Spiritual Warfare - Satan's Tactic of Shame and Isolation

When facing spiritual warfare, one of Satan's tactics is to inflict you with shame.  He wants you to think something is wrong not just with what you did, but that something is wrong with you.  But Scripture tells us how to deal with shame and guilt.  We see how to be free from the failures of our lives and the emotional weight we carry with them.  Jesus gave his life to set us free and to live in His freedom.  It's time to be set free.

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Grace-based biblical teaching and sermons with Pastor Jason White. Messages that focus on Life in Christ and practical application as New Covenant believers.

Several years ago, there was a there was a book that came out that eventually became a movie titled The Kite Runner. Some of you may have read the book, or maybe you watched the movie, or both. And if you if you did you know that it's really a story, unfortunately of shame, to story of shame and the devastating effects that shame can have on each one of our lives. And there's a number of characters in the story who experience shame and the way it plays out. It shows the effects on each one of their lives, but also how it affected each other as they were dealing with the shame going on in their own lives. But but the main character experiences one event in his life as a kid that causes him so much shame and trauma that he deals with it not for a few days, and not for a few weeks or a few months. But for years and years of his life. It grips him over and over and over again. As it comes up. The main character's name is Amir. And as a kid, he walked up on an alley where he could hear some commotion going on in the alley, and he didn't really know what was going on. He hadn't made it all the way around to be able to see and he was a little bit nervous about what he would find he was a little bit scared about what was going on. And he didn't really want to be seen. And so he he just kind of peaks around the corner a little bit trying as hard as he can to not be seen. And to his terror. What he sees in that alley, is his best friend who had been trapped by some other boys in who were abusing him in absolutely horrific and humiliating and horrendous into grating ways.
He wanted so desperately as he saw what his friend was going through and the trauma that he was experiencing in that moment to run to his friends a to rescue him from the situation that he was in. But he knew that the kids who were doing this to his friend were bigger and stronger than he was and that there were more of them. And he was just gripped with fear and felt like there was nothing that he was going to be able to do. And so he didn't do anything.
He just sat there, and he froze and did nothing.
This event caused him so much shame in his life, as I said over the next few days and weeks and years as he replayed the events in his mind and how he beat himself up about being such a coward and not even trying to go to his friend's rescue and do anything to to come to his aid. And then he watched as his friend began to experience the shame in his own life of what had happened to him and the effects of that shame in the way it played out in his life, how he began to isolate himself from everyone how he began to hide from other people how his personality changed how he became so depressed and filled with anxiety. And as he saw his friend depressed and filled with anxiety and his personality changing in him removing himself from everyone that he loved. It caused Amir to experience even more shame in his own life on top of the shame that he was all ready experiencing. And it was just this endless cycle of shame over and over and over again at one point in the book. 26 years after this event happens and Amir is looking back on this day. He says this He says that was a long time ago that that day was a long time ago but it's wrong. I've learned what people say about the past about how you can bury it. Because the past always claws its way out. He says looking back now I realized that I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last 26 years of my life. This is what shame does shame works behind the scenes it kind of continues to pop up and resurface in our lives every now and then and it impacts us in ways that that we don't even always see it's it's impacting our thoughts and our actions and and how we treat other people and can cause so much destruction so much devastation in our lives and we we all have it. We all have shame and experience the humiliation and anxiety from something that
we've done in our past or something that we're doing right now, or, or Honestly, even something that happened to us in our past or something that's been that we've done in our past. And the thing is, is it can be something that happened 10 or 20 or 30 years ago in our lives, and all of a sudden, there's something that causes us to remember that event, to remember what it is that we did or remember what it is that happened to us. And all of a sudden, our our blood begins to boil and all of a sudden, we begin to feel the the anxiousness and the anxiety and, and with the embarrassment, and just these deep feelings that cause us to want to run and want us to be able to escape and this fear that grips us that somebody is going to find out about what it is that we did or what it was that happened to us. And if they knew that and they knew the real us, then they would abandon us completely. So crazy how it can happen so long ago and feel in that moment that you remember it that it was happening to you right there at that particular time. This is how powerful shame can be in our lives. And that is why it is one of Satan's most used tactics to try and rob us from the abundant life that Jesus came to give us in for us to experience in him. We've been talking over the last several weeks about this spiritual battle that we're in and how we have an enemy and how it is that he works in our own lives and how he works in this world to devour us and to cause destruction and to like I said just a second ago to rob us of the abundant life that Jesus came to bring us. And so today as we finish up this series, I want us to look at this tactic that Satan uses of, of shame and how it continues to impact us. And if there's any hope if there's any help for dealing with shame and this tactic that Satan uses in our lives to try to rob us of this life. Last week, we talked about another one of Satan's tactics to rob us of this abundant life and and that's the tactic of temptation him trying to lure us to do something that promises satisfaction that promises pleasure that promises fulfillment, right? But But watch this, Satan work so hard sometimes and for for so long to to get us to take the bait for what it is that's gonna promise the satisfaction and the pleasure and the fulfillment. And as soon as we give in and take the bait, Satan immediately begins to accuse us of what it is that we just did. He promises satisfaction and joy and fulfillment. And as soon as we take the bank to get the pleasure and the satisfaction, he goes, know what you did was wrong. And what you did was so wrong. There's something wrong with you.
Shame, the tactics that we begin to feel by him to condemn us for what it is that he works so hard to get us to do, that we're supposed to provide pleasure and joy in life and fulfillment.
Just what he does, it's a tactic that he's been using, not just in our lives today, but for a long time. Ever since the beginning of time, pretty much I asked you to turn to Genesis three a little bit earlier. We've looked at this passage a few times we we've looked at how Satan tempted Eve you use the tactic of temptation and how he lied and deceived Eve to
eat of the fruit and this promise of what it was going to bring her in Adam, but I want you to see what happens after she and Adam took the bait will pick up and start in verses six of Chapter Three
says when the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom. She took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves that may not seem like it's that big of a deal. Certainly may not seem like it's that big of a deal in 2022 in the world that we live in and the wearing of clothes and all of those kinds of things. But this was a big deal. To help us see how big of a deal it really was. If you go back one chapter, just a few verses to the very end of chapter two. This is a
After God had created the world and everything and then he had created Adam, he had finished creating Eve and been talking about how they come together and leave their father and mother mother to join in this holy union together he says this in verse 25, of chapter two Adam and Eve, are obscures Adam and his wife Eve, were both naked, and were told this, and they felt no shame.
There was no shame, there is an openness, there was an intimacy in their relationship with each other and openness and an intimacy in their relationship with God, they were fully exposed, and they felt no shame. But as soon as Satan took them, or the students, they take the took the bait from the temptation, the lure that Satan was using in their particular situation, then he began to use this tactic of shame, right he he began to make them feel the need to cover themselves, which is really what he does to all of us, we we do something wrong. And all of a sudden, we feel like the need to cover up what it is that we just did
need to put on a mask, you need to pretend that you didn't do it. You can't let people see this about you. Because if they did, they would know the real you and they would, they would reject the real you. So you need to cover it up. You need to wear a mask, you can't let them see that you did this. Again, what Satan does is he he moves us from the guilt or the conscious that we have to show us that, hey, what we just did was wrong or what was just done to us was wrong. And from that place of it being wrong to again, there's something wrong with you.
That's the difference between guilt and shame. Guilt says you've done something wrong. Shame says no, no, no, there's something wrong with you. Deep down this is defining you in this moment. So you better cover yourself up. You better wear a mask, you better pretend that this never happened.
But but watch what else happens as we go further into it in verse eight. It says, Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And they hid from the Lord, the Lord God among the trees of the garden, but the Lord called to the man, where are you? Verse 10, he answered, I hurt you in the garden. So I was afraid because I was naked. So I hid Adams, shame caused him not just to feel the need to cover up but to run and hide. Satan says the way to escape the feeling of shame, the way to escape the humiliation that you're feeling in this moment is to run, run, get as far as you can, away from God get as far as you can away from the One who created you, the one whose life you're to draw from, he doesn't want them. He doesn't want us to experience the life that we were created to experience from God in the first place. So he introduces this shame, the need to cover up the need to wear a mask and to run and hide from him. And to run and hide from other people. You've got to isolate yourself because if you do, he's trying to convince us that that will solve the problem. If you run from God and you get away from him and you get away from people, you won't feel the shame any more.
But it's a lie. It's just another one of his tricks to get us away from those things, to be able to
continue the shame cycle to get us further and further and deeper into the shame. We've used this verse a couple of times before but Second Peter, five eight, Peter says to be alert and of sober mind your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. I don't I don't think it's any coincidence that Peter uses a lion here that compares the devil to ally and prowling around looking to devour I mean, we've all seen the videos of the lions prowling around and creeping up on the the wheel the beasts right and any never the lion never pounces on the herd. It never pounces on the entire herd, he waits he prowls around and waits until one of them gets a little bit away from the herd. Once they've isolated themselves from them. That's when the lion pounces. That's when the lion begins to devouring calls destruction and, and Satan is doing the same thing through his tactic of shame. He's saying isolation is the cure to the problem in order to get us away from the herd.
ered in order to get us away from that, so that he can pounce on us in that moment, and when he pounces on us and gets us isolated from that, he's just going to keep the lies coming, he's going to keep the feelings and thoughts of shame and the embarrassment coming, he's going to tempt us to get into sin and try to cover up the shame and medicate those feelings in illegitimate ways. And it just keeps us in this endless cycle of shame. Satan says this is the way out. But it's a trick to just get you further and further and further into the shame and the cycle of shame.
It's a powerful tactic that he uses to rob us of the life that Jesus created us to have in him.
But there is a way out.
There is a way out. And it really boils down to the same thing that we've been talking about, ever since week one in this series, that this is primarily a battle of truth and lies. Satan is a liar and a deceiver. And Jesus says, when we know the truth, the truth will set us free. And so through introducing the shame, Satan is lying to us. He's lying to us in these ways that what it is that you've done, or what's happened to you, number one, is that you are condemned, you're condemned because of what it is that you've just done. Number two, because of what you've done, or what's been done to you, you aren't loved anymore, you aren't worthy of being loved any more. Line Number three is that what it is that you've done, or what it is that's happened to you, defines you now, in this moment, there's something wrong inherently with you. And Lie Number four is, as we just said a second ago, the solution The way out is to hide from God and to hide from other people, but these are the lies. So let me reveal to you and or remind you of some of God's truths around these areas. Perhaps the most incredible and freeing verse in all of the Bible, and I know that Curt kitchens would agree with me about this even has t shirts to prove it and a Sunday school classes hold name around it there is Romans chapter eight verse should warm a shirt today. You gave me a shirt not even wear it today. Hang it man total fail. But But again, Romans eight one says There is therefore now no condemnation for those who were in Christ Jesus.
Apparently, only one of you heard the verse that I just read there. Let me read it again. In case you missed it. At Romans eight one, Paul says there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
No, no condemnation. If you've put your faith and trust in Jesus, and you're in a spiritual union with Him, you don't ever, ever, ever have to worry about condemnation, no matter what it is that you've done, no matter what happens to you, no matter what you do in the future, or what happens to you in the future. There is no condemnation that's coming from that, or in the future. It's not period done deal. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, this is the truth. Satan wants you to fall for the lie that you're condemned. The truth is, in Christ, there is no condemnation. That's primarily because of what he's accomplished. Look at Second Corinthians 521, God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the very righteousness of God, you are so right with God now in a union with Christ, that there's no condemnation that is coming. He's already taken care of all of the sin and the things that we would be condemned for. So that is line number one through shame tempting us to believe that we are condemned and we have to know the truth and renew our minds to the truth and walk by faith that it is true that we are not condemned for in Christ. The second thing that we said is Satan lies to us through our shame to convince us that we're not love that we're no longer worthy of His love. Let me tell you what the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews 12 Two
he says for the joy set before him referring to Jesus for the joy set before Jesus, He endured the cross scorning its shame in sat down at the right hand of God, I mean, talk about shame, a shameful experience. I mean, the cross there was nothing in the in this
particular culture or PAC, if it was probably introduced today, that would be more humiliating, more degrading, more shameful than dying on a cross naked in front of other people fully exposed, especially if you're the Son of God, if you're God Himself, right. But what the author of Hebrews tells us is that Jesus endured it, that he went through all of the suffering, all of the humiliation, all of the shame for the joy set before him, what was the joy set before him?
You,
you were the joy set before him, he looked through the future. And he said you the opportunity to be with you and have your sins forgiven, and have you adopted into his family to be able to experience the love that He has for you in this intimate relationship that you were always created to have. And he says, I'm looking into the future, and I see all of the sins that you will ever commit in the future. And it brings me so much joy, to think about being with you, and having you in my family that one day, I will endure what I'm going through right now. So that that can happen one day. Do you see it?
Do you see how much you are loved?
You are so loved that he endured the cross.
So that Jesus could experience the joy.
He experienced His joy in being with you, his creation, his son or daughter, you can't be more love. Satan wants you to fall for the lie that what it is that you've done, or what's been done to you makes you unlovable that you aren't loved anymore. Know the truth, renew your mind to the truth, walk by faith that you are loved. Because your behavior does not define who you are. That's line number three, really, I mean, as as Satan wants you to believe that you're defined by what it is that you've done, or what's been done to you. But behavior doesn't define you. God is the one who defines you. When I was in youth ministry, before becoming a youth pastor, we used to play games all the time to help just build relationships with each other and have some fun together. And one of the games that we used to play was a game where they would get an index card with the name of an animal written on it, and no one else could see what animal they had written on it. And when we said Go, they had to begin to walk around in imitate to the best of their ability, whatever animal they had on their card. And it was always really surprising how many of them could look a whole lot like the animal that they had written on that card. I mean, some of them could really move like this animal move, some of them could really make noises in the same way that this animal could make noises. If you weren't looking, you might think that they were the real kind of thing. But we weren't looking, we were watching and there wasn't one person in that room who was convinced, no matter how good they were imitating the behavior of all of these different animals that was convinced that they were all of a sudden, that animal
they knew that they were still a human being whose behavior was acting like something else, that they really weren't in that moment. And that is the same thing that is true about you and I when we step into sin, or any kind of behavior, it does not define you. God defines you. Your new birth defines you. Romans chapter six, verses six and seven, Paul says For we know, we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body rule by sin might be done away with and we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. You were a senator, you had a sin nature. But now the old Jew has died. There's a new you. And you're no longer defined by who you once were. You're no longer defined by your behavior. What it is that you you're defined by who you are in Christ and in Christ, you're holy in Christ, you're righteous in Christ, you are God's Son, or you are his daughter in no behavior changes that nine, Paul's writing to all these New Testament churches and their behavior, and a lot of them needed to be cleaned up. Yet he addressed them as saints. He didn't use the language and say, Hey, you used to be saints in Christ, but now your behaviors redefined you. So I'm not going to use that term for you.
Now, but when you get your act together all go back to defining you by your sainthood. He just says, no, no, if you're in Christ, no matter what your behavior has been doing in this moment, you're a saint. So why don't you start to live who you are, instead of pretending you're someone else, or acting like you're someone else. So that's the lie. Satan wants you to use shame to convince you that you didn't just do something wrong, that there's something wrong with you. You're defined by it. The truth is that in Christ, even after that sinful behavior, that Satan is making you feel shame, for, nothing has changed, you're still holy, you're still righteous, you're still God's child, nothing, nothing. Nothing happens in that moment with your behavior to your union with Christ. Nothing. There's no separation between you and God. It's all been paid for. It's all been done.
This is the truth. The last thing is Satan wants us to believe through the shame, like we said earlier that you have to hide the right response to this is hide from God, hide from other people, don't let it sit and let them see what's going on in the real world or with your own life. But this again, is a lie. We're told that when Jesus died on the cross, that the curtain of the temple that separated the Holy of Holies, from the other parts of the temple, was torn into it. In other words, there, there used to be a need to hide, there was a curtain, you were supposed to hide behind the curtain, there was a sin barrier, you better hide, right? Your there's a holy God before you and your your imperfection and your sin. And so you better do your best to hide behind the bear, you're there. But we're told that when Jesus died, the curtain was torn in to signifying that we have direct and full access to God, because that barrier has been dealt with Hebrews chapter 10, verses 19, through 22 speaks to this, says, Therefore brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place, by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, open to us how through the curtain through the curtain that was torn, that is his body. And since we have a great high priest, referring to Jesus over the house of God, what what do we do? What's our response? Let us draw near to God, with a sincere heart, and with the full assurance that faith brings, in other words, there's no need to run and hide. There's no need to run and hide. When Satan fills us with shame, and embarrassment and condemnation. And feeling like this is the best course of action. Hebrew says we can still approach God with full assurance, that we're still okay with him, that we're still right with him, that he still loves us that we're still able to go admitted, yeah, God did it. It did that it wasn't
the best thing that I could have stepped into I fell for the bait fell for the loo or that this was going to give me something I didn't have in you.
But thank you, thank you that there's nothing that separates me between
nothing that separates me between you.
And can I still have full assurance to be able to say that we're okay, we can talk about this and bring it out of the open that I don't have to hide.
Two verses after this author says the full assurance that faith brings to draw nearer to God and verse 24, he says, and let us also consider how may we may we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing but encouraging one another. And all the more as you see the day approaching. In other words, not only do you have to run not have to run and hide from God, you don't have to run and hide from other people. With with with the curtain coming down, and the new creation in him taking care of all of these things we continue to gather together, when Satan fills you with the shame for something that you've done or something that's happened to you. You don't have to run from your church family.
You don't have to cover up, you don't have to put a mask on, you don't have to pretend that everything is okay. You can even bring it out into the light and let other people see what's gone on. Because it doesn't define you.
It's not going to disrupt the union that you have with the Lord or with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Because we all have our stuff too. And so we can all be brought out into the open we can all live in real, authentic and vulnerable relationships.
And you mentioned one of our core values is was unity. Well, another one is authenticity. That because we're not defined by our sin and we're defined by Jesus in the life of Christ that we have. We can enter into the church through real authentic, transparent and vulnerable relationships and don't have to pretend that everything's okay and we're a man
Ask when we come to church,
it ought to be the safest place in the world, for us to talk about what shame or what Satan is trying to shame us about in our lives. think in a lot of ways when you expose that it diminishes the power that Satan's holding you over in the head, saying, you don't have this over me anymore. I'm going to share it before everyone. Right?
Satan, so mad right?
Now boils down to a battle between truth and lies. When we understand the truth, when we walk by faith, that their true Satan's tactic of shame and isolation, it to rob us of the joy that Jesus came to bring us will not work on us. Not if we know them, and we walk by faith that they're true, right. And so the more and more we understand the truth about who Jesus is, and who we become in him in this inseparable union with Him, the more we're able to walk in victory, we remember we said last week, we're not fighting for victory, we're fighting from a place of victory. So this is another way we walk in that victory when he's trying to bring the shame to us in these moments.
I came across
another pastor and author who have read some things and watch some things for the last several years, honestly, his name is John Lynch, and and he wrote something that I came across called the great New Testament gamble. And it's written from this perspective of, of God kind of asking the questions, what if I reveal these particular truths to my people, about my grace, and who it is that they will become when Jesus died on the cross and they receive what it is that he did for them by faith? What if I, what if I go to that great lengths to reveal all of these truths? And in this, this full grace, that it almost seems hyperbolic? Right? That almost seems like you could use the term hyper grace with that. It's just there's no way it's going to lead to all these other things. And I just, I read it. And if I go, What a great way, I think, to end out our series, to read to you what he wrote here to think about this gamble that it felt like maybe God was going to take to reveal all of these particular truths to us, and what it would be like on the other side of those things,
to offer this much grace to us.
So let me just read what it is that he says.
He says, What if I tell them who they are? What if I take away the element of fear and condemnation, judgment or rejection? What if I tell them I love them? That I will always love them? That I can't love them more than I love them right now. That the love that I love them right now, no matter what they've done, as much as I love my only sign. There's there's nothing they can do to make my love go away. What if I told them that there are no lists? What if I told them that they were righteous with my righteousness? Like right now, this very moment? What if I told them that they could stop beating themselves up that they could stop being so formal? They could stop being so stiff, and jumpy around me? What if I told them that I was absolutely crazy about them? What if I told them that even if they ran to the ends of the earth, and did the most unthinkable, horrible things killed me and were unfaithful in marriage, that when they came back, I'd received them with tears and throw a party?
What if I told them that I don't keep a log of past offenses?
I don't keep a log of how little they pray of how often they've let me down. How many promises that they didn't keep? What if I told them, they don't have to be owned by men's religious editions or traditions? What if I told them that if I am their Savior, they're going to heaven no matter what, that it is a done deal? What if I told them that they had a new nature that they were saints not saved sinners, who should now buck up and be better if they were any kind of Christians after all he's done for you?
What if I told them that I actually live in them now that I've put my love power in nature inside of them at their disposal? What if I told them they didn't have to put on a mask, then it was okay to be who they are at this moment with all their junk and not pretend about how close we are, how much they pray or don't how much Bible they've read or don't what if they knew they don't have to look over their shoulder for fear that if things get too good that the other shoe is going
Need to drop on them? What if they knew I will never, ever use the word punish in relation to them? What if they knew when they mess up? I never, ever get back at them? What if they were convinced that bad circumstances aren't my way of evening the score for taking advantage of me?
What if they knew the basis of our friendship? Wasn't how little they sin? But how much they let me love them?
What if they had permission to stop trying to impress me in any way? What if I told them they couldn't hurt my heart? But I'd never they could hurt my heart, but I'd never tried to hurt theirs.
What if I told him there was no secret agenda? That there was no trapdoor?
And what if I told them that it wasn't about their self effort, but about allowing me to live my life in and through them?
These are all the truths that he reveals to us through His Word. They're all there.
They're all there. Every one of these things are true. It's what he's done. It's how he feels.
What? What would it look like?
If if we as colonial hills, actually believed that was true?
What it really let me think about that, seriously, what if we united together, we linked arms as colonial hills, church, brothers and sisters in Christ and really believed that what we just read was really true. What if we walked by faith, that those things were actually true in our lives, I tell you what it would look like it would look like we're walking in victory. It would look like the temptation and the shame, the isolation and all the lies that he's trying to rob us from that they don't work here, because we're not fighting for victory. But from a place of victory. I think it would look like real abundant life, that it will look like joy and happiness. And even with bad situations or circumstances that other people were able to come around and find life and joy and meaning and purpose and satisfaction and fulfillment, even in those and then a lost and dying world would look at all of us walking in these truths and by faith that these things are true in our lives and be drawn to them. They will be drawn to a Jesus who's providing that life through us and wanted desperately in their lives for themselves. And I'm just praying and hoping that that will be true.
That this is who we are. We will believe that this is true. That will join and unite together and walk by faith that this is true as Satan comes at us to lie, to deceive, to tempt,
to accuse and shame
will recognize the lies
will replace it with God's truths. Even if we don't feel like it in that moment that it's true. In walk by faith that it's true Together. Together.
we're in it together.
Let's pray