Sermon: Surprise Attack

Overcoming Satan's Seeds of Pride
#1716A
Bill Onisick
Given 01-Jul-23; 33 minutes 2023-07-01

description: (hide)

The element of surprise has been the deciding factor for many wars. We all have heard of the Trojan horse used by the Greek army to defeat the Trojans in the 12th or 13th century BC. In 217 BC at the battle of Lake Trasamene (perhaps less known), 30,000 Roman soldiers were lured to pursue what it seemed to be just a small band of fighters. They moved alongside a lake pursuing them, only to be ambushed by some 40,000 warriors hiding in the forest. Closer to home, we of course, all heard of Washington's crossing of the icy Delaware on Christmas night, which became a turning point in the Revolutionary War. In 1944, 12 nations coordinated a surprise attack on the shores of Normandy, which is considered one of the greatest turning points of the 20th century.

But the element of surprise in war dates back much, much earlier. It is recorded in Abraham's victory over the four kings that captured Lot. His victory was the result of a surprise attack that came at night from two sides, two different directions. But to examine the Bible's first surprise attack, we have got to go back even further, all the way back to Genesis 3. Please start turning there.

Now, to overcome a surprise attack, I have captured four basic steps that a commander should probably take. First, they would need to be aware of the enemy, to know that enemy's capabilities, strengths, limitations, and their typical strategies of warfare. Second, they need to expect the unexpected. A good commander knows their enemy is going to try to catch them off guard. They are going to try to surprise them. So, a good commander is always constantly thinking about their current weaknesses, current threats, where they could attack from next. Third, they take preparations to fortify defenses and prepare for an attack from an unexpected direction. And lastly, they are always on guard, always alert, carefully watching to quickly identify and combat any threat.

Reading now the first surprise attack ever recorded. You probably knew I was going there.

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.

Let us stop here just for a second. "The serpent was more subtle." That is the King James version, or cunning, New King James version. That is Strong's #6175 arum, meaning cunning, crafty, deceptive. Now, the word translated beast here I do not believe is really a great translation. It is Strong's #2416 chay. It is used throughout, though, Genesis 1 and 2 to describe every single living thing that is created by God in the creation week: all the fish, all the birds, all the animals, and even when He created mankind. When we put this all together, we learn that our enemy is very powerful; smarter, more deceptive, more powerful than any created thing on earth, including and especially us.

In Revelation 12:9 we read that "the great dragon, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan" deceives the entire world. He deceives the entire world. In I John 5:19, John tells us that the "whole world lies" in wickedness. That is, the entire world is under the control of Satan, the master commander and deceiver. We must always remember, fellow family members, our enemy is Satan. He is real. He is smarter. He is more deceptive than anything here on earth, including and especially us. The entire world is under his deception. And if we think even for a minute that we are not vulnerable to his attack, he has already won.

Genesis 3:1 And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"

Satan's surprise attack here is interesting. He starts by sowing some seeds of doubt and questioning, "Why would God withhold any tree from you, Eve? You are so deserving of all the trees. Why would a loving God withhold that from you?" He got her thinking that God's way maybe was a little too restrictive, that God was somehow holding back things that she should rightly have. And He uses the same tactic to this very day. Deep down, subconsciously, he makes us feel like we are a victim, that we deserve more. He plants these seeds, like, why would a loving God withhold anything from us? Why would God make us endure such hard trials of seeing people that we love suffer and die?

Satan plant seeds that we are a victim of circumstances. It is our imperfect parent's fault or the world's fault that we have this problem. Satan plants seeds of doubt. Our God must not really love us if He is making us endure such difficult circumstances. He plants seeds of envy and contention. Why do they have something that we do not have? Why did they say that or do that to me? He plants these seeds and he waters them and with it, he fuels our carnal, prideful mind into a competition against God and each other.

Genesis 3:2-4 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'" Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die."

Right from the beginning, Satan started his surprise attack on humanity. The surprise attack on humanity is to our carnal minds that has an inherent pride that simply refuses to submit to anyone. He entices Adam and Eve through their desire to become complete masters of their own destiny. Deep down, they wanted it to be in charge. Deep down, we all want to be in charge, make no mistake, brethren.

We read the Scriptures. Our hearts are evil and we must always remember this. Deep down, we want to be in charge; and they wanted to be in charge. As Satan tells them, "You will not die. No, you shall be gods." This is exactly what they wanted to hear and through their choice to sin, their faith, their trust in God, were all shoved aside in favor of their self-sovereignty.

Please turn with me to Ephesians 6. And as we turn, I want us to personalize this for just a minute. Do we know our enemy? Do we really know our enemy? Do we know his tactics of deception? Can we see the seeds of doubt and how he is attacking each of us right this very minute? We could tie this back to Richard's sermon a few weeks back. What defiles us is on the inside of our hearts and minds. It is our thoughts, our attitudes, our inclinations that always lead to sin. Sin happens first inside and then on the outside.

Ephesians 6:10-13 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Now, we know that we are in a war against the enemy that we cannot see. But I wonder how often, as a commander of our mind, are we constantly thinking about his surprise attack. Where are our weak spots? Where is he working on us right now? His surprise attack occurs, of course, in our mind. It is a battle to control our thoughts, our attitudes, our inclinations that all fuel our actions eventually. He knows that if he can get us even leaning slightly off balance, slightly in the wrong direction, we are much more easily prone to sin.

II Corinthians 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war against the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

Let us unpack this a bit here. The word "carnal" here really means that which is physical. So our war is not physical, it is not a hand-to-hand combat. We know this, and therefore the weapons of our defense against Satan are not anything physical either. They are not any capability of our own, per se. Our only weapon of defense against Satan is God's Spirit of power. His Spirit of agape and self-control. And it is through our daily relationship with Him and the indwelling of His powerful Spirit that we can pull down the stronghold of what? What is the stronghold? The stronghold of our carnal, prideful, selfish hearts.

It is only through His Spirit and daily work with His help that we can pull down Satan's stronghold, the enemy within us. This is our daily battle against the enemy within. Paul says that only through God's Spirit can we put to death the man of flesh, the pride. We can cast down and out Satan's imaginations and thoughts that he puts into our minds, which are all against the knowledge of God. We have to know our enemy. We have to anticipate and see his surprise attack for what it is.

Any thought, any attitude, any inclination not aligned to God's Spirit of agape is from where? It is from Satan, the adversary. He is planting seeds. He is constantly planting seeds. We are told to agape even our enemies, agapeo our enemies. We are commanded to agapeo our enemies by Jesus Christ. So any negative thought, attitude, inclination, or action not aligned to God's Spirit of agape is satanic.

Now, we do not like to use that word when we describe our actions or our thoughts. But maybe if we did, we would get a little more sense of urgency to really get that sin out. When we do sin, it all comes back to our thoughts in our mind. It all starts in our mind—our thoughts, our attitudes, and our inclinations. And sometimes we even accept the sin for many, many years because we have not seen it for what it is.

Make no mistake, Satan has a surprise attack right now against all of us. Where is he causing us to have a negative thought? Maybe it is a negative thought against a neighbor that did something wrong. Maybe it is against a brother or sister. Maybe it is against someone in this world, maybe they did something wrong. But what does that negative thought do? Does it produce any good fruit? No. So we have to learn how to see Satan's attack on our mind and on our thoughts. And we have got to overcome that with Jesus Christ's and God's Spirit.

Has Satan convinced us that these negative thoughts are actually ok because maybe these people are sinners and they deserve the negative thoughts? We hate the sin, but we have got to love the sinner, just like Jesus Christ. We cannot condemn other people. Failing to forgive, failing to love our fellow family members is satanic. Again, we do not like to use that word in descriptions of our actions. But if we do, maybe we will start to get a little more serious.

We cannot control the circumstances of our lives, the events, the things that happen to us, what other people do or do not do. There is honestly only one real thing that we have complete control over. It is our mindset, it is our attitude, it is our thoughts and our inclinations, and all of those things are what lead to our behavior, our actions. This is where the battle against Satan is won or lost, and it is a constant battle.

As Paul ends his admonition in II Corinthians 10, I want us to really pick up the secret weapon to overcoming the surprise attack. He says we are to put into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. And again, I want to personalize this for just a minute. How different would our lives be if we literally brought every thought into captivity, every thought into alignment with God's agape Spirit? What would life be like? Where would the sin go? It would be gone! If we are walking in God's Spirit of agape, we cannot sin. By definition, agape is doing what is best for the God Family, and doing the commandments, avoiding sin, is always what is best for the God Family.

Now, this introduction is a bit of a surprise attack and I am going to have to pick up the pace clearly. We have been studying into Paul's detailed description of God's agape Spirit in I Corinthians 13. So please turn there. We know that we are to become just like our great Creator. I contend that God's greatest attribute is His agape Spirit. Everything God does is driven by His unchanging, all powerful, never bending will coupled with constant action to always work out what is best for the God Family. That is what we are striving to become like. And we are commanded by Jesus Christ to agapeo God, our brothers and sisters, and even our enemies, for it is only through this Spirit that we can have both the right outcome with the right underlying motivation, the right thoughts and attitudes.

Now, in I Corinthians 13, verses 4 through 7, you will note Paul uses 16 descriptions of agape in action. Eight positive, agape does this, and eight negative, agape never does this, statements. Today we are going to examine two closely related statements. The Greek word used to describe the eight actions that are never produced from God's Spirit of agape is Strong's 3756, ou. And that is a pretty good pronunciation because it means absolutely negative; no, not never. God's Spirit never does these eight things. Said another way these eight things are agape's opposites, and if they are agape's opposites, they are God's opposites, which means they are of the father Satan, the father of this world.

I Corinthians 13:4 Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up.

The Amplified Version reads, "Love does not brag, it is not proud or arrogant." The word Paul used here translated "does not parade itself," vaunt itself, or brag is Strong's #4068. This is a mouthful. Perperuomai, and it is used only here, fortunately, so I will not have to say that again. Strong's explains that it is from the Greek word perperus meaning braggart and it is likely a reduplication of the base "to boast or vaunt itself." And, not being that strong in English, I had to actually look up what is a reduplication. It refers to words that are formed through a repetition of sounds like okie dokie or pitter patter. (Richard is laughing because he clearly knew this.) Thayer's Greek Lexicon has some color commentary here. It means to boast oneself, to be vainglorious, walking in vainglory, a bragger, a self-display using embellishments.

As these two words explain, vainglory is a vain display of perhaps a good attribute in ways that bring attention to ourselves and ultimately take attention away from God. Most of us in the church are spiritually mature enough to not go around and say, "Hey, look at me. I got it going on." Nor do we go around singing, "I'm too sexy for my clothes." But Satan's surprise attack of pride will cause us to subtly boast or humbly brag.

How do we do it? Well, one of the common ways we do it is we always want to give our opinion even when people do not ask for it. We are basically saying, "Look, dumb donkey. I'm smarter than you and I've done it this way and it always works for me, so it must be best for you too." Or we might subtly brag about how we raised our children. But the most common form of bragging, I would argue, in the end time church, is a form of putting others down by pointing out mistakes or flaws. We are basically saying, in vainglory, "Look at how much better I am than so-and-so that made that mistake." Social media is more or less just a humble brag platform used to bring attention to ourselves. A post may seem modest, casual, even self-critical, but it is usually driven from some sort of pride to draw attention to oneself. We do not post and hope nobody else reads it. That is called a diary, not a post.

There are a lot of other ways we could subtly brag and draw attention to ourselves, from the cars we drive to the clothes we wear. And there is nothing wrong with nice things. We just need to make sure they are because we enjoy them, not because we are trying to show off, we are trying to bring attention to ourselves, or make people think more highly of us. God's Spirit of agape never boasts, brethren.

The second one here related, "love [agape] is not puffed up." This one is pretty easy. God's agape Spirit is never puffed up. This is Strong's #5448, phusioo, meaning to blow up, inflate, make proud, haughty. We got a word picture here, right? Somebody—big, big, deep breath, they are pounding their chest or filled with pride and the air of superiority.

Please turn with me to Proverbs 21. Again, most in the church are not openly arrogant and prideful, but we are still susceptible to Satan's surprise attack. Here, as Paul warns using the same word,

I Corinthians 8:1 Knowledge puffs up, but love [agape] edifies [or builds up].

Satan's spirit of pride accuses and separates, whereas God's Spirit of agape forgives and unites.

Now, many in the church create an unnecessary conflict by shoving their knowledge onto others and trying to force them to accept their viewpoint. We may indeed be accurate within the letter of the law. But if we are trying to cram it down someone's throat, that is kind of a satanic use of God's truth. Think about the irony in that. Very interesting. Paul uses the same word to describe the arrogance, pride, and rivalry that had developed between members in the Corinthian church congregation in I Corinthians 4:6 and 19, you can jot that down.

So again, this is all part of Satan's surprise attack. He plants seeds of competitiveness, ill will, and hard feelings among brethren. He is known as the accuser of brethren, is he not? God's agape Spirit is never deceived into thinking too highly of ourselves and always esteems others better than ourselves.

Proverbs 21:4 A haughty look, a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked are sin.

In John Ritenbaugh's sermon, "New Covenant Priesthood (Part Eight)," he explains that pride is indeed the father of all sins. "As plowing prepares the way of the productions of the earth, pride prepares the way for the production of sin." It all comes from inside our hearts and minds, and our pride. Pride is a hidden sin, usually, and it manifests itself in a multitude of more easily seen sins on the outside. And as John explained, pride is actually an under-sense of one's own superiority, importance, or worth. Its synonyms are—get this—self-esteem, conceit, vanity, and vainglory. Said simply, the spirit of pride is the opposite of agape. And all eight negative statements found in I Corinthians 13 describe actions that are the fruit of Satan's seed of pride planted within us.

More than anything else pride wants to be in control, it wants to be esteemed right or better, both in a workplace or in our conversations and interactions here in church. It is a dual surprise attack, if that makes sense, because paradoxically, pride is a mark of inferiority. Right? It is a feeling on the inside that you are not adequate that leads to this perverted judgment and an overcompensation. It is, again, pretty ironic in terms of how it comes to be and how Satan really works on us, on all of us.

Pride is not always about somebody that has power or wealth, by the way. Pride exists in everyone. It can be a pride of being right. It could be a pride of a home. It could be a pride of anything. It is all about putting anything before our Great God and it is really synonymous with idolatry.

Now, I often reflect on words that hit me so hard from my late mentor and minister who said once, "Just be glad you don't have my sins." And I just shrunk. And how he crushed us all when he told us the thing that he learned the most from his wife's dementia was just how selfish he really is. And wow, that hit me hard! I have been reflecting on that since that day.

You know, deep down, we are all selfish. We are fueled by a pride that we do not want to admit, a pride that does not want to submit to God or submit to each other. The only question is, are we aware of the surprise attack that is underway right this very second, on each and every one of us, within our very own hearts and minds? Are we working to overcome and combat that spirit, Satan's seeds of doubt that he plants every single day? Doubts that God must not love us because He would not have us endure such terrible trials or seeds that we are a victim of the circumstances that have happened to us.

Over to Philippians 2 now, as we start to conclude. In order to overcome, we must first know our enemy. Our enemy is very powerful. He is smarter and more deceptive than any other created thing. The entire world is under control of the master commander and deceiver.

Philippians 2:1-5 Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

We can tie this perfectly to Ephesians 4:1-2. We must walk worthy of our calling with all lowliness, gentleness, longsuffering, and bearing with one another in agape. Knowing our enemy and his tactics we must do our part to prepare and fortify our mind for the surprise attacks that are coming—and they will intensify as the end draws near.

As Paul confirms in II Corinthians 10, this is not a war we can win on our own, only through Jesus Christ and His powerful Spirit of agape and self-control can we pull down the stronghold of our carnal, prideful, selfish hearts. Satan is constantly planting his seeds of pride to prepare the way for the production of sin. We must work harder, fellow family members, to root out the hidden sin of pride and bring every thought into captivity, into alignment with Jesus Christ's Spirit of agape.

Remember agape never parades itself. Agape is not puffed up. We must become more self-aware of our satanic tendencies of humble bragging and negative attitudes, thoughts, inclinations, and actions that put others down so that we can feel puffed up. We must become more aware of Satan's seeds of contention, remembering anything thought or done that is not in alignment with God's Spirit of agape is by definition satanic.

We cannot do this on our own. But as we read in I John 5:18, "We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and that wicked one does not touch him." A very inspiring scripture. So we must work to bring into submission all our thoughts.

Let us turn to I Peter 5, where we are going to conclude. We can also tie this to Jude 21, "Keep yourselves in the love of God." It shows that there is a work that we must do to work to keep in alignment with Jesus Christ's way. And when we walk in God's Spirit of agape, we become one with God. And as a result, we sin not and the wicked one has no effect against us. And we could tie this to II Thessalonians 3, "But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and keep you from evil."

I Peter 5:5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

We will pause there for a second. "Clothed with humility." What comes to mind how when Jesus Christ girded Himself and washed the feet of His disciples? He showed us, He demonstrated submission and He sacrificed for His people, for us.

I Peter 5:6-7 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

Now, if we remember, a successful commander against the surprise attack is doing what? It is on guard. It is watching, it is aware of the enemy. It is always looking. Where is he going to attack me next? We must

I Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

WJO/aws/drm