An Enemy Kingdom
Notes
Transcript
The Fall
The Fall
We saw last week that God is the king of the universe and He made us in His image and commanded us to rule the world. But we had an enemy who also wanted to rule the world his name is Satan. Satan has his own kingdom and it is an enemy kingdom to God’s kingdom. He has been waging war since the beginning and he has been trying to kill as many people as he can.
22 Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and unable to speak was brought to him. He healed him, so that the man could both speak and see. 23 All the crowds were astounded and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” 24 When the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man drives out demons only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” 25 Knowing their thoughts, he told them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? For this reason they will be your judges. 28 If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
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Satan is referred to in John as the ruler of this world.
31 Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
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again
30 I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me.
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and again
11 and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
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But how did he become the ruler of this world? He became the ruler of this world by waging war and winning ground. He has been fighting against us, and instead of fighting back against him, we have been fighting each other.
Jesus said He saw Satan cast out of heaven.
17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” 18 He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like lightning. 19 Look, I have given you the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy; nothing at all will harm you. 20 However, don’t rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
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And Revelation gives us a very detailed description of Satan and his angels being cast to earth.
7 Then war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels also fought, 8 but he could not prevail, and there was no place for them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was thrown out—the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have now come, because the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been thrown down. 11 They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; for they did not love their lives to the point of death. 12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you with great fury, because he knows his time is short.
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So we see that he is a ruler, and his rule is over things and people and angels in this world that are at war with God and His kingdom. He is furious and he is trying to take as many people down with him as he can, including you and me. Therefore Peter warned us
8 Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.
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But he has been defeated by the cross. And the gospel has the power to strip people away from his tyranny over them.
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were under the tyranny of the devil, because God was with him.
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And when Saul was headed to damascus and Jesus revealed himself to him?
14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice speaking to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 “I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “And the Lord replied: ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. 16 But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
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The gospel is the power of God to save everyone from the kingdom of darkness and transfer them into the kingdom of light.
13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.
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And we don’t have to be afraid of him. In fact when we have the Holy Spirit in us, he is afraid of us. God said all we have to do is resist him and he will flee from us.
7 Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
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So you have God’s kingdom, and you have Satan’s kingdom. Satan’s kingdom is an enemy kingdom to God’s kingdom that is waging war against God’s kingdom. He is trying to kill as many people as he can and he has a huge army, a third of the angels, and he’s incredibly intelligent and quite powerful, and in spite of all his power and resources, all we have to do is resist him and he flees from us. Let me say that again. The biggest enemy kingdom to God’s kingdom, with an almost countless army of creatures that are thousands of years old, with supernatural powers, that is trying to kill everyone in the world, is terrified of the Holy Spirit of God in us and flees from us when we resist him.
19 You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.
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So what’s holding us back? It’s not Satan. If anyone is holding us back from advancing God’s kingdom on earth, it’s us. Yes Satan will do whatever he can to slow us down, or destroy us, or divide us, or even distract us, but he can’t stop us. But we can. We can choose to stop. We can choose to not act. We can choose to not love God with all we are, to not love others, and to not make disciples.
Let’s put on our spiritual armor every morning, and let’s go out and rescue the very people that Satan is trying to kill. Let’s never give up, never back down, and never get off track.