Sermon Central
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Live In Spiritual Warfare Series
Contributed by Shawn Drake on Feb 10, 2024 (message contributor)
Summary: This is the 15th sermon in the series "Live Well".
Series: Live Well [#15]
LIVE IN SPIRITUAL WARFARE
Introduction:
As Christians, we are members of God’s Army. We are at spiritual war every day and God has given us the armor necessary to not just survive but to be victorious. 1 of the tactics of the enemy is that Satan uses spies. A spy is simply someone who pretends to be on your side; but is your enemy and is constantly trying to destroy your army. The higher in leadership the spy can become, the more effective the spy. The Bible refers to Satan’s spies as false prophets or false teachers. For you to be able to follow God honorably each day, you must be able to not only recognize those spies; but also understand that you may have to take a stand against them.
The spies’…
1. Job descriptions.
Peter gives a list of job descriptions for Satan’s spies.
The spy will…
* Bring in destructive divisions.
Notice that these divisions are brought in with no one noticing. The purpose for this is to put the believers against one another. If Satan can get God’s Army to beat each other up; then it makes the battle easier for him to win. God wins the war; but it is the daily battles that many of us lose each day- That’s on us, not God.
The spy will…
* Deny the Word of God.
Understand that these false teachers and false prophets will use parts of Scripture, but only enough to try to convince you that they are genuine because they are using Scripture. Remember, if you take just 1 verse of Scripture, you can make it do whatever you want it to. Our last study focused on the fact that we needed to be constantly reminded of Scripture. Why? If you do not know Scripture, how will you know what is true and what is false? Just because it sounds convincing doesn’t make it true. The Bible tells us to study in order to show ourselves approved. Anytime you hear something that doesn’t quite add up, 1st study the Scripture for yourself and then ask yourself this simple question: “Do I believe this because someone convinced me of it, or do I believe it because this is what the Holy Spirit has shown me through Scripture?”
The spy will…
* Lead for personal gain.
These people are very selfish and are seeking personal wealth, fame, etc… What’s worse is many times these spies are very “charismatic” speakers and are very convincing- Therefore, they will drag many with them.
The spies’…
2. Destruction.
In these verses, Peter reminds us of how God has handled the enemy through the centuries.
God destroyed…
* The fallen angels.
Satan, (who was an Archangel) decided that he was going to dethrone God and become God. Satan convinced 1/3 of the angels in Heaven to follow him. God won this battle and therefore cast the 1/3 of angels that had followed Satan out of Heaven. Some of these fallen angels, (which we call demons) are already confined to Tartarus. Many scholars believe that Tartarus is a special section of Hell where these fallen angels are chained up. Although these fallen angels are locked up, there are still many demons that are busy at work for their leader, Satan.
God destroyed…
* The ancient ungodly world.
This example takes us back to the days of Noah. “The ancient ungodly world” was destroyed by flood. During the 120 years that Noah built the ark, he was warning the people of what was getting ready to happen; but they were hardened and didn’t have time to listen to Noah. Those people did not believe that they would be destroyed. The Bible also tells us that when Jesus comes again, there will be many people that will have the same type of attitude as those in Noah’s day; but I will assure you Jesus is coming again.
God destroyed…
* Sodom and Gomorrah.
Abraham asked God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah if just 10 righteous people could be found; but there were not even 10. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of their evilness. In 2 Peter 2:9 we find Peter drawing attention to the fact that the false prophets in the past were severely punished and destroyed by God; and that would also happen to any other false teacher past, present, and future.
The spies’…
3. Failed to defeat God’s people.
We saw how many perished in the flood because of unbelief; but Noah was faithful to build the ark just like God told him to and when the flood came, Noah and his family was saved. Just because it seems like the enemy is winning in the world, in our homes, in our Churches, in our Cities, in our workplaces, etc…; we are to remain faithful to God and His Word. Never forget that in the end, we win.
