Satan's Deadly Trap | Part 2
In Part 2, Sam Wood reveals how offense quietly hardens us, poisons our relationships, and detours us from God’s purposes, while pointing to the grace-filled path that keeps us free. If Part 1 exposed the temptation, this episode exposes the progression—and offers biblical wisdom to break it before it breaks you.
Checkout these other Family Fortress Ministries Podcasts:
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Transcript
Welcome to the Fortifying youg Family podcast.
Speaker A:It can be daunting to navigate through an anti marriage and family culture.
Speaker A:Our teacher will expound biblical principles to help fortify our families and keep these sacred institutions strong.
Speaker A:And now, here's this week's teaching from Sam Wood.
Speaker B:What happens if we don't deal correctly with offense?
Speaker B:Turn with me to another passage we see really all through the word of God.
Speaker B:This is dealt with.
Speaker B:We start looking at it and understanding it.
Speaker B:Matthew chapter 24 and verse 10.
Speaker B:The disciples have come to Jesus and they're asking him about the last days and the signs of the times.
Speaker B:And Jesus says this in verse 10 of Matthew chapter 24, he says, and then or in the last days shall many be offended.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:You know, I believe we live in those last days.
Speaker B:And I've never been in a time in my life where I've seen so many Christians that are offended, Christians that are offended each other, husbands and wives offended, brothers and sisters offended at each other.
Speaker B:Jesus says, and then shall many be offended.
Speaker B:Notice the progression here.
Speaker B:Shall betray one another and shall hate one another.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:You see the progression.
Speaker B:Offense leads to betrayal and betrayal leads to hate.
Speaker B:The offended person is interested in self preservation, so they build walls of protection, as I described a while ago, around themselves.
Speaker B:The betrayed person seeks his or her own protection at the expense of someone else.
Speaker B:Usually it's at the expense of someone is close to them.
Speaker B:Only repentance and acknowledging of the truth of offense and repentance can stop this progression.
Speaker B:If it doesn't stop at betrayal, it can move to hatred.
Speaker B:And hatred is to the point where someone is willing to actually kill someone else.
Speaker B:And Jesus even says on the Sermon on the Mount, he says, if you hate your brother is the same as what it's like murder.
Speaker B:This is again very serious business with God.
Speaker B:I want to give you an example of this in Scripture real quickly here tonight.
Speaker B:Turn with me to a very familiar example in Genesis chapter 37 and look with me at verse three.
Speaker B:In Genesis chapter 37, we see a brother offended by another brother.
Speaker B:Very familiar story, but look at it in light of what I'm sharing with you here tonight.
Speaker B:Genesis chapter 37 and verse 3, it says, Now Israel loved Joseph more than all of his children because he was the son of his old age and he made him a coat of many colors.
Speaker B:Let's look at the first phrase there in verse three.
Speaker B:Now, Israel loved Joseph more than all of his children.
Speaker B:Is there a problem in this family?
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:You've got a father who is showing favoritism to one of his children, loving one child more than another child.
Speaker B:And so we see favoritism.
Speaker B:We see a potential problem automatically, quickly, in this family.
Speaker B:Notice verse 4.
Speaker B:And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him.
Speaker B:Now their offense had moved all the way to hatred at this point, they hated him.
Speaker B:Notice what it says at the end of verse 4.
Speaker B:And could not speak peaceably unto him.
Speaker B:I want to ask you something.
Speaker B:Be honest with yourself here tonight.
Speaker B:Has there ever been somebody in your life that you could not speak peaceably to?
Speaker B:Has it ever been somebody who's done something to you that you would try to avoid that person, Stay away from that person, because you cannot speak peaceably to that person.
Speaker B:They had offended you.
Speaker B:They have hurt you in some way.
Speaker B:If there is someone like that in your life tonight or there happens to be someone in the future that is like that, a little red flag ought to go up in your heart that says, listen, you need to get this right, because you are offended at that person.
Speaker B:And I know you're offended that person because you can't speak peaceably to them.
Speaker B:Good.
Speaker B:Little tidbit there, even in verse 4.
Speaker B:Look at verse 5.
Speaker B:In Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brethren, and they hated him yet the more.
Speaker B:And he said unto them, here, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed for, behold, you were binding sheaves in the field.
Speaker B:And lo, many sheaf arose and also stood upright.
Speaker B:And behold, your sheave stood around about and made obeisance to my sheaf.
Speaker B:And noticed his brother's reaction to his dream.
Speaker B:And his brethren said in verse 8, said to him, shalt thou indeed reign over us, or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us?
Speaker B:And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words.
Speaker B:Listen, it's kind of like my four sons.
Speaker B:My youngest son, Philip, has a dream at night, and he wakes up the next day and he tells his brothers, josh, Daniel, Adam, listen, I had the most wonderful dream last night.
Speaker B:And I dreamed that all of y' all were bowing down to me.
Speaker B:What did his brother say?
Speaker B:You ate too much pizza last night.
Speaker B:Are you crazy?
Speaker B:You think we're gonna bow down to you?
Speaker B:Who in the world do you think you are?
Speaker B:I want to ask you a question tonight.
Speaker B:Who gave Joseph the dream?
Speaker B:Did he make it up?
Speaker B:God gave him that dream.
Speaker B:He was just sharing what God had given him in this dream.
Speaker B:But because he shared it with his brothers, they were further offended and.
Speaker B:And hated him.
Speaker B:It says even more.
Speaker B:Wow, look at verse nine, he dreamed yet another dream and told it to his brethren and said, behold, I have dreamed a dream more.
Speaker B:And behold, the sun and moon and 11 stars made obeisance to me.
Speaker B:And he told it to his father and his brethren.
Speaker B:And his father rebuked him and said unto him, what is this dream that thou hast dreamed?
Speaker B:Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come and bow down ourselves to thee, to the earth?
Speaker B:And notice in verse 11 it says, and his brethren envied him.
Speaker B:But his father observed the saying.
Speaker B:His father began to think about it and try.
Speaker B:I believe his father was trying to think, what is God doing through this?
Speaker B:But his brothers were offended by it and they envied him.
Speaker B:How would they respond to this?
Speaker B:We know the story.
Speaker B:Look at verse 18, says.
Speaker B:And when they saw him or Joseph afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him.
Speaker B:To do what?
Speaker B:Kill him.
Speaker B:To slay him.
Speaker B:They wanted to kill him.
Speaker B:They were so offended, they were ready to kill their own flesh and blood, their own brother.
Speaker B:And they said one to another, behold, this dreamer cometh.
Speaker B:Come now therefore, and let us slay him and cast into some pit.
Speaker B:And we will say some evil beast hath devoured him.
Speaker B:And we shall see what becometh of his dreams.
Speaker B:Now listen, you know the story.
Speaker B:He was thrown in a pit.
Speaker B:He was left for dead.
Speaker B:And we know that the.
Speaker B:We know they came by and he was taken out of that pit.
Speaker B:He was sold into slavery in Egypt.
Speaker B:He went into Potiphar's house.
Speaker B:Potiphar's wife accused him falsely because he feared God.
Speaker B:And he wanted to make sure that he was a good testimony.
Speaker B:He was over all of Potiphar's house and Potiphar's wife came after him.
Speaker B:He did what every man should do in that situation.
Speaker B:He ran.
Speaker B:But he got accused falsely.
Speaker B:He was put in a dungeon.
Speaker B:And in that dungeon he interpreted some dreams.
Speaker B:He was promised he would be remembered.
Speaker B:He wasn't remembered.
Speaker B:He was again forgotten.
Speaker B:Now I just say all that to say this.
Speaker B:Would it have been easy for Joseph to be offended through all this?
Speaker B:Offended at his brothers, offended at Potiphar, offended at the baker, offended at even God.
Speaker B:God, why did you let this happen to me?
Speaker B:God, I've tried to honor you in everything I've done.
Speaker B:God, you're the one who gave me the dreams.
Speaker B:It would have been so easy for Joseph to be offended.
Speaker B:But if Joseph had been offended, he would have taken.
Speaker B:Been taken out of the will of God.
Speaker B:In the situation God had placed him in and he would have been taken captive by the devil to do the devil's bidding or to do the devil's will.
Speaker B:But what happened in this story, if you turn to Genesis 50 and verse 20, this is what happens.
Speaker B:His brothers are standing before him.
Speaker B:It's a very tense moment.
Speaker B:And he says, but as for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Speaker B:He said, you meant evil against me, but God used your evil for good to bring and save much people alive.
Speaker B:When I read that, I think, wow, the only person who can take me out of the will of God is me.
Speaker B:I could allow, if I become offended, I allow the devil to take me out the will of God and do his bidding, which many people have.
Speaker B:But God wants to use every one of us.
Speaker B:He's got a different task for every one of us here tonight.
Speaker B:You will reach people and you will minister to people that I never will, your pastor never will.
Speaker B:God has a plan and a purpose for you, a specific purpose to save much people alive, whatever that looks like in our life.
Speaker B:Satan wants to stop that.
Speaker B:He can't take our salvation, but he'll make us as miserable as we possibly can be if we allow him to.
Speaker B:And he will try to get us to be offended so that we cannot accomplish the purposes of God in our life.
Speaker B:Now this brings us to this last question.
Speaker B:How do we stay free from Satan's trap of offense?
Speaker B:So how do we stay free?
Speaker B:I want to start my answer here tonight with a scripture in Psalm 119, 165.
Speaker B:I think it's just such a great, great verse in regard to what I'm sharing here tonight.
Speaker B:It says, great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall.
Speaker B:What?
Speaker B:Nothing shall offend them.
Speaker B:Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.
Speaker B:You know what we need to do?
Speaker B:We need to love the word of God.
Speaker B:We need to love, fall in love with the precepts and promises of the Word of God.
Speaker B:We need to fall in love with God's laws of love in his word.
Speaker B:I want to.
Speaker B:Let me just share a couple of them with you.
Speaker B:For example, here tonight.
Speaker B:There's one in First Corinthians, chapter 6 and verse 7 where Paul says, now therefore, there is utterly a fault among you because you go to law one with another.
Speaker B:The Corinthians were suing each other.
Speaker B:Other brothers and sisters in Christ suing each other.
Speaker B:And what is his answer?
Speaker B:What is Paul's answer?
Speaker B:Here.
Speaker B:Why do you not rather take the wrong why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?
Speaker B:What's the answer to that question?
Speaker B:Why would we not take the wrong why would we not suffer ourselves to be defrauded?
Speaker B:Because of our what?
Speaker B:Pride.
Speaker B:Because of this thing called pride.
Speaker B:Matthew 5:44 by But I say unto you, love your enemies.
Speaker B:Sermon on the Mount.
Speaker B:Love your enemies.
Speaker B:Bless them that curse you.
Speaker B:Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.
Speaker B:Jesus, you want me to love my enemy?
Speaker B:Bless that person who's cursing me.
Speaker B:Do good to that person who hates me.
Speaker B:Pray for that person who's despitefully used me.
Speaker B:Jesus said, yes, that's what I'm asking you to do.
Speaker B:Why would we not do those things?
Speaker B:Because of what?
Speaker B:Pride?
Speaker B:Because of our pride.
Speaker B:Let me give you another one, Philippians two, three Let nothing be done through strife of vainglory, but in lowliness of mind.
Speaker B:Let each do what?
Speaker B:Esteem the others better than who?
Speaker B:Themselves.
Speaker B:I'm to esteem my brother down here better than myself?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:I'm to esteem the sister better than myself?
Speaker B:The Bible said, yes, I am.
Speaker B:Why would I not esteem someone else better than myself?
Speaker B:Because of what?
Speaker B:Pride.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Pride.
Speaker B:Let me give you another Ephesians 4, 31 and 32 let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice.
Speaker B:And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Speaker B:Why would I not be forgiving towards someone else who has hurt me because of my what?
Speaker B:Pride?
Speaker B:CS Lewis closed his comments on pride with these words.
Speaker B:If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think.
Speaker B:Tell him the first step.
Speaker B:The first step is to realize that one is proud.
Speaker B:And a biggish step, too.
Speaker B:At least nothing whatever can be done before it.
Speaker B:If you think you're not proud, you are very proud indeed.
Speaker B:Well, this teaching is not easy, not an easy teaching that Jesus gives us in Luke chapter 17.
Speaker B:Turn back there with me if you would, and I'm going to close out this sermon, this message tonight on a fence with what Jesus tells us to do, we're asked to do three things.
Speaker B:Jesus says, there's three things you need to do when someone trespasses against you.
Speaker B:The first thing to protect yourself from being offended in verse three at the beginning says, take heed to yourselves.
Speaker B:Take heed.
Speaker B:That means to guard yourself against offense.
Speaker B:Guard yourself, guard your heart from being offended Realize this is a tool of Satan.
Speaker B:Realize when you're lifted up in pride that it's easy for you to become offended and taken captive by this entrapment, this ensnarement of Satan.
Speaker B:So the first thing we're to do is take heed.
Speaker B:Secondly, he says in verse 3 this if thy brother trespass against thee, here it is.
Speaker B:Rebuke him.
Speaker B:Rebuke him.
Speaker B:Now, that word rebuke in our language today sounds like a pretty strong word.
Speaker B:It sounds like I should go get in their face and bless them out for what they did.
Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:That's not what that means at all.
Speaker B:The word rebuke there means to go to that person, find that person that's trespassed against you.
Speaker B:Give them a chance to explain their side what happened, you explain your side.
Speaker B:And the whole goal is reconciliation, to reconcile that relationship with them.
Speaker B:Now, let me stop and say this too.
Speaker B:Sometimes, if we're not careful, when somebody trespasses against us, somebody offends us, we won't go to them because we feel like they're the one who hurt us.
Speaker B:They're the one who should come to us.
Speaker B:Now, when we feel that way, why do we feel that way?
Speaker B:Because of their what, pride?
Speaker B:And Jesus says, listen you, to go to the extreme, if that brother has sinned against you, if that brother or sister has hurt you, listen, you go to them and you let them know that you're hurt.
Speaker B:Give them a chance to explain why they did what they did.
Speaker B:Reconcile the relationship.
Speaker B:It's so important that we stay free of this thing called offense.
Speaker B:So he says, first, take heed, guard against it.
Speaker B:Secondly, if it happens somebody does do something offensive towards you, transgresses sins against you, then go to them and try to reconcile the relationship.
Speaker B:The third thing he says, as he says in verse three, and if he repent, do what church, forgive him.
Speaker B:And so there's to be forgiveness.
Speaker B:Take heed, rebuke, forgive them.
Speaker B:Let me just stop here and just say a word about this.
Speaker B:Is forgiveness simply seeking or accepting an apology really?
Speaker B:There's more to forgiveness than just that.
Speaker B:Our forgiveness is to be modeled after God's forgiveness.
Speaker B:And I just read that in verse 32, Ephesians 4, where it said, be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even.
Speaker B:Here's how.
Speaker B:Here's how we're to forgive.
Speaker B:Listen to it.
Speaker B:Even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you, we're to forgive.
Speaker B:Our model for forgiveness is how God hath, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven Us.
Speaker B:And the question we have to ask ourselves, I think is do we understand just how much we have been forgiven?
Speaker B:Listen, folks, here tonight, if you're a Christian, if you're saved here tonight, you have been greatly forgiven.
Speaker B:We all are deserving of hell.
Speaker B:We're all deserving of eternal separation forever in eternity from God.
Speaker B:I like what Martyn Lloyd Jones says.
Speaker B:He says, I say to the glory of God and in utter humility, that whenever I see myself before God and realize even something of what my blessed Lord has done for me, I am ready to forgive anybody of anything.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:He said, if I look in and I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, and I see how much Jesus.
Speaker B:I see how much God has forgiven me, how much he loves me, sending his son to die in my place for my sins.
Speaker B:If I look at that and I meditate and I think on that, I'm ready to forgive anybody of anything.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:When God forgives in Scripture, he says this.
Speaker B:He says, I will remember your sins no more.
Speaker B:He says, I'm going to put them as far as the east is from the west.
Speaker B:I'm going to bury them in the depths of the sea.
Speaker B:So we might say forgiveness, if you want a simple definition.
Speaker B:Forgiveness is a promise to not remember.
Speaker B:A promise to not remember.
Speaker B:God didn't say, I'll forget them.
Speaker B:God is omniscient.
Speaker B:God doesn't forget.
Speaker B:But he does say, I will not remember them anymore.
Speaker B:More, one writer says, to not remember means I will not bring up these matters to you or others in the future.
Speaker B:I will bury them and not exhume the bones to beat you over the head with them.
Speaker B:I'll never use these sins against you again.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:A tough thing to do.
Speaker B:It's a lot more to forgiveness than just a simple apology as we look at Scripture.
Speaker B:Now, as I close this out, Jesus covers three excuses that we might use for not forgiving someone else.
Speaker B:So let's look at them briefly here tonight.
Speaker B:The first one is in verse four.
Speaker B:I don't see any fruit.
Speaker B:He says, and if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to Thee, saying, I repent Thou shalt forgive me Him.
Speaker B:The first excuse we might use for not forgiving is, we don't see any fruit.
Speaker B:Let me give an example of this.
Speaker B:Let's say we have a fellowship tonight after church, and we're all standing around fellowshipping, and maybe a brother comes by, walking across the room and steps on your foot and crunches Your toes.
Speaker B:It hurts pretty bad.
Speaker B:He keeps walking like he never did anything.
Speaker B:And so you go over to him and you go to him and say, did you know you just stepped on my foot?
Speaker B:I'd hurt pretty bad.
Speaker B:And he says, oh, I'm so sorry.
Speaker B:Would you forgive me?
Speaker B:The Bible says we're to do what we should.
Speaker B:Forgive them.
Speaker B:Okay?
Speaker B:You standing over, minding your business, and a few minutes later, that same person walks across the room and steps on your other foot.
Speaker B:Hurts your other foot pretty bad.
Speaker B:He keeps going like he did nothing.
Speaker B:You walk around and say, do you know you just stepped on my foot again?
Speaker B:He says, oh, I'm so sorry.
Speaker B:I didn't mean to step on your foot.
Speaker B:Would you forgive me?
Speaker B:The Bible says we're to do what?
Speaker B:Forgive him.
Speaker B:You know, after the third or fourth time of stepping on your foot, you're going to begin to wonder, did he really mean it?
Speaker B:I don't see any fruit of repentance.
Speaker B:There's no obvious fruit there that he is truly repentant.
Speaker B:But Jesus says if he does it seven times in a day and say, forgive me.
Speaker B:You're to do what?
Speaker B:Forgive them.
Speaker B:That's not easy to do.
Speaker B:We need to understand and be reminded that judgment.
Speaker B:Listen, we're not the righteous judge.
Speaker B:There's only one righteous judge, and that is God himself.
Speaker B:God sees the motivations of the heart, and God will take care of it in the right way when we cannot.
Speaker B:So in verse four, Jesus says, don't use the excuse.
Speaker B:I don't see any fruit.
Speaker B:Then in verse five, there's another excuse.
Speaker B:He covers, I need more faith.
Speaker B:This is what the apostles said.
Speaker B:You know, usually we look at that verse and we think it's a very spiritual thing that they say here.
Speaker B:And the apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith.
Speaker B:And the Lord said, if you had faith as a grain of a mustard seed, you might say unto the sycamore tree, be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea and should obey you.
Speaker B:Jesus says, it's not a question of faith.
Speaker B:You use an excuse.
Speaker B:I need more faith.
Speaker B:This is a question of obedience.
Speaker B:You're to forgive them.
Speaker B:Then Jesus moves on to another excuse, and this is one we use, too.
Speaker B:I just don't feel like it.
Speaker B:I don't feel like forgiving that person.
Speaker B:Look at verse seven through ten.
Speaker B:Which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he's come in from the field, go and sit down to meat.
Speaker B:Hey, this servant is very tired.
Speaker B:He's been out in the field working, he's been feeding the cattle, he's been plowing.
Speaker B:He's been doing all this stuff.
Speaker B:But when he comes in the house, you know he doesn't feel like serving you.
Speaker B:But you don't say, go sit down to meat you go sit down.
Speaker B:And would not rather say unto him, make ready wherewith I'm asop.
Speaker B:Gird thyself and serve me till I have eaten and drunken, and afterward thou shalt eat and drink.
Speaker B:Did that servant feel like doing that?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:Look at verse nine.
Speaker B:Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him?
Speaker B:I throw not, or I don't think so.
Speaker B:So likewise, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded, you say, we're unprofitable servants.
Speaker B:We have done that which was our duty.
Speaker B:Do.
Speaker B:Jesus is saying here, there's going to be times when you don't feel like forgiving, when you don't feel like obeying the Master.
Speaker B:But listen, it's not about forgiveness, is not about feelings.
Speaker B:It's about a promise.
Speaker B:A promise to not remember.
Speaker B:And the only way we can make that promise to not remember is through the supernatural empowering of the Holy Spirit within us.
Speaker B:Jesus said this in the Sermon on the Mount, too.
Speaker B:He said, if you are truly forgiven, you will be forgiving.
Speaker B:One of the great marks of a true Christian is that they know how much they have been forgiven by God, and as a result, they are willing to be forgiving.
Speaker B:And Jesus covers three excuses here.
Speaker B:He says, listen, don't give me the excuse that you need to see more fruit.
Speaker B:Don't give me the excuse you need more faith.
Speaker B:Don't give me the excuse you don't feel like it.
Speaker B:He says, woe unto that person through whom offenses come.
Speaker B:It would be better for that person if a millstone were hung about their neck and they were cast in the depths of the sea.
Speaker B:They should offend one of these little ones.
Speaker B:See, God wants us to understand how important it is that we stay free of offense.
Speaker B:Because when we become offended or we offend someone else, they're taken captive by the devil to do his bidding, taken out of the will of God and taken into the will of Satan.
Speaker B:Let me close tonight by giving you a prayer of the Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 9 through verse 11.
Speaker B:And you see it in your Bible.
Speaker B:It says, in this I pray.
Speaker B:Here's Paul's prayer.
Speaker B:And this is what I pray tonight for all of us tonight, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that you may approve things that are excellent that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and the praise of God that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ.
Speaker A:Thank you for joining the Fortifying youg Family podcast, and if you feel encouraged by today's teaching, give us a follow so we can invite you back and share us on your socials so more marriages and families can be strengthened and fortified through the truths of God's Word.
Speaker A:Remember, fortifying your family starts with a strong belief in God's Word.
