all right we're in Daniel chapter number 10 look down at your Bibles at verse
number 12 it says here then said he unto me fear not Daniel for from the first
day that thou did set thine heart to understand and to chasten thyself before
thy God thy words were heard and I am come for thy words but the prince of the
king of Persia kingdom of Persia what stood me one in 20 days but lo Michael
one of the chief princes came to help me and I remained there with the kings of
Persia skip down to verse number 20 it says then said he knowest thou where
wherefore I am coming to thee and now will I return to fight with the prince
of Persia and when I am gone forth lo the prince of Grecia shall come and the
title determine this evening is what Satan can and can't do part two and
really if I were to subtitle it would simply be puppeteering the rulers of
this world okay now you can stay there in Daniel chapter number 10 I'm just
gonna give you just a brief overview of what we went over this this morning as
far as what Satan can do and I didn't get a chance to finish even like a half
of the notes that I had this morning and I really spent a lot of time with what
Satan can do to unsafe people and we talked about how in John chapter 10 the
Bible tells us that Satan comes as a thief to steal to kill and to destroy
right what does he do he steals the key of knowledge he tries to steal the
ability to know what it is the word the right way of salvation that it's by
faith but it's by grace through faith how does he do that through institutions
he does that through through secular colleges and schooling through the
wisdom of this world to try to impede people from coming to the saving
knowledge of Jesus Christ now look there's people out there who love truth
but the fact remains is that if they don't come to the saving knowledge of
the truth of Jesus Christ they can love truth all they want they will be forever
learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth and that is an
avenue that Satan can use to try to keep people from getting saved I mean you see
it on social media all the time people who believe like us in regards to you
know Zionism or even end times Bible prophecy they understand the agenda of
our government and pedophilia and all these wicked schemes that Satan is using
but yet they're wrong in salvation you know they believe you have to repent of
your sins so these people think that they're righteous they think they know
the truth but they don't because their foundation is faulty and that is an
avenue that is a category that Satan uses in order to get people off of what
the true way of salvation really is so he deceives to provide a different way
of salvation he seeks to silence the righteous you know through what's called
hate speech right they try to silence those who are rightly dividing the word
of truth who are preaching the Word of God they try to you know he uses people
to make us look back right all these guys are a bunch of hate preachers they
hate the homosexuals they want to kill them you know they're anti-semitic the
racist against the Jews you know they the list goes on and on and what he'll
do is he'll use people like that's the slander righteous Christians so that the
world who are the people who are not saved will be basically they won't come
to us for the truth you know they'll be turned off to the truth and that is an
avenue that he uses there he comes to steal to kill the righteous and also to
destroy and what was that it's basically the fact that God uses Satan as a tool
of destruction right now and I'm gonna talk about that later on in the sermon
now we also talked about what can Satan do to the unsaved well he can infiltrate
and blind the minds of the masses he does this through world system religious
institutions through the love of money he can possess the common people you
know I mean we've run into possessed people here I've run into possessed
people in my personal life and the vast majority of them were on drugs the vast
majority of them were on PCP they were on some sort of mind-altering substance
that caused them to be to behave in a different way and we can see according
to the Bible that they're just possessed by a devil they're possessed by demons
he uses mind-altering substances like drugs he also uses music right he uses
gangster rap and rock music and country music you know yeah I'm saying it's
probably true you know causes them to get depressed because their dog died and
you know they got a barbecue skin stain on their white t-shirt or whatever you
know he uses the occult right Satanism and Ouija boards and things of the
occult divination you know these things that what's the sensory deprivation that
was called right as a means to get people off the truth okay he uses this
to possess the common people and we talked about that this morning but he
also can use and puppeteer the rulers of this world and use them to carry out his
agenda and that's where we find ourselves in Daniel chapter number 10
look down at your Bibles again verse number 12 or look verse 13 says but the
prince of the kingdom of Persia this is not referring to a literal physical
prince it's not referring to a ruler though that is commonly used as a
physical person who's ruling over a state or a region this is a spiritual
battle that we're seeing here it says but the prince of the kingdom of Persia
withstood me one in 20 days but lo Michael one of the chief princes came to
help me and I remained there with the kings of Persia verse 20 then said he
knowest thou wherefore I am coming to thee and now return to fight with the
prince of Persia and when I am gone lo the prince of Grecia shall come this is
referring to demonic forces that I believe operate as a hierarchy in the
spiritual realm that Satan uses and delegates to different regions of the
world to rule over them and place spiritual strongholds in that area to
impede people from believing the gospel to impede people from hearing the Word
of God to hearing the truth so when it talks about the prince of Persia and the
prince of Grecia I believe these are referring to actual devils demons they
that Satan is using to create strongholds in an area now this is true
in the in the life of Daniel or excuse me in the time period of Daniel but it's
also true today you know America has a demon over it and I don't know if it's
Satan himself it could be and we're gonna look later on where Satan had
influence over a region of land okay but whatever it is whoever whatever demon it
is they're being successful you know this nation is not becoming more
Christianized it's actually becoming more de-christianized and that's because
the agenda is being fulfilled through these demons that are over this nation
now go to Ephesians chapter number 6 here Ephesians chapter number 6 Ephesians
chapter number 6 so we see here that you know the Bible's telling us that there
are these dark forces that are working behind the scenes in the spiritual realm
that are influencing leaders of this world you know and look you look at the
actions of the leaders of this world you look at the actions of the dictators and
the tyrants of the emperors of Rome and Roman history you know these people were
demon-possessed you know these these emperors Julius Caesar you have Nero and
different emperors who were just give it over to vile affections they were
reprobates they were sodomites they were into pedophilia there were tyrants
who pleasure and killing common people and enslaving them I mean this is the
they're inventors of evil things and you know Satan uses them to oppress people
from not just living a normal life but also keep them from hearing the truth
okay now look at Ephesians chapter number 6 and verse 11 it says put on the
whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil
for we wrestle not against flesh and blood so right off the bat we see in
verse 12 we should never try to take up arms against the government right you
know obviously we understand Trump is wicked and you know this new fag that's
that's running for president is wicked we understand that we know that that
every governor most every governor if not all of them are wicked politicians
are very wicked and but here's the thing our agenda should never be well let's go
ahead and create anarchy and fight against the government because in all
actuality we're not in a physical battle we're in a spiritual battle that is what
God emphasizes within his word is that we are fighting a spiritual battle and
he says for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities
that's another word for Prince against powers that's authorities against the
rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high
places ie the president of the United States ie every single ruler and dictator
and you know Prime Minister of this world these people are being influenced
by demons we're fighting against them but not in a physical battle you say how
do we fight against these Devils and these demons and these rulers by
preaching against them by helping people to come to the knowledge of the truth
this is the war that we're interested in we're not interested in getting into a
physical fight with politicians or trying to physically harm people to try
to win this war why because these things don't matter everything's gonna burn we
care for and emphasize and focus on the souls of men but the souls of men can
only be rescued from the fire when we help them to understand on a mental
basis the truth go to 1st Chronicles chapter 21 and make no mistake about it
we are wrestling with them because it tells us we wrestle not against flesh
and blood but against and he goes through this hierarchy right here this
is what we're fighting up against this is what we're fighting this is what
we're wrestling up against you know and look the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds so how do we
pull down strongholds by sending up a local New Testament Church in a city
right and training soul winners to go out and preach the gospel by having a
red-hot fiery preacher behind the pulpit ripping face on sin calling a spade a
spade you know preaching against the sinfulness of this world opening the
eyes of the people who have been blinded that's how we fight those are the
weapons of our warfare okay and in fact when you go through the spiritual armor
in Ephesians chapter 6 probably the most important piece of armor is actually an
offensive weapon which is the sword of the Lord sword of the Spirit right they
we use to expose to reprove rebuke and exhort with all long-suffering and
doctrine so let me give you an example they look at 1st Chronicles chapter 21
verse number 1 and Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to
number Israel now keep in mind that numbering the people was a very sinful
thing in the eyes of God in fact he commanded the Kings not to do that now
why did he command them not to number the people why did he command him don't
number the soldiers because of the fact that he wanted his people to depend on
him to win the war okay he wanted his people to have faith in him that he can
win the war the war is the battles the Lord's it's of the Lord right so
numbering the people is insinuating that God cannot do it himself that we need to
make sure that we have our ducks in order kind of thing and so Satan we see
here provokes David who's a saved man he provokes him to number the people
and David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people go number Israel from
Beersheba even to Dan and bring the number of them to me that I may know it
and Joab answered the Lord make his people a hundred times so many more as
they be I mean when you got Joab you know trying to tell you to like don't
do that I mean you know you're going down the deeper path right there when
Joab was pretty conniving he's pretty like wicked himself I mean he's like
murdering people left and right when he's like hey man don't do this I mean
I even I wouldn't even go as far as to number the people right he's a job said
the Lord make his people a hundred times so many more as they be but my Lord the
king as they are they not all my Lord's servants why didn't does my Lord require
this thing why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel now we can't give
job too much credit because later on he acts like he numbers the people and then
he doesn't even bring the full number so he basically like disobeys David you
know I mean but we see here that Satan not I'm not the Prince of Grecia not the
Prince of Persia Satan himself takes it upon in himself to move and provoke
David to number the people to disobey God now if he can do this to a safe
person how much more can he do this to someone who is not saved some wicked
politician who's prior long ago became a reprobate you know and obtained that
seat of authority through wicked means you know through flatteries and an
unjust gain and for the sake of money because they're greedy a filthy lucre
how much more can you use someone like that you know and look you say well how
can I practically apply this we obviously understand that Satan and his
minions are responsible for influencing the politicians of our day how do I
apply that to myself don't put your hope in politicians amen don't place your
hope in any politician well what did you say they're Christian they're lying
to you they're lying look you think of like Nebuchadnezzar who even I believe
them Nebuchadnezzar got saved later on but prior to that he's giving glory to
God but he's still making making a statue of himself you know I mean he's
just kind of flattering the people of God like oh you know your God is the
greatest guy and then he you know edifies the statue and commemorate
commemoration of himself so after he's given the vision he's like hey you know
he gives that he gives him the vision of something that's gonna take place in the
end times and how does he take it as that's a good idea for a statue here
and he ends up making this image of himself or just like man you missed the
whole point of the image in your dream it's supposed to signify what's gonna
take place in the end times right you know we should never place our faith in
politicians in the White House and the reason I say this because a lot of
Christians do you know I come from the old IFP and I've heard that many times
over you know your vote counts and make sure you vote and you know go for the
guy who who's closest to the Bible the Republican of course are the closest to
the Bible yeah really you know when they voted it they wanted to vote in some
Mormon what's that Mormon guys name rom Mitt Romney I would tell people like
isn't he Mormon yeah but he holds the values what values isn't that guy
didn't like but aren't they like into polygamy and stuff like don't they serve
like another Jesus but here's the thing the reason why they want to vote in
someone who's closest to the Bible is because they want politicians to fight
their battles for them they want these unsaved wicked people to fight the
battles that they're supposed to be fighting they want the politicians to
preach the sermons that they're supposed to be preaching you know they want the
politicians to ban the homos and don't let them get married and stand up for
Christian values that's what you're supposed to be doing buddy you're not
supposed to place your faith in politicians they're not the pastors of
the land in fact they're being influenced by demons and they're
influencing the nation and a bunch of dumb Christians you know to to side with
them and you know what you wonder why so many Christians are just desensitized to
the Word of God why because they've been so ingrained with the ideologies and the
news talk and the rhetoric of the politicians they no longer hear truth
you know be truth is being taken from them because they place their faith in
Egypt they're placed their faith in the shadow of Pharaoh and of Egypt and guess
what Egypt in the shadow of Pharaoh is gonna be their shame so how do we apply
this stuff well we recognize that these politicians presidents whoever they're
being influenced by demons therefore we should not place our faith in them okay
and I hate it when Christians trying to make it seem like oh but America is a
Christian nation and you know Trump though he's not a Christian you have
Mike Pence who's like the he's like the Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar and these and
these kings it's like what in the world are you talking about you're living in
Lala Nate America will never be like Nate the nation of Israel of times past
where it was like a theocracy and they revered God almost isn't God we still
trust on the dollar bill it's a different God it's Satan it says in God
we still trust next to the the eye of Horus what did Egyptian the Egyptian
pyramid hello are we awake as a pagan images in the back of the dollar okay so
don't don't fool yourself into thinking that what Christians need to do today is
just take it upon themselves the responsibility to fight the battles that
God has deputized us to fight priests us all about how we're gonna turn things
around God's never called us to save America God's never called us to save
any nation he's called us to save the individuals found within nations because
that's what he cares about you know he cares about the spiritual nation you
know the chosen generation that's who he cares about you know we got to make sure
that we we protect America and American values and and policies no we got to
make sure we protect biblical policies and values regardless of what race they
are regardless of where they come from we want to get them saved and help them
to adhere to the Bible men go to 2nd Thessalonians chapter number 2 2nd
Thessalonians chapter number 2 and that really at the end of the day that's what
it is Christians and pastors have become afraid to stand up on truth so they go
to the unsafe politicians hoping that they'll stand up for truth for them oh
if we don't say anything we're gonna lose our rights you know if we don't
excuse me if we don't vote for them we're gonna lose our rights you know no
you're gonna lose your rights if you don't exercise your rights that's how
you lose your rights so you need the permission of some politician to go
soul-winning to preach against the homos you know your faith is not in God your
faith is not in the Bible okay and I don't know where the Baptist Church is
veered off obviously it's before I was born because I was born into this where
churches were just you know Zionist and they were just all about the politicians
and the Republicans and all this you know and it was just kind of like known
that if you're Baptist you're Republican that's when I when I when I went to
church if you're Baptist you're just automatically Republican you know
growing up spiritually in my old church you know I'm neither Republican nor
Democrat I'm a Christian I'm a Bible believing Christian and then I'm new
YFB amen like Republican or Democrat is nowhere in the categories I don't want
to be associated with anything like that okay look at second Thessalonians 2
verse 7 let's let's look let's see where this political movement is gonna take us
verse 7 says for the mystery of iniquity doth already work only he who now letteth
will let until he be taken out of the way and then shall the wicked be
revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall
destroy with the brightness of his coming even him whose coming is after
the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders I wonder if the
Antichrist is gonna be like Republican or something you know to just deceive
Christians because the ultimate politician of this world the ultimate one
who's just gonna bring peace is who the Antichrist according to them bring peace
right the one who's gonna rule over everything the one who's gonna have the
New World Order who's gonna inherit the New World Order is the Antichrist this
is where your politics and politicians are heading so the application
there is that we should never place our faith in politics hey if they make some
if they make some rule or some law in our favor great you should you should
make it all in our favor okay and shame on you if you don't but don't expect me
to thank you if you do make them our favor don't expect me to just grovel and
worship you because you took the homos out of the White House good you should
have yeah you should do much more than that oh what if they started you know
helping us as Christians great but I was gonna do it anyways because God has
already told us we can do these things God has already commanded us to preach
the Word of God God has already told us to preach the gospel to every creature
therefore we don't need the permission of man to do those things okay so that's
the end of that list okay so that's what Satan can do to the unsafe now what can
you do to the saved well just let me briefly mention two things here
obviously he can tempt us okay we see that with Jesus Christ that he tempted
Jesus Christ let me read to you from go to Luke chapter 22 I'm gonna reach you
from 1st Corinthians chapter 7 verse number 5 it says defraud ye not one
another except it be with consent for a time that ye may give yourselves to
fasting in prayer and come together again that Satan tempt you not for your
incontinence see so we see here that Satan can actually tempt us you say well
that's pretty basic I already know that well the reason I'm stating that is
because a lot of Christians want to blame Satan for the sins in their life
but Satan can't make anybody sin you know you can't blame the devil for your
decision to sin why because he could only tempt you to sin and even in that
case he's using your own weaknesses against you okay look at Luke chapter 22
verse 31 it says and the Lord said Simon Simon behold Satan hath desire to have
you that he may sift you as wheat but I've prayed for thee that thy faith fail
not and when our converted strengthen thy brethren so I you know what we see
here is that Satan does tempt us with sin but he also tempts us with trials
when we have you know maybe our faith is weak maybe we're not strong in the Lord
and in the power of his might and we're tempted to compromise our biblical
convictions Satan is desiring to sift us as wheat and this is in the manner of
which he can do it okay whether it's our own weaknesses maybe it's because we're
afraid maybe it's through discouragements maybe it's through
depression anxiety you know trials of life the the the circumstances of your
the situations in your life he can use those against you but at the end of the
day he can't force you to do anything because you're saved okay and not only
that he can deceive us okay I was talking with some of the guys after
service Sunday morning service and we're talking about Zionism you know and I was
telling like I remember when when I was the Zionist at one point okay now who
said what you were too I remember like uh and I wasn't like a
hardcore Zionist like I didn't have like the the star Rem fan tatted on my back
and stuff and the flag on my mug or whatever like that wasn't I didn't
really care for those things okay but I just thought cuz I've always heard of
the Jews were God's chosen people that's just what I've always thought
and I remember I talked to a friend of mine and somehow we're getting in the
conversation and he's just like ripping on Jews he's just ripping up and I was
like whoa dude I was like dude those are God's chosen people and he was like
what and he just started like going off on me he's like they adhere to religion
you know the Jews adhere to the religion of Judaism and and you know that's the
religion of the Pharisees and they killed Jesus and I'm just like what the
heck is this guy talking about but he really opened my eyes and he was just
like study it out and I remember and look at this point I was probably saved
for like like six or seven years so I had read the Bible through many times
over you know in Bible College you're like required to read the Bible many
times over in Bible College but just in my personal reading and I remember
studying the issue out and I thought to myself man I can't believe I missed this
and like honestly I was embarrassed to be quite frank with you I was
embarrassed I was I was like ashamed because I'd read the Bible so many times
I'm like how in the world could I miss this like you know I love the book of
John I'm like John 844 how can I have missed that Galatians 3 Galatians 4
Romans 2 Romans 9 3 11 you know Revelation 2 they would say there are
Jews and are not but of the synagogue of Satan and I remember kicking myself
thinking how in the world could I miss that and I was kind of like kicking
myself just kind of frustrated because I just missed it and then I kind of
realized I was deceived and I don't know what I can't explain to you what
that feels like I guess if I were to try to express what it's like to be deceived
it's basically like you're looking at something and you're not really looking
at it and you just kind of read over it and you don't really think about it now
obviously it didn't help that they weren't teaching doctrine at our church
especially in regards to the Jews you know and in fact they weren't teaching
for it and they weren't teaching against it so it was kind of good in
that sense because of the fact that you know Zionism wasn't like ingrained in me
like a whole lot but that helped me to understand that yeah Christians could
even be deceived even in the simplest most clearest doctrine sometimes due to
preconceived ideas and oceans and I think what it is is that you know in our
church in the old IFB because it wasn't challenged we didn't want to study it
out there's no reason to study it out like the pre-tribulation rapture it was
never challenged it was just kind of all across the board everyone believed that
therefore you just didn't study it out but once you came to that the truth of
those subjects in those topics and it's just like the world is all over and then
when I began to read the Bible after that I'm like it's like on every page
every parable every book one of the major themes of the New Testament is
replacement theology one of the major themes of the New Testament and then
you just like the scales from fall off from from your eyes you know but it
really helped me to realize that even Christians can be deceived because I was
deceived okay and that's why I try to be merciful to people who are Zionists but
they're they're saved you know they're just deceived and they need someone to
tell them the truth now I really don't have mercy for those that after you show
them the truth they're just like stubborn and stiff-necked and they just
rather not they just rather look away and not look at it and not adhere to it
at that point you're just being dumb you're just being stubborn you're being
stiff-necked you're being obstinate you mean you know you're basically just
rejecting the truth is what you're doing you know because when someone showed me
the truth it was offensive but then it's just like well it's right there I want
to believe the Bible that's what it is but Satan can deceive you and you know
Satan has deceived many Christians in a lot of different areas okay and you know
you think of dispensationalist dispensationalism for example you know
he used the Schofield reference Bible to deceive many people okay now that's like
foreign to our generation as Christians now because it's like one the world how
can you be deceived by that but you know when it's accepted all across the board
by every Christian you know one questions it that's how you get deceived
by it you know and so he can tempt us he can deceive us he said how do we
overcome that deception well thankfully there's always someone who knows the
truth and when that person comes along with the truth accept it if it's the
truth that's how you can overcome it but here's the thing if you choose to reject
the truth even if you're a Christian that's dangerous ground for you because
at that point God will begin to remove knowledge from you and look I don't want
knowledge to be removed from this brain I'm thankful for the knowledge that I've
been given that I've been taught that I've learned I mean since we started a
church I felt like just within myself I've grown just being here myself
studying I feel like I've grown I don't want to lose that therefore if I'm wrong
I want to I want to know that I'm wrong and learn that which is right okay so he
can deceive us go to a first Thessalonians chapter number two it
look no Marvel right he's the father of lies he has perfected the art of lying
how through mixing lies with truth okay and that's a whole sermon in of itself
so he can tempt us he can deceive us hey he can hinder us too okay and look I'm
thankful that this is in the Bible because of the fact that the Apostle
Paul is one of the greatest Christians of the New Testament and he himself has
stated that Satan hindered him look at first Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 18
for ye brethren became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in
Christ Jesus for you also have suffered like things of your own countrymen even
as they have of the Jews who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets
and have persecuted us this guy sounds like an anti-semite and they please not
God and are contrary to all men forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles
that they might be saved to fill up their sin all way for the wrath has come
upon them from the upon them to the uttermost but we brethren being taken
from you for a short time in presence not in heart and ever the more abundantly
to see your face with great desire wherefore we would have come unto you
even I Paul once and again but Satan hindered us now I want you to notice
that in context how did Satan hinder them through the Jews because he says
there that the Jews who both killed the Lord Jesus their own prophets have
persecuted they pleased not God a contrary to all men forbidding us to
speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved so how does Satan hinder God's
people he does it through wicked and unreasonable men that's how he can do it
okay go to 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 I'll read to you from Romans chapter 15
verse 20 it says here I'll read to you for verse 21 says but as it is written
to whom he was not spoken of they shall see and they that have not heard shall
understand for which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you
look at 2nd Thessalonians 3 verse 1 finally brethren pray for us that the
word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you
so what do we want when we go out and preach the gospel what do we want to
happen when we go to Santa Maria we want the Word of God to have free course in
other words it's able to just shoot straight to the heart without any
hindrances without any road bumps without any wicked or unreasonable man
trying to hinder the Word of God we wanted to just have a straight shot
right not have to go through any barriers blockades speed bumps just a
free course into the heart of the sinners that they can get saved verse 2
and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men
have not faith but the Lord is faithful who shall establish you and keep you
from evil so how does he hinder God's people through unreasonable and wicked
men this is these are known as reprobates now look reprobates can
hinder us a little bit but they're not gonna stop us there's a big difference
so before the fags and the reprobates get on like yeah we're gonna try to
Hindu good go ahead but you're not gonna stop me you can try to hinder the sowing
but we're gonna keep sowing you can try to hinder the preaching by by reporting
the videos but we're still gonna preach more there's always another sermon to
preach we can always preach on Romans 1 we could always preach on second Peter
chapter 2 we could always preach on the book of Jude we could always preach on
Leviticus 2013 you can hinder us but you can't stop us but it is it can be a
hindrance you know from doing the work of God that's how what Satan uses he
uses his puppets his reprobate filthy puppets to try to hinder us not stop us
because they can't he say well what about people in time past who have
stopped well the reprobates didn't stop them they stopped and may there be a
lesson to us that Satan can't stop us we can only really stop ourselves you know
by allowing yourself to become discouraged afraid lazy apathetic
towards the things of God that's the only thing that can stop you you know
sometimes your greatest enemy is yourself you are your greatest enemy you
are the one who can keep you from doing what God wants you to do not Satan don't
blame it on the devil oh it's the devil made me do it no he did it you did it it
was you you can keep yourself from bringing to the Bible you can keep
yourself from praying you can keep yourself from soul winning you can keep
yourself from standing from the truth you God has given you a free will to do
what he wants you to do it's your choice these reprobates can hinder us but they
can't stop us okay look they hindered Paul okay these wicked and unreasonable
men go with me if you would to Hebrews chapter number 12 if you wouldn't so
what can he do we can't stop us but he definitely can hinder us and that's why
we got to make sure that we understand that because we're going into war we're
going into battle that we're prepared they were strong you know don't approach
this Christian life halfheartedly haphazardly where you're just lazy in
your Bible reading lazy and your beliefs lazy in your disciplines you know we're
soldiers amen and we're not to entangle ourselves in the with the affairs of
this life you know the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ has chosen us to be
soldiers amen and as soldiers we need to make sure that we're prepared that we
have the whole armor of God then we're not lacks in our Christian life okay now
what else can he do well he can be used by God to chase in and even destroy us
now think about that for a minute okay think about the fact that Satan is your
enemy and he would love to just destroy you he hates you he hates me he hates
Christian he hates people just in general obviously but he definitely
hates Christians but the only thing that's keeping him from really
destroying us is God and what's keeping God from doing is what us based upon our
decisions so just as the Bible tells us that the thief cometh not before to
steal to kill and to destroy he's an instrument of destruction that God can
use in our lives to destroy us okay look at Hebrews chapter 12 verse 6 it says
for whom the Lord loveth he chasin it and scourgeth every son whom he
receiveth that we're chasing and scourge is just another word for whoop beat you
spank you swatcha okay that's the urban definition okay
Jason just means like he's disciplining you okay if he endured chastening God
deals with you as with sons for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not but
if he be without chastisement wherefore all our partakers then are you bastards
and not sons and what's the teaching there is basically saying look if you're
in sin and you're getting involved in wickedness and God is not chastising you
at all then you're a bastard you are a bastard what does that mean God is not
your Heavenly Father because God promises that he says there whom the
Lord loveth he chasin it and guess who he loves his children okay so how to
confirm that you're saying one of the ways to confirm that you're safe well if
you're out in sin and you're doing crazy stuff and God's just not touching you
with the 10-foot pole you probably not saved now you say well I believe them
Lord Jesus Christ and I have not been chasing what then brother me here well
God's just being merciful to you and it's of the Lord's mercies that you are
not consumed so you know what allow the goodness of God to lead you to
repentance amen it says here verse 9 furthermore we have had fathers of our
flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather
be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live for they barely for a
few days chasing us after their own pleasure but he for our prophet that we
might be partakers of his holiness so the Bible tells us here that God
chastens us he chastises us he scourges us how does he do it through Satan he
allows Satan gives him permission to gives him the admission to come and
destroy our lives whether it's financially whether it's physically you
know whether it's just the circumstances of life and look if you know it you know
it okay when you're being chastised of the Lord you know there's been times in
my personal life when I know bad things are happening and what I have in the
back of my mind God's chasing me right now he's chastised the hand of the Lord
is against me right now and he uses Satan to do so so Satan just doesn't
have unfettered access to us to just kind of whoop us and bully us around no
he's a tool of destruction go to first Corinthians chapter number five first
Corinthians chapter number five if you would so what are you trying to do
brother but here I'm trying to scare you trying to steal fearing you because
look I mean it's great going to heaven but I just don't want to go yet I you
know I'm looking forward to heaven I'm looking forward to you know the streets
of gold I'm looking forward to the millennial rain and being there with God
and everything but you know what I kind of I kind of want to stay still you know
I want to be with my family still I want to see them grow I want to do works for
God therefore I want to be obedient so I'm not chastised of the Lord okay
look at 1st Corinthians 5 3 it says for verily as absent in body but present in
spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that had so
done this deed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered
together in my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such in
one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the Spirit may be saved
in the day of our Lord Jesus so notice that what is he destroying the flesh how
does he do it he has all kinds of avenues in which you could do it
sicknesses cancer allowing you to die a horrible death in a car accident I don't
know just he could do it any way he chooses and look that's why it's
important that we follow first Corinthians chapter 5 amen and that we
excommunicate people who are involved in these things because of the fact that
the reason he's doing this is for because of what we read in Hebrews
chapter 12 so we can be partakers of his holiness that's the purpose of it the
destruction of the flesh humbles you and it causes you to seek God and get to
repent and come back amen but it shows here that Satan is actually the one who's
doing it okay go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 I
read to you from 1st Timothy chapter 1 verse 19 it says holding faith in a good
conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck of
whom is harmonious and Alexander whom I've delivered unto Satan that they may
learn not to blaspheme now I don't know if harmonious and Alexander are saved
but I do know this you know they were blaspheming and they were prior
destroyed I don't want to know how I don't want to know how Satan could do it
unto me if I do that I don't want to know well you know what are the avenues
that he can use I'd rather just steer clear of that and live in obedience
unto the Lord okay look at 2nd Corinthians 12 verse 7 unless I should be
exalted above measure through the abundance of revelations there was given
to me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be
exalted above measure now I believe in my personal opinion that this is a very
unique situation to Paul in the sense of you know he was probably tempted to be
become very haughty and prideful I mean he's being given a lot of revelation he
saw the third heaven right he saw things that were unlawful to speak he's used to
pen down the majority of the books of the New Testament he was used in a great
way therefore to keep him humble there was given to him a thorn in the flesh
but you know what we can apply this on a smaller scale to ourselves and even to
our church to make sure look I don't want the thorn in the flesh amen I
rather just try to exercise humility as much as I can you know and I want to
make sure that we as a church exercise humility as well because in all reality
you know at the end of the day God is using our church and thank God for that
we've seen a lot of people say we're gonna continue to see a lot of people
say God is doing a great work within our church but less the messenger of Satan
right be sent to buffet us we need to make sure that we remain humble because
the reason of the messenger of Satan's being sent is to keep him humble okay so
here here are your options stay humble or be humble either stay humble or God
will humble you either way it's gonna get done I'd rather do the first one I'll
just try to remain humble and try to deflect the praise to those who have
invested in my life deflect the praise to God understand that you know in me
that is in my flesh dwells no good thing it's because of the people of our church
because of the fact that you know that thorn in the flesh it could be anything
for our church it could be anything for you why because at the end of the day
Satan is used as a tool of destruction for us at times okay go to 2nd
Corinthians chapter 2 so what else can Satan do to us well he could also get an
advantage of us he can take advantage of us how by using our weaknesses against
us okay now look at 2nd Corinthians 2 10 it says to whom you forgive anything I
forgive also for if I forgave anything to whom I forgave it for your sakes
forgave I in the person of Christ lest Satan should get an advantage of us for
we are not ignorant of his devices now in context what is the device that Satan
use uses against us well in context we see that it could be bitterness you know
throughout the years I've seen a lot of Christians get bitter okay they get the
root of bitterness in them and they trouble many because of it they become
unforgiving towards other Christians and they can't even see that Satan is
actually taking advantage of them because of that you know someone someone
hurt them in their lives someone offended them someone didn't render to
them honor for whatever reason you know they were they were they were
shortchanged on something in life something happened that didn't work to
their benefit and they become bitter towards someone okay look that's
possible to any of you here that's possible to happen to me that's possible
to happen to any of us but we need to make sure that we forgive those people
in the person of Christ what does that mean be kind one to another tender
hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you
so we do it because of Christ but we also do it so that Satan doesn't get an
advantage of us so this is the attitude we need to have when we're defrauded
when we're wrong when someone does wrong unto us father forgive them for they
know not what they do he said what if it was a reprobate you know you don't have
to forgive reprobates console yourself and knowing that God's gonna burn on me
man that's a different category you know you like I know reprobate they
violated me or you know they violated someone that I love and I'm bitter
towards them you know I wouldn't necessarily call that this type of
bitterness that we see here God does not command us to forgive reprobates because
he's not even gonna forgive we're talking about people that God will can
potentially forgive okay reprobates cannot be forgiven their sins are not
gonna be blotted out okay they're gonna burn in the lowest hell we're talking
about people who just generally are sinners and maybe have wronged us in
times past how about other Christians who have offended you I'm sure within
the last two years someone in this church has offended someone in this
church okay don't look around Marcus and David you know someone has offended
someone you've offended someone someone has offended you what am I supposed to
do forgive them let's Satan get an advantage of you okay hey ladies okay
well she didn't say hi to me she used to say hi to me you know oh she looked at
me weird why are you guys laughing do you have you heard that or something or
what I'm just making up potential scenarios okay you know oh she didn't do
this or they didn't do this for me you know they're not my friends or they're
not working to reach out to me just forgive them and move on and look if
someone's not and this is as far as I know this is not happening in our church
but if someone is not befriending you in our church why would you want them to be
your friend yeah thanks Jacob I don't know if that was like a personal
testimony or you just gave yourself away there buddy everyone if you can please
just go talk to Jacob after service take him out to eat or something you know why
would you want to go say why would you go find another friend don't be bitter
towards them you know don't be bitter make sure you forgive because Satan can
use that as a device against you you know and the Bible says no weapon formed
against me shall prosper but you know what except for the weapon do you create
yourself except for the device that you create yourself God you know Satan can
use that against you and cause you to stumble and fall now I'm gonna briefly
go over some of the things here go with me if you would to go to James chapter
number one actually I'm sorry go to Ephesians 4 Ephesians 4 I'm gonna skip
some of the points here these are pretty pretty self-explanatory you know he can
accuse us which he does the Bible tells us that now what is it the Satan can't
do well he can't take away our salvation amen
we're eternally secure and and in Christ we have eternal security we have the
Holy Spirit of God living within us and with that being said he can't possess us
either okay we can never be possessed by Satan because of the fact that the Holy
Spirit of God is sealed within us unto the day of redemption now he can
definitely influence us the Bible says of Ananias and Sapphira that Satan had
filled their heart to lie right I believe that's for in reference to the
influence that Satan can have on a Christian but as far as possession is
concerned I don't believe that's possible the Bible tells us you know ye
are of God little children and have overcome them because greater is he that
is in you than he that is in the world okay he can't make us sin as I mentioned
the Bible tells us but in James 1 14 but every man is tempted when he is drawn
away of his own lust and entice then when he had lust that conceived that
bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death number
three he cannot harm us without God's permission or without us giving place
unto him look at Ephesians 4 verse 25 wherefore putting away lying speak every
man's truth with his neighbor for we are members one of another be angry and sin
not let not the Sun go down upon your wrath neither give place to the devil go
to James chapter number one so here it tells us to be angry but don't sin and
then he kind of reiterates that and states it in a different way by saying
let not the Sun go down upon your wrath showing us that when we have wrath we're
actually sinning against God okay and in fact we're giving place to the devil
what does it mean to give place you're giving him permission to come and
basically influence you because in the heat of passion when you're wrathful you
have the potential to be tempted to maybe physically harm someone you know
punch a brother in Christ or whatever you get mad at someone who's like and
then you just feel bad about it afterwards and whatever it's happened
I've seen I seen brothers fight before you know and I'm not talking about like
you know underground boxing matches that's completely okay okay I'm talking
about like when you're bitter towards people and then you just go and punch
someone in the mouth or whatever hey I remember back in my old church they
used to have underground boxing over there you know back at the staff house
they used to have boxing gloves and the guys would just go at it and then one
time I'm not gonna say who it was but he's my brother-in-law you know he was
he was getting down with someone and then like his uncle was basically the
president of the college and they were doing it like after hours like midnight
or something like that and they were just going at it and then all of a sudden
he just walks in and they're like oh he's like what are you guys doing he
just kind of like ripped him because he didn't like that stuff or whatever but
you know I thought it was good so but you know it's consensual you know then
they're not mad at each other you know there's just a little blood never hurt
anybody okay so but I'm talking about physically violating someone you know
I'm talking about physically violating someone when they don't want to be harmed
or because you have wrath on them that's wrong okay and the Bible says that he
that is slow to anger is better than the mighty and he that rule the spirit that
he that taketh the city you know the person who can't rule his own spirit is
like a city that is broken down without walls why because at that point you can
become you had the temptation to become wrathful and look if you have a temper
which most men do you need to learn how to control that temper be angry and sin
not let not the Sun go down upon your wrath don't give place to the devil look
at James 1 verse 19 says wherefore my beloved brethren let every man be swift
to hear slow to speak slow to wrath for the wrath of man worketh not the
righteousness of God so what does work the righteousness of God being angry and
sinning not you know displaying anger but not necessarily wrath because at
that point wrath can can evolve into violating someone okay at that point you
can give place unto Satan and he can influence you into doing that what you
it's not pleasing inside of the Lord go to Matthew chapter 25 that'll be the
last scripture so what is it that he can't do to us well he can't take away
our salvation he can't possess us he can't make us sin he can't harm us
without God's permission or without us giving place and then lastly this is
pretty self-explanatory he can't avoid his impending doom okay and look you
know when you get mad about the things of this world and all the stuff that's
taking place just remember Satan's going to hell he's gonna we talk about
splitting hell wide open he's like the main one who's gonna split it you know
he I mean look at Matthew 25 verse 4 41 says then said then shall ye say unto
them on the left hand depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared
for the devil and his angels the Bible says that hell everlasting fire was
specifically prepared for the devil and his angels what does that mean he's
reserved it for them okay and we won't get into all the other scriptures but
that's just a way to good a good conclusion to the matter that yes we
understand that Satan has a lot of power he can have a lot of authority he's he's
the god of this world he can yes he can cause people to not hear the gospel not
understand the gospel they end up going to hell he could even hinder Christians
to a certain extent he can tempt us deceive us but at the end of the day
he's gonna be going to hell okay and at the end of the day he's a tool that God
is using for his purpose and so what is it that Satan can and can't do listen to
this morning sermon and listen to tonight sermon if you didn't catch it
all right let's bow our heads and have word of prayer father we thank you so
much for your word and thank you for all the descriptions that you've given to us
the doctrines that we've seen here help us Lord to take this not with the grain
of salt but help us to to ruminate upon it to think upon it to meditate upon it
and to understand our responsibility to fight this spiritual battle and may we
never be so haughty to think that we can just take Satan on one-on-one you know
that's not the kind of battle that we should be doing you know we fight behind
the pulpit we fight as we wear the spiritual armor as we shot our feet with
the preparation of the gospel of peace we preach the gospel and see people say
we pull people out of the fire we exposed heresy we expose reprobates and
we try to bring people to the light to the truth of your word and I pray you
continue to protect us place a hedge about us and use us and Lord if you so
desire to open up that hedge that our flesh may be destroyed that you can
insert a thorn in the flesh I pray you give us grace and help us to sustain the
infirmities that we will experience in this lifetime and may all be for your
honor and for your glory we love you so much we thank you praise things in
Jesus name