** THE DEVIL’S TOOL CHEST

Full of devices!
2 Corinthians 2:1-11
**Key Verse - 11 "LEST SATAN SHOULD GET AN ADVANTAGE OF US: FOR WE ARE NOT IGNORANT OF HIS DEVICES."
I DON'T CAPTALIZE THE WORD sATAN BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO GIVE HIM ANY SPECIAL ATTENTION.  

satan is the great enemy of the Saint. In fact **"satan" means "adversary, opponent." The Bible refers to the devil by a number of names and descriptions. He is seen as **"the anointed cherub" (Ezek. 28:14),** "the ruler of demons" (Luke 11:15), **"the ruler of this world" (John 16:11), **"the god of this world" (2 Cor. 4:4), and**"the prince of the power of the air" (Eph 2:2). He is identified as ** a great dragon, a roaring lion, the vile one, the tempter, and the accuser.

He is formidable, cunning, and powerful. Paul writing to the Corinthian church realized that Satan was working overtime in the church and emphasizes that we’re to be vigilant and alert to his subtlety. Satan’s advantage is based on one being ignorant of his devices or his methods. **What are some of the devil’s tools, his devices by which he seeks to deceive God’s children, defeat God’s church, destroy God’s work, and what tool does he use to try to take the power out of God’s Word? His methods include distraction, discouragement, disillusionment, discontentment, discord, & disassociation.
Let’s look at each of these devices from his tool chest for a little while.
**I. Distraction
1 John 2:15-16 "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."
**satan seeks to distract us by getting us to focus our attention on the material instead of the spiritual, he tries to get us to look on methods rather than the message, look on men rather than God.
2 Timothy 2:4 "No man that wars entangles himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier."
If satan can, he will get us to major on the minor issues and to minimize the major issues. He just tries to distract us from the real issues.
Ill: It was a 99-degree September day in San Antonio, when a woman accidentally locked her 10 month-old baby niece inside a parked car. Frantically the mother and aunt ran around the car in near hysteria, while a neighbor attempted to unlock the car with a clothes hanger. Soon the infant was turning purple and had begun to foam from her mouth. It had become a life-or-death situation when a wrecker driver, arrived on the scene. He grabbed a hammer and smashed the back window of the car to set her free. Was he heralded a hero? He said, "The lady got mad at me because I broke the window. I just thought, what’s more important--the baby or the window?" Sometimes our priorities get out of order, and it may take a wrecker driver to remind us what’s important.

** satan seeks to get our priorities out of kilter.
Colossians 3:2 "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth."
Whenever we place a higher priority on solving our problems than on pursuing God, we’re distracted beyond measure. 

Hebrews 12:2 "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Another device from his tool chest is;

** II. Discouragement.  One of satan’s most potent weapons is trying to get you into a feeling of discouragement, so that just maybe you’ll give up. Some people are encouragers while others are discouragers. To**encourage means to put courage into while **discourage means to take courage out of.

Discouragement is a lack of hope and usually comes after a major victory. Many Christians are confronted with it on Monday morning after a break through on Sunday.

The Devil wants you to believe that things are worse than what they are and that you are the only one who cares. That’s exactly how Elijah felt after his victory on Mt Carmel.

 I spoke to some of you who returned from Brazil this last trip, that even after a spiritual high seeing God do wonders before their eyes, soon found themselves feeling discouraged.
**Sometimes it’s people that discourage us - Deuteronomy 1:28 "Whither shall we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our heart."
A man who is continually criticized becomes good for nothing; the effect of criticism knocks all the gumption and power out of him. - **Sometimes it’s circumstances that discourage us - Numbers 21:4-5 "And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spoke against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loathes this light bread."
Discouragement is faith in the devil, the chief discourager.
Galatians 6:9 – "And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up."
Everywhere the persistence of the enemy of our souls is causing discouragement. If he can get the soul "under the weather," he wins. ** It’s not really what we go through that matters, it’s what we go under that breaks us. We can bear anything if we stay inwardly victorious. ... If God can make His birds to whistle and His butterflies bear up under a driving rain, think what He can do for the heart that trusts Him? -
Another device from his tool chest is;
** III. Disillusionment
Disillusionment is like ** being disappointed by unfulfilled expectations.
Proverbs 13:12 "Hope deferred makes the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life."
Have some of your carefully created castles been washed away? Mine have. Several times along my life’s journey, I had nowhere to turn except into my heavenly Father’s arms. There I remained quiet, soaking up his love for as long as I needed. Then I saw his hand begin a new direction for my life, a new service for him and his kingdom. Waves don’t always destroy. We must allow our heavenly Father to use them to redirect our lives. -
** If you expect perfection from people, your whole life will be a series of disappointments, grumblings, and complaints.

 If, on the other hand, you set your expectations low, taking folks as the inefficient creatures, which they are, you’re frequently surprised by having them perform better than you had hoped. –

1 Corinth 11:1 "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ."  ** There are no disappointments to those who bury their will deep in the will of God.

When Gene Smith wrote his book about the life of Herbert Hoover, he entitled it “The Shattered Dream.” Lots of other people have also experienced shattered dreams. In fact it’s a rare person who has not, at least once in life, known a shattered dream.

The question is, "Do we keep on working, do we keep on dreaming, do we keep our spirits high?" –Philippians 1:21 "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
Another device from his tool chest is;
** IV. Discontentment Why is it that we are never content? Even with the blessing of salvation, the sustaining grace of the Lord and all His watch-care, we still get discontented.

Numbers 21:5-6 "And the people spoke against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loathes this light bread. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died."
The children of Israel didn’t find in the manna all the sweetness and strength they might have found in it; not because the manna didn’t sustain them, but rather because they longed for other meat.

1 Corinthians 10:10 "Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer."
Half the world is unhappy because it can’t have the things that are making the other half unhappy.  Complainers are the greatest persecutors. ** If Christians spent as much time praying as they do grumbling, they would have nothing to grumble about.
** Phil 2:14 "Do all things without murmurings and disputings"
Somebody once said “Christians are like autos--when they begin to knock, there’s something wrong inside.”
James 5:8-9 "Be ye also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord is drawing nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge stands before the door."
*Nine requirements for contented living:

*Health enough to make work a pleasure;

*Wealth enough to support your needs;

*Strength enough to battle with difficulties and overcome them;

*Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them;

*Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished;

*Charity enough to see some good in your neighbor;

*Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others;

*Faith enough to make real the things of God;

*Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future. –      By Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 Colossians 3:17 "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him."
Another device from his tool chest is;
** V. Discord (division)
1 Corinthians 1:10-11 "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you."  There are four ways the devil brings about division in the church. He uses Selfishness, Favoritism, Narrow-mindedness, and Lack of Fellowship
** Selfishness says do it my way or no way.

** Favoritism says our way is better than your way.

** Narrow-mindedness says we’ve never done it that way.

** Lack of Fellowship says you go your way and I’ll go my way.
Romans 12:3-5 "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another."
The secret of every discord in Christian homes and communities and churches is that we seek our own way and our own glory. –

It’s too bad that anything so obvious would need to be mentioned, but from all appearances, we Christians have just about forgotten the lesson that Paul taught: ** God’s servants are not to be competitors, but co-workers. –

The major problem with the church today is not corruption or institutionalism. No, the problem is far more serious than that, the problem is pettiness.                         Blatant pettiness. –

Philippians 1:27 "Only let your conversation be as it becomes the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;"
Lastly now, Another device from his tool chest is;
** VI. Disassociation
** Hebrews 10:25 "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."

 The devil loves when believers don’t fellowship: he loves it when we distance ourselves from each other.

 

1 Corinthians 12:18-21 "But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you."

Vs 25 "That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another." Schisms cause Disassociation.. However,
** Communion is strength; whereas solitude is weakness.

The devil would like to isolate believers just like predators separate their prey from the herd, thereby weakening it and easily killing and devouring it.
1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour:" Ill: Churchgoers are like coals in a fire. When they stay together, they keep the flame glowing & burning; when they separate, they die out. –

 

 A German philosopher compared the Christian human race to a bunch of porcupines huddling together on a cold winter’s night. He said, "The colder it gets outside, the more we huddle together for warmth; but the closer we get to one another, the more we hurt one another with our sharp quills. And in the long night of a bitter winter, eventually we begin to drift apart and wander out on our own and freeze to death in our loneliness." Christ has given us an alternative: to forgive each other for the pokes we receive. That ** forgiveness allows us to stay together and stay warm together.
This morning ** has satan been working overtime in your life? Has he been able to distract you?

Has he gotten you majoring on minors with priorities out of alignment with God’s?

Has he gotten you discouraged, feeling like you are in the battle alone?

Have you become disillusioned and disenchanted?

Have others disappointed you?

Have your dreams and plans failed to come to fruition? Have you allowed a spirit of discontentment to slip into your life?

Do you find yourself grumbling and complaining?

Has Satan brought discord into your life with an "us" and "them" attitude?

Is satan working on you to have you disassociate and isolate yourself?

**Ephesians 4:27 tells us, “Neither give place to the devil." Will you let God give you the victory over the devil’s devices today?  Just ask Him.