God has Plans; Satan has Schemes October 3, 2013

Transcription

1 Women & More God has Plans; Satan has Schemes October 3, 2013 For every plan that God has laid out for the good, Satan has a scheme for evil to undermine God s plan. When God plans creation and life, Satan schemes destruction and death. When God plans redemption, Satan schemes damnation. When God plans abundant and purposeful life for the believer, Satan schemes for our uselessness and death. Satan is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. When God plans judgment, Satan schemes unbelief! But God s plans will ultimately be victorious over Satan s every evil scheme! I. God plans CREATION and LIFE In Genesis 1:1 and 26, 27: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth 26Let us make man in our image, in our likeness 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God gave life to his creation, and he tendered specific instructions to Adam and Eve so they could continue to live: Genesis 2:17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die. Satan schemes DESTRUCTION and DEATH (Satan s greatest victory) Genesis 3:1: Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, Did God really say? We know the rest of the story: Satan challenged Eve with what God had said and undermined the truth with deception. Eve chose to believe the lie that she could eat the heretofore forbidden fruit and would become wise like God. 2 Corinthians 11:3 Eve was deceived by the serpent s cunning. Because of that sin, death came upon all men and animals, plants, the earth and its solar system. But it doesn t come quick enough for Satan. He schemes death for the unborn (abortion), destruction of the newborn (neglect and abuse), death from the hands of the murderer (homicide), death at our own hands (suicide) and death from every kind of disease many brought on by addictions and lifestyles contrary to God s ways. Luke 13:11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all refers to a woman who was kept bound in disease by Satan for 18 years Jesus healed her. Satan s attempt to kill off a potential believer in Jesus Christ, and deny her a life lived for God s glory is thwarted by Jesus! God plans to take the slain unborn and newborn to be with him forever in glory (as they are under the age of accountability). He has plans to be with victims of murder Psalm 10:14 and he assigns government to avenge the deaths of the murdered. God is in the Re business to remember, redeem and reconcile to

2 2 Himself through Christ those who, through their own devices, have brought death upon others, and themselves like the thief on the cross. Examine Cain s killing of his brother Abel in Genesis 4:6-7 Then the LORD said to Cain, Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you (picture of Satan), but you must master it. One verse later: 8Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Cain was angry that his brother was pleasing God with his offering fearing and obeying God so he murdered him. Luke 12:4 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body (flesh and blood) and after that can do no more. 5 Fear him who, after the killing of the body has power to throw you into hell. God alone controls our final destiny; fearing Him is the beginning of wisdom. Just before Judas Iscariot went out from among the Twelve with the intent to turn Jesus over to His murderers, Scripture says in Luke 22:3 Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. 4And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. II. God plans REDEMPTION God sent his One and Only Son to die for the sins of the world s people so that, by believing and receiving the atoning death of Christ as payment for their sin, they d be saved. Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost. All God s plans are great but what can trump His plan to redeem mankind to Himself? In Matthew 1:21 the angel said to Joseph She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus (Greek form of Joshua the LORD saves), because he will save his people from their sins. This passage fulfills the prophecies of Isaiah in 7:14 and Micah in 5:2. Satan schemes DAMNATION Satan schemes to kill the infant Jesus through the jealousy of King Herod in Matthew 2:8. But in 2:12 God intervenes and after having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, the wise men return to their country by another route. Thousands of Hebrew boys, two-years of age and under, were murdered because of Satan s scheme, but the boy Jesus lived and grew, safe in Egypt, until the death of Herod. III. God plans ABUNDANT and PURPOSEFUL LIFE in Jesus for the believer. God s every plan is outlined in His Word! And we are to pray over God s plans confessing sin asking him to bring them to pass. Isn t it amazing that God would invite our partnership with the carrying out of his plans? We are to 1) know the plans that God has for us (Jeremiah 29:11), yes, and to 2) recognize the many schemes that the evil one Satan plans for us.

3 3 Satan schemes our uselessness for Christ, and even our death Since the first hour when goodness came into conflict with evil, it has never ceased to be true in the spiritual experience, that Satan hinders us, C. H. Spurgeon. Satan will direct his engines against that very virtue for which you are the most famous. The birds will peck at your ripest fruit, and the wild boar will dash his tusks at your ripest vines. There was never a revival of religion without a revival of his opposition. Remember that as soon as Ezra and Nehemiah began to labor (to rebuild the wall), Sanballat and Tobiah were stirred up to hinder them. Satan s scheming weapon is deception from the father of lies which often appears good in the beginning, but destroys in the end. Let no man deceive you 1. Religious deception 2. Food deception (1 Timothy 4:5) 3. Legalistic deception (Luke 11:39-52 hypocrisy, imbalance, ostentation, impossible demands, intolerance and exclusiveness) 4. Deception regarding Scripture (reading the Bible with misconceptions and conditions our own thinking applied to it) 5. Deception regarding eternal security of the believer (the lie that you can t know you re saved on earth 1 John 3:14, 2 Timothy 1:12, 1 John 5:12, Acts 16:31 and Romans 10:9) 6. Ethical deception (conditional ethics) Can a civil right be a moral wrong? 7. Mystical error, dreams, visions, words (darkness). If a word does not edify, exhort and emanate from God s written word, then it is a lie. 8. Sexual deception (one man + one woman in marriage alone) 9. Spiritual deception 2 Thessalonians 2:3 going beyond what s written. In spiritual warfare, God gives us the opportunity to cling to him and know his word on the warfare for human souls and believers lives that Satan is continuously waging. God outlined a strategy: that believers resist the devil and we put on the armor of God so that we may stand against Satan s schemes! Though the Bible has a lot to say about angels and demons, it has little to say about how we believers are to interact with them. Even God s mighty angel refused to rebuke Satan. Scripture does not encourage us to have direct confrontations with evil, but rather to be so close in our relationship to God, as to utilize the powerful spiritual weapons he has outlined in Ephesians 6: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the

4 4 heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Four times in this passage verses Paul tells believers to stand! take your stand against the devil s schemes in verse 11 when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground verse 13 and after you have done everything, to stand in verse 13 Stand firm then in verse 14 Nowhere do we see that we re to take on or to engage the evil One in battle or rebuke him with words. But we are to put on the armor which the Lord has provided for us, and stand against the devil s schemes! Verse 12 tells us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but we are to stand against: rulers authorities (Aren t these the very ones who we are to submit to? Yes. In Luke 12:11 When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say. ) the powers of this dark world the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. We are provided defenses galore: 1) truth, 2) righteousness, 3) the gospel, 4) faith, 5) salvation, and the offense of 6) Scripture. We are challenged to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith and to place our allegiance and trust in God and resist evil s advances. So he has outlined the six powerful spiritual weapons provided for doing battle with evil one is offensive. 1) Belt of truth First of all know God s truth, and then daily reaffirm our belief in that truth. We must speak the truth, always, and respond to God s truth in all of our actions and circumstances. We must embrace the Truth the Lord Jesus Christ John 14:6. 2) Breastplate of righteousness God is righteous because he always does the right thing at the right time and in the right way. We must practice living right (eously) before God.

5 5 3) Shoes shod with the gospel of peace the assurance that since we have received Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we are at peace with God, ready to serve him and spend eternity in his company. 4) Shield of faith faithfully choosing to trust God and obey him, so that we will not buy into the devil s schemes (lies). 5) Helmet of salvation be secure in the knowledge that Jesus saves and Jesus keeps those who have been saved. And now for that all-important offensive weapon: 6) Sword of the Spirit know God s Word, the Bible, and then use it! 1 Peter 5:8-9: Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. Peter says to resist the devil and to stand firm against his every scheme. Remember that very soon after Jesus had warned Peter that Satan wanted to sift him like wheat in Luke 22:31, he denied the Lord three times. James 4:7: Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. We are first to submit to God, and then we are to resist Satan. Scripture promises that when we do this, Satan will flee. That s powerful! Matthew 4:1-11 recounts Jesus, after he had spent 40 days in the wilderness, how the devil came to him with several temptations. What did Jesus do? He quoted Scripture and restated his commitment to the will of his Father in heaven (submitted to God). Jesus reaffirmed the truth of God, and resisted Satan. The Holy Spirit, dwelling in us, will identify the liar and his schemes and then as we resist the devil looking to God for strength and deliverance and praising Him for it Satan will flee. IV. God plans judgment (disaster) for those who reject his Son Jeremiah 18:11. Isaiah 46:11cd What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do. E. W. Kenyon admonishes believers to be ever praying: daring to enter the throne room and facing God with the needs of the world. Satan schemes to hide the reality of God s impending judgment from the lost pushing unbelief to their eternal detriment! We are to know and use God s Word; we re to pray to him and praise him continually. Psalm 149:6 May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands. Many times we re praying to and praying for, but not praying against. We must pray against deception lies from the enemy of our soul! David Jeremiah: Evil is on a leash, so look up and take heart! God rules in world affairs for His own purposes, and for the good of those who love Him.