Walking Worthy in Evil Days

Introduction

We are talking about walking. John writes in 3 John 4 that there is no greater joy to experience than to know that people are “walking in truth.”

Ephesians 5:15–16 “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

There are three major instructions in these two verses.

A. Walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.

This means that we are to walk according to the commands of God. We are to immerse our life into God’s Truth, because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

To be immersed in something means to be plunged completely and totally into an activity or into a body of liquid. That is why we say that we baptize by immersion. Well, the Bible frequently uses “water” as an illustration for God’s Word.

Ephesians 5:26 “that He might sanctify and cleanse her [His church] with the washing of water by the word,”

If we are going to walk wisely, then we are going to need to be totally committed to God’s Truth.

B. Redeem The Times

To redeem means to “buy back.” Times means a point in time which God has established to perform His work. So, to “redeem the times” means to be Intentional With Your God-Given Opportunities that you have during the church age.

We have the opportunity to in this time which God established to know the love of God, to encourage the saints of God, and to have fellowship with Christ and His church.

C. Because the Days are Evil

These are the days in which we live. They were evil then, and they are evil now. And we have a responsibility to God to walk worthy of the calling with which we were called.

In this message, we are going to be talking about how to walk worthy during these evil days.

If we are going to walk worthy in evil days, we must be…

I. Be Informed of the Devil’s Devices

Why do I use that word, “devices?” That word is used in 2 Corinthians 2:11 which says that we must be unified “lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.” That word “devices” simply means his purposes.

Look back in our text at verse 16.

Ephesians 5:16 “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

The Greek word used for evil here is more specific than just generalized evil. The word “evil” used here means to say that the evil we are facing today is in active opposition to good. That there is a force working against you, and its purpose is to destroy you.

You may know that God has a purpose for your life, but do you know that the devil has a purpose for your life? He has devised a sinister plan to cause you to stumble so that you cannot walk.

And the devil is not alone. The Bible says that just as God has His faithful ministers and teachers, that Satan has his ministers and teachers, and that there is a coordinated attack on your heart and on your mind.

Therefore, we must be informed of these devices so that we don’t fall victim to satan and to his ministers.

What purpose have the devil and his ministers devised against you?

A. Satan has Devised a Plan to Deceive You

1. Deceive you with False Teachers

He will try and deceive you with false teachers.

Satan is very deceptive. We know that the Bible describes him as a roaring lion, and so we think that he is going to be easy to spot whenever he comes around, but the Bible says that he and his minister work secretly.

2 Peter 2:1 “There will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.”

2 Peter 2:3 “By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words”

What satan and his ministers do is they come and they impress you with their charisma, ability to speak, their knowledge. Then they begin to isolate you from the sound teaching of God’s Word. They want to put unnecessary burdens on you to keep you keep you in slavery to performance and perfection. Or they want to take away the calling of God upon your life and make life all about you and your desires.

1 John 4:1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

1 John 4:5–6 “They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

Don’t fall for the deception of false teachers, but do as the Bible says and tests the spirits by The Spirit to see if they are of God or not.

2. Deceive you with Various Lusts

He will also try and deceive you with various lusts.

Satan wants you to deceive you into living a life of sin, and so he will turn your attention to everything God says you must not have to live a holy life. Think of Eve. The very first thing he did was turn her attention to the forbidden fruit.

The plan that satan devised against Eve is the same one he has devised against you.

The Bible says that there are three categories of lusts, and that word lust means “a craving or passionate desire.”

1 John 2:15-16 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.”

He wants you to believe that you cannot exercise self-control (lust of the flesh).

In today’s world, nothing is anyone’s fault. The motto for today, “Well, they just can’t help it.” We tolerate laziness on the job, disobedience and a lack of respect from children, a deeply perverted and sexualized culture, and all other kinds of evil and criminal behavior because we have been deceived into thinking we cannot, and therefore should not, have self-control.

He wants you to believe that you don’t have enough (lust of the eyes).

Every affair starts with an indecent look. Every bad purchase begins with the dissatisfaction of a former blessing. Every discontentment in life comes from seeing what is on the other side of the fence.

The Bible says that the eye is the lamp of the body, and if darkness consumes the eyes, the Bible says that the darkness is deep.

He wants you to believe that you don’t need God (pride of life).

Of all the things that you have been deceived with, this one is the most damaging.

John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

Romans 14:23 “Whatever is not from faith is sin.”

We go on with our daily lives, never consulting His word, never praying to Him, never praising Him, and we come in on Sunday and Wednesday and get our spoon feeding for the week, and we wonder why we are defeated and spiritually weak.

Satan has deceived our world into thinking that we do not need God…it is the pride of life.

B. Satan has Devised a Plan to Discourage You

Satan knows that we have the Lord on our side, and he knows that when we are walking in His strength, that we are too strong for him to bring down. So what he does is he works to discourage us.

There is nothing that will bring you down faster than being discouraged.

How does he plan to discourage you?

1. Discourage You With Persecution

The Lord warns us that we are going to be persecuted.

John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

He is telling His disciples that they are going to be scattered throughout all the world because of the persecution that is coming their way. And, since we are His disciples, we can expect to be persecuted.

In America, persecution may not be as violent or as outward as it is in other parts of the world, but we are still being persecuted.

We are made fun of. So many ladies are being ridiculed by their husbands for going to church and serving the Lord. Many people in the business world are being forced to call men women and women men under threat of termination. The political left completely hates God and the political right thinks we have no where else to go, so they just compromise every which way they feel it acceptable.

And we see all of these things and we wonder who is behind it all…it is satan, and it is a coordinated attack on the soul of America, to persecute the Christians until they just move out of the way because they have no hope.

2. Discourage You With Betrayal

Satan and his ministers invade the church to discourage young Christians with their division and backbiting.

He also invades families and fills the eyes and the heart with filth and sexual perversion through media and cell phones.

He even diverts our eyes to things that aren’t important, and we say things that ought not be said and do things that ought not be done…and when all these sins rear their ugly head there is a deep betrayal that takes place, and the Christian feels betrayed and defeated.

Ephesians 4:25–27 “Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.”

When you face betrayal, I want you to know that it is not from God, and it is not from a spirit of godliness, but that it is from a spirit of the devil.

Our Lord faced great betrayals in His life. He was betrayed by His people. He, at times, was betrayed by His family. He was betrayed by His disciple, Judas…He was betrayed by His best friend, Peter.

Don’t let betrayal overcome you and discourage you. Don’t let it knock you out of the race.

Romans 12:21 “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Our Lord, when He was betrayed and sent to the cross, He overcame the discouragement of betrayal through forgiveness. Forgiving those that betrayed Him, He died for them. And dying for them, He redeemed them.

He didn’t repay evil for evil, but He overcame evil with good. We don’t overcome betrayal with bitterness, but we overcome betrayal with forgiveness.

3. Discourage You With Shame

When you won’t respond to persecution, and when you won’t respond to betrayal, the devil is to discourage you by bringing up past shame.

The Bible tells us is Revelation 12 that another name for Satan is the “accuser of the brethren.”

What he does, is he starts naming everything you ever did, everything that Jesus already died for, so that you stay discouraged and defeated. But you don’t have to be defeated by shame, if you will understand the truth.

Micah 7:19 “He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea.”

This means that when we ask God for forgiveness, He totally and completely forgives our sins.

Hebrews 8:12 “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

This tactic of accusing us with past shame is very difficult for us to overcome because we can’t always recognize if the shame that we feel is conviction from God or if it’s accusation from satan.

We have to remember that he is a master of deception. And he and his ministers will come to us as if they were God’s messengers or God’s angels speaking to us.

2 Corinthians 11:14–15 “Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness.”

Satan and his false teachers thrive on keeping you trapped in shame, but there is a way to tell the difference between God’s Conviction and Satan’s accusation.

Accusation is past tense; conviction is present tense.

Accusation is always against sin that has already been confessed to God. Conviction is always against sin that you are actively committing.

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

If you have confessed to God, there is no more sin to be convicted of, it’s been forgiven and forgotten.

Accusation is condemning; conviction is freeing.

Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”

The accuser will tell you all the reasons why you aren’t worthy to be forgiven and wants to condemn you to death. The Holy Spirit tells you, “come to me, all you who are weary, and I will give you rest.” The Holy Spirit wants to reconcile you to God, the accuser wants to separate you from God.

4. Discourage You With Hopelessness

Satan wants you to believe that there is no hope, that there is no end in sight, and he wants you to take your eyes of the Lord Jesus.

Sometimes he does this through sickness, and he tells us that we are hopeless in our sickness to try and break our spirit.

Proverbs 18:14 “The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, But who can bear a broken spirit?”

And satan knows this, and he knows that if we have strength in the Lord that we can see beyond the sickness to the provision of God. So, he simply tries to break our spirit so that we cannot even pray to the Lord.

Other times he does this through circumstance, and he tells us that God has abandoned us.

I know that there are so many Christians that wonder if God can see their suffering. And so many Christians wonder if God can hear their cry for help. And satan laughs, and he sneers, and he says, “God doesn’t care about you. You are all alone. God doesn’t care, His people don’t understand, and you have no one.”

But the Bible says His name is El Roi “The God Who Sees”. The Bible says that His name is Jehova-Jireh “The God Who Provides”. The Bible says that His name is Jehova-Shammah “The Lord is There”.

Psalm 34:19 “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.”

5. How to Handle Discouragement

How are we going to handle all of this discouragement? We handle discouragement by setting our hope on the Lord Jesus.

“My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness”

When we are persecuted, we overcome by faith in the Lord’s rescue.

When we are betrayed, we overcome with the forgiveness of our God.

When we are filled with shame, we overcome by His blood.

When we are hopeless, we overcome by faith in His Word.

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 has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

C. Satan has Devised a Plan Dismember You

Satan is not only a liar and a deceiver, he is not only an accuser and a discourager, but he is a predator that is seeking to dismember you.

We are members of God’s church. And Satan would love nothing more than for you to disgrace the Lord by rejecting His church.

1 Corinthians 12:12 “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.”

1 Corinthians 12:18 “But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.”

1 Corinthians 12:26 “And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it.”

And satan wants to dismember you from the body, so that he may devour you.

1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

How does a predator kill its prey? By isolating it from the flock.

What satan wants to do is get you isolated. He wants you to neglect the safety of the flock so that he can hunt you down.

Acts 20:29 “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.”

The Wolves and Their Prey

I love watching animal documentaries and ironically my two favorite animals to watch are wolves and lions.

Wolves are especially vigorous. They don’t give up.

What they do in nature is exactly what satan and his false teachers do, the wolves will run headlong into a herd of prey and cause them to panic and scatter.

And when the panic of the flock sets in, the wolves have their pick of the litter. They’ll work to get their prey isolated from the rest of the herd and then they have their meal.

When satan and his ministers invade a church, they are always going to cause panic and try to get the people riled up and running in different directions . And in that division, they are going to try and isolate people.

Now, you may never be the one that gets isolated, but if you allow satan to scatter you, you might leave your brother or sister out to dry. And pretty soon, they’re no longer in the church because of some kind of hurt or confusion, and satan has won.

1. How to Stay United

How can we stand united when the lion comes to devour and when the wolves come to scatter?

James 4:7–8 “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

Conclusion

A. Be informed, be immersed, be intentional.

To be informed of the Devil’s devices is to be equipped against the Devil’s purpose.

When the devil tries to deceive you, God’s truth gives you a sound mind. And when God’s truth gives you a sound mind, you are able to comprehend the love of God as you obey His commandments.

When the devil tries to discourage you, God’s truth gives you a steadfast spirit. And when God’s truth gives you a steadfast spirit, you are able to offer encouragement to His saints.

When the devil tries to dismember you, God’s truth gives you a secure communion, and you are able to know the sweet fellowship of Christ and His Church.