Amazing Facts with Doug Batchelor

The Prince of Pride, Part 2 of 2

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: AFNB

Program Code: AFNB002218S


00:00 ♪♪♪
00:02 male announcer: This presentation
00:03 is brought to you by the friends of the Amazing Facts Ministry.
00:06 ♪♪♪
00:09 Doug Batchelor: For nine months
00:10 between 1898 and 1899 two famous man-eating lions
00:15 of Tsavo terrorized workers employed in the construction
00:18 of a railway bridge in Uganda.
00:21 As the death toll rose, construction was brought
00:24 to a virtual standstill.
00:25 The workers said they refused to continue until protection
00:28 could be provided.
00:30 Finally, the reign of terror was brought to an end
00:33 when Lieutenant Colonel J.H. Patterson
00:35 succeeded in tracking and killing the two lions
00:39 that had devoured 135 men.
00:43 The lions are now on permanent display
00:44 in the Field Museum of Chicago.
00:47 Even more deadly was a tigress in India that was reported to
00:51 have killed and eaten 436 people in 1907 before it was killed.
00:57 But the record for man-eating goes to one lion that
01:00 has devoured more than all these other cats combined.
01:03 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 8, advises us, "Be sober,
01:07 be vigilant because your adversary,
01:10 the devil is going around like a roaring lion,
01:12 seeking whom he might devour."
01:15 So, how can we be protected against this man-eater?
01:19 Join me, friends, today, as we continue our exploration
01:22 to understand the originator of sin, the devil.
01:26 ♪♪♪
01:30 Doug: Well, friends, we have a very important study, tonight.
01:32 We're going to be talking about why is there evil in the world?
01:37 And this is one of the big reasons
01:38 that some people have problems believing in God.
01:42 They say, "If there's a God, and if God is good,
01:44 then why is there so much suffering?
01:47 Why would God create this world, and innocent children,
01:49 innocent people suffer?
01:51 If God is powerful, then why doesn't He stop the evil?
01:56 If He can do anything, why doesn't He just make
01:57 everybody be good and make everything peaceful?"
02:00 And people struggle with the problem of evil.
02:03 It's one of the most important questions, and I tell you
02:06 there's nothing more important than what we're talking about.
02:09 There are two titanic powers that are at war in the world
02:13 today, and there's a reason that God does not just snap
02:17 His fingers and annihilate Satan.
02:20 And when you understand the issue, what's going on
02:23 behind the scene, it begins to make a lot more sense.
02:26 Our study tonight is on "The Prince of Pride."
02:30 And we're going to be dealing with the subject
02:32 of did God make a devil?
02:34 Is there a devil?
02:36 Why is there evil in the world?
02:37 Now, this is not a subject that I enjoy talking about because
02:41 I'm preoccupied with the devil.
02:42 As a matter of fact, I avoid ministers that want to always
02:46 preach and talk about the devil.
02:48 But I think it's appropriate to talk about what God talks about,
02:51 and there's warnings in the Bible about the power of evil.
02:54 Even professional boxers or football players,
02:58 before they go to engage an opponent, they sit down
03:03 with a coach, and they watch videos and films of the tactics
03:06 of the enemy, so to speak,
03:08 so they can understand what's going on.
03:11 The Lord wants us to understand something about the nature
03:13 and the tactics of the devil.
03:15 And I can tell you the devil's not happy about this program,
03:17 tonight, because we're going to be exposing what his plans are.
03:21 The Bible tells us and Jesus warns us about that.
03:25 The devil is mentioned quite a bit in the book of Revelation.
03:29 What powerful beings work under the devil's command?
03:33 You can read here in Revelation 12, verse 4, "His tail drew
03:38 a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth."
03:42 Who are these stars that were following Lucifer?
03:46 They're angels, also.
03:48 You can look at Revelation chapter 12, verse 9,
03:50 "He was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast with him."
03:54 So, most of the time when we say,
03:57 "Well, the devil tempted me," or "The devil made me do this,"
04:00 of course, the devil doesn't make you do anything
04:02 unless you're demon possessed.
04:03 It was Flip Wilson who used to always say,
04:05 "The devil made me do it."
04:07 You can't always blame the devil.
04:09 And first of all, the devil is not omnipotent.
04:11 He doesn't know everything. He can't read minds and hearts.
04:13 But the devil has fallen angels, his minions,
04:17 probably millions of them,
04:19 one-third of the angels in heaven.
04:22 And if God has guardian angels for every person,
04:24 and there are billions of people in the world today--you know,
04:26 the Bible actually gives us the highest number
04:28 that is found in Greek.
04:30 It applies to the angels of God: 10,000 times 1,000--
04:34 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands.
04:37 It tries to describe this innumerable company of angels.
04:41 They're described as coming in a cloud when Jesus returns.
04:44 So, God's got a lot angels, but one-third of them followed
04:48 Lucifer in his rebellion.
04:50 He kept saying, "You know, God's not fair.
04:51 We should have more freedom.
04:53 We don't need God's laws to govern us.
04:54 We should make our own.
04:55 We should have the power of God to create, have our own worlds."
04:58 And as he began to plant those desires in his heart,
05:02 in the hearts of the other angels--
05:03 by the way, what did he tell Adam and Eve?
05:06 "If you eat this fruit, you'll be like God."
05:08 That's what he wanted.
05:09 He began to plant his desires in the hearts of the angels,
05:13 and they followed him in his rebellion.
05:15 Ultimately, they were cast to the earth because it was only
05:18 on earth that Satan found another race of creatures,
05:24 made in God's image, that followed him instead of God.
05:29 God said, "Do not eat of the tree."
05:31 The Word of God said, "Do not eat of the tree."
05:33 Lucifer said, "Go ahead and eat of the tree.
05:35 You'll be like God."
05:37 Adam and Eve had to make a decision.
05:39 "Who do we obey?"
05:40 When they chose to obey Lucifer, instead of God,
05:43 Paul says in Romans chapter 6, "Whoever you obey,
05:46 that's whose servant you are."
05:48 The dominion of the world that Adam had received
05:50 was handed over to the devil.
05:52 And even Jesus calls the devil the prince of this world.
05:56 Said, "The prince of this world comes,
05:57 and he has nothing in me."
06:00 That's why the devil said to Jesus, "If you fall down
06:03 and worship me, you don't need to die for this world.
06:04 I'll give it to you."
06:06 He claims the dominion of this world.
06:09 When the devil meets God in some heavenly meeting,
06:11 and God said, "Where did you come from?"
06:13 God knew, but He's asking for the sake of others.
06:15 Said, "I came from the earth, from walking up
06:17 and down and to and fro in it.
06:18 It's my territory."
06:20 So, people say, "Why is there all this evil in the world?"
06:22 It's because our first parents made a decision not to follow
06:27 God, and God allow--He allows things to play out.
06:31 You know, we live in a country where we get to elect
06:33 our leaders.
06:35 And what we elect we experience for the next four years,
06:39 good or bad.
06:41 I'm not advocating any party.
06:43 It's just you're going to live with the consequences
06:46 of your choices, and that's what's happening in the world
06:49 right now is we are living out the consequences of
06:51 the choices that were made by our first parents,
06:53 but it's going to come to an end soon.
06:56 God just wanted the whole world to see what is the result
06:58 of following the devil's government.
07:01 The devil said, "If I was in charge,
07:02 we'd be happier in the universe."
07:04 God said, "All right, you found a world that's listening to you.
07:07 Let's see how that goes."
07:09 What methods does Satan use in his work?
07:11 Answer A: "Satan, who deceives the whole world."
07:15 This is from Revelation 12, verse 9.
07:17 Satan is the great deceiver.
07:18 Now, you know what deception is.
07:20 Deception is not just the same thing as just telling a lie.
07:23 Deception is when you commingle truth with error.
07:27 See, in one sense, the devil's got an advantage
07:29 over God because God can only use truth.
07:33 God does not lie, and God cannot sin.
07:35 The devil can, he can tell the truth when it's to his
07:37 advantage, and then he mixes in a lie, and he deceives.
07:40 He wins people's support, and then he lies.
07:43 He gives you, you know, 99% orange juice
07:45 and one drop of strychnine, and then you're poisoned.
07:51 So, the devil is a great deceiver.
07:52 And how much of the world does the Bible say he's deceived?
07:56 The whole world--we just saw on the screen.
07:58 Is there a devil? "No, no, no."
08:01 The devil loves that.
08:03 People don't think he really exists.
08:05 I should mention at this point, folks that do think
08:08 of the devil got a totally distorted concept.
08:11 All right, bear with me for just a moment.
08:13 Close your eyes for four seconds, just close your eyes.
08:15 Picture the devil.
08:18 I don't want you to meditate on it, but if you were
08:19 to picture the devil, okay, what did you see?
08:21 How many saw red leotards?
08:24 Anybody see a goatee?
08:28 Any of your devils in your mind have a goatee?
08:30 I see there are one or two goatees out there.
08:31 Horns anyone?
08:33 Yeah.
08:35 Pitchfork?
08:38 The trident, you know--
08:41 Ostensibly, he's supposed to cook people evenly in hell.
08:43 That's why he uses that.
08:45 And he has sinister eyes, and he's got goat hooves, you know,
08:50 and he's got bat wings, and people say, you know,
08:53 "What does the devil look like?"
08:55 But in reality, the Bible tells us he is a beautiful angel--
08:59 a lot of misunderstandings-- deceives the whole world.
09:03 Jesus was tempted.
09:05 The devil's a tempter.
09:06 You can read answer B: "He was there in the wilderness
09:09 forty days tempted by Satan."
09:11 And the three principle temptations of the devil,
09:14 through Jesus, cover really all the potential temptations.
09:18 And in Jesus overcoming those temptations, which were
09:20 the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,
09:22 and the pride of life, in his overcoming those,
09:24 it's a pattern that we can be overcomers
09:28 because Jesus overcame.
09:29 There is no sin that you cannot overcome with Jesus's help.
09:32 You can resist temptation.
09:34 By the way, it is not a sin to be tempted.
09:37 Was Jesus tempted?
09:38 We're all tempted.
09:40 We're probably tempted several times a day.
09:42 That's not a sin.
09:43 It's a sin when you embrace and fall into the temptation.
09:46 Jesus faced temptation head-on.
09:49 He met it with the Word of God.
09:50 We're going to say more about that.
09:52 Matthew chapter 4, verse 8, "Again, the devil took Him up
09:54 to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms
09:57 of the world and their glory."
09:59 This is an example of his deception.
10:01 Now, I've been all over the world,
10:03 and it's just I am so blessed to be able to travel
10:07 and do my favorite thing, and talk about God.
10:10 And one of the most incredible cities--I see my friends
10:13 that have been with me in India and China over here.
10:16 I'm not going to name them because I don't want people
10:18 to know.
10:20 But they've been to Dubai a few times--
10:22 one of the most incredible cities in the world.
10:24 Someone took me to a hotel with golden toilet seats.
10:31 Beautiful city.
10:32 Do you know they don't have any cars in Dubai
10:34 over five years old?
10:35 It's against the law. They're all new cars.
10:37 It's like oil money everywhere, most expensive hotels
10:39 in the world, beautiful cities.
10:42 But I've also been to some cities that are, woo,
10:46 just awful mess.
10:50 The devil did not show Jesus the bad cities.
10:54 He showed him the good cities,
10:56 said, "Ah, the beautiful kingdoms of the world,
10:57 they'll all be yours if you fall down and worship me."
11:01 So, right here, it tells us what the devil wanted.
11:04 "Worship me."
11:05 The devil wants to be God.
11:09 The Bible also tells us that "They are the spirits of demons
11:11 performing signs," answer C.
11:13 The devil performs miracles.
11:16 His demons can perform miracles.
11:17 So, when you're trying to find out if something is true or not,
11:20 do you say, "Well, whoever can do the most signs and wonders,
11:22 they must be right"?
11:24 No.
11:26 Can the devil do signs and wonders?
11:27 You remember when in the Bible, I'm assuming, Moses came in,
11:31 and he threw down his rod, and it became a serpent?
11:34 And the Pharaoh summoned his magicians.
11:36 They came in, they threw down their rods,
11:38 and they became serpents.
11:41 So, the devil has a certain amount of power
11:43 to create illusions.
11:45 It says here, "He performs great signs, so that he even makes
11:48 fire come down from heaven in the sight of men."
11:52 Now, what verse is that?
11:54 Revelation 13.
11:56 This is in the verse about the beast and the mark of the beast.
11:59 One of the things that the devil will do to deceive people in the
12:02 last days is signs and wonders, making fire come down
12:04 from heaven.
12:06 Now, Elijah prayed and fire came down.
12:08 Three times Elijah prayed, fire came down,
12:11 three different times in his life.
12:13 Elijah prayed, and rain came down.
12:14 But the Bible says that the devil brought fire down
12:17 from heaven in the story of Job.
12:20 So, the devil has a certain amount of power
12:22 even over the elements.
12:24 Whenever there's an earthquake or a storm, everyone says,
12:26 "Why did God do that? It's an act of God."
12:29 Well, not always, friends.
12:31 I mean, God has biblically sometimes manipulated the
12:34 weather one way or the other to save people or to judge people,
12:39 but the devil can, too.
12:42 So, he'll counterfeit some of the miracles
12:44 and the power of God to deceive people.
12:47 He's an accuser.
12:48 He's always pointing the finger like he did at Job,
12:51 "accuser of our brethren who accused them
12:53 before God day and night."
12:54 Whenever you sin, the devil will tempt you to sin,
12:57 and then he will turn you in for sinning.
13:00 He's the accuser of the brethren,
13:02 Revelation 12, verse 10.
13:04 He's a murderer.
13:06 You read in the garden of Eden there,
13:08 he's the one who inspired Cain to murder his own brother,
13:12 and the devil is guilty of murder all over the planet,
13:15 he and his forces every single day.
13:17 He's a murderer, and he's also a liar.
13:20 He's just an outright lair.
13:21 He will tell people things that just are absolutely untruth,
13:26 and they believe it.
13:28 When is the devil the most dangerous?
13:32 Now you can look here
13:33 in the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 14.
13:37 "And no wonder!
13:39 For Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light."
13:43 Didn't Jesus warn us?
13:44 In the last days, there'll be many false prophets,
13:48 many false Christs that will do signs and wonders."
13:52 So, got to be on our guard.
13:56 Doug: Don't go anywhere, friends.
13:57 In just a moment, we'll be back to complete
13:58 today's presentation.
14:00 Have you ever had friends ask you, "If God is good,
14:03 and if he's loving, then why is there evil?
14:05 Why do the innocent suffer?
14:07 We have a very special powerful DVD documentary
14:10 we'd like to send you for free.
14:12 It's called the "Cosmic Conflict."
14:14 This compelling movie traces the origin of sin and talks
14:17 about Lucifer's rebellion.
14:19 It helps us understand why there is evil in the world today;
14:22 and more importantly, how you can have victory over sin.
14:26 To get your free copy, call the phone number on your screen
14:29 and ask for Offer #809, or visit the web address.
14:33 And after you watch this incredible resource,
14:35 be sure and share it with a friend.
14:37 So, how about we get back to today's presentation
14:39 and learn some more amazing facts from the Word of God?
14:44 Doug: I heard an interesting fact that probably
14:46 one of the most deadly or dangerous serial arsonist
14:52 was a man named John Orr.
14:55 Between 1984 and 1991, he set approximately
14:59 2000 fires in southern California.
15:03 What's really interesting is that his job was he was
15:06 a fire chief in Glendale, California, and he was the arson
15:11 investigator, and everyone wondered how he was able
15:14 to solve arson problems so quickly.
15:18 Because he set many of the fires himself,
15:21 made himself out to be a hero.
15:22 People died.
15:23 He didn't care.
15:25 He kept setting fires.
15:27 He's now in jail for several life sentences.
15:32 The Bible talks about, Jesus said, "Beware of," what?
15:36 "Prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing.
15:38 Inwardly, they are ravening wolves."
15:41 The devil works through religion.
15:43 Did Jesus have a Judas, even among the apostles?
15:46 He was a thief.
15:48 So, don't be discouraged if you say,
15:51 "Well, I'm not going to church.
15:52 There's hypocrites in the church.
15:53 There's all these counterfeit teachers and preachers out there
15:55 that are, you know,
15:57 they're making money on religion."
16:00 The devil is trying to discourage people
16:02 from following Jesus by all the counterfeits.
16:05 But buried in all the broken glass is the diamond.
16:07 It's the truth.
16:09 Does Satan know the Bible?
16:11 Ah, yeah, some people think that, you know,
16:13 if you're being tempted, you're just supposed
16:18 to take your Bible, and you wave it at the devil,
16:21 say some words, and the devil's going to run.
16:24 What?
16:26 You know, the devil will take your Bible out of your hand,
16:27 and he'll quote it back to you.
16:29 The devil knows the Bible better than anybody here, including me.
16:34 He's, I'm sure, got a photographic memory.
16:37 Did he quote the Bible to Jesus?
16:38 He did.
16:40 Matthew 4:5, one of the temptations,
16:41 it said, "The devil said to Him, 'If you're the Son of God--"
16:44 He took him up to the pinnacle of the temple.
16:46 "--cast Yourself down.
16:47 For it is written: 'He'll give His angels charge
16:50 concerning thee.'"
16:52 He left out the part that says,
16:53 "to keep you in all of Your ways."
16:55 You're not going to be jumping off of temples.
16:56 So, the devil not only quotes the Bible.
16:58 He knows how to misquote the Bible or take a verse
17:01 out of context.
17:04 But so many people out there, they think,
17:05 "Oh, I don't need to worry about the devil
17:07 because we've got five Bibles in our house,"
17:10 as though having a Bible on the nightstand is going
17:12 to protect you.
17:14 No, God doesn't want the Bible on the nightstand.
17:17 He wants it in your mind, amen?
17:19 "Thy word I have hidden in my heart,
17:22 that I might not sin against You."
17:24 You've got to put it in your heart,
17:25 and that's what you're doing by coming to this program,
17:28 we're trying to put the Word of God in your heart,
17:30 and it's going to make an eternal difference in your life.
17:33 Who on earth does the devil hate the most?
17:38 You can read about this in Revelation chapter 12, verse 17.
17:42 "The dragon was enraged with the woman,
17:45 and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring,
17:48 who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony
17:51 of Jesus Christ."
17:54 Now, when it says the dragon, who's the dragon?
17:56 That's the devil.
17:58 He's enraged with the woman, and he goes to make war.
18:02 Who's the woman?
18:04 I told you Christ married the church,
18:06 the bride of Christ.
18:08 The devil hates Jesus's children,
18:11 and he makes war with a special group.
18:14 He's not worried about the ones who take the name of Jesus
18:16 and don't live at all like Christ.
18:19 He's especially threatened by the ones
18:21 who have the testimony of Jesus,
18:23 they've got the faith of Jesus, and they keep
18:24 the commandments of God, and he makes war against them.
18:28 Now, the devil hates Jesus.
18:30 He cannot reach Jesus right now, but he wants to hurt Jesus.
18:34 What would hurt you more?
18:37 If someone held you down and tortured you,
18:39 or if they held your children down in front of you
18:41 and tortured them?
18:43 Won't that hurt more?
18:45 So, the devil knows how much God loves us.
18:47 God so loved us, He sent His Son to save us.
18:50 He wants to hurt God, and he hurts God by hurting us.
18:54 He knows that evil hurts us, and he hurts God
18:56 by tempting us to sin.
19:00 What two deadly animals does the Bible use to portray Satan?
19:05 You can read here, it says in 1 Peter 5:8,
19:08 "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil,
19:12 he walks about like a roaring lion,
19:14 seeking whom he might devour."
19:17 So, one of the characters that is often portrayed
19:19 as the devil is a lion, and the other one is--
19:23 you'll find this here in Revelation 12:9.
19:26 "So that great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old,
19:29 called the Devil and Satan."
19:31 Perhaps you remember there in the garden of Eden,
19:34 what medium did the devil use to speak to Eve?
19:38 It was a serpent.
19:40 And when Eve was going about her pleasant tasks and working
19:43 in the garden, maybe she had drifted a little bit from Adam.
19:46 He doesn't seem to have been there at that moment.
19:49 And this beautiful, hypnotic creature--you know, snakes,
19:54 the way they move can sometimes be rather hypnotic.
20:00 You'll sometimes see them go like that before
20:01 they strike at their prey.
20:03 And all of a sudden,
20:06 it's got this supernatural ability to speak.
20:08 And he says, "Oh," he says, "I didn't know
20:11 any of the animals could speak in the garden."
20:13 He said, "Yeah, well, I've been eating this fruit,
20:14 and it does wonderful things for you.
20:16 And did God say that you're not allowed to eat
20:19 from the trees in the garden?"
20:21 "Oh, no, we can eat from the trees in the garden,
20:22 but we're not supposed to eat from this tree,
20:24 not even supposed to touch it.
20:26 He said we'll die."
20:27 And the serpent said, "Die?
20:28 Well, look at me.
20:30 You're not going to die.
20:31 You're going to have supernatural abilities.
20:32 You'll be like God if you eat it.
20:35 You'll be even more beautiful."
20:38 And she said, "Well, seems to be working for the serpent."
20:42 And she took the fruit, and then she gave it--
20:46 she ate it, probably felt exhilarated for a little bit,
20:49 as sin often does.
20:51 It's like the little rush before the hangover.
20:54 Gave it to her husband, and then they felt the chill.
20:58 Their robes of light went out, and they saw their nakedness,
21:01 and they're running from God.
21:05 And the fruit got stuck in Adam's throat,
21:06 and that's why they call this an Adam's apple.
21:10 Where in the Bible does it say it was an apple?
21:13 It doesn't say that.
21:14 But have you ever seen any picture of Adam and Eve
21:16 in the garden where she's picking a peach,
21:19 pineapple, banana, pear?
21:24 It's always an apple.
21:25 Some traditions just don't die, right?
21:27 Could've been a coconut.
21:29 No, I'm--it was a unique fruit.
21:31 And so, but the devil used as medium of a serpent,
21:36 and because both lions and serpents are, you know,
21:40 they go after prey-- a serpent is coldblooded.
21:45 And there are verses in the Bible
21:47 that says that with the power of God
21:48 that you will be able to conquer both the lion and the serpent,
21:52 you will tread underfoot.
21:54 And then there's that verse in Mark chapter 16,
21:56 where Jesus said that through the power of His Spirit,
21:58 He said you'll be able to take up serpents.
22:01 Now, what He meant by that is if you get bit by a serpent,
22:03 you take it up, it won't harm you.
22:05 This happened to Paul in the book of Acts.
22:07 It doesn't mean we're going to go looking for snakes
22:09 and let them bite us and prove that we have supernatural power.
22:13 But the devil was symbolized by the serpent.
22:15 What was the curse that fell on the serpent?
22:18 "You will now go upon your belly.
22:19 You'll eat the dust of the ground."
22:21 Now just a little amazing fact I thought you'd find interesting
22:24 is all over the world, we find fossil evidence of these giant
22:28 flying reptiles--and even on serpents--this is a pterosaur.
22:33 That one there, wing span of 40 feet.
22:36 Its' like a Cessna airplane, weighed 300 pounds.
22:40 Everything changed after the flood.
22:43 But there were flying serpents, and this is part of the reason
22:45 that all over the world, you've got dragons--not just in China,
22:50 but in all these different cultures,
22:51 they've got legends about dragons--
22:53 probably because they saw some of the fossilized remains.
22:56 Or who knows?
22:58 But the serpent is often portrayed as a dragon,
23:00 all the way from Revelation to--or Genesis to Revelation.
23:05 What's the only way that we can resist Satan?
23:09 "Therefore submit to God.
23:11 Resist the devil, he will flee from you.
23:14 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you."
23:17 When the prodigal son came to his senses,
23:20 and he began his journey home, as soon as the father
23:22 saw him coming, the father ran to meet him.
23:25 If you've been living in the devil's territory
23:27 your whole life, or if you've been wandering there,
23:30 if you come to your senses and you pray and say,
23:32 "Lord, help me to find my way home,"
23:34 God will run to meet you.
23:36 There's human effort involved in resisting the devil.
23:39 This is what the verse says.
23:40 "Resist the devil, and he'll flee from you.
23:43 Draw near to God, he'll draw near to you."
23:45 Three times, the devil came to Jesus, and he was resisted.
23:49 How did Jesus fight the assaults of the devil?
23:52 All three times when Christ was tempted by the devil,
23:55 Jesus answered and said, "It is written, it is written.
24:00 Away with you, Satan, for it is written."
24:02 So, what is our best weapon to fight against the devil?
24:06 The promises in the Word of God.
24:08 The Word of God is powerful, friends.
24:10 The Bible says the Word of God is quick
24:12 and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.
24:16 God brought the world into existence,
24:17 He created through His Word.
24:19 He said, "Let it be," and it happened.
24:22 And through the Word of God, as you read it,
24:24 it has power in your life.
24:26 It gives you determination, it gives you strength
24:28 that you will not have otherwise.
24:30 It's like a sword.
24:31 Paul talks about putting on the armor of God.
24:33 And he says, "Use the sword of the Spirit,
24:35 which is the Word of God."
24:36 It's Ephesians chapter 6, verse 17.
24:40 Again, you can read Hebrews 4:12.
24:42 "The Word of God is living and powerful,
24:44 and sharper than any two-edged sword."
24:45 And in Revelation, it talks about Jesus coming.
24:48 In chapter 19, He's got a sword coming out of His mouth.
24:51 Now, you realize Revelation is full of symbols.
24:53 When Jesus comes, he's not going to have
24:55 a big old dagger sticking out of His face.
24:57 It's a symbol for the sword in the mouth is
24:59 what's in His mouth?
25:01 The Word of God, right?
25:02 So, Jesus even comes conquering with the Word of God
25:07 in His mouth.
25:08 It portrays Him that way.
25:10 How does God feel about the destruction of the wicked,
25:13 those who follow the devil?
25:15 The Bible says Satan and those who follow Satan are cast
25:18 into the lake of fire, Revelation chapter 20.
25:21 Does the Lord enjoy that?
25:24 "Say to them, 'As I live,' says the Lord--'"
25:27 This is Ezekiel 33:11.
25:30 "'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,
25:32 but that the wicked would turn from his way and live.'"
25:35 Now listen to the appeal of God.
25:37 "Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways!
25:40 For why will you die?"
25:42 The Lord is pleading with us, "Please turn.
25:44 I'll give you power to turn.
25:46 You'll never be happy with a life of sin.
25:48 Turn from your evil ways and live.
25:51 For why will you die?"
25:53 I mean, God has set before us all two options:
25:55 Jesus or the devil.
25:57 There's no--Christ said, "If you're not with me,
25:59 you're against me."
26:00 If you have not given your life to Christ, then don't say,
26:02 "Well, I'm neutral."
26:04 No, you're not neutral.
26:05 Saying no to Jesus is saying yes to the enemy.
26:07 You're either with God or you're against Him.
26:10 Moses said, "You want life, good, and blessing, or death,
26:13 evil, and cursing?"
26:15 Everybody has those two options.
26:16 The only way to have life, good, and blessing is to put your life
26:19 in God's hands.
26:21 Amen?
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26:48 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word
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28:01 And thank you for your continued support
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Revised 2024-01-10