From His Heart

Speaker 1

Today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve, we'll discover the trouble we're really in for in this life and what to do about it.

Speaker 2

The devil didn't come to mess with you. He came to massacre you. He didn't come to play.

He came to pounce and rip you apart and destroy your marriage and destroy your family and get after your kids and your grandkids.

He came to steal your joy and steal your peace and kill your testimony for Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1

The Bible speaks of three enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil. How are we going to overcome these three? It begins with knowing where the attack is coming from so that we can know what to do when the attack happens.

You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. Thank you for joining us today for part two of the lesson called "The Adversary" from Pastor Jeff's new six-lesson series, "This is War: Overcoming the World, the Flesh, and the Devil." In this series, he shares three essentials for walking in victory as a conqueror through Jesus Christ, even though the enemy lurks and pounces.

This series is also our gift of thanks to you this month when you support From His Heart with a gift of any amount. It's available on a USB flash drive, on CDs, DVDs, or as an immediate MP3 download. Just go to fromhisheart.org for details.

Right now, open your Bible to 1 Peter, chapter 5, for part 2 of the message. The adversary, here again, is Pastor Jeff.

Speaker 2

Well, this is what Peter says in First Peter, chapter five, beginning in verse eight. Be of sober spirit. Be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. But resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Our question is: what must you do to overcome the adversary from hell, this infernal foe? Three essentials. Essential number one, you must regard your adversary. You must regard him and know that he is a formidable foe. He is a defeated foe for sure, but the devil is powerful, and you have to respect the power. See, he is not to be taken lightly. Zechariah, chapter three, tells us in verses one and two: Then he showed me Joshua, the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord is a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan was standing at his right hand to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the Lord who has chosen Israel rebuke you." The Lord says, "The Lord rebuke you." Now, if the Lord says to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you," we need to learn from that. We need to not take the devil lightly as if we're playing the little sisters of the poor. He is a formidable foe, and you should always just turn him over to the Lord. The Lord rebuke you. The Lord rebuke you. You don't put yourself in there like you're big and bad and tough. So, he is not to be taken lightly.

Secondly, he's not to be forgotten carelessly. Peter says in chapter five, verse eight, "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert." Why? Because your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. He is out there, so you need to be on alert. You need to be vigilant. He's not someone we need to dismiss. You have to regard your adversary.

Secondly, you must recognize your adversary. As the apostle Paul said, we're not ignorant of his schemes, so we know how he operates. If you don't know how he operates, you're a sitting duck. The Lord tells us about Satan's playbook so we can know how to prepare. How does he work? What is it about him? Well, number one, he is a slanderer and a false accuser. The name Satan literally means adversary. Your adversary, the devil, your adversary, whose name is Satan, which means adversary. Interestingly, the name Satan is used 18 times in the Old Testament in three Old Testament books and 36 times in the New Testament in 12 New Testament books. Satan is a real being. He's a created being, and compared to you and me, he is massively powerful. Compared to God, he is nothing. He's a created being. Don't ever get the idea that there's some kind of dualism in the earth. There's God over here and there's Satan over here, and they're both big time, you know, number one and number two, going at it for the Super Bowl. No, God could destroy the devil just like that. And he will when he comes back at the battle of Armageddon. What does the Lord do to the Antichrist? He takes him alive and the false prophet and throws them into the lake of fire. The dragon, the serpent, the devil of old, who is called the devil and Satan, is going to be taken at the end of the millennial kingdom and put in the lake of fire, where he will be tormented forever and ever. Don't get the idea that the devil is going to be king of hell. He's not. He's going to burn in hell. But right now, he's not in hell. We call him an infernal foe. He's from the fires of hell, but he's not there. He is free to roam about, and he is a slanderer and a false accuser. The word slander means to speak evil against, and Revelation, chapter 12, verse 10 tells us that the devil never ceases. He comes before the throne of God day and night to accuse us before God.

We know about that. The devil will accuse you. He accuses me. He speaks to you in a voice that sounds a lot like your own, and it's hard to tell who is speaking. It's not to your ears; you just kind of hear it on the inside. You know, "Hey, you know you want to sin. You know you want to go do this. Go do this. It's okay. God will forgive you." And then you do it, and he's like, "I can't believe you did that. God's never going to forgive you. How can you show your face again? How can you ever go back to church again? Look what you did." He will accuse you and accuse you and accuse you to get you to quit. He is a slanderer. He is a false accuser.

Secondly, he's a liar and a deceiver. Jesus said in John 8:44, "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of the devil you want to do." He's talking to those Jewish leaders that didn't believe in him. He's a master deceiver. He's not just a good liar; he is the slickest liar that the world has ever known. He's a liar and a deceiver, and he's a devourer and a destroyer. Be of sober spirit. Be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. That's how the Bible compares him—a roaring lion. A roaring lion can be heard if conditions are right; he can be heard from five miles away. He's a devourer. He's a destroyer. Some people think that the devil is just some kind of representation of evil. No, he's a created being. He's a real being.

Let's face it, most of us don't deal with the devil, Satan, head-on. But the devil has his minions. You know, when he fell from heaven, he took a third of the angels with him. We don't know how many angels there are, but we know that there are two-thirds that are holy angels and one-third that are dark, demonic angels. The devil has his team. It may not be Satan who's coming after you directly, but it's his team. His team falls in line, does the same things, and comes to devour and destroy. John 10:10 says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy." The devil didn't come to mess with you; he came to massacre you. He didn't come to play; he came to pounce, rip you apart, destroy your marriage, destroy your family, get after your kids and your grandkids, steal your joy, steal your peace, and kill your testimony for Jesus Christ.

He doesn't stop working just because you become a Christian. Before you're a Christian, he doesn't need to do anything in your life; you're already his. Adrian used to say, "Many of you haven't met the devil because you're walking in tandem with him. Turn around and start going the other way, and you're going to run straight on into the powers of darkness." He comes to destroy. He wants to destroy everything that God does in your life and everything God wants to do in your life. He is a death dealer. You must recognize your adversary, know him, and know how he works with the lie.

Now, he comes to you and to me when we fall, when we fail. Maybe we fall prey to the lust of the flesh. The devil is right there to tell us how terrible we are, to tell us how horrible we are, to tell us that we can't make it, to tell us God doesn't love us anymore. That's one of his big things that he tells you and me. I really believe this: that's one of the key things that you and I have to keep reminding ourselves over and over and over. When you become a born-again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and you're washed in his blood, there is nothing that you can do that would change his love for you. Can he be displeased with you? Yes. Can you grieve his heart? Yes. But he never disowns you. Jesus said in Hebrews 13:5, "I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you." We can stand in that truth. Recognize your adversary.

Then thirdly, you must resist your adversary. You regard him; he's very powerful. You recognize him; you know how he works, and you resist your adversary. So he says in verse nine, "But resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world." Resist him. Stand firm against him. You stand up to him. Yes, he's a roaring lion. Yes, he has power. But greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. We flee youthful lust, but we resist the devil. The Bible says, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7). "Submit therefore to God." Really key: resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Now, you can't win; you can't walk in victory if you are doing these following three things. Number one, you can't win if you're not submitted to God. It's just not going to happen because you don't have what it takes. I don't have what it takes. The Apostle Paul didn't have what it took. We only have what it takes in the Lord. Ephesians 6 says, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might." It's not your might; it's his might. So we submit therefore to God. As Peter says, "Humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time." We have to be humbled before the Lord. We have to be submitted before the Lord, and unless we are, we're not going to be able to stand. You submit to God, and then you resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Secondly, you can't win if you're not using your resources. You have to use the resources God has given you. Ephesians 6 says, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." Against the methods. The Greek word for schemes there is "methodea," against the methods, because the devil is very methodical. Then he says, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm in the evil day. And having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm. Therefore, he says it over and over and over, "Stand firm."

Therefore, having girded your loins with truth, we put on the belt of truth. And having put on the breastplate of righteousness—not your righteousness, not my righteousness, but the Lord's righteousness—having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. In addition to all, take the shield of faith, with which we will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. You have to employ your resources. No soldier goes into battle and leaves his armor behind, leaves his shield behind, leaves his sword behind. That would be suicide, and we best not do that either. You can't win if you're not using your resources.

Now, it's interesting: the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Now, you've seen "Braveheart" and other shows like that that show hand-to-hand combat with a sword and with a shield. You have a shield in one hand. If you're right-handed, the shield's in your left hand, and the sword's in your right hand. If you're left-handed, okay, it's reversed. You got a little tougher; you know the world is made for a right-handed person. But you have the shield and the sword. You don't have just the shield in one hand and you block things and then you put it down and then you pick up your sword. No, you have them simultaneously, and they're connected because it's called the shield of faith.

What is faith? Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. How do you get faith? Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God." So without the word of God, there is no faith. What is the sword of the Spirit? It is the word of God. These things work in tandem. When the devil shoots his fiery darts and tells you that God doesn't love you anymore, that everything is going to work out terrible for you, that the Lord has forgotten you, you throw up the shield of faith, which says, "This is what the Lord says: I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you." This is what the Lord says in Isaiah 43:2: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." You lift up the shield of faith and you take the sword of the Spirit and you come at the enemy that way. They're connected together. If you don't know the word of God, you're a sitting duck because you don't know what God has said; you don't know what God has promised. How can you pick up the shield of faith if you don't know the word of God? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Now, three critical things that every Christian needs to have chiseled in his or her heart. So critical, you're not going to get along in life; you're not going to excel in life unless you have these three things. Number one, God is. God is good. No matter what's going on in life, I know that God is good. The bottom drops out of your life; I know that God is good. You're one of those dear people that lives in Western Carolina, and you've seen everything go away—your house, your business, your cars, everything you own is gone. God is still good. You have that in your heart. I know that God is good. I'm not going to let circumstances change the fact that God is good.

Number two: God loves me. That he loves me—little old me. He loves me. He knows all about me, and he loves me. As Paul said, he loved me and delivered himself up for me. He died for me. God is good. God loves me. That comes from Second Chronicles, chapter 7, verse 3, where they were dedicating the house of the Lord. The glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord, so the priests couldn't even enter into the house of the Lord. They fell down on their faces and said, "Truly, he is good. Truly, his loving kindness is everlasting." God is good. God loves you.

And thirdly, Romans 8:28: God works all things together for good to those who love him. You have that just chiseled in your heart. You know that that is going to hold you no matter what happens in your life, no matter what sorrow comes your way, no matter what difficulty comes your way. You lift up the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. You're not going to win if you're not using your resources.

Lastly, you can't win if you're not all in for Jesus. If you're riding the fence, you're not going to win. You just can't. You know, you might be a Christian, and you're just kind of going about your Christian life. You got one foot in the church and one foot in the world, and you're just kind of riding the fence. You're kind of a chameleon. You know the buzzwords and things like that, but then on Monday through the week, you can get along with the world's crowd, the devil's crowd. Listen, you're not going to win that way. You're not going to win riding the fence because the devil owns the fence.

He owns the fence. This is what the Lord says: You want to overcome the devil? Revelation, chapter 12, verse 11 says this: "And they overcame him"—the him is the devil—"because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony. And they did not love their life even when faced with death." That's how you overcome the devil: Calvary, the blood of the Lamb, confession, because of the word of their testimony, commitment. They did not love their life even when faced with death. If you're on the fence today, today is the day to get off the fence.

If you watch the movie "Nefarious," which is an excellent movie that uncovers the devil's playbook, one of the things they said in that movie really spoke to Debbie. She said, "I never thought about this before, but wow." This demon-possessed man is giving an interview, and he says to this person that he's talking to, "We're very patient. We're very patient." You know, you've seen on National Geographic how the lion stalks its prey. It doesn't just all of a sudden come; it's in the brush, and it's tan, and it's hiding down there. You can't really see it very well, and it's just moving. You know how they move so slow. House cats do that too, but they're a little easier to deal with.

And he's just coming so slowly, slowly, slowly. Bam! Then he comes and he gets you and he grabs you. Who are the ones that the lions go after? The stragglers—those separated from the herd, those who slept in, didn't go to church. They're the ones that get it right. I mean, the lions aren't sitting here thinking, "You know, I'm going to get more points if I take out the biggest, strongest buck." It's not like that. They're like, "I don't care; a meal's a meal." They go after the easy one. Those who are not part of the life of the church and the life of what God is doing, and they're just kind of over to the side, you're a sitting duck for the devil to take you out, to devour you, to steal and kill and destroy.

You're not going to win unless you're all in for the one who died for you in agony and blood. Listen, there's a choice in this war with the devil. You can be a conqueror through Jesus Christ, or you can be a casualty. The choice is yours.

Speaker 1

So how about you today? What choice will you make? Perhaps you know that you're a believer that Jesus is indeed the Lord and Savior of your life. But your ongoing sin has caused you to be a sitting duck for the devil, as Pastor Jeff mentioned. Well, today is a word of God to you. He's hoping you'll come back to him today, confess your sin, resurrender your life by walking in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Or perhaps the message today caused you to realize for the first time that you've never truly surrendered to Jesus. Oh, you're a member of a church in your head, but your heart never followed and gave it all to him. Well, you can do that today and be secure in his arms for now and for eternity.

And we'd like to invite you to go to fromisheart.org and click the "Why Jesus" section with lots of answers to the questions you may have and also an opportunity for you there to hear from Pastor Jeff as he prays with you to repent and receive God's holy Spirit for real again. Simply go to fromhisheart.org and click on the "Why Jesus" link on the homepage.

Today you heard part two of the lesson, "The Adversary," the first message in Pastor Jeff's new series, "This is War: Overcoming the World, the Flesh, and the Devil." This series is our gift to you for your support this month to From His Heart of any amount. The new six-message lesson will help you tear down the strongholds that hold you back and allow you to be victorious when you discover how the devil is gnawing at you, and you'll be able to repel his attacks.

To get your copy of "This is War," call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-BIBLE) or go online to fromhisheart.org. Thank you for joining with us to share the good news with the world, the hurting world that needs to know Jesus.

Thank you for joining us. I'm Larry Nobles inviting you to be here next time for the second lesson in Pastor Jeff's series, "This is Overcoming the World, Flesh, and the Devil." The message is entitled "Forbidden Love." Join us then as Pastor Jeff opens up God's word to share real truth, real love, and real hope from his heart.

Speaker 2

There is truth, there is hope that you always dream of. He can heal every scars. Real truth, real love, real hope from his heart.

Speaker 1

From his heart is the listener supported Broadcast Ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world. Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Find out more@fromisheart.org.