THE BELIEVER’S BATTLE WITH THE DEVIL

Tonight I am going to continue with my series of messages from the book of Ephesians.

Our text is found in Ephesians 6:10-12 and the title of my message is, “The Believers Battle With The Devil.”

An attorney was sitting in his office late one night, when the Devil appeared before him.  The Devil said to the lawyer, “I have a proposition for you. You can win every case you try, for the rest of your life. Your clients will adore you, your colleagues will stand in awe of you, and you will make embarrassing sums of money. All I want in exchange is your soul, your wife’s soul, your children’s souls, the souls of your parents, grandparents, and parents-in-law, and the souls of all of your friends and law partners.” The lawyer thought about this for a moment, then asked, “So, what’s the catch?”

Do you ever have problems trying to defeat the devil in your life? Have you ever found yourself just giving in to his temptations?

If you no longer struggle against the devil you have either fallen into sin or complacency. A Christian who never battles with the devil has retreated from the front lines.

It seems today that many people either don’t believe that the devil is real of simply don’t have any respect for him any longer. When you go to a zoo and look at a lion on the other side of the cage, there’s no reason to fear it, but that doesn’t mean that you would go into t e cage because you respect the lion.

Let me share with you an article I found in the Orange County Register newspaper.  It was an incident that occurred on September 30, 1995.

The title of the article reads: “Woman Trying To Pet Circus Lion Loses Finger”

“A circus lion bit off a finger of a woman who scaled three fences and stuck her hand inside the cage to pet the animal.  Lisa Fox, 31 years old, told Indianapolis Police she put her hand into the lion’s cage at a downtown staging area, where the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus was.  The index finger on Fox’s right hand was severed early Saturday.  According to the police report, it was recovered and taken to the hospital.  Fox was not charged in the incident.”

Boy, I’d write her a ticket for being stupid!

In medieval times people thought ridiculing the devil was the best way to oppose him. That is where the idea of the devil having horns, a pointed tail and wearing a red suit came from.

Tonight I would like us to look at 4 things we need to do in order to do battle with the devil.