In this engaging sermon, uncover the significance of mental honesty and simplicity in Christ as defenses against Satan’s treacherous subtilties. Sharon breaks down the implications of being beguiled by crafty whispers and offers insights on maintaining a hedge of spiritual protection. This episode is a clarion call to recognize and dismantle the whispers that threaten to corrupt your faith and integrity.
Greetings, friends and new listeners, and welcome to The Sound of Faith. I’m Sharon Knotts, thanking you for joining us today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Today’s message is a true eye-opener and ear-arrester, the whisperer. In Genesis and Revelation, Satan is called a serpent. The Hebrew word is nakash, and its verb form means to whisper like the hiss of a snake. From the moment he beguiled Eve in the garden, Satan has been whispering his cunning lies and accusations against God and his true people because he is the whisperer. You know, we’re in a season, especially this month of October. It’s like a season of a dichotomy in that on one hand, it’s the high holy days of the Jewish people. They’re in their holiest season of all during the time they had Rosh Hashanah was just last week. And then now they’re in the 10 days of all. and these 10 days are between rosh hashanah and yom kippur coming up during these 10 days they search their hearts and they really um you know go before god to see if there’s something that’s occurred in the last year that they need to get taken care of they need to ask god for forgiveness or go to people And then they have Yom Kippur, when we know is when the Day of Atonement, when the high priest offers up, where they don’t do that anymore because they don’t have a temple, they don’t have a priest. And so it’s because they missed the fact that Jesus is their lamb now. But nevertheless… They still have that service. And they’ll be coming up on the Feast of Tabernacles, which is a time of joy and celebration. And that’s the one feast that will continue to be celebrated even in the millennial reign. They will celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. So this is a really holy time for God’s chosen people. But at the same time, it’s a time of increased demonic activity. This month, as we go through and progress through this month, demonic activity will increase. Be a lot more demonic chatter. And Satan, he always tries to conflict with and counteract what God is doing. So it doesn’t make us nervous or anything. It doesn’t make us fearful, but it means we have to be on guard. Amen. On guard. And so if the Lord allows me throughout this month, I will try to be preaching messages to this effect to answer this increased demonic activity. You know, because I thought about it, an issue that had come up in my life, not me personally, but against me, I should say. And when I realized that at least the inception of it was during the same time of year and when the enemy begins his chatter. And we’re going to kind of look at that today. So this morning, we’re going to begin in 2 Corinthians 11th chapter and reading one verse, 2 Corinthians 11, 3. And Paul writing says, but I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety. So your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. But I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety. So your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. So we’re going to look at five words in this verse that are very important. First, we look at the word serpent. Remember, we’re in the New Testament, so we’re going to look at the Greek idea. It meant a snake. literally a snake but metaphorically it meant someone that is sly cunning malicious a malicious enemy and being more specific it referred to satan so in the greek thought the serpent metaphorically referred to satan and so now this serpent is the same one that started in the garden In Eden, and he beguiled Eve. And the word beguiled means to seduce someone, to deceive them. And he did it with subtlety. And this word is often translated in your King James Bible as craftiness. It means to be very clever, but in a treacherous way. It is possible for at times for it to be used in a good sense. And someone who was subtle means it’s someone who’s very prudent and someone that has good ideas and wisdom. But most of the time you’re going to see it used in the negative sense in your Bible. And it’s talking about being clever, but in a treacherous way with false wisdom. And then the next word we want to look at is corrupted. He has corrupted. And this word means defiled or it can even mean to be destroyed. Destroyed. Something can be defiled but still operational. But if it’s destroyed, then you can’t even use it. So there is a subtle difference. Amen? And then last of all, simplicity. The simplicity that is in Christ. And this refers to mental honesty. To be free from hypocrisy. You know… people you like to say this word they pepper their language and dialogue all the time well to be honest blah blah blah blah blah a lot of times they’re not being honest but they use it to make you think they’re being honest how many know what i’m trying to say here but you see the simplicity in christ means i’m going to be honest with myself okay i’m going to be honest about being honest with myself Because sometimes people say they’re being honest with themselves, but they’re not. Because as soon as they hit that little thing that in their spirit, they back off or gloss over it, move on to something else. That’s not being honest about being honest. It’s when the Holy Spirit convicts you on something and you don’t gloss over it, you face it. you own up to it, and then you say, Lord, forgive me of this and help me going forward. That’s the simplicity that’s in Christ. So we’re talking here about the fact that Paul is concerned that just like Satan was able to beguile and deceive Eve through his subtlety, his clever craftiness, he is concerned that their minds… Their minds could be corrupted, that they could be defiled or even destroyed from the simple honesty that is in Christ. So we know that he’s talking about Satan, the serpent. Let’s turn to Genesis 3 and verse 1. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, which is Eve. Yay. Has God said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden. So now we have the word serpent in the old Testament, which means we want to look at the Hebrew idea. The Hebrew word is Nakash Nakash. And it means simply a snake. That’s the noun form. But when it’s used in its verb form, it means to whisper. Literally, it means to hiss, to hiss like a snake, to hiss like a snake. And so we get the idea of whisper like a snake hisses. This word nakash evolved to refer to those who practice divination, to enchanters and spellcasters and fortune tellers. In fact, five times it’s translated in your King James Version Bible, enchantment. And there is a connection to this word nakash, meaning snake or serpent, to the word whisperer. As this is how those who practiced definition and casting of spells spoke. They spoke in whispers, in secret, in darkness. And so the connection. You see, the snake hisses before it strikes. And if you hear that hiss, it’s a warning. Amen. You’re getting a warning that you need to watch it now because if you get too close, he’s going to strike. He’s going to bite you. Amen. So the snake will hiss. And in Hebrew thought, the snake is a symbol of a deceitful enemy. And again, the Hebrew thought matches that of the Greek thought, specifically Satan, or they would say Ha-Satan. Because we could actually give Satan the title, amongst many others that he has, we could call him the whisperer. The whisperer. Amen? You know, this is just popping in my mind, but we’ve heard about the dog whisperer and the horse whisperer, but that’s all in a good sense. They can take animals that are hard to tame and hard to control. And there can be a certain person that just seems to have this gift and they can just talk to that dog and that dog will just immediately become obedient. And the same way with a horse who’s wild and nobody can ride on him and they can’t tame him. But the horse whisperer has a way. Can come up to that horse and just stroke its face and whisper something to it. And that horse will just become docile. So that’s in a good sense. But when we speak of Satan and we call him the whisperer. He may come up and try to stroke your face and whisper in your ear. But he’s coming to deceive you. He’s coming to beguile. He’s coming to corrupt. Amen? And we have to be on guard and not fall for it. He works in a subtle, crafty way, just like a snake hiding in the grass. And how many know that some very poisonous snakes that can be deadly often have these very detailed words. colorations on them they may have diamond shapes on them or certain stripes on them because it’s camouflage for them to blend in with everything but if you see some of these snakes out in the open like the copperhead that can be deadly they have a certain stripe pattern with a color going through it and you know that this is a deadly snake I mean, it’s not only going to bite you, but you’re going to get very sick and maybe even die. Amen. And that’s how Satan is. And he always begins with a whisper to the mind. Isn’t that what Paul said? Your mind. The mind is the place where we’ve got to win the battle over thoughts that come from Satan. Amen. It’s the mind where he attacks. It’s the battlefield of the mind that we must get the victory over because if we don’t, then he can defile our mind with thoughts of fear and other negative thoughts. Amen. And then they can just invade our whole person. So Satan begins with a whisper in one’s mind. It may be an accusatory thought or statement like we just read here in Genesis 3.1. He said in an accusatory way, “‘Yay, has God said?’ As God said, you may not eat of every tree in the garden. And so the inference is, make God look harsh. Make God look stingy. Make God look like he doesn’t really care about you. Like he’s withholding something good from you when he tells you not to do this or not to do that. Make him look like a meanie. Amen. And that’s out there today. That’s what’s spreading. If you don’t only say that God is love, exclusively God is love, and that’s all you say, you can’t say that God is a God of justice. God is a God of truth. God is a God of judgment. Because then all of the sudden, has God said that? What kind of God is that? Amen? So he comes with that thought. And he usually doesn’t come real bold and out loud right away because you’re going to cast him down. But he comes with that whisper to your mind, a suggestion, a notion. And if you don’t cast it down, he will speak a little louder and a little bolder and continue to lie to you. It could be that whisper of lust, that temptation. And he may whisper to you, you’re not doing anything wrong. There’s nothing wrong with what you’re doing. Amen. But he’s going to escalate it. It’s going to go forward. If you don’t cast it down, he’s going to then come with the next step. Amen. It could be that whisper of anger. Look what they did to you. Look what they said about you. Amen. It’s very hard to get rid of that anger in those initial stages when someone has done something terrible to you unjustly, lied about you unjustly. The anger is so powerful. It’s palpable. And then Satan tries to come. You know, he is an opportunist. He tries to come and build on that. Amen. You’ve got to get rid of those whispers when they first come. And they can come in many ways depending on your situation or what you’re going through. And there’s so many things out there in the world that’s bombarding us all the time. We cannot let our minds dwell on them or Satan, the opportunist, will come in and begin to whisper. Whisper things. You know, something can happen, one person against another person. And it can be for some reason that is very specific. But Satan will come and say, oh, they don’t like you because you’re white. Oh, they don’t like you because you’re black. Uh-huh. I ain’t talking about just in the world. Right. Now, see, I’m talking about people in the church because Paul was writing to Corinth. He was writing to a church. Those whispers of racism. And don’t tell me the devil doesn’t bring them to you. I don’t believe it. Because when he brings them to me, I know it’s the devil. You know, they don’t like you because you’re a woman. They don’t like you because you’re a white woman. They don’t like you because you’re an old white woman. Yeah, I’ve heard them whispers. Amen. And, you know, at first I get really put off by it. I’m like, I know they don’t like me. You know, they probably wish this and wish that. But after a while, I have to think to myself, well, wait a minute. I didn’t volunteer to do this. God put me here. He enabled me. He endowed me. He anointed me. And I’m going to do it. And I’m going to speak the truth. And people that think those things, they got something in their heart and the devil’s whispering and they’re listening to him. You need to shut the devil down. Whenever he brings those racist thoughts to you. The world is so permeated with those thoughts. Every news thing that happens has got a slant to it. And they always bring racism into everything. It’s the devil’s work. We’re not surprised. It’s what he does. And he found out it works good. We can’t let the devil whisper that to our minds. Amen. It was whispers of jealousy and envy. Amen. Oh, that is a powerful spirit, a powerful spirit. When someone comes under attack by those spirits, it’s really strong and it can cause them to imagine all kinds of things that aren’t even true. sometimes they can imagine things against their own mate and the devil’s convinced them your mate is unfaithful and it is not a bread of truth in it but he can take little innocent actions and say see see there uh-huh and you think yeah that that that’s right they are doing that uh-huh i tell you the devil what he does he’s good at but we gotta be wiser This scripture just popped in my head. I don’t even have it in my notes. Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. In other words, we need to have some Christian subtlety. We need to know how to counteract the devil at his own game. But we are wise as serpents. We’re clever in a godly, righteous way. But we’re harmless as doves. Because we’ve got the right attitude. We’ve got the Holy Spirit. Amen. He whispers fear. I think everyone is more powerful than the other. Now that I’m going along here, fear is so powerful. It can cripple people. It can cripple people till they can’t even hardly function. It can cripple them till they cannot enjoy the blessings God has in their lives. They are so afraid of everything. And I’m not surprised because it was the first negative emotion that mankind ever felt. When Adam and Eve sinned, you know, the story goes on to tell us. And then they went and hid. And God came walking in the day and he said, where are you, Adam? And he said, well, I hid because I was afraid. I tell you, saints, I don’t know how many times through the years that people have come to me and their prayer request is a spirit of fear. And I can identify with it. I understand it because I was under it. I came under it very strongly. And I’ve told those testimonies before how I got delivered, so I won’t do it today. But I understand how strong a spirit of fear is. I had it from a child. As a little child, I had it. And then as I grew up, I seemed to overcome it. And I didn’t have it for many, many, many years. and then it hit me again hard when i had the back issue so i understand the fear the things that the devil says to you sometimes he’ll tell you you’re going to die you’re going to die and it can become so real to you that you start having symptoms in your body you never even had before i know that that is true i know it So slander, whispers of slander. And this is blasphemy. And, you know, people always think that blasphemy can only be done against God. They always connect blasphemy against God. But you read the New Testament. You read Paul. He says you can blaspheme against other people. And a lot of times they are outright lies. And the thing about it is he is so clever and crafty, he has the ability to make it sound true. To make it seem so plausible, to make it seem true. We looked at Greek, so now we see the Hebrew word for subtle. It means to be shrewd, crafty, cunning, and sly. Again, the word here in the Hebrew, the idea is that it’s hard to distinguish between two things. The difference is so subtle that it’s hard to differentiate between the two of them. The distinction between them is not obvious immediately. A subtle difference. And, you know, it happens a lot of times in a good way. You know, you’re going to paint your bedroom a new color. Okay, we’re going to make it a blue bedroom now. And so now you have bought your bedding, and so now you’ve got to go to the store and get paint, and you want to make sure that it blends. So you’re pretty sure you know what color you want, or vice versa. You’ve already painted the room. Now you’re going to go look for bedding, whichever way. And you go into the paint store and you think, okay, we’re going to get a light blue. There are 4,235,000 swatches of light blue. And you’re like, this is just blue. Put it next to your bedding and they clash. One after another. One after another. You know, you think that it is the same color. But when you get them next to each other, there’s a subtle difference. Amen. It’s that subtle difference. See, sometimes, saints, it’s not a matter of discerning between right and wrong. That’s not subtle. It’s discerning between right and almost right. Amen. That’s where the devil gets in and whispers in your ear. Amen. He uses words of reasoning to camouflage his true intent. Amen. What a bondage-breaking word of the Lord, the whisperer. One of Satan’s most dangerous and effective tactics is not just to lie against God, but to subtly whisper his accusations like the hiss of a deadly serpent. He is called the serpent and the accuser of the brethren. He could also be called the whisperer. Paul wrote to the church of Corinth, I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, So your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. There are five significant Greek words in this verse that tell the story of Satan, the whisperer, and reveal how he whispers thoughts to the mind that accuse God and godly members of the body of Christ. If they are not taken captive when just a thought, a notion or suggestion, they can become mental strongholds of deception. Whisperers can tear up a church. with jealousy, slander, suspicion, and lies, maligning leadership and wounding members. Learn how to discern the whispers of the enemy and take captive every thought. Make sure not to allow the hedge of protection around your life to be broken down because Proverbs says, where the hedge is broken, the serpent bites. Order The Whisperer on CD for a love gift of $10 or more for the radio ministry. Request SK-208. Mail to Sound of Faith, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Order online at soundoffaith.org where MP3s are available. To order by mail, send your minimum love gift of $10 to P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Request SK208. Till next time, this is Sharon Knott saying, Maranatha.
