Know Your Enemy

Praise God, I want you to turn to Ephesians chapter 6 with me again and I'm going to read from Revelation chapter 12. We started on this new series last week, the fiery darts of the wicked one and I'm going to part two. I wanted to plunge right in this morning to beginning dealing with several specific fiery darts of the evil one and I want to take an entire message to deal with specific fiery darts because I believe the warfare we have been in and are in is very vicious and very real and we need to understand what it is we're caught up in but last week we began with our message the fiery darts of the evil one and I began to explain there's something of this dealing with exactly what this warfare is but I want to just stop again this week before I plunge into these several arrows and I was wrestling because I'm so eager to get onto this first arrow.

I believe it's so important but it's going to be the next message but before I do that I'm going to deal with your enemy. My message here this morning, know your enemy. Reading from Ephesians chapter 6 verse 11.

Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take on to the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand, stand therefore having your loin skirt about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all take in the shield of faith and notice this, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God.

Let's pray together. Father we thank you for your grace, your truth, your word that exposes the lies of the devil, his stratagems, his plans, his wiles, his fiery darts and oh God you've given us the written scripture, the authority of inspired scripture spoken by the Holy Spirit and Lord God you give it to expose, oh God, to shine a light on the strategies of hell. Lord God even these arrows, these fiery Lord God darts of the wicked one.

Lord God you've given us the word of God to expose them and that we might know them, that we might not be ignorant of the devices of Satan and Lord God I pray this morning quicken us, Lord God help us, oh God to take to us the shield of faith to extinguish these fiery darts and oh God we pray in faith even this morning right now knowing that we are in a serious warfare. Lord God night and day without break and Lord God we rest ourself in the Lord Jesus Christ. We stand on redemption ground.

Our eyes are upon the Lord Jesus Christ and he ever maketh intercession for us. Father I pray right now in this message as you have given in your word that you would expose the devil, that you'd expose his works, that you'd expose his thinking and his stratagems against the saints of God, that you'd edify us, oh God, oh Lord we're dealing with the enemy, oh God it's for our edification, our warning, our protection and our help and Father I pray that you do that and guard our minds right now that your name might be glorified in Jesus mighty name. Amen.

We've already dealt with last week, began to and we're going to deal much more in the weeks ahead. Ephesians 6 verse 11 it talks about being able to stand against the wiles of the devil. We say that word wiles is method odia.

It means the secret of schemes, cleverly crafted plans, tricky strategies. In other words these plans are intelligently thought out and they are actually geared specifically to an individual or a church or a situation. The devil doesn't just throw out his wiles.

The wiles of the devil are carefully intelligently organized. Then in verse 16 he says, above all taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. The wiles of the devil, the intelligent crafty plans to attack the saints of God, they are the fiery darts of the wicked.

The fiery darts of the wicked is a symbolic picture. It's to give us an example or something to help us understand the wiles of the devil and so we see the devil firing fiery darts at the saints of God. We see real warfare going on here.

What are these fiery darts? Darts set on fire of hell. They are the wiles of the devil. His schemes, his plans, his stratagems, his art, his cleverly and carefully organized plans which are fitted to you individually.

That's why all of us face different attacks because we're all different. We all have different weaknesses and different strengths. So he doesn't just throw out the same strategies against every individual or against every church.

There's some churches are immune to certain attacks. They are strong in those areas but every church has a weak point and I assure you the wiles of the devil, the fiery darts of the wicked one are going to be fired against them. Let me read another scripture if you have your Bible.

Revelation 12 verse 9 and this is my real text here this morning. And the great dragon was cast out. That old serpent called the devil and Satan which deceiveth the whole world.

He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. So notice again with me in 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 verse 10. We're told that Paul is dealing with a church about forgiveness in the midst.

His forgiveness, their forgiveness, someone needing forgiveness. Then he says this, less Satan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices. We're not ignorant.

In other words, we're not naive. We're not on taught. We're not on thinking.

We actually have a mind that thinks through the devices of Satan or the carefully intellectually devised plans of Satan. In other words, my Bible tells me that you as a Christian, a thinking Christian ought to intelligently think through the plans that the devil has carefully organized. You ought to understand them because if you're ignorant of the devil's devices, how he works, the thoughts he sends, how he approaches you, how he attacks the church, you are in a very, very vulnerable position.

And so the Bible is clear. The wiles of the devil are the fiery darts or arrows of the devil. You must not be ignorant of them.

You must understand them. You must be educated. You must be taught in the Bible.

You must understand. You must identify the arrows. You must understand the arrows.

You must actually be aware what arrows get fired at you. Where are you most vulnerable? Where is this church most vulnerable? And in fact, where is that area that the devil comes to you personally specifically? Because he's intelligently thought this out. And in fact, the word of God says that he actually goes in around you, probe and trying to find the weak points.

Do you remember what the Lord said to Satan about Job? And you may not have thought on this. Remember what the Lord said? Has thou considered my servant Job? He wasn't only drawn attention to Job. He says, have you considered him? Have you stopped and studied him? Have you spent time researching my servant Job? I want to tell you hell had and the devil had.

And so we know if you know anything of the Bible, the Bible studies, the church studies individuals. He'll study a sinner to stop them coming to Christ. He'll harden their mind.

He'll harden their hearts. I believe this area of thoughts, imaginations, imaginations of fiery darts or of arrows fired from the very bow of hell, of these stratagems, these secret of plans of hell. I actually believe most Christians are very ignorant of the warfare that's against them, but you ought to study it.

You ought to write yourself a manual, a personal manual of war. I think some of you in this church, you fight the same battle year in, year out. You're defeated in the same area.

I'm speaking to you on the same thing. I hear you say the same things. I see the areas you're struggling in.

Why not study that specific area? I could almost go to most of you and tell you where your battle is, where your battle next year is going to be because the devil is going to come in the same way with the same lies. It's not a new thing. After I've known you for a bit, I basically begin to learn the devil's stratagems against you as an individual.

As a shepherd, I meant to know something of that so I can help you and encourage you. See, I believe thoughts come to our mind and we don't always realize it's the devil. There was once many years ago, I was preaching in Scotland on a Sunday night, and as I stood up to preach, all of a sudden come the most blasphemous thoughts imaginable into my mind.

I basically preached the whole sermon with curse words, and I want to tell you I'm not someone prone privately, secretly to kick my foot and curse when nobody's around. I do not do that. Cursing does not just come to my lips.

I was there in the pulpit holding the word of God after much prayer, and as I stood looking at the face of the blasphemous curse words all the way through, a battle was waging in my mind. It was so horrific, I wanted to cover my mouth. I was scared of some of these words coming out in the middle of my preaching.

It wasn't sought for, it wasn't because of sin, but here I am in the holiest of positions. I was preaching to the saints, and in my mind, there was a flood of curse words the like of which you cannot imagine. It was very real.

Another time I was cleaning the same church on a Saturday afternoon at three o'clock, and all of a sudden it was like an ocean, a wave came in, wave upon wave. I was sweeping the church, cleaning the toilets, and these waves swept in over me. It was thoughts instantly I'd never once in my entire Christian life ever had one of these thoughts in my entire life.

I'm talking about one-off experiences here. I never had those blasphemous thoughts in preaching again. Neither did I have this experience ever again, but as I swept the floor, it was like waves coming in over me.

God is in me. I am in God. God is everything.

We're all mixed together. For about a minute and a half, all these thoughts came in in an overwhelming tide. I was shocked.

After a minute and a half, I shook my head and went, where in all the world did that come from? That evening, I'm talking to my brother. I was in Scotland. He was in Northern Ireland, and I spoke to him on the phone, and I happened to say, you wouldn't believe the experience I had at three this afternoon.

He said, oh no, wait till I tell you. He said, I had the strangest experience. He said it was like these waves coming in over me, and these thoughts that we're all one.

I'm in everything. Everything's in me. Everything is God.

I was shocked. Never had he had that experience. Never did I. We had it at the same time in two different countries.

Saints, I'm just telling you here about the battle, the thoughts. You need to be aware that we are in a very real battle. Only once in my life have I felt that there was a demonic power walking beside me.

I went, and I normally walked around the park to pray, and as I began to walk, it was like a person, a man beside me, walking step by step. Now I've been conscious of the devil many times, but not like this. It wasn't an evil feeling.

It was the awareness of a person, an entity speaking to me directly. I didn't hear a voice, and yet there was very clear communication. He walked around that park, and at 21 years old, he says, look, where is the reward for the righteous? And he started pointing out your broken engagement to that beautiful girl, because you stood for the Lord Jesus Christ.

And he took me through my life. Where's the money? Where's the blessing? Where's the reward? What have you got out of this walk with Jesus Christ? As we walked around that park for more than an hour, I battled and waged a battle against a real person that was walking against me. I told you last week about that battle when I lost my wife, and for the first time since 16 years old, being 50 years old now, came the temptation.

Go buy a bottle of beer. Go down to the local village, buy it. Nobody will know.

You won't affect anyone. Just for one night, get relief from all the burdens, all the stress. But saints, let me tell you one before I embark on this message.

Let me be honest. Let me make a confession here this morning. And I haven't told you exactly about this, but a battle that has raged in me for the past several months that has been overwhelming.

So I want you to understand, you're not alone. We're not isolated. All of us are in battles in this hour.

And if you're not careful, you'll think it's just you. It's just you. It's some isolated thing.

We are in a strategic warfare. Let me say more than that. This church is in a strategic warfare, and it matters what happens in this church.

For several months, you'd think after marrying this beautiful girl, Anna, on the front, all my troubles are gone. Many people, I'm sure, stopped praying for Malcolmson. He's got married.

He's over his troubles. Grief is at an end. Time heals.

You need to be careful what you think. All of a sudden, at the end of last year, come in the thoughts that I'm under the judgment of God. It becomes so overwhelming that even the past several months, I felt utterly deserted of God.

It's a feeling. I want to tell you, I've almost never in my Christian life, never in over 50 years, have I felt deserted of God, under the judgment of God, or had this overwhelming battle. This is a new battle for a new hour, a new time.

It's an unusual battle that I've gone through this year with the sense of utter desertion being under the judgment of God. But about six weeks ago, two weeks before school of Christ, I'd had enough of it. You know what I'd done since? I said, I am tired of this.

I know it's not true. I know what the Bible says. I know what's happening.

I know it's my enemy. But here I am, every day, having to endure this. Every day, the battle raging.

Thoughts, emotions, feelings. I had enough of it. You know what I'd done? I said, I'm going to prayer.

I drew a line in the sand, and I said, this school of Christ, I'm going to pray my way through for this church. I don't have time for this. I need to get through this, because I need to fight for the saints.

You know what? That stopped two weeks before school of Christ, and it hasn't kicked in again. You and I are in a very, very real serious battle. In Ephesians 6, verse 16, it talks about the fiery darts of the wicked one.

Last week, we dealt with the fiery darts, but we missed out the fire. I'm going to mention something on that. The fiery darts of the evil one.

The arrows that the devil fires. Notice, it's not hand-to-hand combat. The Christian is called to hand-to-hand combat, to engage the enemy face-to-face, hand-to-hand.

But the enemy doesn't fight like that. His battle is not hand-to-hand. He hides at a great distance.

Notice these arrows, and all arrow warfare is at a great distance, not face-to-face, not within range of sight of your enemy. When the devil fires fiery darts, he wants to be out of sight. He wants to be at a far distance that you cannot engage him with the word of God.

And notice, with arrows in ancient days, they came from a distance. They came at a great speed. They came from an unseen source.

And you need to see that here this morning. And most often, you wouldn't see it coming. These were missiles, most often unexpected.

You had little or no time to prepare until you hear the whiz of the arrow about to hit you. It could be one single arrow, or it could be a host of arrows. But it comes without warning, and you do not have time to prepare.

If you're not prepared, this arrow is going to hit you. But notice with me, these arrows of the devil are not only hidden long distance and dangerous, they're also called fiery. In other words, the arrows of the devil, they're on fire.

That word means they're combustible. This was the most dangerous weapon of ancient days. Fiery darts are fiery arrows.

But this wasn't open warfare. This wasn't what you imagine Roman soldiers on the battlefield engaging their enemy. In fact, as I've researched this, I find that they almost never used fiery darts in the open battlefield when you're engaging the enemy face to face.

When these fiery darts come is in an act of besiegement when you're in your castle, your fort, or you're stationed together. In other words, you're static. That is the normal place when the fiery darts come.

It is an act of besieging your when they are fortified, when they are unified, when they are protected together. I believe it's a picture of the church. This is not primarily an attack on some individual on the battlefield, but it's against the church of God.

When we're together, when we're gathered together, when we the church are functioning, this is an attack against the local church, the body of believers. This was not a common attack. It was a specialized attack.

It was very expensive. It was very, very tailored. Now I started to research about fiery arrows and warfare.

And so far I've been able to go back to the ninth century BC. And you can see in Assyria that they had attacks against their enemies where they fired fiery arrows against the enemy. There's another battle we read of.

The Greek capital of Athens was captured by the Assyrians in the year 480 BC when the Persians invaded Greece by firing fiery darts at the city of Athens. They brought Athens to its knees by literally bombarding it together with these fiery darts. It is very effective.

The Greek army learned and chose the fiery arrow from them. The first time it was used by the Greek army was in the year 429 when the Spartans besieged the small city of Plataea. And they become expert in the use of fiery darts.

I'm telling you this because I want you to understand what a fiery arrow is before we deal with it. The actual Greeks or the Spartans become expert in producing fiery arrows against their enemies. Do you know what they done? They covered it in pitch and sulfur.

What's sulfur? Another name for it is brimstone or burning stone. So you had these arrows literally dipped in pitch and sulfur set on fire and then fired against the enemy. They become experts in the art of creating fiery arrows because if you light an arrow and you fire it, most times it's going to go out.

It'll be utterly ineffective. So you've got to create a way of keeping the arrow on fire. They become experts.

And in fact, they had a blue sulfur flame that would come flying through the air. As I've researched this, it says that the flame on it had an acrid stench, a unpleasant, sharp, bitter smell. So notice you've got fiery arrows of the enemy coming in.

They are burning. They have color. They have a smell, a stench of hell itself, of brimstone.

Since these are arrows that are set on fire of hell. And as I looked at these arrows, they must have been sensational. The fumes also are very, very destructive.

The combustion of sulfur creates toxic sulfur. And I'm just reading this from what I've read. The sulfur creates toxic sulfur dioxide gas, which can kill if inhaled in large quantities.

When I was in Iceland a few years ago, when I got an appointment to come home, all I can smell is sulfur. When you arrive there, you haven't been in a country like it. The water smells of sulfur.

The air smells of sulfur. Every breath you breathe smells of sulfur. Your clothes smell of sulfur.

The people around you smell of sulfur. I'm telling you, it saturates. Got back on the plane and I'm going, all I can smell is sulfur.

Do you know that these fiery arrows have the very tint of this chemical makeup upon them to make them smell like hell itself? The fires are supplemented with chemicals. It's not just an arrow on fire, but it's a chemical combustion. It is a smell.

It is a sight. It is a dangerous weapon. Not just fire added to arrows, but actual chemicals.

You can go back and look at that little island of Rhodes. I'm just trying to give you a picture here. I want you to understand what the Bible is talking about when it talks about fiery arrows coming against the Roman soldiers.

Paul had sat in his prison and talked to these soldiers who were involved in battles like this when they had their shield of faith and their armor. And all of a sudden, unexpectedly, at a distance comes this barrage, this besiegement of hell against them with fiery brimstone arrows, ablaze, colorful, dangerous to the smell. In a battle against the island of Rhodes in 304, both sides, both those in Rhodes and the enemy invading, hold fire at each other.

I read of one battle where 800 fiery projectiles of various sizes were fired in just one night by the enemy. 800 from their boats against their enemies that were besieged. Listen to this one quote.

Fire darts were used by the Romans in the 4th century BC by filling the hollow space in cane shafts with petroleum materials such as tar, naphtha, and asphalt. These darts were let and shot from low weight bows at the target so that the velocity of the arrow wouldn't put out the flames. I believe the arrows of the devil are dangerous.

They are toxic. They are chemical. The Romans actually had a large fire bolt called the falricia, a machine-fired spear with a long iron tip that had been dipped in burning pitch and sulfur.

The burning spears, and listen to this quote that I got from an ancient writer. He says, those spears set on fire were like thunderbolts cleaving the air or splitting the air like meteors pouring down upon your enemy, thick smoke and dripping oil. It was aimed that when the arrow stuck into you, that wasn't the end of it, it would combust.

Also the oil, the chemicals would drip on you and burn you and stick to you, and this was all within the realm of siege warfare. Many arrows may get extinguished, but all it takes is one arrow to light a fire, and so we're called to a defensive fight. Let me preach to you here for a minute, knowing your enemy.

See we're going to deal with arrows, but I'm a strategist, okay. I was a military man. I was in the army.

I liked old war movies when I was a kid, okay, so bear with me. I like history, secular and spiritual. I've read a lot about Churchill, how from 1929, the war began in 39.

This is 10 years before. From 1929, he is warning the British people, Hitler is your biggest enemy. He's going to go to war.

He's going to attack you, and we need to be prepared. For 10 years, he warned the British people. Nobody listened to him.

They laughed at him, said you're a warmonger. He was locked out of British politics. The three main parties wouldn't touch him, but he kept warning for 10 years.

He called it his wilderness years, like Moses. Do you know about 1929, he went to Germany, and there was a great party being held, and Hitler was going to be there, and Churchill was there, and Hitler was the honored guest. It was his national country, but when he arrived, he'd heard about Churchill warning about him and exposing him.

This is 1929, and when he arrived at the meeting, he stood outside, looked in the window, looked through the curtains, and he watched Churchill, and he stood there. He then turned around, got back in his car, and drove away. He never went to that big national party with all of its leaders.

You know why? There's a man who had exposed his strategies. See, if you knew the man, you knew what he'll do. That's why Churchill was able to say, this man, Hitler, will do this.

He'll attack like this. This is how he thinks. Churchill studied the thinking, the ideology of that man, Hitler, and he was able to predict 10 years before his attack, what he would do, how he would form this warfare, while other great leaders in the nation were signing a peace deal with Hitler at a table.

Hitler was preparing to engage in the greatest battle in Europe and release a war the like of which we cannot imagine. I would rather be a Churchill than these other politicians that were signing a peace deal, saying peace in our time. Montgomery, that great general, originally from Northern Ireland as it happens, that great general who was raised up by Churchill, do you know what he done? This is what I've read.

At the end of his bed when he was out at war, he had a picture of General Rommel when he went to war in the desert. He'd wake up in the morning, the end of his bed was a picture of Rommel. He studied the mind of Rommel.

He knew his enemy, and guess what? Rommel was sweeping all of North Africa, dominating it. Rommel was a good man. He was a brilliant man, but Montgomery beat him.

You know how? He studied the man. If you know the man, you know the strategy. If you understand the mind of the evil one, and since we have that in the Bible, so I want to give you three points here this morning.

Number one, the character of Satan. Let's read again Revelation 12.9. I know I've given you a lot, but I want to get onto the arrows, and I'm going to be more precise, but this is all foundation. I want you to understand about Darrow.

I want you to understand about this warfare. Revelation 12.9, and the great dragon was cast out. That old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.

He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Notice in this one verse many things are combined. The Holy Spirit has joined together various names and attributes of one singular person.

Listen to what he says. The dragon and the serpent, they're the same person, but they're different pictures, radically different pictures of the same person. He also calls him the devil and Satan, two different names, but it's the same person, which deceiveth the whole world.

He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. When you begin to study the Bible to see who Satan is, there are some 40 specific names given to the one person, the devil. There are many different descriptions and different titles given to him, and all of this is given to you for one reason.

Why is there a verse that says the serpent, the dragon, the devil, Satan join them together? It's saying you need to study your enemy. The Bible actually pulls back the cover and shows you the history of the devil. It shows you his origin or his source.

It shows you his fall. It begins to show you his sin. It begins to show you from the garden of Eden all the way through to the book of Revelation, how he attacks God's people, the thoughts he imagines and creates, the words he speaks to real saints, the attacks on the body of Christ, the church, and so all of this is given by God for us to study.

I first of all want to look at the character of Satan by just looking at a few of his names, and I'm sorely tempted to go deep, but we're going to skim this because I want you to be aware of your enemy. Study your enemy. We're going to look at his arrows because you know what? Some of you have been suffering.

Some of you haven't been aware that certain arrows are actually sent by the devil. It's not your mind. It's not circumstantial.

It's not the people around you. It's actually an attack, an organized, well-thought-out strategic attack, and you know you begin to realize what it is. First of all, as we look at the character of Satan, he is called the devil.

This term is used in our English Bible some 59 times. 59 times he is specifically called the devil, and remember, name denotes character. In the Bible, name reveals a lot about you.

Names are important. Names of places, names of individuals, whether evil or good, their name reveals a lot about them. Also, this word devils, plural, is used about 55 times talking about demons, but the word devil is normally diabolos, the Greek word diabolos.

It means false accuser, slander. It means to malign or to separate by slander. In other words, when you read the word devil, primarily what it's telling you about is the devil comes against you, and he comes with accusation and slander and words of accusation to separate, separate you from God, separate you from your brothers and sisters, separate you from the local church.

This word diabolos is not only used about the devil, it's actually even used as a danger of a deacon's wife. She must not be a diabolos. See, diabolos isn't just the devil.

It's used for a whole manner of function, lying, accusing, maligning, separating friends by certain chosen words. So you see the character of the devil. When you read this word, the devil, he is tempting Christ.

He is sowing tears in a field. We're told that the everlasting fire was prepared for the devil. He oppresses individuals in their physical bodies.

He steals the word of God or attempts to steal the word of God. Who is it? It's the devil. He put betrayal in the heart of Judas against Jesus.

And listen, it is the devil who brings wiles against you. It's the wiles of the devil, the stratagems of the devil. So you begin to see the character.

What are the fiery arrows? What are these careful plans that are coming against your spiritual life? It is the devil behind it. He fires the arrows against you. In Revelation 12 and 10, it speaks about the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before God day and night.

The devil is doing that now. You realize the devil is at the throne of God. He accuses you day and night, day and night.

You are accused at the throne of God. In Job chapter 1 and verse 9, we read, then Satan answered the Lord and said, does Job fear God for naught? What is that? That's an accusation. Why did Job go through this trial, these troubles? And he never got to see what was happening in the unseen realm.

Do you see how important it is to understand the character of the devil? I met a man, I met about 10 of them in my lifetime who were on the beach of Dunkirk when the British forces almost got annihilated at the start of the second world war. And I've talked to 10 men who actually were on that beach and got rescued, old soldiers. One of them, he was an old, very prestigious man.

And as I talked to him, he got angry, venomously angry. He says, I don't believe in God because he done this and he allowed this. Said, sir, John chapter 10, verse 10, the devil has come to kill, steal, and destroy.

Don't misinterpret. So you've got to identify the source of your troubles. You've got to identify where the fire is coming from.

You've got to identify if you think something's from God and accept it when all the time it's the devil and your men are resistant, you're going to have problems in your Christian walk. And so there was Job being accused at the throne of God. Little did he realize much of his troubles were coming by the devil accusing.

But you know what else the devil does? He accuses God to you. God doesn't love you. Do you hear me? The devil, the name devil is his character.

Since you can have a fiery dark come against you, that's very dangerous and you don't want it to hit you. It'll say, it'll accuse God in your mind, the very character of God. Then there's the name Satan.

That's used 56 time. It is the name. It is the Greek word satanas.

It means adversary or one who opposes you. Not only does he speak to you to accuse a malign or to discredit God, nor he opposes you. He resists you like he did with Joshua and Zachariah chapter three verse one, Satan standing at his right side to resist him.

Do you realize there is a Satan who resists you, who opposes you? His name is also Lucifer and Isaiah 14 verse 12. Listen what the Bible says, hearth I fallen from heaven. Oh, Lucifer, son of the morning or son of the star, son of the dawn.

Jesus in the new Testament says in Luke 10, 18, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. People argue about translation, say, oh, Lucifer isn't the devil. Rubbish.

Jesus said so in the new Testament. Jesus recognized that this one who he beheld falling from heaven was Satan. He's called Lucifer and Isaiah chapter 14.

Do you remember? And I say, yeah, it begins to, I will ascend. I will ascend for the, I said in my heart, notice what's in the heart of Satan. I will ascend into heaven.

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will also sit on the Mount to the congregation and the sides of the North. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.

I will be like the most high. Since you need to begin to understand, Lucifer is a proud being. That was the first sin ever found in the heart of the devil pride to exalt himself against God himself in Job 38 verse four and verse seven.

It speaks about when God laid the foundations of the earth, our creation, listen to what it says. When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. When God was creating, when did, when did Lucifer get created? In the six days at the beginning of creation, all created things were created at the same time.

Wasn't pre the six days of creation. He was created at the beginning of creation because the angels were there. The sons of God were there.

The morning stars were actually there. So we have the devil, Satan, Lucifer. We also have him called the prince of this world.

The prince of this world that speaks of political position of authority. He, it is said in Ephesians chapter two, verse two, he's the prince of the power of the air. This is Archie on speaking about authority, dynamic authority.

Jesus also said he was Lord of the flies. That's what bells above the prince of the devil's means. So he's the prince of the devil's prince of this world.

What is this world? This present evil world. Guess who it's princes. Guess who it's ultimate political leader is and the realms of man.

It is the devil himself. The serpent, the dragon, it's Lucifer. It is Satan himself is called the prince of this world.

You remember in Daniel chapter 10, verse 13, we read about the prince of the kingdom of Persia with standing Michael and answering Daniel's prayers. This isn't the prince of this world. This is one of his minions actually is there involved in prayer, opposing prayer amongst God's people.

We also read in Ezekiel 28 first two about the prince of Tyrus. Now listen to me. The prince of Tyrus was a political ruler, a national ruler.

Ezekiel 28 says, though art a man, the prince of Tyrus. But then in verse 12, it talks about the king of Tyrus. There was no king of Tyrus, at least not visibly physically.

And the next verse, it says, thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God. So here's a king of Cyrus. It's not the same as the political leader.

There is a king. He was in the garden of Eden. Verse 14, thou art the anointed cherub that covereth.

Thou was upon the holy mountain of God. So who is this king of Tyrus who was in the garden of Eden? He was in the mount of God, which is heaven itself. Here he is called the king of Tyrus.

It's the same person, Lucifer. Behind the political powers, you're going to find a spiritual influence. Jesus says in Matthew 4 about his engagement with the devil and temptation.

Listen to what the devil says. All the kingdoms of the world I'll give you if you bow down and worship me. Do you realize the devil had all the powers of the kingdoms of this world politically to give into the hands of Jesus if he would simply worship him? Don't tell me the devil isn't powerful.

He situates himself in key political positions to influence widely. Or listen to this, Revelation 2.13 concerning the church at Pergamos. Where thou dwellest even where Satan's seed is.

The seed of Satan is the place that of Satan's residence. See Satan isn't omnipotent, isn't omnipresent. He cannot be everywhere.

He can only be at one place at one time. He's not in hell. He's not in hell punishing people or torturing people.

He's actually going to and through in all of the earth. But he can only be in one place at one time. In Revelation 2 we're told that Satan actually made his seat in Pergamos, that city.

And from that city he waged war against the church of God. He chose a political position. There in Isaiah 28 he chose Cyrus, a great city, a great trading city to be his headquarters.

In 2 Corinthians 4 and 4 he's called the god of this world. Now how is the god of this world different than the prince of this world? It's different than in this. This is the devil being recognized as God.

Who's behind world religion? And whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine onto them. Who is the god of this world? It is Satan. It is Lucifer.

It is the devil. He's also called the tempter. He's called Beelzebub.

He's called the father of lies and many other names. But I want you to listen to this one because we're told these fiery darts come from the wicked one. I want you to especially notice this name for a minute before we go on to the second point.

Fiery darts bathed in the fire of hell are actually fired by the wicked one. The fiery darts of the wicked. The word means the wicked one.

This term wicked one is used six times in the New Testament. Four times in 1 John by John and two other times in the New Testament. The wicked one is the one word poneros.

It means hurtful, evil, bad, malicious, dangerous. The devil is called the wicked one. You know why? Because he comes to do harm.

When it talks about the fiery darts of the wicked, it is talking about a person, not just of the wicked generally, but of an actual person. Most commentators and preachers down over the generations will say the wicked is an actual person, not just wickedness generally. Listen again to what it says in Matthew 13 and 19.

When anyone hears the word of God of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one and catches away that which was sown in his heart. Do you realize there's one called the wicked one who actually watches over the preaching of God's word, the reading of God's word, the influence of God's word, either on sinners who could get converted through it or through the saints who could be blessed and helped and encouraged. There's one called the wicked one who literally watches to steal the word of God.

It can fall down into your heart, but there is a wicked one who comes to catch it away, to snatch it away. God sows the word. The devil snatches away the word.

Did you think losing God's word from your mind, your memory, your life, the influence of it, did you think it's a bad memory? Do you make it a purely human thing? Do you even see that the devil is involved in a warfare against what we're doing here this morning? Because he doesn't want his works exposed. Remember what Jesus prayed in John 17, 15, I pray not that thou wouldest take them out of the world, but that thou wouldest keep them from the evil or the evil one. God isn't going to take you away from the devil, neither is he going to remove the devil.

God has a plan in this warfare that the saints of God are going to engage the devil. The devil is going to attack them. That when he comes, he has an evil motive.

He is an evil character. Look at Revelation 12 again. He's also called the serpent and the dragon.

Also in 1 Peter 5, he's called a roaring lion. These three things, a serpent, a dragon, and a lion. So not only his names reveal who he is, but also these pictures that show you who the devil is, who your enemy is, who is firing these fiery darts at you.

There is a serpent. You know what a serpent represents? It's deception. He comes to deceive wildly, sneakily, unobserved.

When he comes as a dragon, that's with threats, with persecution to destroy you. When he comes as a lion, it's to scare you with his roar and to devour you. You're meant to remain steadfast.

Since that's my first point, is the character of your enemy, the character of the wicked one, the character of Satan. He is a deceiver. He is a liar.

He is a tempter. When he fires his darts at you, he wants to destroy you, to harm you, to endanger you. If you don't realize what this fiery dart is sent to do in your life, you could become a casualty.

Number two, the warfare of Satan against the saints of God. See, I'm very strong in preaching. A Christian cannot be demon-possessed.

Utterly impossible. I'll challenge any Christian on the face of the earth on Scripture because I believe it's a very dangerous teaching, and I believe it's impossible for anyone to say contrary to that. I believe it's really unbiblical, and they don't have Scripture on their side, that a real Christian who has Christ in their heart cannot have a demon indwelling them.

Jesus told the parable of the house. It's only when the house is empty that the strong man can enter into that house. But in saying that, and I don't want to go there and preach entire messages on that, so I don't want to distract you on that, but I say that to say this.

We've been strong in this church to draw a line on what the enemy can do, but don't you dare think the devil can't touch you and can't harm you and can't damage this church. See, we're in a constant, repeated battle. The devil is behind sin, immoral practices, false theology, false religion, worldly enticement, and entertainment.

He destroys by deceiving, by lying, by distorting things, by counterfeiting, by masquerading, by clouding human minds with illusion and fantasy. He wants to trap you. He wants to lie to you.

He wants to deceive you. What is all of this? These are the wiles of Satan. When you begin to read your Bible, you see him there speaking to Eve, holding a conversation, dropping thoughts, presenting ideas.

Can he attack an Eve? Yes, he can. You see him attacking Job. How did he attack Job? Guess what his wife says? She comes and says, curse God and die.

Those words are heard before. They're heard in the mouth of Satan to God saying, if you allow me to do this, he'll curse you and die. That's what he'll do.

All of a sudden, you've got his wife going to her husband in the darkest hour of his life and saying, curse God and die. Where do you think she got that thought? Job's wife little realized that the devil is behind this. It seems logical.

I've lost my 10 children. My life's over. My husband's sick.

Life isn't worth living. You don't realize the devil is hot on the heels of this. When David was prompted to number the people of Israel, he didn't know the devil was provoking him and stirring him to number the people of Israel, that God would actually judge his people.

Judas, when betrayal came to his heart, literally little realized that the devil is going to enter him, take control and destroy his life. And we can keep going. But let me show you for a moment.

What is the warfare of Satan against the Satan? If he can indwell you, if he can't possess you, how far can he go? What are the dangers of this battle? First of all, we can be tempted. It says in 1 Corinthians 10, 13, there is no temptation taken. Can you open that back door, please? There is no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man.

But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able. Or 1 Peter 1, verse 6, wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you're in heaviness through manifold temptations. You need to have this settled in your heart.

God does not protect from temptation. He doesn't stop temptation coming to you. The actual offer to sin, he doesn't stop that.

He's there praying for you. He's there strengthening you and he gives you instruction on resistant temptations. So the devil, every one of you in this room, you could be the strongest Christian.

The devil has rights, liberty and freedom before God to tempt you, to allure you to commit sin. Who is behind those temptations? The devil, the devil. Second of all, he can come to sift you.

In Luke 22, 31, and the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan had desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat, literally to cut you down. That's what the Bible says here with a scythe, like a grim reaper. But you know what Jesus said? I prayed that your faith won't fail.

Not that you won't fail. Did Peter fail? Yes. It was an hour of darkness.

If you'd prayed, you wouldn't have failed. If you prayed in the garden, if you would have tirade, that flesh wouldn't have got the better of you. But you know what? You slept in the hour of darkness.

The hour of darkness took you unawares. Peter, that's why you denied me three times. You slept when you should have watched and prayed.

If you would have watched and prayed, you would have been preserved. So the devil can come to sift you like a grim reaper. He has the power, the reality.

But you've got a Christ who's prayed that your faith will not fail. Not that you won't fail, but that your faith in the midst of it. Also, Buffetons in 2 Corinthians 12 and 7. And we read about Paul with his thorn in the flesh.

What was the thorn in the flesh? People say this was sickness. No, it wasn't. No, it wasn't.

Read your Bible. The thorn was not sickness. You can do acrobats with the word of God and try to make it that, but the Bible doesn't say that.

Do you know what the thorn in the flesh was? Listen, the messenger of Satan. It was a being, a fallen angel to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure. You can bind, you can loose, you can rebuke.

You've got a lot of spiritual warfare teaching in the church that says I can bind any demon. Can you? Here's one that was against Paul, a thorn in the flesh, a messenger sent from Satan to buffet me. What does buffet mean? It means to keep being punched.

You get up in the morning and you've got a spiritual invisible adversary enemy that's punching you. You walk out the door to go to church. Boof, boof, boof, boof.

Of course, none of you have ever experienced anything like this of the buffetings of Satan. You know what the buffetings were? Satan stirred up opposition in every town and city Paul went to, to oppose the preaching of the gospel. Just read the book of every single time they pursued him.

That was the messenger of Satan stirring up opposition every time for years. That's buffeting. That's buffeting.

Three times Paul tries to get rid of it. Lord says, no, this is for your good. This attack, this buffeting of a messenger from hell actually is working something good.

So you would get proud. I believe there's people in this room. You don't realize some of the trials and troubles you're trying to pray yourself out of may be keeping you from a grand failure, the like of which you cannot imagine.

Also the devil can hinder in 1 Thessalonians 2.18, Paul speaking, and he speaks about Satan hindered us in coming to you. The apostle Paul wasn't in sin. He knew the word of God.

He knew his authority in Christ. He was in Christ, but in that particular instance, Satan hindered him. He encountered the devil hindering them.

The Bible warns us of the devil taking advantage of us in 2 Corinthians 1, 10 and 11. I forgave it for your sakes, talking about forgiveness, lest Satan should get an advantage of us. The word advantage means one up on us, an upper hand to overstretch, to get what he desires, to covet after a place in our midst.

So Paul says, I'm going to forgive people in the church because I'm not ignorant of Satan's devices. And I don't want the devil, Paul speaking, says, I don't want the devil to get advantage. Saints, do not let the devil get advantage in your lives.

Something like unforgiveness can give access to the devil. Or what about deception in Ephesians 4 verse 14, that we henceforth be no more children. Notice the mark of children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine.

That means most of the church in this hour are children at best because they get blown everywhere with doctrines. That's a mark of being a baby. If you're still blown about by all manners of doctrine sweeping through the church, you're yet a babe.

But listen, it says, every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. That's one of the stratagems of hell. The devil is behind deception.

And then last of all, it's a foothold. Ephesians 4, 27, neither give place to the devil. It means a spot, a very limited spot.

It means a toehold, like a climber up a cliff edge. All he needs is a foothold, a toe space. You know what the apostle says? Neither give place to the devil.

A small, limited, confined, hedged in, defined area in your life. One specific area. Oh, but I'm serving them everywhere else.

Just that area. Don't do it. It's a hand grip, a foot grip.

Do you know in that context, it's in verse 26 about anger. Verse 28, it's talking about stealing and other examples. So this foothold looks like something.

Anger can be a foothold in your life. We need to begin to understand the warfare of Satan. Not only the character of Satan, the warfare of Satan.

Don't tell me you're immune to the attacks of the devil. Don't tell me that when from Eve all the way through to Peter, we read in the Bible about this onslaught, the fiery strategies of hell. With Ananas and Sapphira, it was covetousness.

Look at Eve, it was the lust of the eye, looking on the fruit. It's good for you. I'll give you knowledge.

The devil can even offer you knowledge. With Judas, it was a nice retirement house, thinking of his future, thinking of his plans. But let me finish here this morning.

And all this is by way of introduction, because I want to deal with several fiery darts. And I believe you've been facing them. I've been facing them.

In my mind, it's a real warfare. And since I want to encourage you and help you to extinguish the fiery darts of the evil one. Third and finally, the restrictions on Satan.

I want you to see the scripture. And if you can quickly go to 1 John chapter 5 verse 18. John in the scripture mentions the wicked one.

The wicked one's the same one in Ephesians 6 who fires the fiery darts against the saved ones, the elect ones. But listen to what he says here. 1 John 5 18.

He says, we know that whosoever is born of God. And that's an important statement. To be born of God sinneth not.

And I've done a whole teaching on that. Doesn't mean that you don't sin, but you don't habitually sin. You don't practice sin.

You don't willingly sin. So those who are born of God sinneth not. There is not an unrestraint with them.

Show me someone who's still drinking and getting drunk, still fornicating. You were never saved. You're not saved.

And you're backslidden and you better repent and get back to God because you'll die in your sin and go to hell. I don't care what you say your testimony was. Oh, I know I'm saved.

What you're sinning and you think you're saved and you're okay. Oh, once saved, always saved. You're in dangerous ground.

I believe in security in Christ, but I don't believe in pet teachings. I'm against them. They're dangerous.

Look at this. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not. They're not going to live habitually in sin.

They're not going to be happy to live in sin. But he that is begotten of God keepeth himself. This means they guard themselves, watch over themselves.

It means to build a wall of protection around you or against the enemy. It means to draw a military line. What did I do six weeks ago? I drew a line.

I said, I'm tired of a devil infringing saying you're deserted of God and you're under the wrath of God and the judgment of God. I got tired of it. You know what saints? You can fight.

You can draw a line in the sand. You, you can go to war against this adversary. You need to discern where is the devil hitting you? How is he attacking your mind? Where is he paralyzing you? Where is he wounding you? You need to make a manual of war.

We're going to war saints of God in this church. We're embarking to see a victory. So two things here.

If you're born of God, you don't habitually live a life of sin. Second of all, you keep yourself. You watch over yourself.

You begin to build around yourself. Then listen to what it says. And that wicked one touches him not.

Listen to what that term means. The wicked one. That's our friend again.

That's who fires the fiery darts. Listen what the word of God says. That wicked one touches him not.

The Greek word means to attach to him, to cling to him, to hold fast to him, to not let go of him, to have a firm grip on him, to fasten to him. This word that's used in the Greek touching him is used of marital intercourse in sexual relationship. That's what it's talking about.

It's talking about dwelling together. It's telling you what the devil cannot do to those born of God who don't sin habitually, who keep themselves. The evil one, the wicked one cannot touch you.

He can't fasten himself to you. He cannot lay a grip on you. He can cling to you.

He can't dwell with you in an intimate, personal, fraternal way. It means to put, listen to this, it means to put fire to something or to set something on fire. That's what touching him means.

In other words, the devil can't touch you in a way that will set you on fire. He can't appropriate you or handle you for his own purpose. He cannot permanently harm you.

You can sin, you can fail, you can be tempted, but say to God, the wicked one cannot touch you when you're born of God and you love God. It says in Colossians chapter 113 concerning Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, says who has delivered us. Look at that word delivered.

You know, you've got to be careful of the word deliverance in this hour. People say, do you believe in a deliverance ministry? What do you mean? We've just had four babies in this church. We believe in deliverance in this church.

All right. We have a deliverance ministry here. What do you mean casting demons out of Christians? I thought the commission there told to go cast demons out.

I thought that is the basic commission of the church. Go cast demons out. I've given you authority.

You know, the church of our day, because they preach a false gospel, it's filled with tears, false converts who are never born again. I actually believe there are a lot of demons and a lot of people who are never genuinely born again. They're demonized, tormented, and there's no mild case of demonology.

It doesn't mean afflicted. It doesn't mean oppressed. It doesn't mean tempted.

It doesn't mean even to sin. What it means to be possessed or demonized, it's always an extreme case in the Bible. There's no mild cases.

And you know what? I'm sick of seeing Bible theologians, great Bible teachers in Northern Ireland and in America and in England, great gifted men in the Bible that don't even know they're Greek. Men who speak Greek and they're teaching it wrong. Man, I failed all my high school exams, but I know what the word means.

Saints of God, we need to get back to Scripture again. Listen, who have delivered us from the power of darkness. It's talking about salvation, forgiveness by the blood, how you got regenerate.

He has delivered us from the power, the authority, the dominion, the domain of Satan, the right of Satan, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. First you're delivered, then you're translated. Nobody has been translated into the kingdom of God.

Changed their citizenship, got their passport, changed kingdoms, moved over. You're not in the kingdom of God unless you've been translated out of that realm of Satan itself. First you're delivered.

Deliverance comes so that you can be translated into a new kingdom. And let me finish with this. John 17, 15.

I pray that thou shouldest not take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil or the evil one. Jesus is praying for you that you be kept, guarded, that there is a military defense put in around you, that you're protected. Jesus is praying for you now.

And Paul writes in Romans 8, 38, for I am persuaded, I wonder if you're persuaded this morning, that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, etc., shall be able to separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Since we're going to war, I'm going to war. I'm angry at the devil.

I'm angry at the fiery darts of the evil one. I'm a shepherd of the sheep. I'm a preacher of the gospel.

I watch over your souls because one day I'm going to be accountable to God. That's what the Bible says. I actually serve God.

I actually minister in this place. I preach sermons that'll go out online, and I'm very careful. You know why? I'm going to be held accountable by God himself for how I looked out for your soul, preaching truth, helping you, encouraging you, rescuing you when you get caught up in something.

And since I've made it my object all through the years to study my enemy, I do know the enemy. I know his strategies. I know the thoughts.

That's why when I talk to you, give me a wee bit of time and I'll help you. If you allow me, I'll help you. I'll draw on the word of God.

I'll draw on my experience. See, I've encountered this evil one. I have faced his onslaughts in my imagination, in my thoughts, through temptations, discouragements, despair, lies, all manners of things of accusation.

But you know what it does? It trains the saint to stand on the day of battle. Please stand with me here as we close. Father, we praise you.

We worship you. We thank you, God. We ask for the power of your Holy Spirit in this church.

My God, that we as the church of God are going to march together. Lord God, we realize that we are embodied in a terrific battle that's going to affect many lives, many souls in the years ahead. And Father, we're looking for that victory of the Lord Jesus Christ, that even this very day you'll extinguish fiery darts of the wicked one.

My God, that you would expose the stratagems, that there'd be no fear in the hearts, that we would be secure in Christ. Lord God, that we would walk in the light of Scripture, that we would rest our souls in Jesus. But my God, I pray that you expose the fiery darts of the evil one in Jesus' mighty name.

Hallelujah.