1. Know Your Enemy
1 Peter 5:5-9

2. We are at war
1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
1 Timothy 1:18 This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,
Ephesians 6:10-12

3. We are at war
2 Timothy 2:3 You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
God cares for us, but we have an enemy who hates us and seeks our destruction. 1 Peter 5:7-8

4. We need to know our enemy
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
– Sun Tzu, The Art of War
2 Corinthians 2:11 …for we are not ignorant of his devices.
1 Corinthians 2:11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?...
Rev. 20:2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;

5. Our enemy is the devil Most don’t take the devil seriously.
Even those that do believe often view him as just a literary device, the personification of evil

6. Our enemy is the devil
John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
Luke 22:31 And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.
Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-13, Hebrews 2:14-15

7. He is like a lion
Lions stalk stealthily and wait for an opportune time to take their prey.
2 Corinthians 11:14-15
The sinful thing will be good for you.
Lie to get ahead.
Don’t be generous. You might need that one day.
God wants you to be happy.
Not the lions in the zoos, but the ones on Animal Planet.

8. He can exploit pride 1 Peter 5:5-6
Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.
1 Corinthians 10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

9. He can work on us through worry
1 Peter 5:7  casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
Worried about finances? Lie, steal, swindle
Worried about your grades? Cheat
Worried about fitting in? Succumb to peer pressure
Worried? Drink away your troubles

10. He will use our emotions against us.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober…
We must control our emotions.
I don’t feel like going to worship
I don’t feel like controlling my tongue
I don’t feel like being married any more
I don’t feel like loving my neighbor

11. Satan can be defeated.
1 Peter 5:8-9 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
cf. 1 Thess. 5:6, James 4:7, 1 Cor. 15:58, Hebrews 12:1-2