Satan and this World

[0:00] Well, today is going to be somewhat different. I didn't know exactly what we would deal with. We've been going through the minor prophets, and we are about halfway through the prophet Hosea, and we find all kinds of present-day applications to what was taking place in ancient Israel.

[0:17] But today we're going to focus on something that is, I guess we would say, decidedly different. Lord, we've been talking about and praying about this nation that has been born in and out of conflict.

[0:32] And the word is conflict. And one can only wonder why it is that the world is fraught so much with conflict. And it extends from even marriages where husbands and wives are in conflict, to local political scenes where there is conflict, to the national scene where there is conflict, the international scene where there is conflict.

[0:59] And we wonder, what in the world is this all about? Why can't we just get along? Why do we have to engage in so much of this conflict?

[1:11] And you will not find a satisfactory answer or one that is coherent or cohesive to this issue apart from the Scriptures.

[1:22] And when we come to the Scriptures, we find it there in bas-relief. There can be no question as to the source of conflict. And actually, it goes even beyond, if you can imagine, it goes even beyond Genesis 1-1 and the creation of the heavens and the earth.

[1:46] Because conflict actually began with the angelic spheres. And these are spirit beings that God created before He ever created Adam and Eve, placed them in the garden, before the heaven and earth was created, before there was anything created.

[2:06] There was simply the existence of spirit beings, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who created spirit beings. And these spirit beings are immaterial, which is very difficult for us to grasp.

[2:18] But they were created with a volition, and they exercised a volition in a negative way against their creator. And we see this particularly in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel chapter 28, where Satan is named for the adversary.

[2:40] In fact, the very word Satan means adversary. And he is adverse to all that the creator has brought into existence.

[2:52] And what we need to keep in mind, and this is admittedly over our heads, it's certainly over mine, probably over yours too, we've dealt with the issue that when God created beings, volitional beings, he was faced with a choice whether to make them volitional or non-volitional.

[3:12] And if he made them non-volitional, that simply means they would have been programmed to do his will automatically, and they would not have been able to do anything else.

[3:24] He didn't do that. He made them volitional. He gave them a will. That made them agents of a free moral choice.

[3:35] And furthermore, he extended that concept to human beings. When he created Adam and Eve, he created them volitional.

[3:45] That means he gave them a will, which means they had an ability to obey their creator. They also had an ability to disobey their creator.

[3:57] And we are sometimes eager to charge the Almighty with a lack of wisdom, and we say things like, well, if God knew what Satan was going to do, and if God knew what Adam and Eve were going to do, and bring all of this misery and heartache and death and destruction and things like that upon the earth, why did he make them that way?

[4:22] And the answer is, if he had not made them that way, he would have made them without a will, and everything would have been automatic. But I want to ask you, on a human level, what do you think of the love that you have for your mate, or that your mate has for you, and this love is generated by an inability to do anything else?

[4:52] Think of it. Your wife loves you just for one reason. She doesn't have a choice. But she does have a choice. She had a choice when she chose you.

[5:05] And you love your wife freely, voluntarily. You don't love her because you have to, because you are locked in, and there's nothing you can do but love her.

[5:16] Oh, yes, there is. You can love her, or you can choose not to love her. You are a volitional being. God was faced with that same dilemma, and the same thing with obedience. We who have children, well, most of us, that's been quite some time ago, but when we had children in the home, and we were rearing them, one thing that you strive for, which of course was always for their best interests, was that you wanted your children to be obedient to you.

[5:45] But did you want them to be obedient because they had no choice? You were going to beat them and deprive them, et cetera, if they didn't obey you?

[5:55] No. You wanted them to obey you because they chose to obey you. Out of respect and love for you, they obeyed you. Well, that's what the freedom of the will does, and that's the choice that God was faced with.

[6:10] So he opted for volitional beings. Both angels turned against him. We know that Lucifer, who became Satan, succeeded in recruiting one-third of the created angels, and they fell with him.

[6:27] And when he came to planet Earth, he tempted Adam and Eve. And what I'm going to give you now is something that I fully admit much of the world interprets and takes as just mythology.

[6:42] Fellas, there's nothing mythological about this. This is actual. Not only that, but what we are going to discuss is the only source.

[6:56] The Bible is the only source in which this information is found. You'll not find it in Encyclopedia Britannica or Americana. It isn't there. It's only in the Bible. And there we have the origin, the purpose, the value, the meaning, and the destiny of this thing called creation.

[7:16] And it all began, so far as we are concerned, with planet Earth, was the placing of the first man and the first woman in that garden, referred to as Eden in Genesis chapters 1 through 3.

[7:30] And it was to the Earth that Satan came and tempted our first parents, knowing full well that they were volitional beings. And Satan became the original con man.

[7:41] and he confused and conned Eve and she in turn gave to her husband and they did eat. And as a result, Adam and Eve took unto themselves something different from what God put in them.

[7:56] And we call this the sin factor and it refers to the fall. And as a result of that, that over which they had been given dominion came crashing down.

[8:08] That's really important, guys, to understand. And by the way, I want you all to feel free to interrupt me at any time. You just start talking and I'll stop and we'll deal with a question or an issue or whatever.

[8:18] And no one will think you're rude for doing so. But when he created them and gave them this volition, he also told Adam and Eve to exercise or to take dominion over the earth.

[8:36] That meant they were in charge. Out of all of the animal creation and the vegetable creation and the mineral creation, those three categories, Adam and Eve were sovereign.

[8:50] They were in charge of everything. That was their bailiwick, if you will. And this dominion that they gave them, they ended up forfeiting.

[9:03] And they forfeited to the one who conned them, and that was Satan. And he became the prince and the power of the air. And Adam and Eve lost the dominion that was given to them.

[9:17] And when they produced offspring, they produced offspring of the same nature, character, and quality as themselves. And we know full well that the first person born on the face of the earth murdered his own brother.

[9:31] Cain killed Abel. And the earth is off to a thing called conflict. And as a result of this, in Genesis 3, in verse 15, we are given a promise.

[9:45] And the promise is that there will be the seed of the woman, that's the offspring of Eve, that will ultimately crush the head, that is, deliver a fatal, mortal blow to the enemy.

[10:02] And that will not take place until the end of the story. And that's in Genesis, I'm sorry, that's in Revelation 19. So Genesis opens with paradise.

[10:14] And in chapter 3, it is paradise lost through the dominion. And in Revelation 19, it is going to be paradise regained with the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[10:27] And in the middle, between Genesis 3 and Revelation 19, what do we have? Conflict, conflict, conflict.

[10:39] What is wrong with the world? Well, it's a fallen world, and it's occupied by fallen human beings. And each fallen human being has in their psyche a self-serving spirit.

[10:54] And that creates conflict because you're self-serving and I'm self-serving and we're all self-serving. And sometimes, we get in each other's way. Sometimes, nations get in each other's way.

[11:07] And we have a thing called conflict. And the important thing to realize from this, and I've been, fellas, I've been studying this book now for over 60 years.

[11:19] But I must admit to my embarrassment, it's only been within about the last six weeks that I have come to appreciate the scope, the depth, and the magnitude of what we're talking about right now.

[11:34] What we are sharing with you is the only reasonable, consistent explanation as to why the world is the way it is.

[11:48] This is the explanation, and it's the only place you'll find it. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they forfeited the dominion that God gave them.

[12:03] They lost it. And they are no longer in control of it, but someone else is. They forfeited it to none other than the one who tricked them out of it, and that is Satan.

[12:20] This is Satan's world. And Satan is all about opposing God, and the best way that he can do that, because he can't get it God himself.

[12:32] So he gets at those whom God cares about, and that's you, and me. And he creates havoc throughout the world in ways that we don't understand.

[12:44] And because he is characterized as someone who is ruling and reigning in hell, and he wears a red suit, and has a tail, and horns, and all the rest of it, Now, that, that is mythological.

[12:58] That has no basis in reality at all. Satan is a very real person. But, he knows enough to stay out of sight.

[13:11] And this staying out of sight, of course, can you imagine what would happen if he exposed himself? Well, of course, everybody would be on guard.

[13:21] Everybody would know. But, but we don't. He is an unseen spirit, and he dominates and rules. There is a song. It's a beautiful song. I love singing it.

[13:32] I love the melody of it. But it isn't true. And the song goes this way. This is my father's world. No, it isn't.

[13:45] It's going to be. But it isn't. It's Satan's world. Now, I want you to turn to John's Gospel, chapter 12.

[13:58] And you may be sure that our Lord Jesus dealt with Satan 40 days and 40 nights. We do not understand all that was involved in the temptation.

[14:10] All we know is our Lord Jesus came out of it unscathed. And I firmly believe what some Bible scholars said that when Satan and Christ met each other in the wilderness for 40 years, Satan threw everything at him that he had.

[14:30] And by the time those 40 days were over, Satan was more than glad to get out of there because he had not only met his match, he had been bested. But at the same time, Christ recognized the power and the authority of Satan.

[14:47] And if you look at John chapter 12, and, well, let's begin with verse 27. Jesus said, Now my soul has become troubled, and what shall I say?

[15:02] Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I came into this hour. What he's talking about here is the cross and the death that he is anticipating, and he is praying if there is any other way that the goal can be accomplished other than his being separated from the Father, that's what I would prefer.

[15:24] And then he clarified that by saying, But nevertheless, not my will, yours be done. So the text goes on in verse 28, Father, glorify thy name, and there came therefore a voice out of heaven.

[15:36] I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. The multitude, therefore, who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered. That is, they didn't understand the message at all.

[15:47] They just heard this noise that they identified with thunder. Others were saying, An angel had spoken to him. Jesus answered and said, This voice has not come for my sake, but for your sakes.

[15:59] Now, judgment is upon this world. What does that mean? That means that the world, the planet, is about to undergo a severe judgment, and this judgment is going to be dispensed from a righteous God on a sinless substitute that will be Jesus Christ, and in his death, he is going to judge the world in making the ultimate payment for sin.

[16:39] The whole world is going to be brought into judgment. And what will the verdict be for the world? Guilty! Guilty! And Christ is going to go to the cross and pay the penalty for that guilty verdict.

[16:55] That's going to be the end goal of the crucifixion. And if you go back to verse 27, what shall I say?

[17:08] Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I came to this hour. Fellas, this is what the manger is all about. It's a cross.

[17:19] This is why God sent it. If you want a study that is just really remarkable, you can get into John's Gospel and start in chapter 1 and every time you see the phrase sent from the Father, came from the Father, every time you find that in John's Gospel, make a note of it, and I'll tell you right now, in those 22 chapters, you will find it mentioned over 40 times.

[17:51] you get the impression that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world, and he sent him to destroy the works of the devil.

[18:04] Well, has he done that? No. He most assuredly will, but he has not done that yet. And the reason he hasn't is because, and I don't want to get too far afield here, but because he is committed, absolutely committed, to doing this through the instrumentality of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob seed, the Jewish people.

[18:32] When Jesus said in John chapter 4 to the woman at the well, salvation is of the Jews. Now, a lot of non-Jewish people don't like that.

[18:45] but all I can say is get over it because Christ himself made it very, very clear and our Lord was a Jew and he gave promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob regarding this world and the dominion they're going to have in it and he is going to fulfill it.

[19:05] So let's continue on now. He's making it clear in verse 27 that for this purpose he came to this hour, that is to die on that cross. And then in verse 31, now judgment is upon this world.

[19:19] Now the ruler of this world. Who is that? That's Satan.

[19:30] Satan is the ruler of this world. Who else do you think is responsible for all the conflict, death, disease, destruction, misery, everything that we see, he is largely behind it.

[19:48] I want to make one very important qualification and that is this, fellas, we do not need any help from the devil to be mean and ornery.

[19:59] We can do that on our own because our nature, our nature of fallenness and self-servenness allows us to put ourselves first at the expense of others and this, of course, creates conflict and we know that we have this thing in us called a sin nature and anybody who thinks they don't have one is going to be disappointed when they die physically because we are all under that sentence of death and this prince of this world, the ruler of this world is none other than Lucifer.

[20:32] In other words, when Adam and Eve forfeited dominion, Satan took it up and he is, let's come over to chapter 14.

[20:45] Genesis, I'm sorry, John chapter 14 and let's see. verse 29, 14, 29, our Lord is speaking again, and by the way, this is the night, the night before His crucifixion.

[21:15] John 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, all those chapters, all that content took place within the space of about 12 hours.

[21:29] That's really significant. John's gospel is the only one that gives us that the other three gospels do not deal with it in this way. And if you will look at, what did I tell you?

[21:44] Oh yeah, thank you, thank you. 14, 20, Jesus said, and now, this is, keep in mind, this is the night of His betrayal, this is the night of the Last Supper.

[21:54] Now I have told you before it comes to pass that when it comes to pass you may believe. I will not speak much more with you for the ruler of the world.

[22:09] Did he really mean that? You better believe he meant it. The ruler of this world is coming. He has nothing in me.

[22:20] That is, there is no commonality between him and me. The ruler of this world is coming. This is the ruler of, this is Satan. And, in chapter 16 of John's gospel, we almost get the impression that, that he wants to emphasize this.

[22:42] Do you not? John, where am I? John chapter 16.

[22:54] I should have marked these more carefully, but I didn't. Well, I don't want to read the whole chapter.

[23:19] Okay, verse 8, speaking of the Spirit of truth, when the Spirit of truth comes, he will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment, concerning sin, because you do not believe on me, concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer behold me, and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

[23:43] Now, he's speaking here in the, in the future, but it is, as far as God is concerned, it is, it is a done deal. What is it that is going to judge the ruler of this world?

[23:56] It is his death on the cross. It is when he pays the penalty for human sin, that is going to be the death knell for Satan. However, sentence hasn't been carried out.

[24:09] The sentence will not be carried out regarding Satan until Christ returns. Right now, he is, I've characterized Satan as like a mad dog on a leash, and God is holding the other end of the leash, and he cannot take any liberties that God is not willing to let him take, and that involves a great deal.

[24:38] When you consider the millions and millions of people that have suffered in conflict and wars, much of this has come about just through the evil of individuals like Adolf Hitler and Stalin and things like that, but the real motivation behind all of this is none other than this fallen angel, Lucifer, and he is going to be dealt with when Christ returns.

[25:07] Right now, he has pretty much free sway. Well, let's think of it this way. You're familiar with Job and the temptations that Job had. If you want, we won't take time to go there, but at your own leisure you can read the first couple of chapters of Job and you get the picture.

[25:29] Satan tells Job, or Satan tells God, of course Job worships you and he honors you. Why wouldn't he? You give him everything.

[25:39] You've done everything for him. And then Satan said, but I'll tell you what, you just turn your back on Job and take away all the goodies and he'll curse you to your face.

[25:54] And God said, alright, Satan, I will give you permission to take everything from him, but I will not give you permission to take his life.

[26:05] You can take everything else. Well, you read the account. And he takes his children, he takes his wealth, and then he takes his health. And Job ends up sitting on a pile of ashes, scraping himself with a piece of broken pottery because of the sores on his body.

[26:28] And his wife, seeing her husband suffer like this, goes to him and says, you old fool, don't you know when you've had enough? Curse God and die.

[26:41] Get it over with. I can't stand to see you this way anymore. And Job said, you speak as a foolish woman, shall not we who have received good things from the Lord receive adversity as well?

[26:55] The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And throughout the entire ordeal, Job stood strong.

[27:06] Now, fellas, Job is the poster boy for satanic activity and for staying strong in the face of opposition. And how many times have we been referred to Job and his life and what he endured by way of an illustration?

[27:23] And it is the most dramatic one in all of the Bible. So here, we have a conflict whereby Satan is given free reign to the extent God is willing to grant it on this earth.

[27:39] And he, remember this, fellas, Satan loves a high body count. The Jews, the Jews to this day, I was reading an article just yesterday, how they have such difficulty in embracing and accepting a God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of their Old Testament, and many of them have turned to atheism because they cannot correlate how there can be this God of the Bible, this God who loves the Jews.

[28:23] How do you explain six million of them being eliminated in Hitler's death camps? Where was your God then?

[28:33] and it is a question that Jewish people ask worldwide, and many of them have come to the conclusion there cannot be a God who would be willing to stand by and allow that kind of carnage to take place upon a people he supposedly calls his chosen people.

[28:53] So, their conclusion is that God does not even exist, and even if he did, I wouldn't want anything to do with him if he's that kind of a God. And that's their thinking.

[29:06] Fellas, we do not find this text in Scripture, and I don't want to insist that it should be there, but I'll tell you that I think the thought is there, and that is, when God told Adam and Eve, you are not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and if you do, not only will you die, and they did die spiritually, later they died physically, not only if you do, but you are going to set in motion a chain of events that you are not going to like.

[29:39] It's going to be ugly, and fellas, that's what we're seeing now. This is the ugly side of the world. We see it nationally and we see it internationally.

[29:51] You realize in World War II there were 50 million people who lost their lives and most of them were civilians.

[30:04] They were not combatants. What is this all about? Where is this carnage coming from? Well, it's coming from the adversary and he has ways of influencing that we don't understand.

[30:19] You know, when Judas had made his deal with the Jewish hierarchy and establishment there at the Last Supper we are told that Jesus said one of you is going to betray me and of course they said is it I is it I and finally Jesus said I'll tell you who it is it is he to whom I will give the sop when I have dipped it and they had a common bowl there this is the way they with silver wear and all of this they had a common bowl in the center and it was filled with a gravy like substance with chunks of meat in it and they didn't use spoons and forks like we do at all they used a piece of bread and they would take a piece of bread like a small pancake fold it in half and it would make it a scoop and then they would dip down into the common bowl into which they all dip and bring up a certain amount of meat vegetables and gravy in it and then put it in the mouth and one of the acts that the host could perform for one he considered to be a chosen guest was the host would dip that down and he would put it to the mouth of the one that he had chosen and then he turned to

[31:50] Judas and he said that thou doest do quickly and Judas got up and left the party and the other apostles thought that he was going out to buy additional supplies for the meal because maybe they had run out but he was going out to meet with the chief priests and the Sadducees to hand over Jesus there in the garden of Gethsemane remember and the text says this is the puzzle to me but the text says and Satan entered in to Judas and my question is how did he do that I am convinced that Satan cannot just go around entering anybody he wants at will but he entered Judas now I think we can surmise that Judas had made himself available in the deal that he was cooking with the chief priest but there are situations here that we just cannot answer but fellas make no mistake about it what this present world is all about is conflict and you know one of the names that is given to our

[33:07] Lord is not only the Savior but he's called the Prince of Peace isn't he where's the peace where is the peace well the peace is coming and the peace the price for peace has already been paid for but it has not been applied and in the same way fellas the price for the redemption of your body has already been paid for but it hasn't been applied and it will be applied when Christ returns and these bodies are fashioned like under the body of Jesus Christ and this is Romans 8 and what that's all about so the food is here we've covered a lot of territory probably generated a lot of questions any comments or questions feel free anyone yes the Jews that died during the war and concentration camps were they believers I mean were most of them believers

[34:10] I would say probably not probably not because for a Jew to be a believer it is the same as for a Gentile to be a believer and the the critical question for the Jewish people when Jesus was here 2000 years ago the critical question was he the one promised by Moses and the prophets or not and only a minority believed that he was the vast majority did not and they were the ones who were instrumental in turning him away as the Messiah and we are told that that Jesus came unto his own and his own received him not it was just a small percentage of those who did and you know the issue to this day remains the same is Jesus the Messiah of Israel or is he not and that's the issue and for a

[35:16] Jew to be saved requires the same thing as for a Gentile to be saved and I think Ephesians 3 makes that quite clear so I would say that they were probably not believers but there may have been a few who were truly believers in Jesus as their Savior Messiah hey guys enjoy your breakfast and the 4th there's going to be a lot of activities today and I guess there's going to be fireworks all over the place tonight it starts at about 10 o'clock so thank you for being with us this morning next week we will return to the prophet Hosea and we'll see a lot of parallels for what's going on today you