Don't Drop Your Guard!
4/13/03
1 Pet. 5:8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
We need to live in such a way that we are on
guard all the time. It doesn’t mean that we have to go around solemn, somber
and unsmiling, but we do need to be on our guard!
First, I want to list some words that define “being on guard.” And then some words that are just the opposite.
To “be on guard” means to be:
vigilant
watchful
alert
discerning
wise
knowledgeable of the truth
not easily influenced
Now, let’s look at some words that are just the opposite:
gullible
lazy
apathetic
lethargic
foolish
easily influenced
simple minded
Pr. 1:32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; 33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.”
Pr. 10:4 Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. 5 He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.
Pr. 6:10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— 11 and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.
Read Pr. 7
There’s more to it than just a wayward wife or prostitute. The seduction can represent the enticement of Satan in any form to seduce a child of God into a trap.
The Word of God lists a number of areas that
must be guarded.
The religious trap
Religion without relationship or a relationship that has turned religious!
Mat. 16:5 When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6 “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
7 They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.”
8 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 11 How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
The greatest indication of the religious trap is the change of heart. You can continue to go through the motions but the heart looses it’s warmth and compassion.
Religion makes a person hard, self righteous and condemning.
The acceptance and approval trap
Satan knows the weakness of man better than we do!
The need to be accepted by our peers is powerful. The need is extreme in a young person yet never goes away with older age.
The temptation to compromise is great in the face of rejection or disapproval.
Peter, a tremendous man of God was influenced by it.
Gal. 2:11 When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. 12 Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, was influenced by his peers and made a stupid decision that caused Israel to be divided.
1 Ki. 12:10 The young men who had grown up with him replied, “Tell these people who have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter’—tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. 11 My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”
The mouth trap
Man’s greatest destructive power on this earth is the mouth!
Ps. 141:3 Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.
Pr. 10:14 Wise men store up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool invites ruin.
Pr. 10:19 When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.
Pr. 11:9 With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor,
Pr. 11:11 Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is destroyed.
Pr. 12:18 Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. 19 Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.
Pr. 18:21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
The intellectual trap
This is when man becomes smarter than God!
1 Tim. 6:20 Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, 21 which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith.
(Message Bible) And oh, my dear Timothy, guard the treasure you were given! Guard it with your life. Avoid the talk-show religion and the practiced confusion of the so-called experts. People caught up in a lot of talk can miss the whole point of faith.
Pr. 2:11 Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.
Pr. 4:13 Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life.
Numerous times throughout the scriptures we are
exhorted to be on guard!
Acts 20:29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.
1 Cor. 16:13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. 14 Do everything in love.
2 Pet. 3:17 Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position.
It’s no time to grow weary!
It’s no time to be spiritually tired!
It’s no time to drop the ball!
It’s no time for complacency!
It’ time to remain faithful to the end!
It’s time to stand firm!
Are we going to become spiritually relaxed
now that the troops are occupying Baghdad?
Let’s not drop our prayer guard.
In the past few weeks I’ve been sharing about
seeing the big picture. Complacency will narrow it!