Knowing your Adversary
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Spiritual Battle
Spiritual Battle
Over the history of the Church, The primary thinking has changed around some important subjects
one of these topics is our world view of spiritual forces
In the early church, There was a focus on the devil and his work in the believers lives
They had this view that satan was real and they were actively fighting against his efforts
5-6 hundred years ago the focus changed to the sovereignty of God.
The thinking went like this , God is sovereign and everything that happens is according to His will.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
This brings up some challenging questions.
What about suffering and evil.
After all if God is completely sovereign, He must be responsible for everything that happens of this earth right
The Good and the bad!
God must be responsible for every bad thing that happens on the earth right
That creates a conflict in our thinking.
If God is responsible for the evil, How can He be considered good?
Its a valid question, and a question that goes unanswered in many peoples minds
When this question goes unanswered, is is very difficult to trust God is a good, good father!
This line of thinking is very dangerous, and its guaranteed to distort our view
Does God tempt us to sin?
After all if God is completely sovereign, He must be responsible for everything that happens of this earth
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.
For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
Hebrews
The sovereignty of God View that many Christians hold is true, God is sovereign, but it is missing a very key component
The devil!
He’s the missing element in the story of Job
But we will leave that for another day!
How do we reconcile the sovereignty of God with the fact that bad things happen and God claims to be completely good?
Well to answer this we need a bigger understanding of sovereignty on earth.
The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”
God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.
God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.
God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.
Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so.
The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.
There was evening and there was morning, a third day.
Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years;
and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.
God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.
God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.
There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.”
God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.
God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
,
God gave authority of the earth over to man
To the woman He said,
“I will greatly multiply
Your pain in childbirth,
In pain you will bring forth children;
Yet your desire will be for your husband,
And he will rule over you.”
Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;
Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life.
“Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the plants of the field;
By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 3:16
Adam and Eve’s sin caused the earth to come under a curse
Evil was allowed to enter and inhabit the earth.
satan was given the right to exert his will on the earth through adam and eve’s rejection of God
satan became the prince of the earth
“I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me;
John
We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.
in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
“Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
Jesus regains authority on the earth
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Jesus gives Authority to His Church
“Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.
Jesus Rebukes the storm
And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.
Who is satan?
Again the word of the Lord came to me saying,
“Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God,
“You had the seal of perfection,
Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
“You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Every precious stone was your covering:
The ruby, the topaz and the diamond;
The beryl, the onyx and the jasper;
The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald;
And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets,
Was in you.
On the day that you were created
They were prepared.
“You were the anointed cherub who covers,
And I placed you there.
You were on the holy mountain of God;
You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.
“You were blameless in your ways
From the day you were created
Until unrighteousness was found in you.
“By the abundance of your trade
You were internally filled with violence,
And you sinned;
Therefore I have cast you as profane
From the mountain of God.
And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub,
From the midst of the stones of fire.
“Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;
You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.
I cast you to the ground;
I put you before kings,
That they may see you.
“By the multitude of your iniquities,
In the unrighteousness of your trade
You profaned your sanctuaries.
Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you;
It has consumed you,
And I have turned you to ashes on the earth
In the eyes of all who see you.
“All who know you among the peoples
Are appalled at you;
You have become terrified
And you will cease to be forever.” ’ ”
Isaiah 14:
‘Your pomp and the music of your harps
Have been brought down to Sheol;
Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you
And worms are your covering.’
“How you have fallen from heaven,
O star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations!
“But you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
“Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol,
To the recesses of the pit.