Exposing The Enemy 4

Message Clutch Student Ministries Pastor Jordan Biel Rock of Grace A/G 12.06.2006

Remember Satan’s objective – his ultimate purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy. Jn 10:10

Satan’s 1^st Scheme is to get you to believe lies about God – that you can’t really be

forgiven, that He doesn’t really love you and other lies.

Satan 2^nd Scheme is to convince us NOT to forgive somebody – to get us to hold

unforgiveness towards other people or even God about what’s happened in life.

Satan’s 3^rd Scheme is to appear stronger and more powerful than he really is.

Satan’s 4^th Scheme is convince you that you are stronger than you really are.

Samson was kinda a cocky fella to begin with, but here in Judges chapters 14 & 15,

he had ticked-off the Philistines, Israel’s sworn enemy, by telling them a riddle they

could not figure out to win a lot of money and possessions from them.

So the Philistines were mad and they tricked him and tied him up.

When Samson found out that they were going to kill him in Judges 15:14,

the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he was ticked! He killed over

a thousand men with the jawbone of a donkey! You think Troy and Hercules were bad,

this dude was Baaaaaaaaaadddddddddd!

So God’s people, Israel, made Samson their Judge – their ruler for a long time.

So Samson was on kind-of a high – everybody knew he was the strongest man

in the land and those type of comments started to go to Samson’s head.

We pick up our story in Judges 16:4. You know this story – Samson and Delilah,

The Hero and the Ho

Read Judges 16:4–25

What happened to Samson? Did the Ho just get the best of the Hero? No!

Samson believed the lie from Satan that told him that he was stronger than he really was.

You see Samson wasn’t even that strong without God. Every time, he did a great feet of strength,

The Bible says that “The Spirit of the Lord came upon him…” Whether it was killing a lion, breaking ropes,

killing people, lifting city gate right out of the ground, all of it was done because God had given him the strength.

I believe that he started off knowing this, but he gradually started to believe the lie, the strength he had was his own.

He gradually started taking credit for his success.

The moment you start taking credit for your success, watch out!

Satan is setting you up for a big fall.

Samson was in a time of victory in his life – things were going great – we

would say “he had everything going for him.”

And it was at that point that Satan took advantage of his ego.

You see God gives us great advice in Proverbs Chapter 5

Prov 5:7-9 “Young men, listen to me, and never forget what I'm about to say: 8 Run from her!

(a woman other than your wife) Don't go near her house, 9 lest you fall to her temptation and lose your honor,

and give the remainder of your life to the cruel and merciless…” TLB

What God is saying in this is, Take warning, if you don’t, you’re sure to fall and be destroyed by sin.

ILL> “Lips of An Angel” by Hinder

Lyrics: Vs. 1

“Honey why you calling me so late? It’s kinda hard to talk right now.

Honey why you crying is everything ok. I gotta whisper cause I can’t be too loud.

Pre-CH

My girls’ in the next room sometimes I wish she was you.

I guess we never really moved on.

CHORUS

It’s really good to hear your voice saying my name It sounds so sweet coming from

The lips of an angel Hearing those words it makes me weak

And I never wanna say good bye but girl you make it hard to be faithful

with the lips of an angel

Vs. 2

It’s funny that you’re calling me tonight. Yes I dreamt of you too.

And does he know you’re talking to me? Will it start a fight?

No I don’t’ think she has a clue.” To Pre-CH

What’s sad is that for a song that’s so popular, it’s message is full of grief. This guy is

regretting the fact that he’s having an affair with another woman. He feels awful about it,

he knows he’s screwed up a great relationship and now he wishes that he was with the girl he really loves.

What’s sad is that this happening every day in America at an alarming rate. Satan wants to convince that

you that you won’t get caught in your sin and even if you do, it won’t really hurt anybody – when in reality

it breaks the heart of the one you’re cheating on – it destroys what could’ve been a God-given relationship,

and leaves you torn and empty inside.

If there was another verse to this song, I think it would go like this:

“For a while your lips were sweet, but now you’ve left me in defeat.

What looked good on the outside, was poison on the inside,

Now how will the one I really love, ever again love me.

With the lips of an angel you drew me, and with the heart of a devil you slew me.

How can I ever recover, how can I live again. I’m without my wife and stuck in sin.”

Let’s take a look at God’s advice on sexual promiscuity.

Read all of Proverbs 5

Stats on Pastors that fall into sin> Given by Barna and Focus on the Family.

• Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.
• Almost forty percent polled said they have had an extra-marital affair since beginning their ministry.
• Fifty percent of pastors' marriages will end in divorce.

Youth Pastor/Friend in Ohio falls>

Ted Haggard – was the Leader, the Head of the NAE – National Association of Evangelicals and

Senior Pastor of New Life Church – a huge church. I say that he “was” the leader because he’s

since been removed from that position because he fell into the sin of Homosexuality and Adultery.

Read part of the “Ted Haggard Statement”>

Why did he fall into sin? How did it happen? It happened party because he believed Satan’s lie

that he was stronger than he really was.

Samson, The Youth Pastor, Ted Haggard, & all who’ve fallen into the trap of adultery did so

because they though “I can handle it” “I can stop myself if things get ‘out of hand’.”

Yeah right! You’re not as strong as you think your are concerning your ability to defeat sin.

1. You need GOD’s strength, to defeat sin, not your own strength to handle it!

2. You need to run from temptation, not entertain yourself with it,

thinking you “can handle it”

3. When you sin, because it will happen at some point in time – great or small, be

quick to repent to God and be honest with others.

James 5:16 says that confessing your sins to each other will bring healing. It will bring victory

in your life if you are able to humble yourself and openly talk about the sin you’re dealing with,

with me or an Adult Leader or a friend.

Remember what Ted Haggard said in his statement? “When I stopped communicating about my problems,

the darkness increased and finally dominated me. As a result, I did things that were contrary to everything I believe.”

Openly talking with somebody about your sin will always give you strength to overcome it.

Remember: Satan wants to convince you that you’re stronger than you really are.

He wants to convince you that you can handle the sin – that a little sin here and there isn’t a big deal and it’ll

never cause any real damage or hurt.

True righteousness – really being wise about your walk with God will cause you to remove your self

from the temptation, not withstand the temptation, thinking that you can handle it.

James 4:7-8 “So give yourselves humbly to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” TLB

Want another translation? “Run from the sin that you think you can handle!” PJV (Pastor Jordan Version)

Run from the sin that you think may get a hold of you!

Throw away the movie that has that scene in it! Throw away the music that has that message in it!

Throw away the T-shirt that advertises that band that plays that music that you know is wrong.

Don’t stay at your girlfriend/boyfriends house ‘till 1 or 2am!

Your setting yourself up for sin! I know it’s hard – I was there only a few years ago. Quit lying to

yourself and run from sin – quick! – Before it destroys you.

Decide now to stay pure and abstinent from sex until marriage. It will save you so much

trouble later and it will give you so much peace in your future marriage. Give the best wedding

gift you could possibly give to your future spouse – yourself – with no attachments, no baggage,

and no weights from previous relationships.

Remember, after you’ve sinned Satan wants you to think that there’s no way out and that

you’ve screwed up everything. BUT…

God will always provide a way out of the mess Satan’s got you in.

Let’s go back to our story of Samson. Read Judges 16:26-30

God gave Samson a second chance to have victory. Yes, Samson still had the consequence

of his sin, he still had to die. But God gave heard his cry of repentance and God gave him

supernatural strength one last time in order to kill many Philistines, including their leaders.

Satan wants you to think that there’s no way out of your mistakes; that God won’t forgive

you; that you’ve ruined everything and that you’re the only one who struggles. Let God shine

His light of truth tonight and expose the enemy.

The best way to expose and defeat the enemy is to repent – to admit your mistakes and

ask God to forgive you for believing Satan’s lies. Let’s not just expose the enemy tonight,

let’s defeat the enemy. If you feel God convicting you of sin – something you did that you

know was wrong – and now you know that you simply believed Satan’s lies to get you to

do it – and if you’d like to make amends with God tonight and ask Him for forgiveness, please

just make an Altar right where you are. An Altar is the place of change-the place where

we get rid of whatever is keeping us from knowing God.

If you don’t feel you’ve fallen today. This message is still for you. Never think you’re

strong enough spiritually to handle sin. If you think that you can handle sin, sin will handle

you and eventually strip you of everything you love and leave you in defeat. So take

God’s advice and don’t even be entertained with sin – so don’t open the door to

adultery by looking at porn. Don’t open the door the pre-marital sex by staying up

late together with your girlfriend/boyfriend alone – you’re placing yourself in danger

– you’re staying on the rooftop like David; you’re going towards her house like in Prov. 5;

– and you’re “Sleeping with the Enemy” like Samson – Take God’s advice and take

– God’s warning today and run from all sexual sin and any sin – anything you know keeps you away from God.