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Now, when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.
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But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, to her place, where she is nourished for a time and a times and a half a time from the presence of the serpent.
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And so the servant spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.
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But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
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And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
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Now, this is a section of Revelation, which is apocalyptic literature. And it involves very much care in understanding it, interpreting it.
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We don't have the time, of course, to work through this at this time. The popular interpretation of this passage is that it speaks about a future event during an end -time seven -year tribulation period in which
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God will preserve a remnant of ethnic Jews from the assault of Satan during that final tribulation prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ.
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We, or I should say I, would disagree with that view. Rather, this vision speaks of the people of God who are anticipating the birth of the
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Messiah who would reign over the kingdom of God. And so the devil sought to kill the child at birth.
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Think of King Herod and the infants there in Bethlehem.
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But God protected the child. The child grew and then was caught up to heaven, was enthroned in heaven over the kingdom of God.
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That was upon his resurrection. The establishing of the long -promised kingdom of God resulted in the deposing of the authority of Satan, him being cast out of heaven.
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And that's what that means, cast out of heaven. He was deposed of the authority that he once had.
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He still has great authority, but not like he once had. King Jesus is ascended over him.
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And so he wreaks havoc in this world, persecuting Christians throughout this age, even unto the end of the age.
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And so here we see on display the great evil and intense hatred that the devil has for the
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Lord and for his people. Nevertheless, we also have affirmed for us that the
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Lord protects and preserves his people from the intentions and efforts of the devil. Jesus Christ is
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Lord and is accomplishing the salvation and the preservation of his people, regardless of this great foe who is against them.
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Now, as we begin to address the subject of the devil, we should recognize there is a great deal of error and confusion regarding him and his influence in the world toward Christians.
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And generally speaking, this confusion and error falls into two extremes.
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You have those who will give very little credence to the existence of the devil and his influence.
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And then there is, secondly, there are those who give too much emphasis to the devil and to his influence in people's lives.
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I receive phone calls regularly from a lady who is warning me about the spirit of Jezebel.
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The Bible doesn't talk about the spirit of Jezebel, but she thinks it does. And there's a whole ministry in this area, she says, will teach you how to escape the spirit of Jezebel.
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And she's very concerned, warning me. She's a radio listener. And so I'm having to deal with these things.
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She falls into this other extreme, characterized by ignorance, error, and fear, with a lack of confidence and faith in King Jesus, frankly.
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It happens. Actually, the belief in the existence of the devil is held by the majority of Americans.
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There are different assertions made by different researchers as to the number of believers in the existence of the devil.
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Gallup asked Americans if the devil is something they believe in, something they're not sure about, or something they don't believe in.
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68 % said in May of 2001 that they believe in the devil. This is among Christians, this is a general populace.
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20 % said they don't. Only one -fifth of the population do not believe in the existence of the devil.
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Interesting. 12 % said they aren't sure. Majorities of Americans of every political inclination, region, educational level, and age group said they believe in the devil.
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Most people do. More recently, George Barna's research gave a different story.
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Recent polls suggest a large number of Americans don't believe the devil exists. In 2009, Barna's survey reported that nearly 60 % of Christians, this is professing
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Christians in America, viewed the devil as only a symbol of evil.
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This would be in your modernist liberal churches. The devil in the scripture, when you come across that, it's just a symbol for evil in this world.
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Only one -quarter of our participants strongly affirm the devil's personal existence, though this figure more than doubles among born -again
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Christians. He put born -again in quotes. Barna's definition of a born -again
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Christian is ludicrous, by the way. Anybody who accepts Jesus and that decision seems to stay with him for a while, he regards as a born -again
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Christian. That's a really low standard for what constitutes a Christian. And then from Barna's website, we read the following.
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Four out of ten Christians, 40%, strongly agreed that Satan is not a living being, but is a symbol of evil.
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These are professing Christians. An additional two out of ten Christians, 19%, said they agree somewhat with that perspective.
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And a minority of Christians indicated they believe Satan is real by disagreeing with the statement.
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One -quarter, 26%, disagreed strongly about, and about one -tenth, 9%, disagreed somewhat.
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The remaining 8 % were not sure what they believe about the existence of Satan. And so there's ignorance, error, and confusion.
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People don't believe the Bible, basically, for the most part. For anyone who believes the
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Bible to be the word of God, denial of the existence and personality of the devil is not an option. It's clear.
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The word of God reveals the devil to be a personal, he's a person, fallen spirit being who is altogether evil, who possesses and exerts great authority in this fallen world, who is opposed to God and his kingdom in the world.
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The fate of the devil and his cohorts is certain. Again, we read in Revelation, Revelation 12, that when he's removed from God's new creation and consigned forever in punishment of the lake of fire, that burns forever, but until then, he is an enemy to the people of God.
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The Lord Jesus spoke directly of this when he pronounced the fate of the damned on the day of judgment. Then he will say to those on his left, apart from me you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and for his angels.
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But until then, it is a struggle. And so who is the devil, first of all?
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The Bible identifies the devil by many names. And these include Satan, Beelzebub, Belial, adversary, dragon, and the serpent.
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He's also referred to as the prince of the power of the air, the God of this world or the
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God of this age, and an angel of light. Speaks of his pretension, deceiving people as though he were righteous.
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And there are at least 174 references to these names and titles in the Bible. He's found throughout the
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Bible. And so these names suggest a personal being, not a mere force or symbol of evil.
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Arthur Pink, I came across a little book I had in my library for years. He wrote a rather short book on the subject,
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Satan and His Gospel. And he wrote the names of the devil and their meanings. And so I included this quote here for us.
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35 times he has denominated the devil, which means the accuser or slanderer. Accusing the saints before God and traducing the character of God.
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Traducing means, Pink would tend to use these old English words, even though he died in 1952.
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Traducing means misrepresenting. The devil commonly misrepresents biblical truth.
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52 times he's called Satan, which means enemy or adversary. He's God's enemy and man's adversary.
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Satan refers to his character, the malignant adversary of all good. And God or his creatures.
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Devil refers to his mode of carrying out his evil designs by lying slanders, false accusations and evil.
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Here's the word again, traducing or misrepresentations. He's termed the prince of this world, which defines his position in relation to our earth.
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He is named Beelzebub, which regards him as the head of the demons. He is spoken of as the wicked one, which refers to him as the prime mover of all wickedness.
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The devil's behind every sin, behind every evil. I don't know that I would have said that myself, but I heard my good friend
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Doug Vickers say that recently, and I tend not to doubt him. He probably is right in that.
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He is styled Apollyon, that is destroyer, which links him with the bottomless pit. He's referred to as the prince of the power of the air, which points to his present home and sphere of operations.
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He is termed Lucifer, which means morning star. A title which seems to have belonged to him before his apostasy.
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I don't know if we'll have time to address that, but Lucifer is commonly referred to as a name for Satan, but there's some question in the
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Old Testament context as to whether that should be applied in that way. He's called the god of this world because he is the inspirer and director of all spurious religion.
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He's termed liar and the father of it, and because he is the inveterate opposer of the truth, these and other titles of Satan are meaningless unless he's a personal being.
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He's a personal being. He's a person, a spirit being. So the characteristics of Satan that are set forth in the scripture present him to be a being of great power and capability.
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However, Satan is not his god. Please remember that. For God is infinite.
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Satan is finite. He's limited. Satan is powerful, but he's not all powerful.
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Only God is omnipotent. Satan is wise, but he's not all wise.
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He's not omniscient like God is. But the scriptures do speak of him who deceives the whole world.
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He's an intelligent, powerful, malevolent spirit being. Satan is able to perform miracles.
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A lot of people think if they see a miracle take place, obviously God is at work. Maybe not.
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In fact, after the Lord's ministry and the ministry of the apostles in the first century, really the sign of miracles tends to be more of a sign of satanic working rather than a working of God.
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You know, it's the false Christ would do great miracles, Jesus said, for example. Satan can perform miracles.
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Satan enabled the magicians and sorcerers of Pharaoh to mimic many of the miracles that God had brought through Moses. Moses turned his staff to a serpent and the magicians did likewise.
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Paul wrote that the man of sin, 2 Thessalonians 2, we addressed last year in some detail, was according to the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders.
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Miracles. Satan is able to enable Psalm to foretell future events.
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Not necessarily that he can foretell the future, but he can maybe project a prophecy through one of the demon -influenced people and then he'll see two at working events that it comes to pass and it looks like this person foretells the future.
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He's actually probably ordering the events. You remember Paul casting a demon out of a young woman who had the ability to prophesy.
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And so Luke wrote of he and Paul in Philippi. As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her own owners much gain by fortune -telling.
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She followed Paul and us, crying out, These men are servants of the Most High God who proclaim to you the way of salvation.
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And she kept doing. And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit,
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I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out that very hour. But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized
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Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And so here this demon enabled her to give prophecy for money.
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And these things would come to pass. And she did a lot of business for her owners, whoever they were.
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And there are people today that do the same thing. Call the psychic hotline. Go down to the tarot card reader.
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And there will be people that do that all the time and they will swear up and down. These things actually came to pass.
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They told me this and it happened. That doesn't mean it's of God. In fact, it indicates it's of the devil.
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Moses gave instruction to the Israelites not to listen to anyone who could accurately foretell an event to happen.
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Again, the assumption people say, he foretold it, it happened, he must be of God. No, we have instruction.
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No, no, you don't go there. If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer and he gives you a sign or wonder, and the sign or wonder comes to pass.
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See, this is a miracle. Somebody foretells the future and it happens. Of which he spoke to you, saying, let us go after other gods, which you've not known, let us serve them.
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See, it comes with a false message. You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams.
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Why? For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
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You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice. You shall serve him and hold fast to him.
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He's basically affirming you need to obey the law of God that's been given to you. And that's your standard.
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And if somebody else claims they have a dream that's going to happen, and it takes place, but they tell you to do something other than obey the
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Holy Scripture, don't go there. God is testing you to see if you love him. That is, to obey his word.
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That's the bottom line. Are you going to follow his word, obey his word, or not? And God tests people by what appears to be very significant, miraculous things.
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But it's a test. Satan is able to enable a person to dream an event that will subsequently happen.
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Satan has the power to cause sickness and other physical infirmities. There was a woman who had a physical malady for 18 years, and she was healed by her touch of Jesus' garment, the hem of his garment.
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Jesus said of her that Satan had bound her with this physical condition, Luke 13. Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the
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Sabbath, and behold, there was a woman who had a disabling spirit for 18 years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.
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When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, Woman, you're freed from your disability. He laid his hands on her.
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Immediately she was made straight. She glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the
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Sabbath, said to the people, There are six days in which the work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, not on the
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Sabbath day. But then the Lord answered, You hypocrites, does not each of you on the
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Sabbath untie his ox and his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, she's one of the elect, whom
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Satan bound for 18 years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?
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And as he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.
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Satan had afflicted the apostle Paul with some form of physical malady, probably. Or so it seems.
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God allowed this in Paul's life to prevent Paul from becoming puffed up with pride. Paul had so much understanding and knowledge of truth.
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He had visions. And so Paul was recounting. There were false apostles bragging about their experiences.
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Paul said, You want to go there? I can beat you at it. And he basically said, I must go on boasting.
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Though there's nothing to be gained by it, I'll go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven.
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The first heaven is what's about us, the sky about us. The second heaven is probably the universe.
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Third heaven is the place where God dwells. And Paul is saying, he's talking in the third person. 14 years ago,
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I know a man, he was talking about himself. But he's trying to do it in a way where he's not bringing credit to himself.
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I knew a man 14 years ago. Whether in the body or out of the body, I don't know. I don't know whether I was physically there or spiritually.
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I don't know. God knows. And he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.
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And on behalf of this man, I will boast. But not on my own behalf, I will not boast. On my own behalf,
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I will not boast except my weakness. Though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool. For I would be speaking the truth, but I refrain from it.
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So that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. He didn't want people to think too highly of him.
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So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan.
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To harass me. To keep me from becoming conceited. Three times
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I pleaded with the Lord to take this from me. He said, My grace is sufficient for you.
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My power is made perfect in weakness. And therefore, Paul concluded, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses.
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So that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities.
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But when I am weak, then I am strong. But God sent a messenger of Satan. It was kind of like, you know,
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Satan with Job. God allowed Satan to afflict Job.
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God allowed Satan to afflict Paul. And it was difficult for Paul, but it kept him humble.
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And I kind of think it was a problem with his eyesight. And it was a physical malady that other people, when they saw him, they thought less of him too.
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You know, it was the only thing that they came to regard was the word that he was declaring.
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It wasn't in himself. Well, let's consider Satan's authority over the fallen world.
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Satan is called the god of this age, or the god of this world. He's the prince of the power of the air. And so,
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Satan is the ruler of all unregenerate people. All non -Christians. Satan is their king.
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They're born as subjects of his kingdom. That means they do his bidding. When God converts a sinner to Jesus Christ, God snatches that soul out of the kingdom of the devil and translates that person into the kingdom of God's son.
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This is what Paul stated in Colossians 1. He has delivered us from the power, and what's meant by that is the dominion, the dominion of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.
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Satan works through unbelievers to accomplish his will in the world. And so we read in Ephesians 2 that the devil controls all unconverted people.
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I might just interject this. He controls people by enticing them to do what they want to do.
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He enticed Eve to take of that fruit, to do what she wanted to do. When people are insisting to have their own way and do their own thing, they're being governed by the devil.
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And so Ephesians 2 .1. You he made alive, he's talking to Christians, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.
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When we were non -Christians, that's how we walked. The spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.
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Those are non -Christians. Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh.
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When we lived for our own self and our own desires, we were actually doing the will of Satan.
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Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. We were no different than them, but God was gracious to us, saved us out of that.
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Satan's authority, he's the ruler over a vast army of evil spirits who are fallen angels, demons in other words.
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And they who have chosen to serve the devil. Although Satan is a spirit being, he's not omnipresent.
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I doubt if anyone of us has ever had to deal with the devil face to face. He's not omnipresent.
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He's a spirit being, but only God is omnipresent. He can only be in one place at a time.
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Satan extends the rule of his kingdom through multitudes of evil spirits or demons who do his bidding.
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It's like a great army. Satan is the father of lies. The Lord Jesus said of him, when he speaks a lie he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
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Every lie is born of the devil. All error respecting religious beliefs ultimately owes their origin and spread to the devil.
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All false religion and all false doctrine owes its origin to the devil.
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Its appeal to people's minds, its continuance, falsehood, false doctrine, the devil causes it.
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Paul wrote to the Christians at the church at Corinth, I imply what pagan sacrifice they offer to demons, not to God.
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I do not want you to be participants with demons. All false religion, all doctrinal error is demonic.
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Paul wrote to Timothy, Now the spirit expressly says that in latter times, and that's entire church age, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits, demons, and doctrines of demons.
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This is error, falsehood, heresy. Satan is the ruler of darkness. This conveys the idea that he's the author of error and falsehood and keeps his people captive and helpless.
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He blinds unconverted people so they can't understand and see the gospel and see its value and importance.
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But the Lord in his sovereign grace defeats Satan's efforts to blind people by turning on the lights.
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And just as God originally created light, let there be light. God exercises the same creative authority when anyone is brought to salvation.
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God basically says, turn on the light. And they see and understand the gospel. They see
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Jesus Christ in all his glory. Paul wrote of this in 2 Corinthians 4, We have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness or handling the word of God deceitfully.
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See, we don't manipulate people. We don't use tricks in order to convince them to become
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Christian, no. But in a manifestation of the truth. We declare the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
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Commanding ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But even if our gospel is hidden, even if people don't understand it, even if it's veiled, it's veiled to those who are perishing.
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Why? Whose minds the God of this age, that's the devil, has blinded. Who do not believe.
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Lest, in other words, to prevent the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
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So when we preach and teach, it's impossible for our gospel to be understood by unconverted people.
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Unless God in his grace opens their eyes. And so we read, we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus the
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Lord and ourselves bond servants for Jesus' sake. It's God who commanded light to shine out of darkness.
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Genesis 1. Who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
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It was an act of grace that you came to understand the gospel and embrace it. God created life in you.
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Spiritual life that wasn't there before. The devil prevented you from seeing it.
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But then the Lord took action and commanded you to be saved. And he opened your eyes and you beheld the glory of Christ.
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And so we've addressed Satan's authority over the fallen world, but now let's consider what
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Satan's origin is. Probably Revelation 12 speaks of the original rebellion of angels that joined forces with the devil.
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We read it earlier. Here it is again. Another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great fiery red dragon having seven heads, ten horns, seven diadems on his head.
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His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. A third of the angels became demons, fallen angels.
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Ezekiel 28 records evidence to suggest Satan's origin. Not everybody agrees with this.
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And I have my little bit of doubts about it. Here God, through his prophet, was denouncing the king of Tyre.
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Tyre was a nation on the Phoenician coast, a little island, a powerful maritime province.
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They controlled the shipping of the world, even though it was a little tiny island, a little tiny nation.
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And Ezekiel describes this king of Tyre as full of pride but would be brought down. But Ezekiel seems to be speaking more of more than just a historic king of Tyre, but rather he seems to reach all the way back to the
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Garden of Eden. And basically he's showing this king of Tyre is much like the devil and even the devil in his fall due to pride.
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And so here we read Ezekiel 28, 11 through 19. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
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Son of man, that would be Ezekiel, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre and say to him, Thus says the
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Lord God. You are the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
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You are in Eden, the garden of God. He seems to be looking beyond the king of Tyre to the devil who inspired him, probably rules over him and uses him.
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Every precious stone was your covering, the sardius, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, emerald with gold.
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The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. He was a beautiful being, a holy being.
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You are the anointed sheriff who covers an angel, but an anointed one who was over all of them.
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I establish you and you are on the holy mountain of God. See, within the kingdom of God. You walk back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.
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You are perfect in your ways from the day you were created till iniquity was found in you. That's where sin entered the picture.
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And by the abundance of your trading, again referring to the king of Tyre, the shipping trading, you became filled with violence within.
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You sinned. Therefore, I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God, deposing him.
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And I destroyed you, O covering sheriff, from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty.
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You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I laid you before kings that they might gaze to you.
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You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading.
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Therefore, I brought fire from your midst. I devoured you and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you.
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All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you. You become a horror and shall be no more forever.
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He seemed to go back and forth between the king of Tyre and the fall of Satan. I personally think that, you know,
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I think that the angels were created in that first week. It's not stated as such.
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And the devil fell after that six days of creation.
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God had created this holy angel, given him authority over the world, which he created. And when the fall of this foremost angel occurred, his authority of the world did not come to an end.
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It rather continued. He continued with this authority. He's the prince of the power of the air.
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And since that time, the devil has sought to frustrate the purposes and plans of God and his creation. Again, when did
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Satan instigate this rebellion against God? When did this glorious hero become Satan? The Bible doesn't say so directly.
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The Bible is not chiefly a book about metaphysics. In other words, giving us indication of all the spiritual realm and all the spiritual world.
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You know, the Bible is about God and his dealings with man and the devil and his angel are brought into it because it interacts with us in our relationship to God.
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But we can surmise, I think, again, that Satan fell after the creation week.
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And the reason I say that is God created the heavens and the earth and after the course of the six days of creation, he could stand back and say, everything is good.
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In fact, God saw everything he made. Indeed, it was very good. And so the evening morning was the sixth day.
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I don't think God would pronounce everything good, but the devil has fallen already and his demons.
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Everything at the end of the creation week. And so I'm of the opinion Satan fell into sin,
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I suspect, even as he sought to tempt Eve to transgress God's law in the garden. That was a manifestation of his fall.
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I personally think that the devil at that time and the angels themselves weren't all that informed about the true nature of God.
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The devil thought that he should be God, in the place of God. And somehow he convinced a third of the angels to join him, that he should be the one who should be the lord of the earth.
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And history, really, in my mind, is an unfolding and instructing of the angels.
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Just how foolish that idea is. There hasn't been one effort of the devil, one work of the devil, that the devil has really actually succeeded in doing anything to thwart the purpose of God.
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And they've had a grand lesson through history, the angels have, as to who
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God is and what he's like, and the manner that God has dealt with them. I've always said
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I thought the devil must be the most frustrated being in creation. Because even the worst he does always falls out for the glory of God and the good of his people.
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That's got to be frustrating. Let's consider God's authority over Satan.
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And this is important. There have been some in history and some today who believe that God and Satan are two co -eternals.
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But Satan won this battle, and she is damned forever, because God was defeated and Satan won.
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That's blasphemous. God has never lost a battle to the devil.
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Arthur Pink in his classic book, Sovereignty of God, put this on your top ten list to read, set the matter before his readers in quite a clear manner.
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Who is regulating affairs on this earth today, God or the devil? This back in 1978 or 9 was one of my first exposures to the teaching on the sovereignty of God.
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And these questions, I remember, resonated with me. Who is regulating affairs on this earth today,
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God or the devil? That God reigns supreme in heaven is generally conceded. That he does so over this world is almost universally denied, if not directly, then indirectly.
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More and more are men and their philosophizing and theorizing relegating God to the background. Take the material realm.
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Not only is it denied that God created everything by personal and direct action, but few believe that he has any immediate concern in regulating the works of his own hands.
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Everything is supposed to be ordered according to the impersonal abstract laws of nature. And thus is the creator banished from his own creation.
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And therefore we need not be surprised that men and their degrading conceptions exclude him from the realm of human affairs.
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And throughout Christendom, with an almost negligible exception, Pink ministered from about 1920 to 1952 when he died.
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And that was a period of gross error, gross
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Arminianism all over the world. Few reformed voices. Pink was one. And for him to speak of the glory and the sovereignty of God within that context was really quite amazing.
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Testimony of the grace of God raising him up. The theory is held that man is a free agent and therefore lord of his fortunes and determiner of his destiny.
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That Satan is to be blamed for much of the evil which is in the world is freely affirmed by those who, though having so much to say about the responsibility of man, often deny their own responsibility by attributing to the devil what in fact proceeds from their own evil hearts.
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The devil made me do it. Who is regulating affairs on this earth today, God or the devil?
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What impression is made upon the minds of those of the world who occasionally attend a gospel service?
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What are the conceptions formed by those who hear even those preachers who are counted as orthodox?
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Is it not that of a disappointed God? A disappointed
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God is the one whom Christians believe in. From what is heard from the average evangelist today is not any serious hearer oblige to conclude he professes to represent a
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God who is filled with benevolent intentions. He loves you, wants the best for you, yet unable to carry them out.
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That he is earnestly desires of blessing men but they will not let him. Then must not the average hearer draw the inference that the devil has gained the upper hand and that God is to be pitied rather than blamed?
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But does not everything seem to show that the devil has far more to do with the affairs of earth than God has?
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It all depends upon whether you are walking by faith or walking by sight. Are your thoughts, my reader, concerning this world and God's relation to it based upon what you see?
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Face this question seriously and honestly and if you are a Christian you will most probably have cause to bow your head with shame and sorrow and to acknowledge it as so.
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Alas, in reality we walk very little by faith. But what does walking by faith signify?
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It means that our thoughts are formed, our actions regulated, our lives molded by the Holy Scriptures. For faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
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It's from the word of truth and that alone that we can learn what is God's relation to this world.
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Who is regulating affairs on this earth today, God or the devil? What says the scriptures? If we believe they're plain and positive declarations, no room is left for uncertainty.
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They affirm again and again God is on the throne of the universe and that the scepter is in his hands and that he's directing all things after the counsel of his own will.
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They affirm not only that God created all things but also that God is ruling and reigning over all the works of his hands.
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They affirm that God is the almighty, that his will is irreversible, that he is absolute sovereign in every realm of all his vast dominions.
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And surely it must be so. Only two alternatives are possible. God must either rule or be ruled, sway or be swayed, accomplish his own will or be thwarted by his creatures.
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Accepting the fact that he is the most high, the only potentate king of kings, vested with perfect wisdom, illimitable power, and the conclusion is irresistible, he must be
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God in fact as well as in name. That's a good setting forth of the sovereignty of God.
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The holy scriptures clearly display the devil as being subject to God. Though Satan is an evil creature, he was not so when
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God first created him. God had created him as a holy creature but then he fell into sin through his own pride, his own rebellion.
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But even though the devil is opposed to God and has attempted to thwart the glory of God in history, particularly through mankind, made in the image of God, the devil remains under the authority of God.
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We won't read Job 1 and 2, but there you have it clearly set forth. It was
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God who brought up Job to Satan. Where have you been, Satan? Oh, going up, walking to and fro throughout the earth.
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Have you considered my servant Job? There's none like him. Well, he's only good, he only gives you glory because you've been good to him and you've protected him.
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You let me take his goods, we'll see. He'll curse you to your face. And God said, behold, all is in your power, only don't lay your hand on his body.
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And so he lost his children, they were killed, lost his goods. Sabeans came, captured all his goods.
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He was the richest man in the East. He became, he was put in poverty. And so the occasion came again,
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Satan came before God and God brought Job up again. Have you considered my servant Job?
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Nothing like him in all the earth. Yeah, but if you took away his health, he wouldn't worship you.
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He only worships you because you're good to him. And God said, all right, you can have at it, just don't kill him.
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Satan had to get God's permission to do anything and everything and God put a limit on him.
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And that's the way God always deals with the devil. The devil is an evil person, he has no good wishes for anyone, but only to harm and destroy.
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But he's under full control of God. God has placed a limitation upon the devil.
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God said in effect, this far and no farther. Let's talk about Satan's ability to influence and torment people.
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Page nine of your notes, and we have to go quickly now. It's clear that the authority that God has given unto
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Satan is far greater than any authority is given to any man or woman. The exception to this, of course, is the superior authority that God the
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Father has given to his son, Jesus Christ. And then by extension, Jesus gave authority to his apostles to frustrate anything the devil was doing or could do.
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And thankfully because the Christian is in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ is in the Christian, every Christian is protected and preserved from destruction and ruin that the devil would want to bring upon him or her.
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Scriptures clearly declare, with regard to the Christian, he who is in you is greater than he that is in the world.
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As great and evil as the devil is, you're not greater, but the one in you.
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Jesus Christ, God, the Holy Spirit is greater than him. And so we read in 1
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John 5 .18 and 19, this glorious word, we know that whoever is born of God does not sin, that is practice sin, but he who is born of God keeps himself and the wicked one does not touch him.
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The wicked one does not touch you as a Christian. Please understand what that means.
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That's not saying that the devil doesn't trouble you, afflict you. He does all the time.
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What is meant by he does not touch you? It means that he cannot touch you with respect to the eternal well -being of your soul, your gods.
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You have salvation, and the devil can't do anything about it. He can't touch you. John Gill wrote it this way.
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He, the wicked one, cannot come at him so as to wound him to the heart or destroy that principle of life that is in him, or so as to overcome and devour him.
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He may tempt him and sift him and buffet him and greatly afflict and grieve him, but he cannot touch his life or hurt him with the second death.
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Nay, sometimes the believer is so unable to wield the shield of faith or to hold up Christ, the shield of faith, and turn it every way in such a manner that Satan, who's here, meant by the wicked one, because he is notoriously so, cannot come near him, nor in with him, cannot work upon him at all with his temptations, nor in the least hurt his peace, joy, and comfort.
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The saints know their perseverance from the promises of God and the declarations of Christ. He cannot touch you.
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That's not saying he can't afflict you. Many people are terribly afflicted, but ultimately he can't, he's not doing any ultimate harm to you.
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He's only glorifying God through you, because you continue to believe on Christ regardless and in spite of what you're enduring.
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And so let's consider quickly, how can the devil afflict us? First, the devil is able to place evil thoughts into our minds.
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Not every evil thought necessarily comes from yourself. And so we read, for example, of the devil putting it into the mind of Judas.
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Now Judas was evil and responsible, but the evil thought owed its origin to the devil.
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Second, the devil is able to cause us to forget the word of God that's been taught us. The word of the kingdom goes out, seeds sown on the by side, the hard path, and the devil quickly comes and takes it away before it takes any root.
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The devil is able to move us to do what he desires us to do. You of your father the devil,
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Jesus said, and the desires of your father you want to do. The devil is able to make us or lead us to do his desires.
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Scriptures speak, Paul spoke about, to Timothy, alright, that he needed to correct those who are in opposition in order to recover them who have been taken captive by the devil's will.
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Four, the devil is able to oppress people and oppress them terribly. The Lord Jesus healed all who were oppressed of the devil.
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Fifth, the devil is able to cause one to experience disgrace or reproach. And sometimes this is called a snare of the devil.
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A potential church elder, it is said, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
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And that's always a danger for a church or for a pastor because lies can be told and they are.
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There's enough truth, you know, that is scandalous for so many. But sometimes, you know, there are just out and out lies that destroy the testimony of a good man.
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And that's a sad thing when that happens. The devil is able to lead a person to practice sin.
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He who sins is of the devil. That's talking about continuous practicing of sin. Seven, the devil is able to persecute
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Christians through the use of civil authorities. All right, do not fear any of those things.
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Christ is talking to a church. That you're about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison and you'll be made to tested.
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You'll have tribulation ten days. I think that's a prophecy of ten periods of persecution under the Roman Empire.
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And it's all Satan -inspired. Eight, the devil is able to deceive people, even the whole world.
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We read that in Revelation 12. The devil is able to entice people to sin. That's what he did with the
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Lord Jesus, right? Trying to entice them to sin in the wilderness. The Lord can put matters in front of you.
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Men, the devil is able to take an attractive woman to be even attracted to you. The devil can do that.
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The adulteress seeks the valuable life, is what Proverbs says. And he's able to entice to sin.
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The images that you're exposed to, it's the devil enticing you. And too often people take the bait.
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The devil is able to exalt people in the world system, making them rich and powerful. The devil has power over physical death.
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The devil distorts truth and promotes error. The devil is able to cause sickness in people.
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The devil is able to cause physical disasters. The wind came and the building fell and Job's kids were killed.
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The devil is able to cause people to lose faith if the Lord did not prevent them from doing so.
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The Lord said to Peter, Simon, Simon, indeed, Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat.
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He wanted to destroy Peter's faith. He told Peter, but nevertheless,
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I pray for you that your faith fail not. If it were not for the Lord interceding for us as our high priest, the devil would be able to extinguish the faith that's in you.
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16, the devil can lead people to covet, to lie, and to steal. To a professing
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Christian, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?
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They lied that they gave everything to the Lord when they didn't. The devil is able to deceive people by presenting himself as an angel of light.
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Such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder,
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Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 18, the devil is able to produce and promote false shepherds, false pastors of churches.
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Therefore, it's no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into, or as if they are ministers of righteousness.
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These are men in the pulpit, but they're Satan -inspired and directed.
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Arthur Pink said, the apostles of Satan are not saloon keepers and white slave traffickers, but are for the most part ordained ministers.
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The devil is able to hinder the noble plans of Christians. Paul said, I've wanted to come and visit you, but Satan hindered me.
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The devil is able to hinder their plans. The devil can enable men to perform miracles, we already considered that, with all power signs and line wonders.
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And the devil is able to incite people to commit murder. That was the devil at work in Florida last week, wasn't it?
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That's not to take away the evil of that man, that young man, utterly evil, but it was satanically, you know, generated and motivated.
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And then lastly, the devil's doom. At the cross, Jesus Christ vanquished the devil.
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Our Lord's obedience unto death resulted in him as the God -man to be raised from the dead, ascended to heaven, in which he enthroned, was enthroned over all of creation.
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Jesus Christ is Lord. And at that time, the devil was cast out of heaven.
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And what that means is a symbol of his authority. He was deposed. He was over all the world.
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But he's thrown into the earth and he's still the God of this age and he controls unsaved people, but now
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King Jesus is the one who is saying this far and no more. Or no, I'm not going to let you any longer blind the
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Gentiles to the truth of the gospel, binding satan and allowing the gospel to go forth into all the world.
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Martin Luther said it well in his classic hymn. And this is how, I think, a good setting forth of the devil and our understanding of him and our attitude, what should be our attitude toward him.
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A mighty fortress is our God. It's the kingdom of God, a bulwark never failing.
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Our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe does seek to work his woe.
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That still goes on. His craft and power great and armed with cruel hate on earth is not his equal.
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Did we in our own strength confide our striving would be losing? Were not the right man on our side the man of God's own choosing?
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Thus ask who that may be. Christ Jesus it is he. Lord Sabaoth, Lord of Hosts is what that word is, not
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Sabaoth, Sabaoth. Lord of Hosts his name. From age to age the same he must win the battle.
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And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear for God hath willed his truth to triumph through us.
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The prince of darkness grim we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure for lo his doom is sure.
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One little word shall fail him. That's one little word from King Jesus. The word above all earthly powers no thanks to them abideth.
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The spirit and the gifts are ours to him who with us sideth. Let goods and kindred go. This mortal life also.
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The body they may kill. God's truth abides still. His kingdom is forever. Amen. And so he's a real foe.
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You don't take him for granted. It's a spiritual battle. And he uses the world, enticing our flesh, to cause us to sin.
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But God has given us the means by which we need not be defeated by him.
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Paul says we're not ignorant of his wiles, the devices of Satan. I would suggest that many of us are.
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And so next week, Lord willing, we're going to talk about some of these. The ways of the devil and how to counteract them in our lives.
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Lord willing, let's pray. Father, we ask that you would help us to always resort to King Jesus to guide us and help us and deliver us.
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And we pray, our God, that you would deliver your people from the oppression that the devil afflicts, with which the devil afflicts them.
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And we pray, our God, that you would help us to go forth with a sense of encouragement and with a sense of victory that's in Christ Jesus.
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And we know our God through all of our battles and our engagements as we continue in faith in you.
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You are winning the day, ultimately, as we continue to bring glory to you, regardless of what we face.
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And we thank you, God, for your grace that sustains your people. We pray in Jesus' name.