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ATONEMENT - 2001
Fred Coulter - September 27, 2001
And greetings, brethren. This is for the Day of Atonement, the year
2001. And of course as we know and we always begin there, we know that
on every holy day that we do take up an offering. And we are to come
before God according to the blessing that He has given us.
Now let’s go to Leviticus 23 and let’s read the instruction for the Day of
Atonement, beginning in verse 26. “And the LORD spake unto Moses,
saying, Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be
a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall
afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD” (Lev.
23:26-27). Now to afflict your souls means that you are to fast
without eating food and drinking water. And to make an offering unto
the Lord made by fire, that is for those who come to the Temple and it is in
addition to the regular priestly offering of the Day of Atonement to make
atonement for the children of Israel.
Now let’s come down here to verse 37. “These are the feasts of
the LORD…” And of course these are the ones that we keep. And the
world today doesn’t want to keep them. They will think of every excuse
and every reason as to why not to keep them, but God says keep them.
And so when it comes down to everything concerning the word of God we have
to ask the question: Do we love God. Do we believe His word? Or,
are we more concerned about what people in the world think about us.
So, “These are
the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy
convocations…” And as we’ve seen many times there in 2 Timothy 4, we are to
preach in season and out of season and preach the word. So these are
holy convocations or appointed times. “…To offer an offering made by
fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a [meal] meat offering, a
sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: besides the
sabbaths of the LORD…” So these are the Sabbaths. All of them
listed here in Leviticus 23, it starts out with the weekly Sabbath and then
all the annual Sabbaths. “…And beside your gifts, and beside all your
vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD”
(vs. 37-38). And then it goes on explaining a little more about the
Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day, which will begin in five days
from now by the way, the Feast of Tabernacles. And we’re looking
forward to that, and looking forward to seeing as many of you as we can.
So at this time we’ll go ahead and pause and we’ll take up the offering for
the Day of Atonement.
(Pause)
Now let’s continue on with the specific instructions for the Day of
Atonement. The Day of Atonement is a very special day, and there are
also some important instructions contained in here that help us understand
concerning the rest of the Sabbaths of God. Now let’s pick it up here
in verse 28 of Leviticus 23. “And ye shall do no work in that same
day: for it is
a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.
For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same
day, he shall be cut off from among his people.” Now how is it that a
person is cut off from among his people? He is cut off from God, left
to his own devices, and the blessing of God is withdrawn from him. That is
worse in most cases than a physical affliction. You are cut off from
the people of God. And we’ve seen this happen haven’t we? Yes we
have. And people who forsake the holy days and people who give up on
doing what God has said to do, they have been cut off from God and then cut
off from the people of God.
Now verse 30. “And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work
in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.”
Now there are many ways to be destroyed. If you’re cut off, that’s the
first step. And if you go work then the next step is that you are
destroyed. Now, the most destructive thing that can happen to anyone
is not the loss of their physical life. That can happen, but it’s not
talking about this. This is talking about us in a spiritual sense, our
spiritual lives are destroyed, and our spiritual standing with God is
destroyed. You see we are totally cut off. That’s how important
this Day of Atonement really is. You see, it’s vital for salvation.
It’s vital for our relationship with God. And just like we learned
with the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a little leaven leavens the whole lump,
and that is a truism. Absolute living law, that once people start down
the road of compromising the word of God, compromising the truth of God,
compromising with the world, then the leaven just comes in. And we’re
going to see that Satan is the author of that, and we are going to see
exactly how he operates and what we need to do to resist him. Because
this day has great meaning for the world as well as for us.
Verse 31, “Ye shall do no manner of work [in it]:…” So there we have
three times - no work, no manner of work, any work. “…It shall be
a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It
shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls:
in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye
celebrate your sabbath” (vs. 31-32). Now, the King James does not show
what it really means in the Greek. Now, the Hebrew Old Testament was
translated into the Greek, which is called the Septuagint. And there’s
a very interesting thing that is brought out with this concerning this
particular day, concerning the Day of Atonement.
Now let’s pick it up here in verse 32. “It shall be a holy sabbath to
you. You shall humble your soul. So the ninth day of the month
at even, from even to even shall you keep your sabbaths.” Now in the
Greek it is plural, “you shall keep your sabbaths”. So what it is
here, it is now a direct command on how to keep all the Sabbath days, from
even to even, or the Hebrew there is barev to barev meaning
sunset to sunset. Now that’s the easiest way for anyone to understand
when the Sabbath begins and when the Sabbath ends because all they have to
do is see where the sun sets, when it sets, and they know that the Sabbath
begins, or the Sabbath ends. So the tenth day of the month is defined
from the ninth day of the month at sunset to the tenth day of the month at
sunset, is the tenth day. And the tenth day of this seventh month, the
Day of Atonement is really profoundly important.
Now let’s look at some other things. Let’s come here to Exodus 31 and
let’s see the command that shows what we are to do. And that these
Sabbaths, that these holy days are a sign, and God has never changed that
sign. It’s something that we need to understand. Exodus 31:12,
“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of
Israel, saying, Verily [truly] My sabbaths…” Now that is the correct
translation. That’s the way it was translated in the English from the
Hebrew, and in the Greek from the Hebrew - “My sabbaths”. But it’s
very important to understand that all the way through here, when it’s not
referring directly to the weekly Sabbath, it is referring to the Sabbaths.
So you have the whole package. You can’t do like the Seventh Day
Adventists, or the Church of God 7th Day, and take the seventh
day and have that and say now, “Oh, we have truth. We understand the
Sabbath day.” No, you have partial truth because you’re leaving the
Sabbaths, because the keeping of the Sabbaths is the sign. It’s like
having half a sign. Now if you have half a word that’s on a sign you
don’t know what it’s in. Just like one of latest ads that they have.
The company’s abbreviation is “ing”. So they have it on a park bench
and then they have people sit before the “ing”. So they show the
people and then right next to it the “ing” and they ask people to guess what
the word is. And no one can guess it. And they’re all wrong
because there is no word there, it’s just “ing”. Well that is exactly
what happens when people have the Sabbath but not the holy days. They
only have “ing”, they don’t have the rest of it. And it should
probably be “keeping”. That’s what it does mean here in the scripture.
“Verily [truly] My sabbaths ye shall keep: for it [that is the
keeping of the sabbaths] is a sign between Me and you throughout your
generations; that ye
may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.” And of
course we are sanctified through Christ. And it is the Lord that
sanctifies us. And we know God. Now let’s look at it the other
way around. If you don’t keep these days you don’t know God.
Think on that for a minute. That’s why it’s so important. And
that’s why people who quit keeping these days end up not knowing God.
Now let’s continue on. “Ye shall keep the sabbath[s] [plural in the
Greek and Hebrew] therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that
defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any
work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people” (vs. 14).
Now they may feel good out shopping. They may have a good deal in
being able to save money. But the question is: If you save money and
you lose your life, what have you gained? Even Jesus said if you
gained the whole world and lose your life, what have you gained?
Nothing. You’ve lost everything. To gain the whole world and
lose you life is meaningless. Now you may have a little thrill or a
little power, or whatever in between the time that you acquire it and die,
but sooner or later you’re going to die and it’s over with, you see.
Now then He talks about the regular Sabbath. Just exactly as it began
there in Leviticus 23. “Six days may work be done; but in the seventh
is
the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the
sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death” (vs. 15). Now notice
what we have. The same wording, don’t we. Number 1, cut off, and
then death.
Now let’s apply that spiritually. When you are cut off from the
people of God, when you don’t keep the Sabbath and holy days, you’re walking
down the road to spiritual death. So we can apply New Testament
doctrine here. “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the
sabbath[s] [plural]…” That’s what it means in the Hebrew and the
Greek, “shall keep them”. Now who is the Israel of God today?
The Church. So we are the true spiritual Israel, and we are to keep
the Sabbaths of God. “…To observe the sabbath[s] throughout their
generations, for a perpetual covenant” (vs. 16). Now let’s
understand something profound and important here that we need to really let
sink in deeply, is this: We have the New Covenant with God through Jesus
Christ by His sacrifice, by His blood, by His body, by His death, by His
resurrection. That is the New Covenant. The covenant that God
made with Israel was a temporary one to last until the death of Jesus
Christ. But let’s understand something here. This Sabbath
command is a separate perpetual ongoing covenant that stands right along
side the New Covenant, stands right along side the Old Covenant when it was
in effect. And as a matter of fact, goes all the way back to the
promises given to Abraham.
Now lets continue on here. “It [the keeping of the Sabbaths] is
a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever…” Then He emphasizes
again the weekly Sabbath. “…For in six days the LORD made
heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed” (vs.
17). Now let’s notice what happened after this, because this is
profound.
Verse 18, “And He gave unto Moses, when He had made an end of communing
with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written
with the finger of God.” Now notice the people’s reaction. I
think it’s profound. Israel never wanted to keep the Sabbath.
Period. They always wanted their own way, their own Sunday, their own
gods, their own worship. And the only time that they kept the Sabbath
and holy days was when they had a king or they had a judge or they had a
ruler such as Ezra and Nehemiah that made them do it. They never did
it from the heart. So it’s fitting that the very next chapter, what do
we have?
Exodus 32:1, “And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out
of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said
unto him, Up, make us gods…for as for this Moses, the man that
brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.”
So we’re going to take it into our own hands and we’re going to do it our
way, you see. No faith, no belief in God. They want their own
god so they made them golden calves, and you know the rest of the story.
So I think it’s very profound that right after this command and this
instruction is given in Exodus 31 that we have the rebellion of the children
of Israel in Exodus 32. And true today, people do not want to keep the
Sabbath. And if they keep the Sabbath in many cases they don’t keep
the holy days.
Now why all of this confusion? Why all of these disparities and
difficulties? Let’s come back and let’s see the origin of where this
day began. Let’s come to Genesis 3, because this day has an awful lot
to do with the author of sin, Satan the devil, the one who inspires and
causes people to rebel and go against God, and the one who is our adversary,
as we will see, and the one who is exerting all force and pressure and power
to seek to destroy the people of God. Now he does it very subtly just
like he did with Adam and Eve. Now let’s understand something
important here concerning Genesis 3. When the serpent comes on the
scene he is already Satan the devil. And the only four personages that
were in the Garden of Eden were: 1) God, 2-3) Adam and Eve, 4) Satan.
And he came bringing an interesting sounding message. And he came
contradicting God, but sounding like he was bringing “new truth”. And
one thing you can always count on, whenever there is a theologian or a
minister who preaches against what God has said, or makes light of what God
has said, know and understand that person is not from God but from Satan the
devil.
Now let’s begin right here in Genesis 3:1. “Now the serpent was more
subtil than any beast of the field… And he said unto the woman, Yea,
hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” And I
like the way Tyndale translates it. He says, “Tush.” In other
words, just sarcastically getting rid of any authority of God with the word
“tush”.
“And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees
of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of
the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch
it, lest ye die” (vs. 2-3). Now what did God say about the Sabbath?
If you don’t keep it, you’re cut off. And if you continue not keeping
it and work on it, you die. Same thing. Exactly the same thing.
Same with the Day of Atonement, correct?
“But…”, verse 3 in answering said, “…the fruit of the tree which is
in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither
shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” And there’s a strange quirk about
human nature and the way human beings think which is this, rarely in a whole
lifetime do we really think of death or contemplate death. Somehow we
all feel that we’re all going to continue living the way that we are until
all of a sudden we’re confronted with death staring us in the face.
And that’s when we begin to think about death. So it was very easy for
Satan to come to Eve and come to say, “Ye shall not surely die.” Now
here she was just created of God. Young, beautiful, full mature woman
with a full speaking language and able to think and understand, comprehended
what God taught them. Conversed with the serpent.
So then he says, “God knows…” Now he’s accusing God. “…That you shall
not die.” “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your
eyes shall be opened…” Now notice this. Satan always calls things the
opposite of what they are. Because their eyes were closed
to the truth of God, their eyes, sure enough, were open to sin. “…And
ye shall be as gods, knowing [or that is, determining for yourself what is]
good and evil” (vs. 5). Therefore then they become gods unto
themselves and that’s the way the whole world is going today.
Determining for themselves what is good, what is evil, what is right, what
is wrong. And of course Satan is in there giving them all of the wrong
data, just like he did here with Eve.
So, “…when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that
it was pleasant to the eyes…” You see there is a pleasure in sin for a
season. And there’s a self-deception that comes about when you
knowingly go against the word of God, and the command of God, which Eve did,
which Adam did. It’s called justification. You justify it in
your mind. Regardless of how bad it is, you justify it in your mind.
Pleasant to the eyes, oh yes this is lovely. “…And a tree to be
desired to make one wise…” And of course that’s the same folly we’re
doing today. “Oh, if we only had more knowledge we’ll be able to solve
this problem.” No, that’s not correct. If you have God then you
can solve the spiritual problem in your life and then the other problems can
be taken care of. Just like they say today, “Well, if we have more
knowledge we can get rid of the scourge of AIDS. No, that won’t get
rid of it. All the knowledge, all the research, all the scientific
whatever is not going to get rid of AIDS or any of the other things but
obedience to God. And that’s what’s important. So Satan doesn’t
tell you any of that. He said, “We’ll find a way. We’ll get more
information. We’ll create a medicine. We’ll get a vaccine.”
Now let’s go on here. She wanted to be wise. “…She took of the
fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he
did eat. And…”, sure enough, “…the eyes of them both were opened…”, to
see evil, to commit sin, to ignore God’s way. And then from that time
on mankind has been cut off from God. Now he’s had access to God but
in general all mankind has been cut off from God because of what Adam and
Eve did here. So the entrance of Satan the devil, who as the covering
cherub, who was right over the throne of God, who then was corrupted by his
own wisdom and his own beauty and his own trafficking, and all the things
that go along with Satan. Then he said, “I’m going to be like the most
High.”
Let’s go to Isaiah 14. Let’s see that. That’s important to
understand so that we realize what we’re dealing with, with Satan the devil.
And he is cunning, and he is powerful, but Christ is more powerful.
And the One that is in you is greater than the one that is in the world.
Never ever forget that because you don’t have to be afraid of Satan the
devil, but you don’t go around standing up and challenging him. You
let God fight you battles for you. You draw close to God, let Him help
you and strengthen you. And draw close to Him and flee the devil, as
we will see a little bit later on.
Isaiah 14:12, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the
morning!” Now Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall as a star from heaven.”
And he fell from heaven. He was cast down. And this is where it
took place. “How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst
weaken the nations!” And yes, everything that Satan has done, his way,
his plan, the way that he has developed all the society of the world has
weakened them. And all the globalization that’s taking on now is
weakening them even more. “For thou hast said in thine heart…” And he
hasn’t completed this yet because he’s going to try and do it. He’s going to
try and complete this even though he was cast down to the ground. “…I
will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God…” Now
Satan has a throne. And the stars of God then are the angels of God or
the literal stars that he would rule over the stars of God, whereas God
created them and upholds the galaxies by the word of His power. Satan
said that he’s going to take them. “…I will sit also upon the mount of
the congregation, in the sides of the north [which is where God’s throne
is]: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds…” [“God is not
going to restrict me here to the earth and the clouds. I’m going to
get above them.”] “…I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt
be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit” (Isaiah 14:12-15).
And that’s what this day pictures, when this is going to take place.
Now let’s understand something concerning Satan the devil. Let’s look
at the book of Revelation and let’s look at this rebellion as it’s brought
out here in Revelation 12. Because as we’re going to see, our greatest
battles is fighting against the things of Satan and his demons in this
world, and all that they control, and all that it is of the world.
Revelation 12:3, “And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a
great red dragon…” So he’s called the great red dragon. We’re going to
see the many names of Satan and the power that he has, and what we need to
be aware of and be alert all the time so that we are not caught by the
whiles of Satan. Number 1, he’s called the great red dragon, “…having
seven heads and ten horns, and seven drowns upon his heads.” Seven
heads and ten horns is a counterfeit of God’s way. That is, you might
say, almost identical to what was represented by the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil.
“And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven…” That is, the
angels of God. A third of them rebelled with him and became demons.
“…And did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman
which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was
born” (vs. 4). So this is a very fast summary of the history of what
has gone on from the beginning of creation. And how that Satan has
interfered with it. And of course he wanted to kill Christ. And
he inspired Herod to go ahead and kill all the children two years and under
in Bethlehem, trying to kill the One Who was Jesus Christ, the Son of man,
the Savior of mankind, Who is the Son of God.
Now let’s continue on here in Revelation 12. “And she brought forth a
man child, Who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron…” Now that is
going to be done during the Millennium. “…And her child was caught up
unto God, and to His throne” (vs. 5). This is a
quick summary of the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ
to ascend to the throne of God the Father to be our High Priest at His right
hand right now.
Now then there was war in heaven. Now let’s come down here to verse
7. “And there was war in heaven [and this war is yet to take place]:
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and
his angels…” (vs. 7). “And the great dragon was cast out…” This is the
final casting out because Satan, as we will see, has authority yet to come
before God. This will be the final casting down. When there is
that war in heaven and Satan is cast down to the earth, that’s the final
casting down. But notice, “…which deceiveth the whole world…” And I
could give a whole series on how Satan is deceiving the whole world.
And the way that he wants to deceive every one of us in the Church of God is
this: False doctrine. False doctrine that is made to look so
good. Just like he told Eve. “Why sure enough, you can decide
what’s right and wrong.” Why, we’re told today, aren’t we, the same
thing? “Why sure enough, you can look in the Bible there. You
can determine for yourself. But let me tell you how to determine it
for yourself…” And then you’re given false doctrine. That’s how false
doctrine arises and Satan the devil is the author of false doctrine.
Do you understand that? Cause if he can get you with that then he can
begin to lead you away from God. And then you will end up not having
salvation. So this is very critical we understand what’s going on
here. Deceiving the whole world. “…He was cast out into the
earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (vs. 9).
Now we know in the first chapter of the book of Job the sons of God, who
are the angels, come before God and Satan is standing in the midst of them.
And God says to Satan, “Well, where are you going?”
“Oh”, he said, “From going to and fro in the earth.” And then you
know what happened. God gave Satan permission to afflict Job.
And he didn’t curse God to his face so Satan came back and said, “Yea, skin
for skin. He’ll curse you then.” And God said, “Ok, you can
afflict him but you can’t take his life.” Then everything, go through
the whole book of Job. God used that to bring out a lot of things and
a lot of sin that Job had that he didn’t even know he had. But you see
that’s how Satan starts. And that’s how he does it, see.
Now, let’s look at what he is called here. First of all, 2
Corinthians 4:4. Now we saw first of all he’s called the dragon.
In Genesis he’s called the serpent. So we have those two things - the
serpent and dragon. Now 2 Corinthians 4:4, just to show you the power
of Satan the devil. That’s why we have to have Christ fight for
us. That’s why we have to rely on His power and His truth, and His
goodness, because we cannot fight Satan on our own. Even Michael the
Archangel said, “The Lord rebuke you.” He didn’t take it upon himself
to challenge Satan. You need to understand that.
Now notice 2 Corinthians 4:3, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them
that are lost:” Now isn’t it profound that a lot of people have lost the
knowledge of the gospel who once had it? And why did they lose it? And
they may lose their spiritual lives. But why did they lose it?
Verse 4, “In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which
believe not.” Now, not only does that apply to the world but that
applies to people that have been in the Church of God who put themselves in
the category of unbelievers who no longer believe, who no longer keep the
Sabbath, no longer keep the holy days, no longer keep the commandments of
God. Oh, they have Satan’s way of doing it, which sounds wonderful and
pleasant, but it’s a lie. He’s god of this world, he blinds the minds.
2 Corinthians 11. Now let’s understand something else concerning
Satan. He has his ministers. Many of them. Secular and
religious. Do you understand that? Yes. 2 Corinthians
11:13, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers…” And they
know that they are deceitful. “…Transforming themselves into the
apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light.” So not only is he the serpent, and the dragon, and
the god of this world, he comes as an angel of light. And Christ said
of that light, “Behold how great is the darkness that is in you.”
“Therefore
it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the
ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (2
Cor. 11:13-15). So look at that.
Let’s look at another one. Revelation 9:11. We won’t turn
there. He is called the king of the bottomless pit, or the abyss.
And as we will see by the end of the sermon, that’s where he’s going to be
sealed.
Next one. He is the prince of the world. John 12:31, “The
prince of the world comes”, Jesus said, “And he has nothing in me.”
Now let’s come to Ephesians 2, and let’s also see that he has great power.
And Paul talked about this. And now he’s got all of the modern tools
available to make this work even more. Radio, television, movies,
entertainment, music. All of those things are there. Powerful.
In addition to that he’s got the whole educational system. He’s got
all of the governmental systems. He has all the religions in the
world. So here he is sitting and he is able to keep people enslaved
and keep them, how shall we say, blinded, brain controlled, if we could it
that way.
Ephesians 2:2, “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of
this world, according to the prince of the power of the air [so that is
Satan the devil called the prince of the power of the air], that spirit that
now [is inner-working] worketh in the children of disobedience…” You see, it
also tells us this: if you don’t have the Spirit of God inner-working
in you then Satan’s going to come and he’s going to come to the point that
he will inner-work within that individual by disobedience.
“Among whom also we all had our [conduct] conversation in time past in the
lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind [and
that’s exactly the tactic he used for deceiving Eve. He appealed to
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and all
of these things. And he got her and Adam too. “…And were by
nature the children of wrath, even as others” (vs. 3). So he’s the
prince of the power of the air.
Now let’s come here to Ephesians 5:8. “For ye were sometimes
darkness…” He is the king of darkness, or the prince of darkness as well.
We also know, let’s come to Matthew 12, very profound. Not only was
he cast down and 1/3rd of the angels went with him that became
demons, but in Matthew 12 we also find that he is the prince of the demons.
And there’s even a name for him called, Beelzebub. Now let’s pick it
up here in Matthew 12:22. “Then was brought unto Him one possessed
with a [demon] devil, blind, and dumb: and He healed him, insomuch that the
blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed, and
said, Is not this the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it,
they said, This fellow doth not cast out [demons] devils, but by
Beelzebub the prince of the [demons] devils” (Matt. 12:22-24). And so
he’s called the prince of the demons.
Now verse 25, here’s something we also need to understand about Satan and
his kingdom. It is divided. “And Jesus knew their thoughts, and
said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to
desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:
and if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then
his kingdom stand?” (vs. 25-26). It’s not going to stand. It is
going to be destroyed and it’s going to be brought to desolation. And
that’s why Christ has to return, as we saw concerning the Feast of Trumpets.
So he’s called the prince of the demons.
Now let’s go to 1 Peter 5 and let’s see something very profound that we
need to understand. How is it that we are able to resist Satan the
devil. Let’s pick it up now because this is very important for us to
understand and realize. 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant…” So we
have to be on our guard. “…Because your adversary the devil, as a
roaring lion…” Now notice, he’s also called a roaring lion. “…Is
walking about, seeking whom he may devour.” And those who are weak in
the faith he devours at will. And Satan can come, as we have
seen in the parable of the sower, he can come and take out of your mind what
has already been put in there. And he can come in and possess people
like he did with Judas Iscariot. So Satan has a great deal of power.
But if we are at one with God, and if we are asking God to fight our battles
for us, if we’re asking God to protect us, and the prayer of Jesus then will
prevail, which is we are kept from the evil one who is Satan the devil.
But here’s how we must do it.
Now continuing, verse 9. “Whom resist stedfast in the faith…” We
can’t use our own devises. We can’t use our own thoughts. We
have to use the Spirit of God, and the Word of God in faith. You
resist. Now notice then there’s a promise given. “Whom resist in
the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your
brethren that are in the world.”
Now let’s go to James 4 and let’s see what else happens when we resist in
the faith. We are given a promise, but we have to do it exactly as God
has said. Now it’s very interesting here. Let’s begin in James
4:4. Ye adulterers and adulteresses [not just physically, but
spiritually], know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with
God?” I want you to think on that. “Whosoever therefore will be
a friend for the world is the enemy of God.” Now Satan is the enemy of
God. So if you’re a friend of the world you’re a friend of Satan.
Have you ever looked at it that way? Maybe you need to understand how
true that may be. “Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The
spirit that dwells in us lusts to envy?” That’s the way that human
nature is. “But He giveth more grace. Wherefore He saith, God
resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit
yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil [as we have seen, in the
faith] and he will flee from you. Draw [near] nigh to God, and He will
draw [near] nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners;
and purify your
hearts, ye double minded” (James 4:4-8). That’s the way that we
fight Satan the devil. Draw close to God, resist him in the faith.
And God says if we draw close to Him, He will draw close to us and He will
fight our battles for us. And that’s how we fight Satan the devil.
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