Sunday, November 8 · Cottage Hill Baptist Church
The Unseen Battle: Knowing the Enemy's Strategy
There is a real enemy who prowls like a lion, and his strategy is to deceive, intimidate, exploit and tempt. The sermon calls believers to know his tactics and resist him firm in faith, then to go on the offensive in prayer.
The passages
Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings. But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
1 Peter 5:8–10
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:10–12
And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light.
2 Corinthians 11:14
Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, but not the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it. You shall not touch it, lest you die.’” The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t really die, for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:1–5
For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.
2 Timothy 1:7
But the righteous one will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
Hebrews 10:38
I will pursue my enemies, and overtake them. I won’t turn away until they are consumed. I will strike them through, so that they will not be able to rise. They shall fall under my feet.
Psalms 18:37–38
…and they may recover themselves out of the devil’s snare, having been taken captive by him to do his will.
2 Timothy 2:26
Go deeper
Why does Peter describe the devil as a prowling lion rather than something already defeated?
Peter writes to Christians facing real persecution and tells them the danger is not imaginary. The picture is of a predator on the move, patient and hungry, not a threat already put down. That is why he tells them to stay watchful and resist.
Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings. But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
1 Peter 5:8–10
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:10–12
Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “From going back and forth on the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”
Job 1:7
The Lord said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have all of you, that he might sift you as wheat,…
Luke 22:31
Why does Satan disguise himself as an angel of light rather than appear as something clearly evil?
Paul warns that the enemy wraps his deception in brightness rather than darkness. That is what happens in the garden, where the serpent comes with a question that sounds reasonable and draws Eve into doubting what God said. The danger looks spiritual, even good, and that is the point.
And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. It is no great thing therefore if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
2 Corinthians 11:14–15
Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, but not the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it. You shall not touch it, lest you die.’” The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t really die, for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:1–5
Then the devil took him into the holy city. He set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and 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, so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not test the Lord, your God.’”
Matthew 4:5–7
But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:3
Why does Paul tell believers to stand firm against the devil's schemes by putting on God's armor rather than fighting in their own strength?
Paul is writing to people surrounded by real powers they cannot see. He does not hand them a battle plan but tells them to be strong in the Lord, because the fight is not against flesh and blood. Timothy hears the same thing from Paul about fear, and the writer to the Hebrews says the righteous live by faith and do not turn back.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
Ephesians 6:10
For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.
2 Timothy 1:7
But the righteous one will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
Hebrews 10:38
I will pursue my enemies, and overtake them. I won’t turn away until they are consumed. I will strike them through, so that they will not be able to rise. They shall fall under my feet.
Psalms 18:37–38