The War is On!
I Peter 5:8
Intro: When I was about thirteen years old, I was in my bedroom one night reading the Hardy Boys book The Twisted Claw. It was the scariest book I had ever read. I was laying in my bed reading that book when I heard someone at the door. I walked down the hall and I saw a man standing at our glass storm door. It was dark outside, but what I saw was terrifying. There stood a man with no shirt on, and he was covered in blood. He was moaning and talking to himself. I jumped into the kitchen and hid down behind the counter. I was so scared that I didn’t know what to do. Reading that book had my nerves on edge. He kept beating on the door and yelling. I peeked out from behind the counter, and he was literally covered in blood. My dad was in the back yard doing something. I snuck down the hall and looked out the back window. I told my dad that there was a man at the front door covered in blood. I don’t think he believed me. He walked around the house and the man was there. He had squatted down and has head in his hands. When my dad came around the house, that was what he saw. Then the man looked up and then stood up. He was covered in blood from the top of his head all down his body. My dad asked him if he was alright. He said he needed to use the phone. By now, I had come back down the hall and was standing in the living room, along with my sister and my brother. We were all gathered in the living room when Dad let the man in. I have never seen so much blood in all my life. He had a gash on his head that was just pouring blood. He told us that his girlfriend had hit him in the head with a pipe. He walked over to the phone on the wall and picked it up. He called information and asked for a number. We thought he was going to call 911, but that was not what he did. Apparently, he was calling the people his girlfriend was staying with. He dipped his finger in the bloody gash on his head and started writing the phone number on the wall with his blood. We stood there in horror! He wrote the number on the wall, and then hung up the phone and picked it up again. He dialed the bloody phone number and somebody on the other end answered. He spoke in a soft voice and very slowly said, “I want you to know, the war is on.” Then he bent over double and screamed to the top of his voice, “THE WAR IS ON!!!” Then he slammed down the phone and stood there staring at us kids. To this day, we have never forgotten that incident.
I do not want to scare you or frighten you this morning, but I want to remind you of something very important.
The WAR IS ON!!
The devil has declared war on you.
You live in a war zone.
You go to bed in a war zone, and you wake up in a war zone.
There is not a minute of the day that the war is not on.
I. The War is on against God’s Position
Some of you may not realize this, but God created Lucifer.
Colossians 1
· 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
· 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
There came a day when Lucifer declared war on God Himself.
Isaiah 14
· 12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
· 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
· 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
From the day Satan was cast out of Heaven, he has been at war with God.
He wants to pull God off the throne and become God.
He hates God and everything that God does.
He hates everything that God builds and creates.
His agenda is to corrupt and pollute everything that God has ever done.
Satan has declared war on God.
He wants to sit on His throne in Heaven, and he wants to sit on God’s throne in your heart.
He hates it when God is in charge.
II. The War is on against God’s Precepts
The first words ever recorded that were spoken by Satan was an attack on the Word of God.
· Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil 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?
Satan hates God’s Word.
He always has, and he always will.
That is why he is obsessed with changing it and perverting it every chance he gets.
He has butchered the Word of God with all these modern translations.
They take out key doctrines and key words.
They add and take away and distort and pervert the Word of God.
This is the War against the God’s Precepts that is so apparent today.
His greatest fear is a Spirit-filled Christian with a knowledge of the Word of God.
The only weapon given to us today is the Word of God.
Ephesians 6
· 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
· 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
· 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
· 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
· 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
· 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
· 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
The only weapon Jesus needed against Satan when He was being tempted in the wilderness was the Scriptures.
Three times Satan came against Him, and all three times, Jesus quoted Scripture.
Satan is no match for the Word of God!!
He will do everything he can to keep you from reading your Bible.
To keep you from memorizing it and remembering it.
He will do everything he can to keep you from listening to the preaching.
He knows the power of the Word of God.
III. The War is On against God’s Plan
Satan’s ultimate plan was to overthrow the plan of God.
That included the plan of salvation.
The plan of salvation involved the birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
From Day One, Satan tried to destroy God’s plan.
He tried to kill Jesus while He was still a baby.
Herod sent his soldiers throughout the land and killed every baby boy under the age of two years of age.
Multiple times during the ministry of Jesus, Satan tried to kill Him.
He tried to convince Jesus to throw himself off of a high pinnacle in Matthew 4.
There were multiple death threats against Jesus.
· John 5:16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him,
· John 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him…
· John 7:1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee …because the Jews sought to kill him.
On and on we could go.
Multiple times, they tried to kill Jesus before He even died on the cross.
Satan tried to kill Jesus during His trial with the scourgings and beatings.
He did everything he could to stop God’s plan of salvation from ever being completed.
One of the greatest victories in history was when Jesus said, “It Is Finished!” and gave up the ghost.
IV. The War is On against God’s People
If he could have been successful in his war on Jesus, he would have been victorious in his plan against us.
Satan knows that God created man in His own image.
Satan knows that since before the foundations of this world, God had a plan for man’s salvation.
So, in order to fight against God, he seeks to destroy any attempt for man to be saved.
A. How it Started
It started with you before you even got saved.
Satan didn’t want you to hear the Gospel.
Once you heard the Gospel, he didn’t want you to believe it.
He did everything he could to interfere with the message.
He tried to discourage the soulwinner that won you to God.
He tried to disrupt the service where you heard the Gospel preached.
He tried to have some kid playing and acting up in church beside you to keep you from listening.
He tried to talk you out of getting saved.
He tried every trick in the book to keep you from hearing the Gospel and getting saved.
Once the seeds of the Gospel were sown in your heart, he tried to steal them away.
Matthew 13
· 18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
· 19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
B. How it’s Going
1 Peter 5
· 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
· 9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
ILLUSTRATION: As soon as chapel is over, I’m going to change into camouflage and go crawl up in a deer stand. We’ve been watching this big buck on the trail cam. We’ve been feeding him with a buffet of delicious corn. He will come walking up, thinking about that corn. He won’t know that I’m sitting up in that tree with my cross bow. He has no idea this morning when he wakes up and goes about his day, that if he comes in front of my tree, he will be deer sausage. I also want to hang his head up in my office and show him off to everybody that comes in.
Just like I have a plan to destroy that deer, Satan has a plan to destroy you.
He knows where you are, he knows what you like to eat, he knows what sins he can use to lure you in.
He will be hiding in the shadows, waiting to devour you. He wants you for a trophy on his wall.
The War Is On!! Are you being sober? Are you vigilant?
C. How it Ends
Revelation 13
· 1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
· 2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
· 3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
· 4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
· 5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
· 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
· 7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
Revelation 19
· 11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
· 12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
· 13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
· 14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
· 15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
· 16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
· 17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
· 18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
· 19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
· 20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
· 21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
Conclusion: Just like that bloody man standing in our living room nearly 40 years ago screaming to the top of his lungs, “THE WAR IS ON”, I want to declare to you that “THE WAR IS ON!” Satan is out to destroy your life. Be sober! Be vigilant! For your adversary the devil as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Don’t let it be you!!
Amen