2 Corinthians - Lesson 2A

• Welcome back to our study of 2 Corinthians, where after completing Chapter 1 we are now ready to move into Chapter 2, and at this point we should begin to pick up some speed, given the nature and the flow of Paul’s writings.

  • Last week we ended Chapter 1 with Paul explaining why it was he hadn’t come to see them yet. In 1 Corinthians 16, he told them that he didn’t want to come see them at that moment. Instead, he wanted to wait and come when he could stay with them for a while. He stated that maybe he would come at the start of winter and stay with them the entire time.

  • But, as we discovered, that didn’t happen, and his lack in keeping that commitment helped fuel the fire of one individual in the church, a “nay-sayer”, a man who had garnered strength within in this church. He gathered a few select people for his crusade against Paul, where he, along with others, began saying,

    • Paul wasn’t special, he was no different than anyone else. He had no Apostolic Authority, and therefore, they shouldn’t listen to him.

    • But as we learned last week, Paul wasn’t a liar, he simply couldn’t come because of the great influence he was having in another town. And so, Paul, to defend his integrity, let the church at Corinth know why it was that he couldn’t come to them. And then he ends the Chapter by saying this in verses 23-24:

But I call God as witness to my soul, that it was to spare you that I did not come again to Corinth. 
2 Cor. 1:24 Not that we domineer over your faith, but we are workers with you for your joy; for in your faith, you are standing firm.

• I won’t rehash these verses, but I do want us to notice something, something that I didn’t point out last week. Paul makes it clear that He is not God, that he and the others are simply workers with them, for their joy. The key words to remember are this, and they show up in the last words of verse 24, where it says, “For in your faith you are standing firm.”

  • Paul was saying, I am not the one you should be looking up to. You can’t find your strength in me. Your faith must be firmly grounded in Jesus Christ, because it’s in that faith you will stand firm.

  • I understand what Paul is saying here, because in the earlier years as a Christian I personally experienced a strong connection to a man who was my Pastor at the time. A man whom I found my strength.

    • Now, what’s interesting is, while I was connected to him, I thought I was strong (spiritually speaking), but unfortunately, I found out one Sunday night that I really wasn’t that strong at all. This all took place when He resigned and took another church in another part of the state.

    • In that moment, whatever strength I thought I had was not real, because when it was challenged, put to the test, what I discovered was that my faith was weak. Because you see the substance of who I was, was grounded in the wrong place. It was in a man, and not my faith.

• Now, having said that, I wasn’t alone. I know lots of people who had the same experience, and since that time, I have known many people who experienced the same thing in other churches. And why? Because their faith was grounded in the wrong object. And obviously this is a problem, but it happens all the time.

  • Some new “Charismatic Preacher” with new ideas, with a new creative way of doing church comes to town, and so it begins. It always starts out the same way. Everything begins hopping, moving, and shaking, until one day it doesn’t.

  • I could spend all day talking about the many churches that this has happened to, and some in very recent history, but I would rather talk about the why, such as why this is so dangerous, and more than that, how to protect against it, because it is a serious issue within our Christian faith.

    • The man leaves, dies, moves, or has a moral failure and the church falls apart. On an individual level you could say, so goes the man or woman, so goes their faith. This is why Paul says what he says at the end of v. 24. He wants them to know he is sorry he hasn’t come to them yet.

    • But “In your faith, you are standing firm”. The message from God is this, “Look up, and fix your eyes on me, the author and finisher of your faith”. Because it’s in your faith that you will stand strong!

  • And this makes sense. But honestly, on a granular level, what exactly does that mean? I can best answer that by telling you what it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean because I am saved, I am automatically going to stand firm! That’s not what it means, because I was saved when I went through what I went through.

  • But when my Pastor left, I personally fell apart! And so, if that’s the case, and it was for me, then what did that say about my faith? It said my strength wasn’t in my faith, which tells us something, and that when we are Spiritually Mature it will be evident in our life, by way of our faith.

• Let me also say this, in troubled times the strength of your faith will be revealed. Another way to say it is, in times of trouble, that’s when your faith will be most evident, or less evident, (depending on how you look at it). And so, this is why Paul ended verse 24 the way he did.

  • He was saying, even if I don’t come, you still must grow and gain spiritual strength on your own. And how do we do that? By gaining a more intimate knowledge of who God is, and how He operates.

  • Which can only come through the study and ingestion of His Word. And not just quickly reading it, you must study it. Study it in a way that you are preparing to teach it to someone else. I know I drive this point home all the time, but it’s the truth. Your faith gains its strength when you know God in an intimate way.

  • Specifically, when the knowledge of who He is becomes part of your DNA, when it resonates inside your heart and soul. When you know that He is your provider, your protector.

  • And here are some Hebrew descriptors of who God is, lesser used names of God:

• Adir — "Strong One".

• Adon Olam — "Master of the World".

• Avinu Malkeinu — "Our Father, our King".

• Boreh — "the Creator".

• Ehiyeh sh'Ehiyeh — "I Am That I Am": a modern Hebrew version of "Ehyeh asher Ehyeh".

• Elohei Avraham, Elohei Yitzchak ve Elohei Ya`aqov — "God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob".

• El ha-Gibbor — "God the hero" or "God the strong one"

• Emet — "Truth".

• E'in Sof — "endless, infinite", Kabbalistic name of God.

• Ro'eh Yisra'el — "Shepherd of Israel".

• Ha-Kaddosh, Baruch Hu — "The Holy One, Blessed be He".

• Kaddosh Israel — "Holy One of Israel".

• Melech ha-Melachim — "The King of Kings" or Melech

• Malchei ha-Melachim "King of Kings of Kings", to express superiority to the earthly rulers title.

• Makom or Hamakom — literally "the place", meaning "The Omnipresent"; see Tzimtzum.

• Magen Avraham — "Shield of Abraham".

• YHWH-Yireh (Yahweh-Yireh) — "The Lord will provide" ( Genesis 22:13, 14).

• YHWH-Rapha" — "The Lord that healeth" ( Exodus 15:26).

• YHWH-Niss"i (Yahweh-Nissi) — "The Lord our Banner" (Exodus 17:8-15).

• YHWH-Shalom — "The Lord our Peace" ( Judges 6:24)

• YHWH-Ra-ah — "The Lord my Shepherd" ( Psalms 23:1).

• YHWH-Tsidkenu — "The Lord our Righteousness" ( Jeremiah 23:6).

• YHWH-Shammah — "The Lord is present" ( Ezekiel 48:35).

• Tzur Israel — "Rock of Israel".

• Ha Shem — "The Name"

• You get the point; your faith becomes strong when it truly resonates in your heart who He is!

  • Moving on, Paul now moves into 2 Corinthians 2, where some scholars have entitled this next section Reaffirm Your Love (verses 1-17).

2 Cor. 2:1 But I decided this for my own sake, that I would not come to you in sorrow again.
2 Cor. 2:2 For if I cause you sorrow, who then will be the one making me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me?
2 Cor. 2:3 This is the very thing I wrote you, so that when I came, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice; having confidence in you all that my joy was the joy of you all.
2 Cor. 2:4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you.
2 Cor. 2:5 But if anyone has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not for me, but in some degree—not to say too much—for all of you.
2 Cor. 2:6 Sufficient for such a person is this punishment, which was imposed by the majority,
2 Cor. 2:7 so that on the other hand, you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a person might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
2 Cor. 2:8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.
2 Cor. 2:9 For to this end I also wrote, so that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things.
2 Cor. 2:10 But one whom you forgive anything, I also forgive; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did so for your sakes in the presence of Christ,
2 Cor. 2:11 so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
2 Cor. 2:12 Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me in the Lord,
2 Cor. 2:13 I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother; but saying goodbye to them, I went on to Macedonia.
2 Cor. 2:14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us reveals the fragrance of the knowledge of Him in every place.
2 Cor. 2:15 For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing:
2 Cor. 2:16 to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?
2 Cor. 2:17 For we are not like the many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

• Now, before we break all this down, I want you to remember, scholars pretty much agree that 2 Corinthians is a collection of several letters. Possibly this one, along with two other letters that were lost. Which means, it can be hard to follow because it’s pieced together. It’s considered an Amalgam, which means “mixture or blend”.

  • So, remember that as we push through, and I will try to keep it straight for you. In verse 1 Paul starts out by saying,

2 Cor. 2:1 But I decided this for my own sake, that I would not come to you in sorrow again. 

• In this verse Paul addresses something by saying, “I decided for my own sake, that I would not come to you in sorrow again”. Remember, previously, Paul made a trip to this church, but left saddened because of what he saw. That trip prompted Paul to write a letter, a letter known as the “Severe letter”. But remember, that letter was lost, we don’t have it.

  • Paul’s opening words here in Chapter 2 are referencing how he decided not to come for his own sake, because he did not want to return in sorrow again. Meaning, one of the reasons he didn’t show up was because he thought he was going to have to scold them again, and he wasn’t excited about doing that.

  • We gain insight into this fact back in 1 Corinthians, where this church was having a problem with a sinner in the fellowship, a man who was engaged in open incest with his stepmother, and how that Paul counseled the church through his letter, telling them to excommunicate this man for his own benefit.

    • Paul’s hope was that, by kicking him out of the fellowship, he might straighten up and fly right. Well guess what, apparently, the church listened and did what he told them to do, and it worked, because the guy did repent. Paul is going to rejoice over that fact, that they listened and acted, but he is also going to point out how that he, and them now, have the task of forgiving this man.

  • And we are going to see that clearly throughout the next few chapters, as Paul opens his heart and gives us some real insight into who he is as a Pastor as well as his passion for the ministry.

• Moving on, verse 2:

2 Cor. 2:2 For if I cause you sorrow, who then will be the one making me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me? 

• Paul is saying, because he had previously written them a very harsh or severe letter, (which he had Titus deliver to them), he wanted to wait before he came, to see how the church responded to the letter. The sense here is that he was very apprehensive, because if the letter failed to create its intended purpose.

  • Fortunately, for Paul though, it did meet its intended purpose, and he was so joyed by their response that he wrote this letter, the one we are reading now.

2 Cor. 2:3 This is the very thing I wrote you, so that when I came, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice; having confidence in you all that my joy was the joy of you all. 

• As I said earlier, in these verses, we really begin to see Paul’s heart as a Pastor. Here, he says, he preferred to come, like now in a sense, (and just a side bar), there is some strong belief that he did visit them right after this letter was delivered. No hard evidence of this fact, but suggested evidence that he did.

  • And if he did, he did so just so he could rejoice with them, all because they had taken steps to correct the very thing he had counseled them on.

• Moving on, in verse 4.

2 Cor. 2:4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you.

• In this verse, you can feel Paul’s pain as he reflects on not only his letter of 1 Corinthians, but also the severe letter that he previously wrote. You can also tell that when they stumble, when they have problems, that Paul grieves over them. Because as I said, he’s got a Pastor’s heart.

  • Now, what most of us may not stop to think about, is when someone falls inside the fellowship, not only does it grieve the Pastor, but it also grieves who? The Lord Jesus Christ.

  • It’s a shock perhaps to realize that Jesus Christ’s sufferings didn’t end on the cross 2000 years ago. He still suffers, and He suffers because of you and I. Personally, I don’t think Satan can do anything to make Christ suffer. That’s just my hypothesis. But I do know who can cause Him to suffer, and that is us. Let me give you an example of what I am talking about.

• Let’s take a look at Zechariah Chapter 13. Verse 6 is one of these interesting little verses that you stumble across in the Old Testament that sort of leaps out at you, and here’s what it says:

Zech. 13:6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.

• As we read this verse, we quickly recognize it to be Messianic, because it’s obviously alluding to Jesus, due to the mentioning of the wounds in His hands. This also lines up with other passages in the Old Testament as well, such as Psalm 22 and others, which speak of His hands and feet being pierced.

  • Now when you read this it might not seem to make sense to you, because it says, “And one shall answer what are these wounds in thy hands.  Then He shall answer, those with which, I was wounded in the house of my friends.”

  • So, what does it mean when it says, I was wounded in the house of my friends? Who are these friends, and more important than that, what kind of friends are they that they would do such a thing? You wouldn’t think they were very good ones, would you?

  • As we begin imagining who these people might be, we immediately think of the Roman Soldiers, the ones who pierced His hands. But I can’t imagine a handful of Roman soldiers driving spikes into some 12-by-12’s or whatever they were, on a hill in Judea, and think to myself that these are the ones being called the house of his friends.

    • That doesn’t seem to fit, does it? So, who are these so-called friends? As I was thinking about it, I suddenly realized that this is apparently an illusion to another occasion in the scriptures. You may recall that on Easter Sunday they say Christ arose.

    • After the morning events, we find Jesus joining two disciples on the way to a place called Emmaus. And, after that little seven-mile walk/Bible study, Jesus breaks bread with them and then disappears because he’s got a date back in Jerusalem, in the upper room that night.

  • You may remember, in this scene, the upper room was closed when suddenly Jesus appears and reveals Himself as the resurrected Lord to the disciples. On that evening, there was one person that was absent (May have been more than one, but one that comes to mind), and it’s a very noteworthy person. A man named Thomas.

  • Now, we don’t know for sure, but we can only imagine the enthusiasm in the room that evening, especially as they told Thomas what they saw. You could hear them saying, “Man Thomas, you should have been at our Bible study last night. You’re never going to guess who showed up.”

    • You could see Thomas sitting there, patiently waiting to respond, enduring their enthusiasm, and then suddenly he says, “Unless I can put my fingers in His nail prints, and my hands in His side, I won’t believe.”

    • And I can understand Thomas’ reaction. I mean he was human, and probably a little jealous. I know I would have been. But the Lord doesn’t leave Thomas out, and sure enough, Thomas is with them once again when the Lord appears.

• And here is what it says in John 20:27-29:

John 20:27 Then He *said to Thomas, “Place your finger here, and see My hands; and take your hand and put it into My side; and do not continue in disbelief but be a believer.” 
John 20:28 Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 
John 20:29 Jesus *said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you now believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

• You know when we read this account in the New Testament, we probably fail to get the full impact of what’s happening here, because it was from that episode, plus an apparent characteristic of Thomas’ personality, that Thomas gets the nickname, “Doubting Thomas”. You know it’s often said when comparing the New Testament to the Old Testament, that the Old Testament conceals, and the New Testament reveals!

  • And here’s an example of exactly that, when you read Zechariah13:6, written some eight centuries before Christ was even born. When Zech says:

Zech. 13:6 And someone will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will say, ‘Those with which I was wounded at the house of my friends.’

• The answer to who the “the house of His friends are” shows up here in the New Testament. It wasn’t the Roman spikes that wounded him. It was Thomas’ unbelief. That’s a sobering thought, when you think about it. When you and I stumble, even through our doubts, (and we all do from time to time), when we do this, Christ suffers.

  • That is hard for us to understand, and maybe even harder for us to fully grasp, but that’s the reality and we need to come to terms with it.

• So, back to 2 Corinthians 2:5-8:

2 Cor. 2:5 But if anyone has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not for me, but in some degree—not to say too much—for all of you. 
2 Cor. 2:6 Sufficient for such a person is this punishment, which was imposed by the majority,
2 Cor. 2:7 so that on the other hand, you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a person might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 
2 Cor. 2:8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. 

• In this section of verses, Paul is referencing the restoration of the sinning saint. He is alluding back to this guy who was mentioned in 1 Corinthians, the one who had been excommunicated. And as I said earlier, he apparently has repented for what he has done, and now Paul is pointing out and saying that the next step is to “forgive him”.

  • That’s what Paul is pleading for here. You know, the Body of Christ has often been known as the only group that shoots its wounded. If a man or woman stumbles or falls, and then repents, we are to forgive them, and come alongside them, and help with their restoration process. Not lock them in a room (metaphorically speaking) and throw away the key.

  • All of us as Christians make mistakes. We all stumble and fall. And by the way, just in case you’re wondering, I don’t know of anyone in Heaven that will have lived a life free of sin. None other than the Lord Himself. Heaven is a home for repentant sinners, and that is what Paul is dealing with here.

    • Here is a guy who had gross sin, and Paul himself called it to their attention. So, they dealt with it, they excommunicated him, and it had its desired effect. The excommunication was a form of discipline, and it caused the man to repent and return to the fellowship, and now Paul is asking them to forgive him. Which is what we all must do when someone repents.

    • You know what Paul is really implying is, if we don’t forgive the repentant Christian, then we are just as bad as the person who committed the sin the first place. Essentially, repentance and forgiveness are two sides of the same coin. You see, it’s important that we understand how essential forgiveness is in our Christian Walk. That it’s the medicine that heals broken hearts.

• Moving on, V.9-11

2 Cor. 2:9 For to this end I also wrote, so that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. 
2 Cor. 2:10 But one whom you forgive anything, I also forgive; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did so for your sakes in the presence of Christ, 
2 Cor. 2:11 so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes. (the KJV says “his devices”)

• Now, let me ask you a question. If I were to give you a written quiz right now, and ask you to make a list of all of Satan’s schemes or devices, what would you write down? Now let me say this, don’t confuse any of Satan’s schemes or devices with anything obvious. Satan’s most dangerous devices are much more complex than the obvious ones, the ones we all think about.

  • As a matter of fact, I would say his most dangerous devices aren’t obvious at all, which is why Paul says here don’t be ignorant about them. So, let’s talk about them for just a moment.

    • There are two mistakes we make about Satan, and the first is not realizing that he exists. More specifically, that he is not who the Bible says he is, which is what - a lying, active, vigorous, adversary of your welfare. Meaning that we don’t recognize that he is a force, but rather just some sort of euphemism for some abstract thing.

• Let be clear here today, Satan is a person with incredible resources who is hostile to your interest. That’s who he is. I find it funny how we feel very comfortable talking about Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, but we get uncomfortable talking about Satan in the personal sense.

  • “As a Personal Satan.” It sounds weird to say it that way, but it’s true. You see, when we don’t recognize him as being alive and well and working among us, we often find ourselves (maybe not consciously, but subconsciously) denying his existence.

  • It’s interesting how we don’t seem to have balance when it comes to Satan. One camp doesn’t give him enough credit (by denying his existence), and the other camp (the ones who do believe he is who the Bible says he is), they give him too much credit.

    • There is a very famous book, a good book in fact, that has an unfortunate title. It’s called “Between Christ and Satan”. This book is not a bad book, but the title is very misleading, because it implies that Satan and Christ are adversaries, in the equality sense, which is obviously nonsense, because Christ created all things.

• As I said, when it comes to Satan, we often can’t seem to garner a balanced theology. We either ignore or deny him on the one hand, or we see him behind every tree on the other. Interesting problem, and so what do we do?

  • Well, we need to recognize his reality, but we also need to recognize our resources in Christ, so we are not timid about it. Back to Satan’s schemes or devices. What are some of his devices?

• Well, at the top of the list are “Deceit and Deception”. The gain, the warfare, and the battle ground lies between “truth” and “deceit & deception”. Remember, the strongest skillset that Satan possesses is that of counterfeiting. I could literally spend an entire day showing you from the pages of scripture where Satan subtly tries to change God’s plans through deception by twisting Gods own words.

  • It started with Eve in the Garden and moved to the temptation of Jesus Himself in the desert. And then, as I said earlier, there’s his work of counterfeiting. Copying what God is doing. Trying to create the illusion of God’s work to confuse God’s people.

  • We see it in Revelation, in the end times, where the False Prophet, the Anti-Christ, and Satan all give the illusion of The Father, Son, and The Holy Ghost. The biggest mistake we make as Christians is thinking we can see what Satan is doing, and therefore avoid him. Satan never shows up in our lives in the ways we imagine he will. The scriptures warn of this in Genesis 3, where the NASB Bible says:

Gen. 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”

• A definition given by the NAS Exhaustive Concordance says, “crafty, shrewd, sensible”. Interesting how the concordance chose the word “sensible”, because I really think that best describes how Satan operates.

  • If it seems sensible then it must be okay. This is the ultimate danger for the believer. Rationale, Logic, and Pragmatism. They can be our worst enemy, thinking we know something, but it’s not what we think it is. Another one of Satan’s devices, and it’s a close cousin to deception, is “deviation”.

  • It’s amazing how many heresies throughout history start by being ½ a degree off the mark. A slight over-emphasis of the truth, but not in balance. The concept is that of flying an airplane.

    • If it’s just one degree off at any distance, it will take you to the middle of nowhere. It’s amazing how theology can develop the same way. You can take some particularly true doctrine, and then over emphasise it, just a little at the expense of others, and the first thing you know you’ve got a major heresy on your hands.

• The word is “Balance”, and how do you protect yourself against losing it? How do you protect yourself from a theology that hangs itself on one little check verse in some particular book. The answer is “The Whole Counsel of God”.

  • You need to have a personal reading and studying program that takes you from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22. And when you finish that, start over. You see, when you have all the pieces, they balance each other. It’s fine when you have a specialty interest in a particular topic.

    • I have done that many times myself. You get interested in a particular topic. You begin digging, do a little homework, and before you know it you know a lot about subject X, no problem with that, as long as you also balance that with “The Whole Counsel of God”. It’s the only protection you have.

• Many of you know that I often listen to Biblical debates. Sometimes I listen to debates between Christians and Atheists. I love to hear the Atheist logic and rationale. Now, you might think that I would listen to these so that I can smile and think of all the ways that I know that I am right, and they are wrong.

  • But the truth is, that’s not why I listen to them at all. I listen to them for educational reasons. I love listening to the other side, not just being closed minded and saying to myself, “Well, I am right, and they are wrong”.

    • It’s through listening to the other side’s point of view that I am challenged. I want to be able to defend my position, and I can best do that when I know the enemy’s schemes. I don’t want to be just another Zealot Christian who has no real knowledge or proof. I don’t want my only rebuttal to be, me saying, “Well, that’s what I believe”.

    • You see, when you make that kind of shallow statement to the Atheist, you just prove their point, because what you are essentially saying is, I believe what I believe because someone told me to believe it.

  • By studying the opposing view, you will become emboldened and strong in your defense. That’s why I study the enemies’ schemes. And let me say this, the other side has some pretty strong arguments. They will use the Word of God against you to prove their arguments.

• Now, as I close this morning, I want to highlight another of Satan’s devices. Ones that you probably never thought of, because as I said, the most dangerous ones are not the obvious ones.

  • The device is Unforgiveness. Unforgiveness is one of the most powerful tools Satan has, and one of the deadliest types of unforgiveness are the justified ones. I’m talking about when someone hurts you, or wrongs you, where you are clearly justified in having that attitude.

    • This is very detrimental to your Christian Walk, even though you may not know it. And why? Because they are the ones that you are least likely to forgive, and yet they are the most important for you to forgive.

    • If you are going to be a vessel for God’s love, forgiveness is powerful, powerful medicine for hurting people. But unforgiveness is one of Satan’s major strongholds in the life of a believer.

• Next week I am going to highlight a few more of Satan’s hidden but deadly devices, and just to give you a hint, think about Self-vindication, which is any type of self-focus of whatever kind, including vanity.

  • Then there’s Prejudice. Boy does Satan use prejudice, and it doesn’t have to be in the overt racial, ethnic kind. It can be the subtle kind. What school did you graduate from? What neighborhood did you come from?

  • Next is our emotions. Our natural emotions can be one of Satan’s devices. Any time my flesh is excited, God is not in it. Anything that comes from a place of pride, God’s not in it.

  • Finally Confusion. Any time you see confusion, who is not the author of it? God is not the author of confusion.