Title: Who is the Enemy – 1?
“The REAL Enemy”
Text: I Peter 5:8
It seems pretty obvious from this Scripture who the enemy is. If I were to go around the room tonight with the microphone and ask each of you who is your enemy, most of you would respond the devil. However, some of our beliefs and words say otherwise. I want to teach on the subject of “Who is the Enemy?” and explore Scripture to make sure that we realize who our real enemy is.
Trouble seems to be as much of a part of life as breathing. Everyone has trouble at some point in their life. And human nature always wants to place the blame for its trouble on someone else. That started in the Garden of Eden. As soon as Adam had to explain his disobedience to God, he pointed the finger to his wife! When God said, “Adam, you have eaten from the forbidden tree?” Adam replied, “The woman you gave me, she gave me of the tree and I ate! It wasn’t my idea! It was hers!” That is my paraphrase, but that is pretty much what Adam said.
When trouble arises, the most natural thing to do is to place the blame on someone or something. Sadly, for the most part, many Christians have been falsely accusing God of being the cause of their troubles. The number one deception in the Church today is that our problems, trials and tribulations were sent by God to teach us something. I want to clear this up tonight because this lie says that trials and tribulations are God’s tools of developing and strengthening our character. The very extreme of this deception is that God Himself is the author of our troubles or that God is the One who makes us sick in order to teach us something. This is absolutely against the Word of God!
I am going to show you why this is against the basic foundation of Christianity. The very basic principle of the Christian life is to know that God put our sin, our sickness and disease, our sorrow, grief and poverty on Jesus at Calvary. For God to put any of this on us now to teach us or to strengthen our faith would be a miscarriage of justice. To believe that God has a purpose for your sickness would mean that Jesus bore your sickness in vain. What an insult to His love and care and compassion toward you!
James 1:6-8; “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
Luke 11:17; “But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.”
From these Scriptures, if a man thinks, imagines, assumes or in any way has the idea that God is behind all his troubles, either by permission or commission, he will never resist it. And if he does not resist it, then he will certainly fail, because his hesitation will give Satan just the edge that he needs to defeat him. Jesus goes on to say that even Satan’s kingdom believes the same thing. We must know who our enemy is. If we say one moment that Jesus is behind this sickness, and then in the next breath we say that Jesus died for our sickness, that is a kingdom that is divided against itself and you will never receive victory as long as you keep speaking and believing both things. It doesn’t work!
In the world of the Spirit, there is a challenger, a counterfeit, an opponent of God and all His people and he knows his business well. But there is also the armour of God, the Word of God and the power to defeat this opponent. But we must know that the devil is the bad guy here!
James 4:7; “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
When we hesitate and wonder who is bringing the destruction in our life, then we are not opposing or resisting, but we are wondering. The devil then easily defeats us because we are sitting wondering if this sickness if from God, we are wondering if this financial struggle is coming from God. We are in the hospital bed saying, “Well, God is just trying to get my attention so I had to be put in this hospital bed so that I would have time for Him.” I have heard that with my own ears! We lay there thinking God is the One who put us there, when the Bible makes it very clear that the devil is the one that put us there. The Bible tells us that we must resist him, but we can’t resist him if we don’t know it is him. So, we must know that the devil is our enemy, not God! We have to start clearly distinguishing between what is coming from Satan and not blame God for something that is not His doing. This is why it is so important to understand who our enemy is.
Satan has no defence against the Word of God. He has no defence against the Name of Jesus. He has no defence against the born again believer who is walking in faith and acting on the Word of God. He has no defence against any of these because Jesus said in Matthew 28:18 that all power and authority has been given to Him both in heaven and in earth. Satan has literally been stripped of his power.
The devil is smart and he knows that he is defenceless, so in order to stop a believer, his only tool is deception. He must get us to buy into something that sounds good and looks good but is really a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He usually does this in the area of knowing who your enemy is. He gets us to blame God for things that were really never God’s doing.
What does the Bible say about troubles:
James 1:2-8; ΒΆ “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
I want us to take a closer look at verse 3; “The trying of your faith produces patience.” Our interpretation of this Scripture is that the test produces faith in you and it perfects your faith. That is not what this Scripture says. It does not say that the trying of your faith is to teach you, or that it perfects your faith, or that it makes your faith strong. According to Romans 10:17; “So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Faith is not strengthened by trials and struggles of life! Faith is strengthened by the Word of God. So, we find in James 1:3 that the trials and testings of your life does not produce faith, it actually produces patience.
What does patience mean? It does not mean to put up with like many of us think it means. Webster gives several definitions for this one word:
1. bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint
2. manifesting forbearance under provocation or strain
3. not hasty or impetuous
4. steadfast despite opposition, difficulty, or adversity
5. to be constant, or the same way, all the time regardless of circumstances
The trials of life were meant to create this kind of character in each and every one of us. This is the way that the Lord wants each of us to be. Patient, stable, consistent, the same way all the time. Regardless of our circumstances, regardless of what life throws at us, we should always be able to respond in the same exact way. What way would that be? “Thus saith the Lord.” In the midst of sickness, the response should be, “Thus saith the Lord.” In the midst of financial struggle, the response should be, “Thus saith the Lord.” In the midst of turmoil, the response should be, “Thus saith the Lord.” That is patience!
Look on in verse 4; “If we let patience have her perfect work, we will be perfect and complete, wanting nothing.” A patient man if a stable man! He is a constant man! He is a single-minded man! He doesn’t have to ask himself, “Who is my enemy? Is God my problem or is Satan? Is there a shady area between the two?”
This poses another question, a question that rings through everyone’s ear at some point or another. Does God use Satan’s tactics to discipline His family? What is the chastisement of the Lord? Does it mean the same in the New Testament as it meant in the Old Testament? In the Old Testament, we see some pretty scary things that the LORD does to people. He took away a baby from David because of his adultery and murder and the list goes on and on.
To answer these questions, we must know how to rightly divide the Word of Truth. The way you divide it is before the Cross and after the Cross.
Isaiah 53:5; “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”
Isaiah 53 is a prophecy of Jesus, the Messiah. Isaiah is prophesying here and is speaking of the things that are to be laid on Jesus.
The English Dictionary defines chastisement as “punishment by inflicting pain.” Chastisement means punishment. Jesus bore our sins so that we don’t have to bear them. Jesus bore our sicknesses so that we don’t have to bear them. Jesus bore our punishing chastisement so that we don’t have to bear it!
Isaiah 53 is a prophecy of what will be taking place on the Cross, while Isaiah 54 is a prophecy concerning the Resurrected Jesus, the Redeemer. So, Isaiah 54 speaks of what will take place after Jesus dies and rises again and ascends into heaven. In Isaiah 54 God is no longer speaking to Israel, but to the Church of Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 54:8; “With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you," Says the LORD, your Redeemer.”
Isaiah 54:13-17; “All your children shall be taught by the LORD, And great shall be the peace of your children. 14 In righteousness you shall be established; You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; And from terror, for it shall not come near you. 15 Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake. 16 "Behold, I have created the blacksmith Who blows the coals in the fire, Who brings forth an instrument for his work; And I have created the spoiler to destroy. 17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me," Says the LORD.”
Isaiah 54:8; “But with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.” I want you to keep in mind throughout the rest of this Scripture that the Redeemer is speaking. When we read this, we are reading from the mouth of God. This is what God Himself has said.
Isaiah 54:13; “And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” Who are those children? We are! The believers, the Body of Christ, this is speaking of the children of God as a result of the New Birth.
Isaiah 54:14a; “In righteousness you shall be established.” This is for us right now, here on earth. We have already been established in righteousness. Romans 5:17; “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.”
Isaiah 54:14b; “You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; And from terror, for it shall not come near you.” Once you become born again because of the work of Jesus in the death, burial and resurrection you will never have to fear another day in your life. I am coming so that you can be free from those things that cause fear and terror.
Isaiah 54:15; “Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake.” What is this talking about? According to verse 14 fear, terror and oppression will gather together against you. There is no doubt about it. But Jesus, the Redeemer is speaking and He says, these things will gather themselves against you, but they are not from Me! How much clearer can you get? The Redeemer says, “All these bad things will happen to you, but I want you to know that they are NOT from me!”
Isaiah 54:16; “Behold, I have created the blacksmith Who blows the coals in the fire, Who brings forth an instrument for his work; And I have created the spoiler to destroy.” Yes! God created Satan! Ezekiel told of how Satan was created perfect, and then iniquity was found in him. This is where the problem lies. God has given His word on certain points. He will not break or go back on His Word, even to Satan. This put God in a position of having to keep His promises, because He always keeps His promises. Satan is trying to trap God in a lie and it cannot be done. So, what God is saying to us is, yes, I am the One that created the one who caused your trouble, I will take responsibility for it, but I also will give YOU the power to overcome him. Listen:
Isaiah 54:17; “No weapon formed against you will prosper.” Even though God created Satan, even though Satan committed treason before God and led man into treason, God has provided a way so that no weapon that Satan forms against us will prosper.
Isaiah 54:17b; “And every tongue that shall rise against you in judgement thou shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, says the Lord.” I want each of you to leave with an absolute truth and that is God is not your problem. Satan is your problem, he is your enemy. But the good news is that God has provided your complete deliverance through Jesus Christ. Always remember, NO weapon formed against you will prosper.
