The Great Battle
Notes
Transcript
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Uncle Raymond - Inoperable Tumor at top of brain stem.Going in for a very risky biopsy tomorrow. Praying for his healing and salvation.
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Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
The Return of War
The Return of War
Unexpected War in Ukraine/Israel
War has shown its ugly face recently. For several decades people believed that war was finished.
Sure, we might have a little problem with terroists here, or a little fight there, but surely proper war was over.
We have the internet to connect us all together, we have immense prosperity to keep people happy, and we have nuclear weapons to force people to keep the peace.
But, like sunburn in summer, war has returned. We currently have a war in Europe, (just last week, Ukraine launched the first succesful assault on Russian territory since World War II) and a war in the Middle East and the constant threat of war in the Pacific.
“War is like love, it always finds a way.” —Bertolt Brecht
“War is like love, it always finds a way.” —Bertolt Brecht
In a fallen world, full of human sin, war is inevitable.
A Spiritual War
A Spiritual War
The battle between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Darkness.
But, war between nations isn’t the only war in this world. There is much deeper, darker, older battle raging, the Great War which empowers all of the other wars. That war is between the Kingdom of God, and the kingdom of darkness.
From the moment Satan entered the serpent and tempted Eve and Adam to rebel against God, every inch of the planet, and every single human has been caught up in a great, violent, and deadly conflict. And nobody can avoid it.
We are at war!
A war for our souls. A war over the state of the world. A war between Satan and the forces of darkness and God.
Three Aims of Satanic Warfare
Three Aims of Satanic Warfare
Satan, God’s ultimate enemy, has at least three aims as he wages war on God and His people:
1. Satan aims to inflict pain, misery and suffering upon God’s creation.
1. Satan aims to inflict pain, misery and suffering upon God’s creation.
John 10:10 (ESV)
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
a. EVIL IS REAL.
Do you think, when you read news about vicious violence, about people doing great acts of cruelty, that these are only caused by accident, or by genetic mix up, or by bad management, or by childhood trauma, or by politics?
Do you think, when you hear about women dancing in the street celebrating their ability to murder babies in the womb, that there are no demonic forces dancing with them?
No! Dark forces stir up vileness and malice and evil in the human heart and empower atrocities that destroy God’s good creation.
Evil has an amazing tendency to spiral, is has a supernatural tendency to grip people and drag them down into darkness
Satanwants to destroy and stirs up every kind of evil.
Whether that be a global war that kills millions, or a deceptive set of ideas that ruins lives, or whether it’s through a Demon that makes a man mute, Satan works to destroy God’s creation.
2. Satan tempts people away from righteousness.
2. Satan tempts people away from righteousness.
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Sin leads to death and destruction. Sin leads to misery. Sin seperates us from God. All of these are sound good to the one who hates God.
Satan’s forces work to ensare us in sin. He whispers in our ears that the way to death is really the way to life.
Like a master manipulator, or advertising agency, the Devil pulls on our
Temptation to evil isn’t a coincidence. It’s a work of darkness.
3. Satan resists the expansion of the Kingdom of God.
3. Satan resists the expansion of the Kingdom of God.
But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?
Satan loves to make crooked the straight paths of the Lord.
Whether that is through discouragement, persecution, distraction, opposition, you name it!
NICO AND THE LIGHTS
If God wants to do something, Satan works to stop it!
Satan stirred up the Pharisees to resist Christ, Satan entered Judas to betray Him.
Satan is behind church splits, he’s at work in cynicism and criticism and doubt and discouragement.
So - We are at War!
Here is the Good News, Satan has already lost.
Here is the Good News, Satan has already lost.
The end of the war is already set in stone. Jesus defeated him at the cross and guaranteed that the end of the story is God winning and Satan and all his armies thrown into the lake of fire.
Satan cannot, will not, win.
But bad News, the war isn’t over just yet.
World War II was more vicious After D-Day.
Two Responses to War.
Two Responses to War.
Back to our passage.
Jesus is on a rescue mission. He casts out a demon and sets a man free from the power of the devil.
In many ways, this passage is about how we RESPOND TO THE WAR.
Look at the crowd, initially they are amazed “Wow! God did something awesome”! It seems like Satan is crushed!
But, the devil is a clever opponent. He knows he cannot beat Jesus in battle for the man, so he concentrates on the crowd of witnesses.
People should be celebrating! Satan has been defeated! But instead, they start asking silly questions.
This is something Satan will always try and do, and often successfully.
He tries to trick us into behaving like ARM CHAIR EXPERTS - OR WAR CORRESPONDENTS.
He wants to decieve to believe that we can be a sort of NEUTRAL THIRD PARTY.
Forgetting that in this war you are either UNDER THE POWER OF SATAN (AND WORKING FOR HIM)
Or FREED BY THE POWER OF JESUS (AND SERVING HIM).
1. First Response - It’s an inside job!
1. First Response - It’s an inside job!
But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,”
You’ll all remember a few weeks ago that someone attempted to assasinate Donald Trump. The bullet was basically still flying, and people said “It was an inside job!”.
Satan tried to convince some people in the crowd that the only reason Jesus could drive out demons was because he WAS A DEMON!
The Pharisees were jealous and insecure, and they felt threatened by the power of Jesus and couldn’t admit he was doing good, so they claimed he was doing evil.
Satan loves this trick. Anytime you do anything for God that pushes back the powers of darkness, Satan will stir people up to say “the REAL PROBLEM is YOU!”
Some people respond to those who cast out demons - “Well, they are actually demons themselves.”
There have been many people and preachers who are supposedly great men of the Bible who refuse to believe that anyone can cast out a demon.
They either insist demons don’t exist - which is foolish - or they blaspheme the work of God bysaying Satan drives out Satan.
Now, it’s true, people can hurt others in the name of Jesus.
The world of exorcisms and demons is full of foolishness and bad actors.
But, we tell a tree by its fruit! Are people being set free? If so, why would Satan cast out satan?
Satan tempts us to be skeptical of anything Good.
Somebody is succesful in evangelism “Oh, they must be offering a cheap gospel”.
Somebody is seeing healing and miracles, “Oh, they must be manipulating people”.
On a personal level - Someone gets a promotion, “She’s probably flirting with the boss”.
Instead of rejoicing with the good, and celebrating what God has done we become CYNICAL SKEPTICS. We start looking for ways to accuse.
Interestingly, when we do this we become a technical SATAN = literally means “Oppose” “accuse” “Adversary”
Interestingly, when we do this we become a technical SATAN = literally means “Oppose” “accuse” “Adversary”
Jesus turns and says, “Well how do your sons do it?”
And that’s quite common. Often the thing we are most CYNICAL and SKEPTICAL about, is the very thing WE DO!
See, SATAN is driven by pride, and he is the ULTIMATE CYNIC “Did God really say?” “Oh, Job is only good because your are nice to him!”
How do you fight this Suspicion?
How do you fight this Suspicion?
You have to know AND LOVE the truth.
You have to know the differnce between right and wrong. You must learn to recognise the uniform of the kingdom of darkness and the uniform of the kingdom of God.
A lot of evil is done by people who don’t know the truth.
If you believe, for example, that someone living in sexual sin is actually “living their best life” then you will be offended if they meet Jesus and change their lifestyle.
BUT it’s not enough to simply know the facts. You have to also LOVE the TRUTH (which means love God).
1 Corinthians 8:1 - “Knowledge puffs up, but LOVE builds up.
b. You must have humility. The pharisees hated Jesus mostly from jealousy. He was winning praise and honour and they felt he was taking it from them.
Pride is an open door to Satan.
A divided House
But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.
Satan works to make us suspicious of each other and he works when we accuse each other.
The same principle is true of the kIngdom of God, as is true of the Kingdom of darkness.
It’s not that we don’t need discernment, or that we should naively accept everything.
But, if we find ourselves falling into the skeptic camp. We will start having a lot of silly and inconsistent obejections.
2. Second Response - War as a Spectator Sport.
2. Second Response - War as a Spectator Sport.
War can be entertaining. Especially if we aren’t involved. We watch with wide eyes the news and the footage and it’s kind of exciting.
while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.
These people weren’t thinking about THE MUTE MAN. They weren’t thinking about THEIR OWN NEED.
They wanted Jesus to do a miracle to “prove himself” and to entertain them!
Another easy temptation: Forgetting that we need God, that we are trapped without His help, we start demanding.
“Christianity is boring, church is boring, do something exciting!”
“If God was real, he’d do a trick.”
The Man with the Demon didn’t want Jesus to prove himself, he wanted RESCUING!
Concluding Thoughts
Concluding Thoughts
Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
We are in a war. Jesus makes it clear, if you are not with Jesus - if you are cynic, if you are wanting to be a spectator - you are against him.
We have to choose.
If you want to overcome the strong man (Satan) you have to cling to the one stronger than him.
English Standard Version (Chapter 11)
but when one stronger than he attacks him
But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.