The Identities of Evil

and faithful to the Lord.

If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to 1 Peter.

1 Peter chapter 5, we're in a series called The Real War

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

because I am convinced that we are fighting battles

that are unseen but very felt.

And we need to understand because we can't quite see it

with the human eye.

We can see the evidence of it.

We need clarity on what exactly we're facing.

And how do you fight or stand against something

when you don't even know what you're fighting?

When I was a child, my dad went out one night

to walk the dog.

And it was a night and a walk that he's never forgotten.

He spoke of it a couple of weeks ago,

and we've never forgotten it either.

It was in the dead of winter in the upper peninsula of Michigan

where my father was stationed at Kincheloe Air Force Base.

That's about 11 miles from the Canada line

and cold is not the word for it.

I walked to school in three foot of snow.

It was not uphill and I was not barefooted,

but when a five-year-old walks in three foot of snow,

it is uphill.

And when it's ten below, you are barefooted,

no matter how much you got on your feet.

We had a well-trained dog and we had a big set of woods behind the house

and he could let that dog run at night

and Dad took him out for a walk.

One night, the dog got into something.

Dad went running to find out what was wrong

and they both got sprayed by a skunk.

When they came back to the house, neither were welcome.

But we had to let them in because they would have died.

It was so cold.

And so I'm just going to tell you,

I don't know how else to tell you,

Pop stank for days.

I mean stank.

And we had to roll the windows down in that Buick station wagon

in the dead of winter just to survive

when we rode with him for several days.

It helps to know what you're fighting.

It really does.

And before you go into battle.

So I want to be clear.

You're in a war.

And you'll face some battles.

Thank God the war's been won,

but there's still squirmishes going on.

There's still battles being fought.

And if you don't realize that,

you're going to lose way too many of them.

It helps to know who you're going to take a stand against.

Who are you dealing with?

And we can find out a lot about the evil one

when we study the names that he is called in Scripture.

These names are given as descriptive titles

of what he stands for.

And his traits are shown through these names.

But I want to begin by looking at Peter's advice to us.

Thank God's also inspired by the Holy Spirit of God

and given to us by the Lord.

1 Peter 5, verse 6 says this.

1 Peter 5:6

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God

so at the proper time he may exalt you,

casting all your anxieties on him

because he cares for you.

Be sober-minded.

Be watchful.

Listen now.

Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion

seeking someone to devour.

Resist him.

Firm in your faith,

knowing that the same kind of sufferings

will be experienced by the brotherhood throughout the world.

And after you've suffered a little while,

the God of all grace,

who's called you to his eternal glory in Christ,

this is worth underlining, folks,

will himself restore, confirm, strengthen,

and establish you.

To him be the dominion forever and ever.

Amen.

I don't have time this morning to talk about restoring

and confirming and strengthening and establishing,

but man, I wish I did

because that is good stuff.

That's not our topic this morning,

but I'm telling you,

I read that at 9 o'clock,

and it blessed my heart,

and I read it again,

and it blesses my heart

to know that we have a God that's there for us

when we need him,

regardless of what we're going through,

and I'm going to tell you what you're going through

because we can learn a lot

about the evil one

by the way God defines him through his word.

And so I want to look at various names

and learn about his schemes

because his schemes are the real problem.

I want you to hear me.

It is not our kids that's the problem.

I know what Sunday mornings are like in the home, okay?

It's not our kids.

It's not our spouses.

It's not our opponents.

It's not the bullies in our life.

It's not the nemesis in our life.

It is the demonic schemes of the evil one,

and oftentimes that is seen in other people's lives,

and oftentimes it's seen in our lives.

But when we study the names of God in Scripture,

we learn about his attributes

and the ways that he leads us

and ministers us and helps us,

and by understanding the names of the devil,

we learn the way that he steals from us.

We learn the ways that he attempts to destroy us,

that he strives to kill us.

And the first one I want to talk about is one,

and I'm going to talk about real popular ones today,

ones you've heard of probably,

but in our passage, he is called the devil,

which means the slanderer or the accuser.

I call him the whisperer,

and the reason why is do you ever notice

when you have something good and juicy on somebody

and you want to tell somebody else,

you just look around, you lean in,

and you say it real soft.

Y'all don't know what I'm talking about

because y'all ain't never told anything juicy on anybody,

have you?

Praise the Lord.

We got one problem solved.

That's what the devil does.

He leans in,

gets our attention,

and whispers to us.

Now I want you to hear me.

He's not after you.

He's after Christ.

He does not want to discredit you.

He wants to discredit Christ.

However, if he can discredit the people of God,

he can discredit God.

And he does that through his whispers.

He tells the lost,

Jesus is not the only way.

That is, as long as you are sincere in what you believe,

that God will save you.

You can be a Muslim.

You can be a Mormon.

As long as you're a churchgoer,

then you're safe.

And I want you to be clear about something.

Don't ever think that your presence here,

or that a baptism that you've experienced,

will get you to heaven.

Because it won't.

Sometimes it causes confusion.

Because it's not real in your life.

If you've not committed your life to the Lord Jesus Christ,

if you've not admitted the sin in your life,

and asked him to forgive you,

and to cleanse you,

and to come into your life,

and to change you,

you'll have hell to pay.

There's no confirmation process.

There's no Bible knowledge that you can have.

There's no grandpa in ministry

that'll save your soul from an eternal hell.

It only comes when we surrender our lives to the Lord.

And the devil don't want you to realize that.

The devil don't want you to understand that.

Just like the serpent in the garden,

a manifestation of the evil one himself,

said to Eve in the garden,

and he said,

did God really say?

Did he really?

You see, the devil is a liar,

he's a slanderer,

and he whispers to the lost.

But not only the lost,

he whispers to the saved.

He'll make you doubt your salvation.

He'll tell you Christians,

well, they don't really sin.

Look at you.

He'll tell you that God gets tired of you.

He'll tell you there's no need for you

to confess that to God again.

Because God's written you off.

He'll make you doubt your salvation,

and doubt will steal your joy.

And when your joy is stolen,

you won't share your faith with others.

You're not even sure you have it.

You sure ain't gonna share it.

And the state of being unforgiven

because of a lack of confession

will serve,

listen to me, Christian,

unconfessed sin serves as a facilitator

for stumbling blocks in your life,

for strongholds in your life.

You let sin just fester in your life.

It's like watching grass grow in your yard,

hoping it's gonna be shorter by next week.

We're in the dead of summer, folks.

It ain't gonna get shorter.

It's gonna be worse.

And so it is with an unforgiving heart.

As our passage says,

he's prowling around,

looking for an opportunity.

He'll lie about God.

He'll lie about others.

He'll tell you not to forgive others.

He'll tell you to hold it against them.

He'll put thoughts in your head

about how people are just out to get you.

How somehow you're the focus

of everyone else out to get you.

Get you so keyed up,

so full of hate and worry.

You're so pondering on that

when somebody says hey to you,

it's like they said boo,

scares you to death.

Afraid they're coming after you.

Why?

Because of his whispers.

Because of the things he says to you.

He'll whisper to you about God.

He'll whisper to you about yourself.

He'll whisper to you about others.

He'll lie to you.

He'll slander.

He's the devil.

But he's also called Satan.

And whereas devil is

a transliteration of the Greek,

Satan

comes from the Hebrew language,

which the majority of the Old Testament

is written in.

And it means adversary or accuser.

That is the word that's used

in Job chapter 1,

Job 1:6

verse 6 and 7.

When Satan walks into the courts of heaven

and the Lord says,

where have you been?

Now let me just say this.

God never asks questions

because he don't know the answer.

God will ask you questions.

Not audible.

Louder than that.

In your heart.

He knows the answer.

You need to know the answer.

And so God confronts us sometimes

with questions.

He does that in Scripture as well.

He didn't have to ask Eve

where they'd been.

He didn't have to ask them that.

He knew where they'd been.

He wanted them to face that.

And he does the same thing.

So when we see this question

that he's asked,

he's not asking it

because he don't know

where the evil one is.

He's asking it

so we can understand that.

And he answers,

Satan answers,

I've been going to and fro

on the earth.

Sounds a lot like the passage

I read in 1 Peter chapter 5.

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

He's like a lurker.

Satan's walking around

looking to see

what he can get into.

What he can mess up.

Kind of like a group of punks

walking around

or riding around

the neighborhood at night,

just midnight,

just looking for something.

Up to no good.

And that same word Satan

is used in 1 Chronicles

1 Chronicles 21:1

chapter 21 verse 1.

When Satan incites David

to number Israel.

In other words,

what he said was

take a survey

and find out

how powerful you really are.

Do you really know

how big this army is, David?

Why don't you just

get them to count?

And so David

wells up a little bit.

He goes to Joab,

his commander,

and tells him

to take a census

of the army.

And I want you

to listen to Joab's response.

And I want you

to notice in the text

where the word

Lord is capitalized,

okay,

and where it's

in small case

because when he's speaking

and it's in small case,

he's calling David Lord,

not because he's his savior,

but because that was

a title given

to somebody

who you're under.

It means sir.

It means master,

commander,

whatever you want

to call it.

Notice what he says.

He says,

may the Lord,

that's the Lord,

add to his people

a hundred times

as many as there are.

Are they not,

my Lord the king,

all of them,

my Lord's servants?

Why then should

my Lord require this?

Why should it be

a cause of guilt

for Israel?

But the king's word

prevailed against Joab,

so Joab departed

and went throughout Israel

and came back

to Jerusalem.

Now what Joab's saying is,

listen,

God's got this.

We don't need

to count these folks.

Don't you know,

David,

that everybody

is behind you.

Everybody will rise up.

No matter what it takes,

we'll make sure

we get the job done.

We don't need

to do this.

Don't take pride

in your numbers.

Trust God

to take care

of the matter.

David wouldn't listen.

He got the men counted

and then he welled up

with pride.

But verse 7 says,

but God was displeased

with this thing

and he struck Israel.

My friend,

that is exactly

what Satan will do.

He will fill you

with pride

and he will use pride

to lead folks

to fall.

Satan is mentioned

in the book

of Zechariah

and in that situation,

he's piling up

insults

on a man

named Joshua,

the high priest

who came before

the Lord's presence

and when he came

before the Lord's presence,

he was unfit.

He was dirty.

He was not right.

And Satan

is just piling

on the insults

and we live

much of our lives

unfit.

And every time

we're stained,

every time

we're dirty,

every time

we're unconfessed

before the Lord,

it opens us up

to the evil one's

accusations

and he'll make us

squirm

like the snake

that he is.

Now the key

to that

is to stay clean

before the Lord.

The tighter

you are with the Father,

the less wiggle room

you give

to the evil one.

When Jesus

told his disciples

that he was

to go to Jerusalem

and die,

Peter,

Peter wanted

no part of it.

Peter was zealous.

Wore a dagger

on his thigh.

That's why

he cut that man's ear

off when he tried

to arrest Jesus.

I mean,

you know,

he had a big mouth.

His foot

fit

exactly right

in his mouth.

And some of y'all

know exactly

what that means

but I won't point you out.

Peter tried

to correct him.

He said,

far be it

from you,

Lord.

This shall

never happen

to you.

However,

what Peter

didn't understand

was that part

of the will

of God.

And Jesus

didn't need

to hear somebody

trying to dissuade

him

when he was

in the midst

of not only

taking on

the cross

that he would

endure

but bigger

than that

what he called

the cup

in the garden

which was the cup

of God's wrath.

That means

the sin

of the weight

of the world

was to fall

upon his shoulders.

He had a bunch

on him.

He didn't need

anybody else

putting it on him.

And he responded

to Peter

and said,

get behind me,

Satan.

You're a hindrance

to me.

Now,

was Peter

Satan?

No.

Jesus knew

that Satan

was trying

to throw him

off his game

and he used

Peter to do it

just like he did

to Adam and Eve

in the garden

when he tried

to throw them

off their game

just like he

attempts to quote

scripture to Jesus

in the desert

of temptation.

Why does he

accuse and hinder?

Satan opposes

the agenda

of God.

He works

against the plan

of God.

He does it

in our lives.

He does it

in our church.

He does it

in the kingdom

of God.

In the book

of Thessalonians,

the apostle Paul

talked about

wanting to come

back to Thessalonica.

and see them

and every time

he tried

he said Satan

hindered him

from coming.

Now,

why would Satan

hinder Paul

from going back

to God's people?

Because Paul

was encouraged

to see them

and he encouraged

them to be strong.

He was encouraged

by them.

He called the church

that he nurtured

and strengthened

his glory

and his joy.

And the devil

don't want anything

to do with that.

He don't want us

to enjoy worship.

He don't want us

to grow together

in the Lord.

He wants to hinder

that and be careful

what he puts

in your path

for that.

That's what the

adversary,

the accuser does.

He gets in the way

of the work

of God.

He assaults people.

He whispers sweet,

nothing is in your ear.

Or like David,

he leads you

to seek after things

for your glory

and not God's glory

because his attack

is toward God.

He's Satan,

the accuser.

And many times

the false accuser.

Because I got news

for you today.

If your sin is confessed

and you've been forgiven

and you've,

it's been removed

by the shed blood

of the cross

of Christ

and you've repented

and changed directions

and walked away

from that sin,

it's gone.

And I don't know

how many people

I've met

that's been haunted

by something

that happened

in their life

years ago

or months ago

or weeks ago

that they've repented

of and walked away

from and yet

they still feel

the weight of that.

That's not of God.

That's the evil one

just continuing

to pepper you.

Because see,

if he can beat you

down enough,

you'll give up.

You just won't try.

And we've been

challenged by the Lord

to live for the honor

and glory of God.

Man, that's hard to do

when we're beat up.

Don't listen

to Satan's smack.

He's your adversary,

your opponent

that tries to agonize you.

He's also called Lucifer.

And it only happens

one time.

It's in Isaiah chapter 14,

Isaiah 14:12

verse 12.

And it's translated

in different ways.

It's fascinating.

It's the word study of this.

In the ESV,

they call it the Daystar.

That's what I read out of

the English Standard Version.

And they call him

Daystar there.

In the King James,

it says Lucifer.

And that is actually

from a Latin translation

called the Vulgate

of the Old Testament.

And from that word,

it's a Latin term,

Lucifer.

But it's translated as

bearer of light

or sun,

S-O-N,

of the morning.

That's what he was.

When you look back

at his history

as we did last week,

God created a beautiful creature

and gave him high standing.

But pride got in the way

when he tried to be

greater than God.

And he went from

the sun of morning

to the father of night.

So,

so,

why is that sun of morning,

that description of him

so important?

Because it helps us

to understand

why his approach

is sadly often successful

in destroying people's lives.

whoever told you

that Satan

is ugly

and scary

and would cause you

to run

lied to you.

Satan was created

attractive.

He was winsome.

An angel of light.

And it is that way

that he tries his best

to present himself.

Paul warns the church

in 2 Corinthians 11

that there are false apostles,

deceitful workmen,

disguising themselves

as apostles of Christ

and no wonder

for even Satan,

listen to this,

disguises himself

as an angel of light.

So it is no surprise

if his servants

also disguise themselves

as servants

of righteousness.

Satan will short sell you

every time.

He does it again

and again

in so many ways.

I want you to listen

to the proverb writer

when he warns

about adultery

and what a common trap

for the evil one.

Sexual sin

is something

that the evil one

loves to trap us with.

loves to destroy us with.

And he's having a heyday

in the country.

He really is.

In so many ways

we celebrate sodomy

as a country.

And if we're not clear

about what the word of God says

and what God says about it

and we don't speak to that,

it'll never be heard.

So we need to be clear.

Proverbs 5 talks about

how easy it is

to fall into

sexual sin

and the proverb writer

was writing

to a young man

and he says this,

for the lips

of a forbidden woman

drip honey

and her speech

is smoother than oil

but in the end

she's bitter as wormwood,

sharp as a two-edged sword.

Her feet go down to death,

her steps follow the path

to Sheol.

She does not ponder

the path of life,

her ways wonder

and she does not know it.

Keep your way far from her

and do not go near

the door of her house

lest you give your honor

to others

and your years

to the merciless,

lest strangers

take their fill

of your strength

and your labors

go to the house

of a foreigner.

For at the end

of your life

you groan

when your flesh

and blood

are consumed

and you say

how I hated discipline

and my heart

despised reproof.

I did not listen

to the voice

of my teachers

and incline my ears

to my instructors.

I'm at the brink

of utter ruin

in the assembled

congregation.

Let me just rest

there for a minute

because the evil one

whether it be

sexual sin

or some other type

of sin

the evil one

don't want you

to come back

to church.

He don't want you

to walk faithfully

with the Lord.

He don't want you

to be reminded

of what the Word

of God says.

He don't want you

to feel the Spirit

of God move

in a place

like we have

this morning.

He don't want

that to happen

so he'll try

his best

to hinder you.

Now Proverbs 5

is written

from an older man

to a young man

to warn him

about the adulteress

and ladies

if that's offensive

to you

I got news

for you.

Adulterating men

are sorrier

than her.

Don't be appeased

by them.

Young people

save yourself

and if it's too

late for that

then start afresh

today

because I'm

telling you

you can be

clean before

the Lord.

He'll wash

you clean

and renew

you

but the devil

wants his best

to suck you

in

to a pattern

in your life

that'll cause

great distress.

Lucifer's sweet.

He's sinful

and he's sensual

in his suggestions

and they ruin you.

It sure doesn't

seem ugly.

When I was

a youth minister

I used to tell

young people

if the devil

wants to entice you

he don't come

down the school

hallway

with a skull

on a stick

saying let's party.

He brings

the most beautiful

girl.

he brings

the most

athletic boy.

He brings

the folks

that you're

most attracted

to

to drag

you into

a pit

that you

have a hard

time rising

out of.

He doesn't

sell himself

as one

that'll ruin

you.

He doesn't

sell himself

as one

who'll cause

you to be

bound in sin.

He'll tell

you it's

your life

you do

what you

want to

with it.

Don't

let nobody

tell you

what to

do.

He don't

sell folks

on addiction.

He don't

tell them

how they

can get

involved

with alcohol

and become

addicted

and ruin

their life.

He don't

tell them

how they

can be

involved

in drugs

and how

that can

absolutely

ruin their

life.

It just

seems fun

for a moment.

He

don't

tell you

how you

become

addicted

to porn

and ruin

your life.

He

don't

share

those

things.

No,

he makes

it about

social

status.

He

makes it

about a

relief

from what

woes

you.

He

makes it

about an

ease of

pain.

However,

it's all

schemes.

as Jesus

put it,

to steal

and to

kill

and to

destroy.

He's

Lucifer.

He's

attractive to

follow,

but he's

condemning in

the end.

It's not a

game.

It's a

war.

And we

must battle.

So,

three things

quickly.

One is,

don't be

enticed by

the evil

one.

He'll

whisper sweet

little lies

in your

ear and

it's easy

to get

enticed.

Don't

do it.

The second

thing is,

don't be

entertained

by the

evil one.

Because the

accuser wants

to sidetrack

us, I

promise you.

He wants

to throw us

off our

game.

More

importantly,

he wants

to throw

us off

what God's

got for

us.

So,

don't be

entertained

by the

evil one.

And lastly,

don't be

enamored

by the

evil one.

One day,

a quick,

big-fangled,

fast-talking

hobo

came to

Mayberry.

And he

started getting

Opie's

attention,

and it

would lead

Opie down

a wrong

path,

and Andy

got involved.

And the

hobo said,

well,

Sheriff,

maybe I

do things,

look at

things a

little

different than

other people

do.

Is that

wrong?

I live

by my

wits.

I'm not

above bending

the law

or to

keep clothes

on my

back or

food in my

stomach.

I like

the kind

of life

that other

people would

just love

to live

if they

only had

the courage.

What's

to say

that your

boy wouldn't

be happier?

what's

to say

that the

boy would

be happier

your way

than mine?

Why don't

we let

him decide?

And Andy

replied to

the man

that would

the next

day strike

oil in

another TV

series,

black gold

Texas tea,

and move

to Beverly

Hills.

Andy replied,

nah,

and listen,

I'm just

going to

say this,

and if you

don't know

what I'm

talking about

with either

one of these

series,

shame on you.

There's

enough apps

to find

this stuff.

Andy replied

to him and

said this,

nah,

I'm afraid

it don't

work that

way.

You can't

let a

young'un

decide for

himself.

He'll

grab at the

first flashy

thing with

shiny ribbons

on it.

And then

when he

finds it,

there's a

hook in

it.

And it's

too late.

The wrong

ideas come

packaged with

so much

glitter,

it's hard

to convince

him that

other things

might be

better in

the long

run.

And all

a parent

can say

is wait.

Trust me.

And try to

keep temptation

away.

Don't be

enamored by

the evil

one.

Don't reach

for flashy

things.

That's a

ploy of

the evil

one.

And there's

a hook

in it.

The Lord

is saying

wait.

trust me.

Trust me.

And I'm

thankful today

that we

can.

I just

want you to

know who

we're dealing

with.

And

scripture's quite

clear when

we look at the

examples that it

gives us.

With every head

bowed and every eye

closed, I ask

you today,

has there ever

been a time in

your life when

you've surrendered

your life to

follow the Lord

Jesus?

When you've

confessed your

need of Christ,

your need for

forgiveness,

ask him to

save you,

to forgive you,

to empower you

by his Holy

Spirit to

change your

life.

If that's

never happened

to you,

I want you to

know that he

will save you

today.

Today's the day

of salvation.

He'll change

your life.

We're going to

stand in just a

moment and we're

going to sing and

as we start, I

want you to

come.

If you've never

given your heart

and life to the

Lord Jesus, you

come and tell me.

I'd love to take

time with you right

after the service to

speak to you just

for a few moments

about what it

means to give your

heart and life to

the Lord Jesus.

Maybe you're here

this morning and you

have done that, but

you've never

acknowledged that

through baptism,

which I believe is

the first step of

obedience based on

what scripture tells

me.

Jesus, by his

example and by his

commission, told us

that if we're ashamed

of him before others,

he'll be ashamed of us

before our Father,

which means it's not

really legitimate if

we're ashamed of it.

He tells us to

acknowledge what

Christ has done in

our life as

believers through

baptism, physical

process, to honor him

and obey him in that

way.

If you've never done

that, I'm going to

tell you, it's not

just a procedure.

It's a hindrance in

your life if you've

never done it.

The devil would use

that to slow you

down.

Maybe you're here and

God's drawing you to

First Baptist Church.

God's doing a wonderful

work in our midst and I'm

thankful for that.

God's leading you here.

I'd love to guide you in

that.

But for all of us,

we're in a battle.

And some of us are

losing it, at least in

some area of our life.

And today you can walk

clean.

You can make a decision

that, God, I want to

lean on your power and

strength.

I want to do what's

right in you.

I want to trust you

instead of my own

judgment.

And I don't know what

everything holds for that,

but I'm just going to

trust you with it, Lord.

I'm going to give it

over to you.

I'm going to ask you to

empower me to change

today, to please you

with all of my life.

Don't get caught in the

stare that he'll set for

us.

Lord Jesus, today, I pray

that you'll allow us to

honor you by giving it

over to you, by entrusting

you with it.

Oh, God, I pray.

Lead us, Lord, to honor

you with all of our lives.

In Jesus' precious name,

amen.

Amen.