1. One of the greatest invasions in military history took place at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  At 7:55 AM, Japanese bombs began to fall.  In this attack 18 ships sank, about 175 planes destroyed, and more than three thousand casualties.  This attack plunged America into the most damaging and most costly war in the history of America.  World War II killed more persons, cost more money, damaged more property, and affected more people than any other war in the history of the world.

2. But the invasion on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese with all of its damaging results, doesn't compare with an invasion by the Devil.  His power is greater than that of the Japanese.  With the exception of the power of God, no one or no army is as powerful as the Devil.  His primary target is the Christian Army.  He delights in seeing Christian soldiers slain on the battlefields of life.

3. Some people say that the devil doesn't exist, that he is merely a figment of the imagination.  However, any person who becomes a Christian soldier will know in a very short time that the devil does exist and that he is a mighty being behind all evil.

4. Jesus said in John 8:44, "The devil is." And to say that there is no devil, we make Jesus a liar.

5. We know that the devil exists because he made several invasions upon the lives of many people.  A few defeated him, but many were defeated by him with disastrous results.

1. He invaded the first persons that God created.  In the garden of Eden, our first parents were told by god not to eat of a certain tree, "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." He said, "For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

2. But one day as Eve was enjoying the beauties and blessings of the garden, the devil appears.  He wasn't dressed in a red suit with a long tail and carrying a pitchfork.  He doesn't appear in that form.  If he came dressed like that, we would know im and avoid him.  But when he comes to invade us, he often comes in the most attractive way.

3. Well, Eve and the devil struck up a conversation.  Eve said, "God told us not to eat of the one tree ---- the beautiful one standing in the middle of the garden.  In fact, He told us not to even touch it or we would die.  And we don't want to die.  We enjoy life too much to want to die."

4. Satan replied, "You aren't going to die.  That the silliest thing I ever heard.  Do you know why God told you that?  God knows that the day you eath the fruit from that tree, you will be as smart as He is, and He doesn't want that.  Go ahead and eat.  You might make God a little bit jealous because you will be as wise as Him, but you won't die."

5. Both Eve and her husband listened to what they believed to be sound reasoning, and as a result became the first victims of human invasion.  They were thrown out of the garden, but a far more reaching and more devastating result than that took place.

6. When they reached up and took the forbiden fruit, they took the hand of everybody who would ever be born into the world and pulled them down into sin along with them.  The devil is a strong power.

1. Joseph, more than any of his brothers lived a good life and was true to god.  His brothers were sowing their ‘Wild oats' most of the time.  They would do just about anything.  And Joseph would tell them about their evil doings.  He tried to get them to follow God's commands.  But like today, I suppose they called him a "holy Joe."

2. Joseph also told his father about his brothers and how they were acting, and of course his father was brokenhearted.  But to show his love and gratitude to Joseph for being unlike his brothers he have him a beautiful coat.  This made his brothers angry and jealour.  They no doubt called him a ‘tattle tale' and a ‘daddy's boy."

3. One day Jacob, Joseph's father, said to Joseph, "your brothers are out in the fields working and I want you to go and check on them.  Find out how they're doing and report back to me."

4. But when he came to where his brothers were watching their flocks, he sound them very unhappy.  They ha a plan all worked out -- a plan to kill him -- a plan engineered by the devil himself.

5. I.John 3:18 says, "He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning."

6. This is why the brothers were ready to kill Joseph.

7. This is why people commit all kinds of sins today.
They belong to the devil.
They have his nature in their flesh.

 But why do Christians sin?
  They have been converted.
  They have been saved.
  It's because of the carnal nature that's within them.

8. When you were born, you were born with a carnal nature that you inherited from Adam.

9. When you were born again, you were given a spiritual nature.

10. Now you have two natures and they are constantly fighting each other.  Then when the devil tempts you and you fall into sin, the carnal nature gets the upper hand.  But with Paul you can say, "I thank God that through Christ I can be delivered."

11. But the brothers changed their plan.  They decided not to kill Joseph, but rather to sell him as a slave for twelve dollars to a group of Ishmaelites who took him to Egypt.  And in Egypt the Ishmaelites sold him to Potiphar, captain of the guard of Pharaoh, the King of Egypt.

12. Potiphar liked Joseph.  He made him overseer of his personal and private affairs.

13. One day, Potiphar's wife, a abeautiful, but decietful woman, wanted Joseph to engage in immorality with her.  Then the devil began speaking to Joseph.  "Go ahead and do this thing.  She is a very pretty woman, and besides that, her husband is a high government official, and if she likes you, she can talk her husband into getting you a better position in Pharaoh's kingdom.'  The devil is now leading an invasion against Joseph, using weapons of sex, selfishness, position, and personal glory.  But Joseph said "no" to the devil and "no" to Potiphar's wife.  This made her very angry.  She told lies about him, and he was thrown into prison.

14. But Joseph kept his faith in God and look at the results:
     1: While in prison, he was so helpful that the jailer put him in charge of all the other       prisoners
     2: he later became Pharaoh's right hand man. He was second in comand over all of Egypt
     3: He saved a nation from starving and:
     4: He was restored to his family.

15. God certainly was with Joseph during his battle with the devil.

1. In the land of Uz, there lived a man by the name of Job.

2. He was a good man, a God fearing man.
He always did what was right in the sight of God.
He had a wife, seven sons, and three daughters.
He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred donkeys.

3. Now, Satan can't stand to see a man honor God the way Job did.

4. So, he came before God and said, "The reason Job is a perfect and upright man, and why he keeps out of evil is because you have put a hedge aound him, so I can't get near him.   Take away everthing he has and he will curse you."

5. God said, "All right, you try him.  Everything he owns is at your disposal.  You can do anything to him that you want except touch him.  So Satan began his invasion

6. He prompted wild men to make a raid and they took away his oxen and his donkeys.
Lightning fell from heaven and burned up all of his sheep.
Chaldeans stole his camels and killed his servants.
And then the most tragic thing of all: His sons and daughters ere feasting in their oldest brother's house when a great wind blew the house down and killed them all.

7. TRAGIC!  Tragic indeed.  Only his wife was left.

8. But after all of this tragedy, listen to what he said, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither; the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

9. In all of this, Job never sinned, nor blamed God.  Job won the battle.

10. Then Satan came before the Lord again and began complainin.  He said, "Let me touch him this time and he'll curse you."

11. And the Lord said, "All right, you can do anything you want to, except kill him."

12. Satan invaded again.
He smote Job with sore, itchy, and painful boils from the top of his head to the soles of his feet.
The sores itched so much that he wnt out and sat on a pile of ashes and scratched himself with broken pieces of pottery.
His friends came to see him, and they hardly knew him.
His wife wanted him to curse God, and die.

13. But in all of this, Job didn't curse God
  Satan was defeated again.

14. Then the Lord healed Job and gave him back twice as many animals and servants as he had before.
He gave him also seven sons and three daughters.
And he lived to be an old man.
He was rewarded for being true to God.

1. Of all the disciples that Jesus chose, I believe that Peter was his favoirite.

2. Now Jesus loves everyone just as you love all of your children, but usually there is one who needs or get more attention than the others.  And Peter was that one.

3. Well, the Devil launched an invasion against Peter.  He wanted to get to Jesus and so he began to work on those who were closest to Him.  He wanted to get Jesus' own followers to deny Him.

4. Jesus had been arrested and taken to trial.  Peter came to get warm by the fire when a maid said to Peter, "You are one of His disciples too?"

5. I imagine the devil said, "Peter, you are going to get into trouble.  You'd better say no."
Peter was afraid.  He said exactly what the devil wanted him to say.  "No, I am not."

6. He was still standing by the fire when another said, "You must be His follower.  His followers are Galilians and you talk like a Galiliean."  Again the devil spolke to Peter and again Peter denied being a follower of Christ.

7. Then another man, a relative of Malchus, whose ear Peter had cut off in the garden, said, "Didn't I see you with Him in the garden?"

8. Now Satan really went to work.  He said, "Peter if you admit that you know Jesus, they will do the same thing to you that they're going to do to Jesus ---- Crucify you."

9. Peter was really scared.  He began to curse and swear as he had before he met Jesus.  The devil really had a hold on him.  He said, "I don't know the man."

10. Just as he said that, Jess walked by, and Peter saw himself as Jesus saw him.   He ran outside and wept and asked God to forgive him.  God forgave him just like he'll forgive anyone who asks.

11. Just like He'll forgive you, God would've forgiven Judas if he had repented.
But the devil had too strong of a grip on him and he went out and hanged himself.

1. From the time Jesus was born in Bethlehem until He was crucified on Calvary, the devil was constantly trying to destroy Him.  He had come into the world to die for mankind and Satan was against that.  In fact everything the Lord is for, the devil is against.

A) He launched an attack in Bethlehem.

1. When the wise men anounced to King Herod taht Jesus was born, He ordered all children under two years of age to be slain hoping that Jesus would be one of them.

B) He launched an attack in the wilderness.

1. After Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, He went into the wilderness to prepare for His ministry.  For forty days He hadn't eaten.  He was hungry.  Just then, Satan comes on the scene.  He said to Jesus, "you are hungry.  I know you're hungry.  If you expect to carry out the ministry as God wants you to do, you'll need strength.  I konw you have power so why don't you change those stones into bread and enjoy a good meal for a change."

2. Jesus said, "It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but be every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

3. Jesus meant that feeding the body isn't the greatest part of life, but feeding the soul, in doing God's will, is the greater.

C) He launched another attack on the pinnacle of the temple.

1. He says to Jesus, "Jump off and show everyone that you are God's Son.  God won't let you die."

2. And Jesus said, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."
 He was saying, "I'm not going to challenge God.  I'm not going to show off.
 God doesn't promise to take care of me if I do something foolish to gain personal glory."

D) Finally, he attacked Jesus on the mountain.

1. He pointed to all the nations and powers of the world and said, "It's all yours if you bow down to me."

2. But Jesus said, "Get thee hence, Satan, it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve."

3. On another occasion Jesus said, "What whall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul."

4. He was saying, you can be the richest most popular person in the world.  You can have a nice home and enjoy all the luxuries of life, but without Christ there is no profit and therefore you are the poorest person on earth.

5. Satan was defeated each time an attack was made.

1. If you don't have any battle scars as yet from a previous invasion by the devil, then prepare yourself.  He's planning an all out attack on your soul.

2. He doesn't want you to be saved.

3. He doesn't want you to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

4. He doesn't wnat you to go to heaven.

5. And he'll do anything to block the way.

HERE IS HIS PLAN OF ATTACK:

A) HE'LL LIE TO YOU.
1. He is the "father of lies."

2. He'll say to you, "come with me and you will enjoy every pleasure that this world has to offer."
HE IS LYING!

3. Oh, you'll enjoy it for awhile.  There is pleasure in sin for a season, but, in the end you will be in Hell because of it.

B) HE'LL TEMPT YOU TO SIN.

1. Never a day goes by but thtat he tempts us to sin in word or thought or deed.

2. David was "a man after God's own heart."

3. He wrote the beautiful twenty third Psalm and others.
He was God's chosen king.

4. Then one day, the devil approached him, tempted him with beauty, and he fell.

5. This great man; God's chosen man, this man with tremendous opportunities and possibilities, became an Adulterer and a murderer.   ALL the work of Satan.

C) HE'LL CAUSE YOU TO DOUBT.

1. He'll constantly tell you that the old things which you've believed down throuth the years are untrue.  He'll tell you to do anything you want; go anywhere you want; say anything you want.

2. BUT, the Bible says to seek the old paths and walk therein and we'll find peace
    for our souls.

D) HE WANTS YOU TO NEGLECT YOUR CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITIES

1. He wants you to neglect the church

2. neglect the Bible

3. quit praying,

4. lower your standards,

5. and put off the matter of serving Christ.

1. We can defeat the devil by prying daily.

  The Bible says, "The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much"

2. We can defeat him by being busy for God.
 After the Lord saves you, don't be a slacker.   Teach a Sunday School class, or sing
 in the choir, or serve on a committee, or some other job that needs to be done for the
 glory of God.

3. Then trust in God's strength.
         The devil is strong, but God is stronger.
  Put on the whole armour of God and prepare for an invasion from the Devil.

4.  If you're unsaved, the devil is going to reap your soul.

He will push you down into the gutter in this life and push you into a burning hell in the life to come.

 Is this what you want?
 Is this where you want to spend your eternity?

You can defeat the devil too.

Turn your life and soul over to Christ and then He will become the captain of your soul and lead a counter attack against the one who wants to destroy you --- both body and soul.