Spiritual Sabotage: Exposing the Mole Within.
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In the world of espionage, a mole is a double agent—someone who looks like an ally but secretly serves the enemy.
He doesn’t attack from the outside.
He earns your trust, blends in with the team, and quietly sabotages the mission from within.
He knows the passwords, the routines, the blind spots—and he uses that knowledge not to help, but to destroy.
In the same way, Scripture tells us there’s a spiritual mole operating inside every one of us:
The deceitful heart.
9“The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
This mole doesn’t just commit open rebellion—it whispers lies, offers false justifications, and convinces us that sin isn’t really sin.
He’s not loud—but he’s lethal.
And unless we expose him to the light and replace him with the Lord, he will sabotage everything God is building in us.
The Mole Within: The Deceitfulness of the Heart
The Mole Within: The Deceitfulness of the Heart
The heart is not neutral—it is “desperately wicked”.
Like a mole, it blends in and gains your trust.
Its lies sound like your own voice.
2 Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the hearts.
21 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,
3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men. Furthermore, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead.
9“The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
Not just occasionally wrong—“above all things” deceitful!
More dangerous than Satan because it pretends to be you!
Two Ways the Mole Sabotages:
Two Ways the Mole Sabotages:
The False Justification of the Sinful.
The False Justification of the Sinful.
15 And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.
9“The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
Our heart doesn’t deal in truth—it deals in desire and distortion.
We know this!
“The heart wants what the heart wants” YES AND IT WANTS TO SIN.
It tells us what we want to hear, not what we need to hear.
2 Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the hearts.
And
20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
This is the self-justifying heart.
It’s the voice that says:
“It’s not really sin if your motives were good.”
“Others have done worse.”
“You’re not as bad as you could be, so you’re fine.”
“God understands—it’s just your personality.”
This is not repentance—it’s rationalization.
The False Condemnation of the Justified.
The False Condemnation of the Justified.
19 We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him
20 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.
If Satan can convince you that you have used up all your chances, that God has run out of patience, that you will never have victory over sin.
If by all this He can make you believe the false lie of your heart than condemns you when Jesus Himself does not - well then he is smiling!
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Peter is an excellent example of this danger.
Peter had sworn he would never deny the Lord.
33 But Peter said to Him, “Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away.”
What is Peter saying?
“I will not fail. Others may fail but I will not!”
But within hours, he had done just that—three times.
And when the rooster crowed, Luke tells us:
61 The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.”
62 And he went out and wept bitterly.
This was no casual sorrow.
This was gut-wrenching grief—the kind that makes you doubt if God could ever use you again.
Peter’s denial wasn’t just a slip of the tongue.
It was a fear-driven betrayal.
The kind that leaves you asking, "How could I have done that?"
He denied the Man he loved most.
He failed in the moment of crisis.
He wept bitterly because he knew: He had denied the Lord of glory.
Application:
Some of you know that feeling.
You, like Peter have promised that you will not fail. NOT AGAIN!
Yet, like Peter, you failed.
Your heart says “How could you have done this again?”
And now the enemy whispers, “You’re not worthy anymore.”
Praise God: Jesus is greater than our failure.
Praise God: Jesus is greater than our failure.
If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.
After the resurrection, the angel said:
7 “But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.’ ”
Why add “and Peter”? Why single him out by name?
Peter Was Singled Out Because Jesus Knew His Heart Would Condemn Him
After Peter’s triple denial and bitter weeping, he likely believed he had disqualified himself.
He had not just failed morally—he had betrayed love.
So when the angel declared the resurrection, the message was deliberate:
“But go, tell His disciples and Peter” - Yes Peter, dispite what your heart tells you, YOU ARE STILL MY DISCIPLE.
Because Peter wouldn’t have counted himself among the disciples anymore.
Jesus knew Peter’s heart, and He knew Peter’s heart would condemn him more fiercely than any Pharisee ever could.
19 We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him
20 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.
Jesus didn’t single him out to expose him, but to reassure him.
He anticipated Peter’s internal shame—and met it with a personal invitation.
Beware the Condemnation of your own heart!
It whispers shame long after forgiveness.
It cripples boldness, kills joy, and silences ministry.
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Just the flattering heart says, “You don’t need forgiveness.”
As the condemning heart says, “You’re beyond forgiveness,”
Both are lies!
One leads to hopeless despair
The other to sinful presumption.
One makes you avoid grace out of shame.
The other makes you ignore grace out of pride.
How do we deal with the mole?
How do we deal with the mole?
Expose Him to the Light
Expose Him to the Light
12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
The mole survives in secrecy.
He thrives when we trust our feelings over God's truth.
But:
The Word of God reveals what’s false.
The Spirit of God convicts what’s hidden.
The people of God help us stay accountable.
Expose the mole by:
Letting Scripture read you more than you read it.
Praying like David:
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.
Refusing to rationalize sin with spiritual-sounding excuses.
The light doesn't just reveal the mole—it disarms him.
You crucify the old self and receive a new nature in Christ.
This is not behavior modification—this is regeneration.
Replace the mole by:
Surrendering control of your inner life to the Spirit daily
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
Living by faith, not by feelings
Letting Christ be not just your Savior, but your indwelling Lord.
Conclusion: From Mole to Master
Conclusion: From Mole to Master
There is a traitor inside every man—
But there is a King ready to take the throne.
You can’t follow Christ fully while letting the mole live quietly in the basement of your soul.
Expose him to the Light.
Replace him with the Lord.
And you will be free indeed.
