Resisting Satan's Temptations

Open your Bibles please to Ephesians chapter six, Ephesians six and verse 16.

It talks about both the shield and how that extinguishes. And then in verse 17, the helmet and then the sword. Today's message is entitled "Resisting Satan's Temptations" and it is a continuation from last week. I'm so glad to see you again here this week. And as we continue in God's word together, I want to ask that you would not only read this with me, but analyze your life today to see where you could better align with being a spiritual war fighter. I don't want you to be a punching bag for Satan. And I don't want you to walk around with arrows stuck inside of your heart or from behind and stay wounded. I would like for you to resist the devil and then the text will see not only will he flee from you, but also that you can be ministered to by Jesus and be healed.

And so in Ephesians chapter six, look with me if you would. In verse 16, it says, "In addition to all, having taken up the shield of faith, which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Also receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

Let's pause for a prayer. Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for the word of God. I pray that You would help minister to our hearts today exactly what it is to be able to resist evil and see that he will flee from us. In Christ's name, amen.

You know, scholars say that the sword is the only offensive weapon in your armory here. And I do not consider myself to be a scholar by any way, shape, or form. But I do disagree with most of them in that it's not the only offensive weapon. Look at the text. In verse 16, it says, "In addition to all, having taken up the shield of faith," what does it do? The Bible says here, "With which you are able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." And so that shield is not only defensive, but it is also offensive. And so you can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Think with me on this subject today because you have another offensive weapon in your armory. Yes, the sword is the primary weapon for addressing and resisting and standing in your faith. But you have a shield as well. Can you imagine with this imagery, a trained Roman soldier with a heavy shield on his arm, soaked in water, and how heavy that would be because they had to extinguish the flaming part of the arrow so they would soak the leather and soak the wood and they would have a big shield. Can you imagine if he reared back and hit you with a shield? Oh yes, it is offensive. Plus, if you remember back to the message where we were talking about locking in and winning, those shields can lock in together. When they form a front and you lock in those shields together just like this clasp right here, they would be so strong that even a horse could jump over top and if they had their shields on top locked in all the way back, a horse could walk on top of the shields. The shields formed, they locked in front so strong that even a horse could walk on it. And so that helps us to understand that the shields not only lock in, but also when they take a step forward, they have that cadence and they have that count and they move forward together. And then one, two, three, and move forward again together. They are offensively moving forward so it can extinguish and plus it could move forward. And so now not only do we see that we can extinguish the flaming arrows, I want you to know that you can do this.

So many Christians have got some type of prior wound that they walk around with from childhood and they cater to it and they keep it and they make it worse by looking at it and thinking about it and pushing it in farther. That is not the victorious life in Christ. Satan has got an arrow right in your heart, but what do you do with that? Well, I want you to know as well that your sword is not only offensive in fighting off evil, it is also to be turned around and used on yourself. Yes, turn your sword around and turn it into a surgical scalpel. Get to the heart of these matters and address the hurts with the word of God. Skillfully cut away all of these pains, address them with the word of God and get it out of you so that you can live free in Christ. "It is for freedom that Christ has set you free," in Galatians chapter five and verse one.

Resisting Satan and standing firm is a big subject for us to be able to learn how to do spiritual war fighting because Satan is crafty and he doesn't get tired of his craft, he's a master of it and he can go and go and go and go and go. You can expect for the rest of your life to face serious opposition. He is a master of his craft and he has a lot of legions of angels at his disposal.

Let's just look at some of what we can see in regards to evil in Psalm chapter 37. Turn with me if you would. Let's read a little bit of scripture in Psalm 37:7–20. And I want you to see that just because evil exists and just because of all these things that are happening, yes there are hurts, yes there are wounds, yes evil seems to be thriving, but we're not on the losing side. We are so much on the winning side that our Commander in Chief laughs at the opposition as we discussed last week.

In Psalm 37:7 all the way through verse 20, the Bible says, "Be still in Yahweh and wait patiently for Him." Some of us are just simply too busy in our spirit and our soul and our minds that we are not really, truly walking in Christ. And the Bible says to be still and know Him, here to be still in God, in the Lord and wait patiently for Him, "do not fret because of him who prospers in his way." So we don't bite our nails when evil continues to make headway. "Because of the man who carries out schemes of wickedness, cease from anger and forsake wrath, do not fret, it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off," I love that promise. "But those who hope for Yahweh, they will inherit the land. Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more."

Listen, in just a little while, this whole thing, it's going to be over anyway. We're going to be in the presence of Christ. Christ is coming again soon. You have only one life to live and soon will pass and only what's done for Christ will last. I hope that you see this for what it truly is. So what? Do your part. So what if evil is making headway? Do your part. So what if you were wounded? Yes, we all get wounded. Some wounds are much worse than others. But there are no wounds that the word of God cannot heal.

And when evil is thriving, like it is here in the text, what do you do? Well, you need to have the confidence of God and be in Him, wait in Him. Verse 10, "Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more, you will look carefully at his place and he will not be there. But the lowly will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant peace. The wicked schemes against the righteous." That's nothing new. "And gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him, for He sees that his day is coming." It's another great promise. When wickedness comes against you, you can just simply say, along with the Lord, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, that their day is coming. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.

"In verse 14, the wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow to cast down the afflicted, to slay those who are upright in conduct. Their sword will enter their own heart." Ha, got to love that. They set traps for you, but they're going to step in their own trap. "And their bows will be broken. Better is a little of the righteous than the abundance of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked will be broken, but Yahweh sustains the righteous." Get that, that is a wonderful phrase. Psalm 37:17, "The Lord sustains the righteous." That is both referring to the imputed righteousness of Christ when you were saved, and also those who are living righteously. Think not that you can live disobediently to Christ and He protect you, because when you go outside of the umbrella of protection underneath the Lord Jesus Christ, you're entering into Satan's domain and then you'll get eaten alive.

Live righteously and enjoy the obedient blessings. Enjoy the blessings of those who are being obedient. He wants to give you wonderful things, but it's within Him, just like in verse seven. "Be still in Yahweh, in God, and wait patiently for Him." In verse 18, "Yahweh knows the days of the blameless and their inheritance will be forever. They will not be ashamed in the day of evil and in the days of famine, they will be satisfied. But the wicked will perish and the enemies of Yahweh will be like the glory of the pastures." Cow pasture, I guess. They vanish in smoke and they vanish away. You get this, you get the heart behind this, but I want you to also see it theologically and this is a done deal.

This anthropomorphic language is for your benefit — from your state, from your earthly walk, from where you are — you can see Satan's doomed and the wicked are not going to continue to prosper. They're going to be judged. But from God's theological, heaven-bound perspective, you can come alongside of Him and say, "It's already done," because the end has already been written and this is already accomplished. And so from God's perspective, outside of time, it's already done. He sits in victory. And so if you're under the circumstances, get out from underneath the circumstances. Get up with God, get up with Christ and look down at your pain and your problems from a theological perspective and get used to resisting and standing against the schemes of the evil one.

So much so, if you develop this skill set, I promise you, you will be able to laugh at these schemes just like God laughs. You'll be able to have a theological, heavenly perspective on all of the weak things that Satan's trying to do and laugh at him, pray against him, resist him and see him flee. How can you do anything to make Satan — a powerful angel — flee from your life? I'm glad you asked. Turn to Matthew chapter four and let's take a look at it together.

How can you resist temptation? Satan comes at you with temptation and he wants to allure you one little step at a time away from Christ and he wants to destroy you. He wants to steal, kill and destroy you. We have this example in Matthew chapter four, verses 1–11, let's read it together.

"Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, He then became hungry and the tempter came and said to Him, 'If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.' And He answered and said, 'It is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple. And he said to Him, 'If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down, for it is written, He will command His angels concerning You and on their hands they will bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against the stone.' And Jesus said to him, 'Again, it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.' Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, 'All these things I will give You if You fall down and worship me.' And then Jesus said to him, 'Go, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.' And then in verse 11 is the victory march here. Then the devil left Him and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him."

And so you see here in this text in verses 1–11 of Matthew chapter four that Satan attempts to steal, kill and destroy Christ in many different ways. Look with me in verse three. "And the tempter came and said to Him, 'If.'" Circle that little word "if" because the questioning of Satan penetrates to the heart of the matter. Satan knows what is most important. And Jesus is God, period. In John chapter 10 and verse 30, it says, "I and the Father are one." Jesus is God, the very deity of Christ is what Satan came after here. "If You are the Son of God" — Satan wants to steal the identity of King Jesus. That's what Satan wanted to steal. He wanted to take that identity away from Him and cost Him His confidence and cost Him His ministry. He came right at the heart of the matter.

And when it comes to the deity, the purpose of who Christ is, what He was to do — when He was questioned on this very heart of the matter, you can bank on it. I'm telling you, if you could wager a wage, I would tell you to wager all that you can muster up together and put together all of what you can wager on this fact: that whatever role God has for you, Satan will attack. And he will attack it with not just a flaming arrow, he's going to send a missile. I'm talking about a guided missile right at the heart of the matter. And he will attack these issues of motherhood and fatherhood and our identity in Christ, and the list goes on and on and on — he will attack these from the time you're very little. And he will try and warp your mind against who Christ wants you to be.

Now most of you have been through Ephesians chapter five where we discussed the role of a courageous husband and the role of a willing wife, and the role of obedient children, and the roles of employees. And all of this is unto Christ, unto Christ, unto Christ, and unto Christ. And Satan wants to attack those primary roles. He wants to come at you at the heart of the matter. And if he can discourage you into doubting perhaps who you are as a husband, as an instructor of righteousness to your children, then he can diffuse the whole family. And if he can come at you as a wife and make you insubordinate and disobedient to the scriptures, then he can bring reproach upon the word of God. All of this is scripture. And if he can make a mother feel like she is insufficient to teach her own children about the word of God and educate them, then he can disrupt the entire family for generations.

Satan knows where to aim flaming arrows. He knows how to get just an inch below where the shield is and get to the heart. He knows how to penetrate, and he is unafraid even to attack Jesus. And so no matter how fortified you are, no matter how sound you are in doctrine, no matter how dynamic the church is, no matter how tight the family is, Satan knows how to attack the heart of the matter. And so you fight back with the sword and with the shield. Extinguish those arrows.

If you have your hand in Matthew chapter four, hold your place. I want you to see again in Ephesians chapter six that the shield is for extinguishing. You can put out that flame. You can block that arrow, and you can use your own sword to remove that wound. Have you ever seen a soldier in battle and they know that they have to take the bullet out of their leg before it gets all nasty and junky — and you know, yep. Yeah, well you too have to do the hard work of digging out perhaps even the infection and the wound. This ain't somebody else's job. This is your job to manage your soul rightly, to examine yourself and turn that sword on yourself. You can trust the word of God in the deepest areas that hurt the worst. You could trust the Lord. His word, it's wonderful. It's so healing.

Look in verse 16, "In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish the flaming arrows." Have you developed your spiritual war fighting skill set to the point to where you can extinguish arrows, block missiles, or are you walking around with the "oh poor me" victimhood mentality of "I've been wounded"? Perhaps you think that you should not have been wounded. Perhaps you think, I didn't deserve that. Perhaps you think, I can't believe that happened to me. Oh come on, get over yourself. If you have a self-centered approach to all of life, it's never going to end well. We have to have a Christocentric theology.

Not everything revolves around you. In fact, everything should be revolving around Christ. And since Christ is the center of all things, and since the word of God is about Christ, and since in Him is truth, then we apply the truth based upon what He says about things. And the psalmist said it right when he said, "It was good for me that I was afflicted." It was good. When you go through painful circumstances, you consider the fiery trials as more precious than gold, like Peter said. You consider it pure joy, James said, when faced with many trials. You actually have a completely different view on suffering.

If God was not a good God, then why did He allow all of those who were addressed by the Apostle Peter to go through such suffering? If God was not a good God, then why did He allow His own Son to be crucified? But it was through the suffering and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ that produced the atonement that can be applied to your life. His substitutionary death is now made possible through the suffering. No wonder Paul said that he had fellowship with Christ in his suffering. And so these battles that we endure in life, yes, you can call them unfair. Satan is more capable and stronger than we are. But he does not fight fair. Get over it. Become a spiritual war fighter.

On the offense, use your sword, use your shield, and walk, continue in the Lord. Do not have a complaint coming out of your lips. Paul said it in Philippians 2:14, not to even murmur or complain, to do all things. And that includes walking through suffering. Well, it even produces glory. Turn with me to 1 Peter in chapter four.

When you suffer well, it is glorifying to the Lord. If you suffer in a way that is not well, it is dishonoring to the Lord. In 1 Peter 4:13, the Bible says, "But to the degree that you are sharing in the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exaltation. And if you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of glory, of God, rests on you. Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or a troublesome meddler. But if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be put to shame, but is to glorify God in this name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the house of God. And if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel? And if it was with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner? Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God must entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing so."

As you suffer, know that it is according to the will of God that you walk through these things. God assigns suffering to some more than others. And if you grumble, you're grumbling against God. Look at Job. His sufferings were assigned by God. In Job chapter one and verse eight, God said to Satan, "Have you considered Job?" — as if He's directing the devil to go and to tempt Job, to torture Job, to take things away from Job — but in the end, did not God restore it all? Double for his trouble.

If I was Job, I would be saying, "Oh, how I wish I would have worked on my theology of suffering before the suffering. I wish I would have learned how to resist the devil before he came. I wish I would have learned better how to stand before the day of temptation. Oh, I wish." And if I wish anything as a pastor, it is that the flock would learn how to fight. This skill set is so important, and I've said it once, I'll say it again before we're done with the spiritual warfare series, in that Ephesians chapter six is not a tag-on to the end of the book, it is a climax. And in every way — and believe me, that statement disagrees with most commentaries — but as you read the entire word of God, you judge for yourself whether or not you think Ephesians chapter six is reaching where Paul wants to go, as if he is aiming in this direction from the very beginning.

Satan fights against salvation, that's what chapter one is about. And the list goes all the way through Ephesians, and you'll see it for yourself if you read the whole book in one sitting — it reaches this climax and then tapers off after prayer and giving some credibility to Tychicus and his work in the ministry.

In Matthew chapter four, verses 1–11, if you still have your hand there, we see not only that the tempter came to Jesus and questioned His identity — "If You are the Son of God," what a sarcastic statement that was. Satan knows that Jesus is God. And then he presumes to take and instruct Jesus, saying, "Command that these stones become bread." And this is an appeal to the flesh. It's a strike at God's provision, as if God can't provide. It's an appeal to the flesh and it's a strike at God's provision, you get that? It's an appeal to the flesh. It's a strike at God's provision. God allows you to be tempted by Satan in the areas of the flesh. He's going to appeal to your fleshly desires. And when you do so, you think that you deserve more than what God has provided for you — it is a strike. It's an accusation against God as if He has not done a good job providing for your life.

And so the appeal to the lusts of the flesh is one area where Satan will come after you and he will allure you and derail the will of God in your life. But Jesus answered and said, "It is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." And when Jesus says "it is written" in verse four, He says it again, "it is written," in verse seven. And then He says it again, "it is written," in verse 10. Jesus has only one game plan to model for us in fighting against Satan and that is saying what the Bible says. And so you should be very familiar with what the word has to say in the areas of your weaknesses. If you do not know what the Bible says in regards to where you are weak, you are walking around vulnerable. If you do not have memorized a reaction to the areas for which you are not strong, Satan knows that and he's going to come after you in those areas. He will allure you in those areas and do his best to make you get out from underneath the provisions of God and after the flesh.

In verses 5–7, Jesus' relationship with the Father is also addressed. Verse five, "Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple." Now I, with Calvin and Martyn Lloyd-Jones, also feel like this is imagery, it's metaphoric, it's not actual. Satan did not allure Christ in the flesh and actually go to a pinnacle of a temple. It's almost like imagery, like as if Satan is painting a picture and talking to Him about these things. Jesus did not actually follow Satan somewhere on earth.

"And he said to Him, 'If You are the Son of God'" — still taking stabs at His identity — "'throw Yourself down, for it is written, He will command His angels concerning You and on their hands they will bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against the stone.'" Here you see Satan is slick. He is really smart. The very way that Jesus defends Himself and strikes back with the sword of the Spirit, the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God — that very thing. Satan looks at that and he says, "Oh, well I'm a perverter, I'm going to take that and turn it right back around and throw it right back at you." And so Satan quotes scripture right back at Him.

Satan knows the word of God. But even more than knowing the word of God, he knows how to pervert the word of God and twist the word of God and quote the word of God. Have you ever had someone use the word of God in a way to try to lure you away from the truth? Well, "the Bible says this, doesn't it? Do not judge" — that's like the biggest one out there. Yes, lest you be judged, take a look at the context. It's actually a command to judge righteously.

We need to study to show ourselves approved so that we can stand on solid ground and use our sword and use our shields. So "if you're the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it's written, He will command His angels concerning you and on their hands they will bear you up unless you strike your foot against the stone." Here Satan is trying to kill, steal, kill and destroy. And this is evident.

Now also he moves on after two temptations to verse eight. "And then again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory. And he said to Him, 'All these things I will give You.'" Yeah right. "If You fall down and worship me." What audacity. As if God would bow to Satan. You need to know that the boldness and the audacity of Satan is without limits. And if he will attack in this area to try and get Jesus to bow down and worship him, he will come after the strongest areas in your life as well.

He will try and get you not only to worship him, but he will break down, if he can, the strongest areas in your life. God would not be God if He worshiped Satan. And right here is a strike at the very core. So Jesus' deity as God — that is what Satan wanted to destroy here. And if Jesus would have bowed down to worship him, then He would not have been God.

In Ephesians chapter six, verse 17, it says to take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. That is exactly what Jesus did over and over and over again. And so when you are faced with temptations, you only have one easy response to memorize. This is not complicated. This is not hard to remember. All you do is read or quote the word of God at the moment of temptation. Don't delay.

Oftentimes, when you're caught up in the heat of the battle, you revert to fighting in the flesh, and you will lose every single time you fight in the flesh. It will not end well. But at the moment, if you could do this, if somehow we could develop this spiritual war strategy to kneel down, pray, and quote scripture, read scripture, just run to Jesus — at the moment the battle starts, you can use your shield to extinguish the flaming arrows. And you can use your sword to fight back and resist the devil. But it's at the moment of temptation. That's when it works.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13, the Bible says that "no temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide a way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it." 1 Corinthians 10:13 is a huge source of hope to know that there's no temptation that's greater than you can resist.

In 1 John chapter four, verse four, it says, "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." And so the power of the Holy Spirit in you enables you to have recall of scripture when you need it, to be able to quote verses, to run to your Bible, gives you the desire to do that and to fight in the moment. And so don't delay.

You see by observation in the text here, Matthew chapter four, that Jesus did not delay in responding with scripture. But how many times have we fought these spiritual battles for extended periods of time before we even realize it's a spiritual battle? And yet it's very clear in Ephesians chapter six, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the might of His strength, put on the full armor of God, that you'd be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood."

How long does it take for us to realize that, as we are actually in the battle, it's not against flesh and blood? Our struggle is then against rulers and against authorities. It's against world forces. It's against darkness. It's against spiritual forces, against wickedness. It's against the evil one. And our strategy then is to resist in this evil day. Verse 13, "Therefore take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist." This is important spiritual war strategy fighting for you because — how many days do you lapse as you are perhaps under the circumstances, or dealing with doubt, or dealing with these arrows, walking around wounded? How many days do we simply succumb and we do not fight? We don't resist. How many months have you dealt with some of these struggles that perhaps Satan has stuck you with? How many years have you dealt with some of these arrows from the evil one and not accurately handled these things? God help us. So read or quote the word at the moment of temptation.

You see that Jesus said, "It is written, it is written, it is written." All of those quotes from Deuteronomy are what Jesus used as the sword. And so it's pretty cool if you like sports analogies to be able to see that the battle score between Satan and Christ goes as this: three attempts from Satan totaling three whiffs. And then from Christ, three sword swings, which all connected, totaling a score of three, resulting in a win. And the win is in verse 11, "Then the devil left Him."

And so when the devil left Him, he was demonstrating — Christ was demonstrating to us — to resist him with scripture and then he will leave. And then guess what? Then the angels came and began to minister to Him. I want you to know that as you go through all of these life's battles, that there is a battle recovery fellowship. Battle recovery fellowship. Listen to this, notice that there is a fellowship with Christ as you recover. In Matthew chapter four, verse 11, "Then the devil left Him and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him." The intensity of battle will wane off as you resist Satan and he leaves, but it is not without a consequence. And the consequences are that we are battle-torn. We are worn down, our hearts are in shambles, our mind can be confused, our emotions can be a wreck. All of these things can happen simultaneously and you will need to be ministered to, but as you are being ministered to, it is actually fellowship with Christ. Now Christ, since He has gone through this, is perfectly able to help you. Turn to Hebrews 2:18.

Hebrews 2:18 is such a wonderful verse of scripture in regards to the sufferings of Christ which He endured, and now that He has been tempted and He has suffered, He is able to help those who are suffering and being tempted. In Hebrews chapter two, verse 18, the Bible says, "For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to those and help those who are tempted."

After the battle, there is a recovery. After a battle, there is a time to where you need to be spiritually nurtured back to spiritual health. And after the battle, there are some real wounds that feel physical — they're spiritual, but they also really feel physically hurtful. And so praise God that when Satan tempts, he only tempts us in seasons, and He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world, it's not going to last forever. The seasons come and the seasons go. But since Christ in His ministry position is to help us to recover in these things, I think that we need not to deny the role of Christ in the recovery. I think that we need to realize that the word washes the wounds away and they're not as painful as they once were. Some things never really truly go away, granted, but the word of God has the ability to nurture you back to health so that you're strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

And so the shield we see today is both offensive and defensive, and it is our belief, it is our faith. The shield that you hold up today is not like that Roman shield where you pick up a shield that has been soaked in water and you pick it up. The shield is metaphoric for our content in the word of God, it is our faith, it is our trust in the doctrines of the word of God. It is the intellectual truth. And so how do you block worry? We don't pick up an actual shield and put it in front of someone. You quote what the Bible says, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life." Right? It's Matthew 6:25. How do you combat worry? You quote scripture just like Jesus did in Matthew chapter four. "It is written, it is written, it is written" is the only battle strategy — fight back with scripture, quote and recite scripture for the areas for which you're struggling in.

And so for the areas that you're struggling in, self-diagnose what's going on in here, because only you really truly know. Others can observe and guess and help, but only you really know what your weaknesses are, what you need to struggle with. Write it down, get a concordance, look it up, see what the Bible has to say about where you struggle. Do you fear? Joshua 1:9 has some explicit instructions in regards to not fearing. Do you have anxiety? Well, Philippians 4:6 has a very clear word about anxiety. Don't be anxious for anything. In fact, you should trust the Lord with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength. You should serve Him and trust Him and love Him. Combat it with scripture. Quote those scriptures. Truly address the issues with the word of God. In 1 Peter chapter five, verse seven, it says to "cast all of your anxiety upon Him because He cares for you." How do you deal with anxiety?

You just have to keep saying, "Lord, I can't handle it, but You can, and I am going to cast this to the best of my ability over and over and over," and I'm going to move like the psalmist moved from crying out to You from the ends of the earth — the psalmist said, "I'm crying to You from the ends of the earth, I'm fixing to fall off the cliff of life, Lord. I'm desperate here." And you're going to move, and in that psalm, he was moved from crying out in prayer to stating what the scriptures say to praising God. And if we would be faithful to do that, we too can move from anxiety to stating what the scriptures say to then praising God.

What about death? Death is a huge one when it comes to fears. The Bible says there's no fear in death. What about hell? Well, proclaim the gospel boldly to those who are going to hell, like in Ephesians chapter six and verse 20, "For which I am an ambassador in chains, so that in proclaiming it, I may speak boldly as I ought." And so this mystery of the gospel is to be proclaimed boldly. That's how you fight against hell and its fear. What about — do you struggle with prayer? Colossians 4:2 says to be devoted to prayer. What about peace? Are you struggling inwardly with peace? Well, turn the word of God upon yourself and say that Philippians 4:7 says, "And the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ." And so for the faithful Bible student who sees that promise of peace, we'll then back up to verse six and see what exactly needs to be done in order to achieve the peace. "Don't be anxious for anything, but by prayer and petition with thanksgiving," guard your hearts in Christ, in the peace of God. That is the way to achieve peace in your life.

And so what about strength? What about confidence? What about hope and joy, love, life and revenge? All of these different things. I'm simply convincing you to address the arrows. Extinguish them. What kind of arrow from the evil one are you suffering from?

The extent of your suffering can be extinguished by administering the word of God regularly and being resolved in your heart and mind only to think the thoughts of Christ on this matter. And do not let the flesh get back involved. Self-assess how you are and diagnose from these symptoms the source of the issue. And don't walk around forever wounded. Don't leave arrows inside of you. Use the sword surgically to remove these things.

You know, this is a struggle that the Apostle Paul really is transparent about. And I close with Romans chapter seven, verses 15–25. I want you to see very clearly that this is an inner battle that is real. This is a battle that, once Satan wounds you, is sometimes terrible to get over. Oftentimes when you are allured by the evil one into temptation and you give way to the flesh, there is a residual regret and there is an internal fighting within yourself. This is an awful battle. And Paul really does a great job in explaining what goes on on the inside of your being. And I want you to keep in mind as I read this that this is probably why Paul prayed for the Ephesian church in chapter three of Ephesians for them to have inner strength, inner strength and stability.

"But if you have internally a battle that goes on, you against you almost," then I want you to read with me in Romans chapter seven, verse 15 and following. "For what I am working out I do not understand. For I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing that I hate." Well, we can kind of really identify with that. When we fail, when we give in to Satan's temptations, we do not resist and we do not stand and we fall into this position of failure. I'm not sure if this is stating that Paul failed. I'm just saying that he dealt with the temptation. He says, "I am doing the very thing that I hate, the very thing that I don't want to do. I know better than this. I know better than to think these thoughts. I know better than to dwell on these things. I know better than to do these things." But he actually does them.

"And then in verse 16, but if I do the very thing I do not want, I agree with the law, and that is good. So now, no longer am I the one working it out, but sin which dwells in me." Sin in me, he says. "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh. For the willing is present in me, but the working out of the good is not. Verse 19, for the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. Verse 20, but if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one working it out, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that in me evil is present, and in me who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man. But I see a different law in my members, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a captive to the law of sin, which is in my members. Wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then on the one hand, I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh, the law of sin."

And so you see these two competing natures. You have the new man, but you also still have the old man. And so in Colossians and in Ephesians, you see this idea of putting on Christ. Put on the new man, put on the thoughts of Christ, put on the scriptures to your life, assess yourself with scripture, conform yourself to the word of God. Romans chapter 12, verses one and two talk about a transformation and a renewing of the mind. You can be renewed in the way that you are thinking according to the word. You just have to assess where the problem is, write it down and add up all of the scriptures that you can find in regards to addressing that arrow that has come into your heart and mind and pull it out and proceed in victory.

And every single day, discipline the mind to focus on the things of Christ. Colossians 3:2 says to set your mind on things above and not on things of the earth. And so if you would discipline your mind and you would harness your emotions and aim them at what your faith says, defend yourself with the shield of faith — the truth, the tenets, the content of the word of God — you can extinguish all of what Satan has done in your life by addressing it with scripture and sticking to it. And this is your battle plan.

How in the world can you get up and face a day without aligning yourself with scripture? How in the world can you face a day without the word of God or reminding yourself of these things? I highly recommend note cards. Write the concept at the top and then write the scripture at the bottom and go through them every single day until you have trained yourself for the purposes of righteousness. First Timothy 4:7 says to train yourself for the purpose of godliness. And if you're going to retrain the brain, then it takes repetition. If you're going to retrain the brain, it takes the right content. If you're going to get out from underneath these flaming arrows, if you are going to do surgery on yourself, if you are going to walk in freedom and not in this whole woundedness, then these are the pathways forward. This is how you fight the good fight of faith. This is how you resist the devil. And the promise is he will flee from you. Doesn't mean he won't come back, but he will flee from you and you can win these battles and proceed in victory.

If you have no idea of what this means, you haven't heard this kind of content before. If you are a stranger to Christ and you have been walking in the ways of the world and you're comfortable with the ways of the world and you have sin in your life and you know it, the Bible gives us the ten commandments to clearly show that we'll all have fallen short of the glory of God. We've all broken the law. We've all become a sinner. We've all become a wretched adulterer. We've all had thoughts of adultery and murder and all these different things. Jesus said, "If you've thought it, you've done it." We've broken the law. God's holy law. The law is spiritual. The law is holy. The law is perfect. And God's law, sinners have broken. And sin equals death. And so now you've been condemned to hell because you have sinned against a holy God.

You need someone to pay for your sin because you cannot pay for your own sin. You don't have enough money because God doesn't accept money. You don't have enough merit because you're really not that worthy. You don't have the holiness that it takes to override sin. Only Jesus does. And so if all of this language is strange to you, then I beg you to hear the gospel plea to repent of your sin. Confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the grave after He was crucified, after He was beaten, after He was bruised for your sin's punishment. You see, the punishment for sin is death. The wage of your sin is death. You have a death sentence upon your life which is the wrath of God for eternity. And so if you're not saved, then the only destination that you have is hell after you die. But you have this life right now to repent and believe the gospel. And so come to Christ, come to faith in Christ, believe that God sent His Son to pay for your sin's consequences on that old torture stake. And He did that. And He died your death. He took it on for you. It's been paid for. And so if you by faith would believe in that substitutionary death for you, you can be saved. You can be saved. Come to Christ, be saved. And He will give you new motives, a new heart, and the ability to overcome sin in this world.

If you're comfortable with sin, if you're comfortable with this world, if you like your life here on earth, that's tragic. That's really tragic. And that should be an indication of, "Oh, yeah, I do need Christ. I do need Christ." Come to Christ, be saved.

Let's pray together. Lord, I thank You for Your word. I pray that You would help us all today to be closer with You as we walk through this world. I pray, dear Jesus, that You would help us in a way that we would not walk around wounded, but that we would resist the devil, and then look for that day when he flees from us. And along the way, we'll be sharpening our sword, identifying where we're weak, strengthening ourselves in the word of God. I pray, dear Jesus, that You would help us as saints to be sanctified, for that's Your will, according to 1 Thessalonians 4:3. It's Your will that we would be sanctified. Help us in this way, God, I pray. Help us, dear Jesus, to walk in a way that's pleasing unto You and not underneath the circumstances with a begrudging attitude, a complaint from our lips, or murmuring in our heart. Help us, Father, to glorify You in our sufferings, even when we get struck with arrows. I pray, Lord, that You would help us to bring glory to You because we trust You in all things. Let us not be believers who only proclaim with our lips the deep doctrines and the truths of the word, but let us live it out with our life. God, I pray that You would help us when we are wounded to glorify You and not act out. God, I pray that You would strengthen us, You would do that for us. Be strong for us inwardly, dear Jesus. Strengthen us as we walk, as we evangelize, as we make disciples. Thank You, Father, for the wonderful baptism this morning. And I pray, Father, Your blessings upon Adam's life, that You would continue to fill him with Your Holy Spirit, enable him to continue to walk obediently to Your word, give him the ability to share the gospel and make disciples himself, as he experienced what it is to be personally discipled. God, I pray that You would make his life bold and glorifying unto You. The same for all of us, dear Jesus. I ask this with a pastor's heart, that You would continue Your work of the word inside of us. And it's in Christ's name that we pray, amen.