouldn't but we do if we do sin he's got a fourth weapon not on earth up in heaven turn to Zechariah chapter 3 Zechariah chapter 3 talks about Joshua the high priest this is not the Joshua who led the Jews into the promised land this is the Joshua who was the high priest when the Jews came back from Babylonian captivity and Zechariah the prophet has a vision he sees Joshua the high priest up in heaven standing before the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him now the interesting thing about this is in verse 3 Joshua was clothed with filthy garments you know why? the Jews had sinned against God the high priest was supposed to stand before God with clean garments but in Zechariah chapter 3 up in heaven Joshua stands before God in dirty garments did you ever stand before God in dirty garments? sure you have the last time we sinned we soiled our garments and when we did we're standing there before God and Satan is standing there as the accuser and Satan says to God look at Joshua he's one of your chosen look at those Jews down there you're a holy God they deserve to be judged you see Satan is the accuser of the brethren Revelation chapter 12 verse 10 and every time we sin he stands before the throne of holiness and he accuses me before God and when he accuses me before God it ricochets back and hits me down here and I get concerned and I get discouraged the difference between God's conviction and Satan's accusation is this the devil accuses me because he hates me God convicts me because he loves me the devil accuses me to destroy me God convicts me to cleanse me I finished a radio program one morning the phone rang here was a dear lady on the other end of the line she said pastor I won't tell you who I am you don't even know me I want to ask you a question she said when I was 16 years old I fell into horrible sin and then I got saved and now I'm trying to live a Christian life with my husband and my children they've asked me to be a Sunday school teacher should I do it? I said what's the problem? well she said look what I did when I was 16 I said my Bible says the blood of Jesus Christ God's son cleanses us from all sin when you gave your heart to Jesus Christ who cares what happened when you were 16 she began to cry she said to think that all these years I've been sitting on the shelf afraid to serve God listening to Satan's accusations all across this country I've met people who are on the shelf because Satan keeps saying remember what you did 30 years ago remember what you said 5 years ago I know about you the accuser of the brethren his target my heart he wants to accuse me and make me miserable his weapon accusation his purpose lay hold of this believer he wants to bring about an indictment between me and God he wants me to believe God hates me God's through with me God can do nothing for me Satan is such a rascal before I sin he says you can get away with it and after I sin he says boy it's all over with you and people believe this now look when you sin when I sin what do we do? well 1 John tells us what to do my little children these things write I unto you that you sin not but if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father let's read about it in Zechariah chapter 3 now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel and he answered and spake unto those that stood before him saying take away the filthy garments from him and unto him he said behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee I will clothe thee with change of raiment isn't that beautiful? oh you see my dear friend when you and I sin and we stand before God in filthy garments at our right hand Satan stands to accuse us but at God's right hand stands one to cleanse us Satan is the accuser but Jesus is the advocate that word advocate means lawyer aren't you glad you have a lawyer up in heaven? and the American Bar Association cannot take away his credentials did it ever dawn upon you that when Jesus went back to heaven in a glorified resurrection body it wasn't perfect? it was wounded he said here reach in feel my wounds my side you know when I get my glorified body no more bridges and no more eye trouble no more ear trouble when I get my glorified body it will be perfect he went back to heaven with an imperfect body you know why? those wounds forever plead and so I stand before God and I say oh God he attacked my mind and I believed his lies or he attacked my body and I got impatient or he attacked my will and I got independent oh God I'm dirty Satan says you sure are you see when I'm doing something right the devil tells lies when I do something wrong he tells the truth Lord what am I going to do? Jesus steps up and says I've done it I've done it quote it with me if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness with weapons like these we shouldn't lose we have the inspired word of God we have the imparted grace of God we have the indwelling spirit of God we have the interceding son of God and if God be for us who can be against us Heavenly Father we pray that the word we've studied might go to work in our lives in our hearts may it not just be truth that we have learned mentally may it make its way into our very spiritual being to control us Lord we would daily surrender body and mind and will we would daily have the mind renewed by the word the will submitted by prayer Father help us tonight to submit that we might be able to resist Lord if some dear ones here tonight who's never been saved may that one come to Christ tonight if there's some defeated saint of God who needs victory may that one find in Christ victory tonight thank you Lord Jesus for dying for us when you died you whipped the devil praise God we're working not for victory but from victory hallelujah make this real to us now for Jesus sake we pray Amen