When Satan Attacks You -- “Have you considered My servant Job?”
Good Morning—What a beautiful presence we have with the Holy Spirit with us today! Glory to God. Our Scripture reading Takes us to the book of Job. If we all will turn to the Book of Job in our bibles, Job chapter 1, we will be reading Job chapter 1 verses 1 through 12.
Scripture: Job 1:1–12
1 There was a man in the
Scripture itself attests that Job was a real person. He is referred to in Ezekiel 14:14 and James 5:11. Job was a Gentile, is thought to have been a descendant of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, and knew God by the name of “Shaddai”—the Almighty. (There are thirty references to Shaddai in the Book of Job.) Job was a wealthy man living a seminomadic lifestyle.
Prayer:
Almighty Father, as we assemble this morning, we bring a large assortment of failures and weaknesses to Your throne, pleading for Your forgiveness, and confessing them as sins to be plunged into the fountain filled with blood. We recognize we have a strong enemy who accuses us day and night. But we have a stronger advocate—Jesus Christ, the righteous One, Himself the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. So forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. And having forgiven us, Lord, renew the joy of our salvation, restore our enthusiasm for life, revive our spirits, and refresh us this day with the thirst-quenching waters of worship and praise. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Introduction: How foolish to lay up treasures anywhere except in heaven! Job’s prosperity appeared to give him much stability in life. He had around him a large household of servants. He had accumulated a kind of wealth that does not suddenly depreciate. His children were numerous enough to promise a long line of descendants. Yet beyond the clouds where no human could see, the spirit of evil stood before God, and an extraordinary conversation took place. Satan challenged God over Job, and the Lord gave permission to remove Job’s supports and see whether the tower would stand in its own inherent strength. The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job?”
1. How Does Satan Consider Us?
A. He considers us a marvel.
A little boy once went to his father, troubled about something. He asked, “Dad, is the devil bigger than I am?”
The father said, “Yes, he is.”
“Is he bigger than you are?”
“Well, yes, he is,” replied the father.
The little boy thought a moment, then asked, “Is he bigger than Jesus?”
Now, what do you think the father said? He replied, “Oh, no. Of course not. Jesus is bigger, and we are more than conquerors through Him.”
“Well, then,” said the boy, “I’m not going to be afraid of the devil.”
When Satan finds Christians faithful to God, he considers it a phenomenon.
B. He considers us to detect any flaw in us.
A little girl was once disciplined by her mother for kicking her little brother in the shins and then pulling his hair. “Sally,” said the mother, “why did you let the devil make you kick your brother and pull his hair?” “The devil made me kick him,” she said, “but pulling his hair was my idea!”
How he chuckles over our secret sins. Each sin born in the believer’s heart cries to him, “My father! My father!” and, seeing his foul offspring, he feels something like the joy of fatherhood.
C. He considers us barriers to the progress of his kingdom. He’s aware that mournful Christians often dishonor the faithfulness of God by mistrusting it, and he thinks if he can worry us until we doubt the goodness of the Lord, he will have robbed God of His praise.
2. What Does Satan Consider About Us?
Years ago, when Billy Graham’s children were small, their family was enjoying a meal together when someone began singing the chorus, “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.” The rest of the family chimed in on the song. The young choir concluded their impromptu anthem with that famous verse, “And if the devil doesn’t like it he can sit on a tack. (Ouch!)” When they finished, Graham sternly looked at his children and said, “I don’t want you to sing that verse anymore.” The children quickly asked, “Why?” The famous evangelist replied, “Because the devil is a good devil.” They looked confused so he explained further. “The devil does a very good job being the devil. He is real and powerful, and he is no joking matter.” That counsel from the 1950s is more relevant today than we can imagine, especially after reading the following information. When the Barna Research Group asked Americans about Satan, they discovered 62 percent of the adult population believe Satan “is not a living being but is a symbol of evil.” The angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14) has masterfully disguised himself among the American populace. As Graham’s daughter, Gigi, has wisely said, “A sober warning at the dinner table so many years ago seems wiser than ever.”
SATAN [SAY tuhn] (adversary)—the great opposer, or adversary, of God and man; the personal name of the devil.
Whenever this word is used as a proper name in the Old Testament, it refers to the great superhuman enemy of God, man, and good (1 Chr. 21:1; Job 1-2). This use occurs frequently in the New Testament, so it is consistently clear that the Bible teaches the existence of a personal devil.
The New Testament term “the devil,” means “slanderer” or “false accuser.” Other titles by which Satan is identified in the New Testament include “the tempter” (1 Thess. 3:5); “Beelzebub” (Matt. 12:24); “the wicked one” (Matt. 13:19, 38); “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31); “the god of this age” (2 Cor. 4:4); “Belial” (2 Cor. 6:15); “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2); and “the accuser of our brethren” (Rev. 12:10).
History. Two Old Testament passages—Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:11-19—furnish a picture of Satan’s original condition and the reasons for his loss of that position.
Satan isn’t omniscient, but after thousands of years dealing with fallen humanity, he has acquired vast experience. He knows what the springs of human action are, and how to play on them.
A. Satan considers our peculiar infirmities.
Can I see a Show of hands of those that feel like they can usually figure out wether a phone call is a valid phone call or just a sales pitch recording within a matter of a few seconds?
I’ve been told a good horse trader not only looks at the coat and magnificence of the animal before him but looks how it stands, walks, even when it raises its head up and down, Satan is even better He looks us up and down like a horse-dealer alright using his bounty less vastness of centuries and centuries of experience , reckoning us heel to head, so that he will say of one, “His infirmity is lust,” or of another, “She has a quick temper,” or, “He is proud,” or, “She is lazy.”
B. He considers our state of mind.
Many years ago, a strong young Indian decided to climb to the summit of a nearby, snow-capped peak. He donned his buffalo-hide shirt, wrapped his blanket around himself, and set off. When he at last reached the summit and gazed over the endless panorama below, feeling the cold against him, he swelled with pride over his accomplishment.
Then he saw a motion at his feet. It was a snake, which promptly and pitifully spoke to him. “I’m about to die,” said the snake. “It is too cold for me up here and I am freezing. There is no food, and I am starving. Please wrap me under your shirt and take me down to the valley.”
“No,” said the young man. “I know your kind. You are a rattlesnake, and if I pick you up you will bite and kill me.”
“No,” said the snake. “I will treat you differently. If you do this for me, you’ll be special and I’ll not harm you.”
At last the youth gave in to the creature’s pleading and tucked the snake under his shirt. Arriving down in the valley, he removed it and laid the snake on the ground. Whereupon the snake immediately coiled, rattled, struck, and planted his deadly fangs in the young man’s leg.
“But you promised,” said the young man, falling, feeling the deadly venom enter his bloodstream.
“You knew what I was when you picked me up,” said the serpent, slithering away.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3).*
The devil knows when we’re most vulnerable, and we’re often overtaken through an unwatchful frame of mind.
C. He considers our friends. Among some people I can scarcely sin; among others I can scarcely remain pure. Satan knows this and tempts us accordingly.
D. He considers our condition in the world. He has different temptations for various people. I don’t suppose the Queen’s temptations ever likely annoy Mary, the kitchen-maid. On the other hand, Mary’s temptations may never trouble me. Our position, capabilities, education, or standing in society may all be doors through which he attacks.
E. He considers our objects of affection. By blowing down the house where his children were feasting, Satan sought to derange Job’s mind; he later used Job’s wife.
3. A Higher Consideration Overrode Satan’s Consideration.
Satan was mining, and he intended to light the fuse to blow up God’s building. All the time God was undermining him, planning to blow up Satan’s mine before he could do any mischief. The devil is the greatest of all fools. He has more knowledge but less wisdom than any other creature. He didn’t know that while he was tempting Job, he was answering God’s purpose.
A. The Lord considered exactly how far to let Satan go. God says, “Thus far, and no farther.”
B. The Lord considered how to sustain His servant under trial. God poured secret oil upon Job’s fire of grace while the devil was throwing buckets of water on it.
C. The Lord considered how to sanctify Job by this trial. Job was a better man at the end of the story than at the beginning, and God gave him twice the property he had before. He made him a more famous man, whose name will ring through the ages. Instead of influencing a handful in one neighborhood, Job has touched all of history. The devil went to the forge and worked away with all his might—to make Job illustrious! Foolish devil! When he attacks us, he’s piling up a pedestal on which God will set us as displays of His grace to all ages.
Conclusion: If you want to make the devil angry, throw the story of Job at him. Oh, how many saints have been comforted by this history of patience! Let us commit ourselves in faith to the care and keeping of God—come poverty, sickness, or death. Through Jesus Christ’s blood we will be conquerors, and more than conquerors. May those who have not trusted Jesus be led to begin this very morning, and God shall have all the praise in us all, evermore.