Video
Summary
Talking in-depth about Satan’s world system has enough practical benefit that it is worth spending time on as an area of study. Satan’s web of lies and deceit is far from unsuccessful in leading us humans away from the truth – quite to the contrary, the system is devastatingly effective at preying upon our fallen natures to turn us against the Lord. It may seem harsh to speak in terms of most humans being deceived, but the truth is the truth. God didn’t give Satan this control as some sort of gift, but Satan usurped it. God allows Satan this temporary control over the material world only because He uses the situation to test us and refine our faith; God’s plan is perfect and unswerving, and the situation in no way caught Him by surprise. God could crush Satan instantly with the smallest movement of His finger, so we have nothing to worry about – we have the Omnipotent Creator of the universe on our side. All we have to do is have faith.
Timestamps
00:0000:00 - Introduction
00:5400:54 - Is this much depth really necessary? (In talking about Satan’s web of lies and deceit in the world)
03:4003:40 - Are many Christians really so helpless? (In terms of being deceived by Satan’s lie)
10:2510:25 - Isn’t this too harsh? (Saying that many people really are deceived)
12:3812:38 - Why doesn’t God just defeat Satan already?
20:1020:10 - Did God give Satan control? Is that phrasing really appropriate?
Content
(Derived from https://ichthys.com/SR4(SWS).htm)
Is this much depth really necessary?
If we just say “Satan manipulates people and events in the world to lead us Christians away from the truth,” isn’t that alone sufficient? Why do we need to go through hundreds of pages of teaching talking about this stuff?
Well, a cardinal rule of any battle is knowing your enemy – not just a little bit, but everything about them. You may have also heard the Latin phrase scientia potentia est – “knowledge is power.”
Put simply, having a very in-depth understanding of how Satan controls and influences the world is the best way to inoculate ourselves against the illusion around us.
Are many Christians really so helpless?
Well, it does depend to some degree on how much knowledge you have coming into this study, but the answer is yes, generally.
How many Christians do you know who think that you can generally trust the media? The government? Messages from TV and other works of fiction? Do people really hold these things at arm’s length as if they were venomous snakes? Do they recognize that Satan is in complete control of all these things, manipulating them to his purposes?
Or how about this – do many Christians recognize that Satan empowers error within doctrine in the Church as well? Have you ever noticed how it is dangerous false teachings (like the prosperity gospel) that seem to take off in popularity? How the works of hardworking brothers and sisters in the church go unrecognized and largely forgotten (by the world, that is)?
In reality, many Christians are completely oblivious to the fact that this world is wholly in Satan’s clutches, and that it is set up as an illusion to deceive and distract us. This reason is why pursuing a study like SR4 is so valuable.
Isn’t this too harsh?
Someone might take issue with the wording here. We are talking in generalities, sure, but we’re still calling out lots and lots of people.
The thing is, we are these people too, at least from time to time. Do you wake up in the morning and remind yourself that this world is nothing but ashes and dust, and that it is the invisible that is eternal? (No? Me neither – most of the time).
Yet, even so – even though we are ourselves unworthy – we have to be harsh and say what needs to be said. Because Satan is all too happy too to use “niceness” as a club to beat down truth in this world.
Why doesn’t God just defeat Satan already?
God is omnipotent and outside spacetime. Satan, though far, far more powerful than us humans, is still only a finite creature. His fight against God is complete and utter madness, and God could completely obliterate him in an instant.
- In fact, when Jesus returns in radiant glory, he will singlehandedly destroy all the armies of the antichrist. Their death warrant is signed. The end is coming for them.
- In fact, when Jesus paid for our sins on the cross, Satan lost – totally and completely. As prophesied in Genesis 3:15, the head of the serpent was crushed by the seed of the woman.
- In fact, no matter what Satan does to us – even up to the point of imprisonment, torture, and death – he can’t take away anything of any eternal import. God sees us. And eternity is all that matters.
It is important for us to actually believe these things, because these things are true. Even if Satan is given reign to manipulate the world’s strings today, tomorrow he will be cast into the lake of fire forever. In fact, things are only going to get worse during the tribulation that the book of Revelation describes. We better get used to the idea that this world is enemy territory, because someday in the future we are going to start getting put to death by it. Then the things that might seem hard to believe now will be clear as day. But for people who made friends with the world and all that is in it, it will be too late.
Video/audio transcript
0:00 - hey guys so today on friday we are
0:02 - picking up with the first
0:04 - questions and answers video relating to
0:06 - lesson one
0:07 - of what was posted on sr4 so
0:11 - this is the outline of the things that
0:14 - we did
0:14 - earlier in the week for that video that
0:17 - i uploaded
0:18 - and so the general format for this is
0:20 - that video
0:21 - which is pre-recorded by me will go up
0:23 - earlier in the week
0:24 - and if people have questions then they
0:27 - can post those in the google doc
0:29 - and if questions are there i can prepare
0:32 - things
0:33 - in advance and we’ll we’ll hit those
0:35 - questions but if people have questions
0:37 - as we come up here
0:38 - we will be pausing between each thing we
0:41 - talk about
0:41 - and so we can kind of steer the
0:43 - direction of the conversation that way
0:44 - as well
0:45 - now with this being said most of the
0:47 - time even if there’s no questions i come
0:49 - up with some so we’ll always have some
0:50 - things to talk about
0:52 - but that’s the general format for these
0:54 - questions and answers videos
0:57 - so the first thing that i thought we’d
0:59 - talk about today was
1:00 - this question here i may have danced
1:03 - around this a little bit
1:04 - in the actual lesson video but someone
1:07 - might ask the question
1:09 - is this much depth really necessary so
1:11 - if we were to just say
1:13 - satan manipulates people and events in
1:14 - the world to lead us christians away
1:16 - from the truth
1:17 - that really is basically the gist of
1:20 - what we talked about in the video
1:21 - earlier in the week and
1:23 - that is the main contention of the study
1:25 - that we’re going through but if we just
1:26 - say it in one sentence
1:28 - is that enough on its own why do we have
1:30 - to spend weeks and weeks
1:32 - because i’m sure that’s how long this
1:33 - will take and wade through hundreds of
1:35 - pages
1:36 - of teaching on all of this if we can
1:38 - just say it like that
1:40 - and so this second paragraph here is is
1:43 - this is really
1:43 - the reason right here um so i’m just
1:46 - going to read it
1:47 - a cardinal rule of any battle is knowing
1:49 - your enemy
1:50 - not just a little bit but everything
1:51 - about them you may have also heard the
1:53 - latin
1:54 - phrase schiente potentia este knowledge
1:57 - is power
1:58 - so if we don’t know about what satan is
2:02 - trying to do
2:03 - and the methodologies he employs the
2:05 - tactics
2:06 - and all of that we are going to be
2:08 - flying blind
2:10 - and going with that metaphor of life as
2:13 - a spiritual battlefield like we’ve spent
2:14 - so much time talking about
2:16 - in the study on peripherology that we’ve
2:19 - been doing for a long time now
2:20 - you do not want to be without
2:22 - information in a battle
2:24 - in military history actually uh people
2:27 - who study strategy and stuff will tell
2:28 - you that information on the battlefield
2:30 - is the most crucial thing
2:32 - so the element of surprise in warfare is
2:35 - absolutely huge
2:36 - and for us as christians we don’t want
2:39 - surprises in terms of what we thought
2:41 - was the case we what we thought was
2:43 - important
2:44 - to be revealed to be false on judgment
2:47 - day because we wasted all of our time
2:50 - on things that only happen to look
2:52 - important
2:53 - um so pulling all this together really
2:56 - the basic idea is that if we have an
2:58 - in-depth understanding of how satan
3:00 - actually does control and influence the
3:02 - world
3:02 - we are better able to inoculate
3:04 - ourselves against the illusion around us
3:06 - so you can kind of think of this as a
3:08 - vaccine against
3:10 - all of the lies and the deceit that
3:12 - satan peddles to try to turn us away
3:14 - from the truth
3:15 - so in medicine vaccines are you know
3:18 - a shot in the arm something that you
3:20 - take beforehand
3:21 - to prepare yourself against the disease
3:24 - that you know
3:25 - is out there around and so for us as
3:27 - christians
3:28 - if you compare the lies of satan and
3:30 - what he tries to feed us
3:32 - to a disease then if we stick ourselves
3:35 - in the arm beforehand
3:37 - we can come sort of forearmed and
3:39 - prepared to handle
3:41 - whatever satan may throw at us all right
3:44 - so another question
3:45 - that someone might ask is this one here
3:47 - so are many christians really as
3:49 - helpless as the people chained in place
3:51 - looking at shadows on the wall
3:53 - so that’s coming from plato’s allegory
3:54 - of the cave which we talked about
3:56 - as a helpful parallel for us navigating
3:59 - the web of lies that satan has before us
4:01 - in this world
4:02 - and so it’s not a very flattering
4:04 - comparison for us
4:06 - because these people as we sort of
4:08 - talked about
4:09 - have the tendency to scoff at the people
4:12 - who
4:12 - go out outside the cave into the light
4:15 - you know they think that
4:16 - those people are the ones with delusions
4:18 - um
4:19 - and so the question is if we really
4:21 - don’t want to be compared to those
4:22 - people
4:23 - well how much are we really like them
4:25 - are we really trapped
4:26 - in a cave are we really that caught up
4:29 - in the illusion that we don’t even
4:30 - recognize it
4:31 - and it certainly does depend uh to a
4:34 - degree on your spiritual growth
4:36 - and whether you’ve come across all of
4:37 - this stuff before and
4:39 - you know sort of your i guess your
4:41 - overall level of spiritual cynicism
4:43 - if that’s a thing as well uh but the
4:45 - answer is actually yes
4:47 - um and this is unfortunate for us i
4:50 - think particularly in our modern world
4:52 - where we have distractions all around us
4:54 - in terms of
4:55 - movies and books and fiction and all of
4:58 - these things that the internet lets us
4:59 - consume 24 7.
5:01 - i think a lot of people even though in
5:04 - their hearts they’re not
5:05 - setting out to turn themselves away from
5:07 - spiritual truth
5:09 - end up sort of adrift uh spending their
5:11 - time on other things
5:13 - and so the real problem is summarized by
5:15 - the second paragraph here is just that
5:17 - a lot of people don’t view things that
5:19 - they maybe ought to be a little bit
5:21 - skeptical of spiritually
5:23 - they don’t hold them at arm’s length um
5:26 - so
5:26 - if you don’t recognize that satan is in
5:29 - control of these things in the world
5:31 - so the government media messages from tv
5:34 - and works of fiction
5:36 - then you’re liable to consume them
5:40 - more than you might or trust them and
5:43 - get your ideas from them
5:44 - more than you would otherwise and even
5:47 - more than this and this is the thing
5:48 - that’s actually really scary
5:50 - is that sometimes satan saying
5:53 - most effective um weapons against us in
5:57 - the church
5:58 - aren’t necessarily things that we don’t
6:00 - look to for our spiritual nourishment
6:02 - but they’re false teachers within the
6:04 - church so
6:05 - people who we as christians look up to
6:08 - and respect
6:09 - well even if those people are well
6:11 - intentioned
6:12 - if satan empowers error as it were so he
6:17 - he sort of encourages false teaching to
6:19 - crop up in the church
6:21 - then these people even if they have good
6:23 - intentions can end up doing lots and
6:24 - lots of damage
6:26 - and not to get off on too much of a side
6:27 - tangent but this is one reason why we
6:29 - really really
6:30 - should be careful uh about who we
6:33 - respect as teachers
6:35 - um even because people generally want to
6:38 - give
6:38 - others the benefit of the doubt in terms
6:40 - of well maybe his doctrine isn’t
6:43 - full on but you know he’s a good guy
6:44 - he’s trying to do the right thing
6:46 - uh it’s not that we should necessarily
6:49 - you know
6:49 - drag down teachers and um what’s the
6:53 - right way to say this
6:54 - um i don’t know sort of victimize them
6:57 - you know like
6:58 - make them make them like uh
7:01 - gosh i’m not being very elegant here um
7:03 - i i guess just make an example of them
7:05 - or you know sort of like french
7:06 - revolution style
7:07 - down with the leaders that sort of thing
7:09 - i’m not at all saying that um
7:11 - what i’m trying to say is that the
7:13 - excuse of well he’s just doing his best
7:15 - really shouldn’t cut it and the reason
7:17 - for that is because
7:18 - satan does use teachers in the church
7:21 - who
7:22 - are off on the wrong path you know
7:24 - they’re teaching something false
7:25 - those are in many respects satan’s most
7:27 - powerful weapons
7:29 - and we should understand and respect
7:32 - that
7:32 - um in our own application of who we
7:34 - follow and and sort of vote with our
7:36 - feet
7:37 - um and so i’m bringing all this up just
7:39 - because
7:40 - it isn’t too far out there to say that
7:43 - many times the most popular teachings
7:45 - and the ones that have
7:47 - the most adherence who strongly who
7:48 - strongly stick to them
7:50 - are false teachings as unfortunate it is
7:53 - to say so
7:54 - the one that i use as an example and
7:56 - this is a pretty good example in general
7:57 - is the prosperity gospel so the idea
7:59 - that
8:00 - that god wants us to be rich and blessed
8:02 - and oh if you give me money god will
8:04 - bless you
8:05 - that sort of thing which seems to many
8:07 - of us to be very obviously false right
8:09 - at the outset
8:09 - but it’s a pretty popular teaching
8:12 - nonetheless
8:13 - and that doesn’t just happen i mean this
8:16 - particular one is something that people
8:17 - want to believe
8:18 - but to use the the words that james does
8:21 - in
8:21 - in james chapter 3 it’s set on fire by
8:24 - hell
8:24 - right so that’s talking about the tongue
8:26 - but false teaching as well
8:28 - um these things don’t just come up in
8:30 - the church by happenstance
8:31 - um satan is architecting this system of
8:35 - of lies and false teaching
8:37 - you know he’s planting these things uh
8:39 - within the church
8:40 - to try to destroy it from within all
8:42 - right so i won’t spend too much more
8:44 - time there i mean i just think that’s a
8:45 - perhaps an area in which people don’t
8:47 - recognize the risk
8:49 - as much as we should and so the main
8:51 - takeaway from this
8:52 - slide is that in truth many people
8:55 - really are oblivious to the fact that
8:57 - this world is completely within satan’s
8:59 - control
9:00 - and that it is set up to deceive and
9:02 - distract us from the things that are
9:03 - actually important spiritually
9:05 - and so all of this together is why
9:07 - pursuing something like sr4 really is
9:09 - valuable for us
9:11 - because even if we might wish to say
9:14 - that the church in general is on the
9:16 - right track or doing good the truth is
9:18 - especially in our time and place a lot
9:20 - of people aren’t as aware
9:22 - as they should be as to the fact that we
9:25 - are called to be enemies to the world so
9:27 - friendship with god
9:28 - makes us enemies of the world all right
9:30 - so we just said
9:32 - that friendship with god makes us
9:34 - enemies of the world
9:35 - and this is a good passage here in john
9:37 - chapter 15 that talks about this so i’m
9:39 - just going to go ahead and read
9:40 - picking up at verse 18 of john chapter
9:43 - 15. if the world hates you keep in mind
9:45 - that it hated me first
9:47 - if you belong to the world it would love
9:48 - you as you as its own
9:50 - as it is you do not belong to the world
9:52 - but i have chosen you out of the world
9:54 - that is why the world hates you remember
9:56 - what i told you
9:57 - a servant is not greater than his master
9:59 - if they persecuted me they will
10:00 - persecute you also
10:02 - if they obeyed my teaching they will
10:03 - obey yours also they will treat you
10:05 - this way because of my name for they do
10:07 - not know who sent me
10:09 - so this passage here is just supporting
10:12 - what we were talking about in terms of
10:14 - we really do have to pick
10:15 - one so are we on god’s side
10:18 - or do we side with the world and if we
10:20 - side with the world
10:21 - even though it may not seem like it from
10:23 - the outset siding with the world means
10:25 - reciting with satan
10:26 - against god so it might seem like we’re
10:29 - being kind of harsh here
10:30 - uh you know we’re very much calling
10:32 - people out for not recognizing the
10:34 - dangers around us
10:36 - and so even though we are talking in
10:39 - generality so we’re saying you know many
10:41 - people
10:41 - not that person right over there um it
10:44 - does seem like maybe we’re coming off as
10:46 - overly harsh
10:47 - and something that should help temper
10:48 - this a little bit is to recognize that
10:51 - we
10:51 - are these people ourselves as well at
10:53 - least from time to time
10:55 - so as i phrased it here do you wake up
10:57 - in the morning and remind yourself that
10:58 - this world is nothing but ashes and dust
11:01 - and that it is the invisible that is
11:02 - eternal well no
11:04 - i don’t either at least not most of the
11:06 - time however
11:08 - even so even though we ourselves are
11:10 - unworthy we do
11:11 - have to be harsh and say what needs to
11:13 - be said because satan is all too happy
11:15 - to use
11:16 - niceness as a club to beat down the
11:18 - truth in this world
11:19 - and so what i mean by that is that some
11:22 - people might take
11:23 - issue with sort of calling things how
11:25 - they are and for
11:26 - saying you know what people need to be
11:28 - more red-hot for the truth
11:30 - people should stop getting so caught up
11:32 - in the lies of the world even if
11:34 - even if these things aren’t out and out
11:36 - terrible all on their own
11:38 - because anything that takes our time and
11:40 - focus off god
11:41 - ultimately is leading us away from god
11:45 - so this verse in first corinthians
11:46 - chapter 10
11:48 - talks on what we just said that even if
11:52 - it is not things that are obviously evil
11:54 - in front of us
11:55 - sometimes just spending time on things
11:57 - that things that aren’t
11:59 - so dedicated to spiritual growth may not
12:02 - be the best thing for us
12:03 - so this is first corinthians chapter 10
12:06 - verse 23
12:07 - i have the right to do anything you say
12:08 - but not everything is beneficial
12:10 - i have the right to do anything but not
12:12 - everything is constructed
12:13 - so just because something is an out and
12:15 - out sin doesn’t necessarily mean that
12:17 - there isn’t opportunity cost for us
12:19 - spiritually
12:20 - in doing it because as i tried to say
12:23 - before
12:23 - any time we aren’t focused on the truth
12:26 - learning believing applying it to our
12:28 - lives
12:28 - praying for the church doing ministry
12:30 - all of these things that are very
12:32 - constructive spiritually any time we
12:34 - spend that’s not that
12:36 - arguably is time that we’re not spending
12:38 - most effectively unto the kingdom of god
12:40 - all right so another question that i
12:42 - know we did hit
12:43 - somewhat in the lesson itself but i just
12:45 - wanted to come back up and perhaps talk
12:47 - about in a little more depth
12:49 - is why god doesn’t just defeat satan
12:51 - already
12:52 - right at this point in time you know why
12:53 - why does god keep letting this go on how
12:56 - it is in the world
12:57 - um so god is omnipotent
13:00 - outside of space-time satan on the other
13:02 - hand even though he’s
13:04 - way way more powerful than we are as
13:05 - humans so you know angels are in general
13:08 - but satan
13:09 - was himself the the the preeminent angel
13:11 - right the guardian of god’s holiness
13:14 - um so even he’s more powerful than
13:16 - garden variety angels as it were
13:18 - um but even so he’s only still a finite
13:21 - creature
13:21 - so contrast that we just said god’s
13:24 - outside of space time satan is a created
13:26 - being
13:27 - within the bounds of space-time so this
13:30 - makes his
13:30 - fight against god complete madness
13:33 - because god could completely obliterate
13:34 - him in an instant
13:35 - so satan doesn’t even stand a chance as
13:38 - what we’re saying here
13:39 - and so i’ve made several points here
13:41 - that i think
13:42 - illustrate this well so i’m just going
13:44 - to go ahead and read them you know maybe
13:45 - i’ll pause in between
13:46 - but in fact when jesus returns in
13:49 - radiant glory he will
13:50 - single-handedly destroy all of the
13:52 - armies of the antichrist
13:54 - their death warrant is signed the end is
13:55 - coming for them so
13:57 - it’s just that even though god is not
14:00 - destroying
14:01 - all the forces of evil right now
14:03 - presently today
14:04 - in front of us that doesn’t mean that
14:06 - it’s not coming um this is in the book
14:08 - of revelation we’re talking about the
14:10 - battle of armageddon
14:11 - you know in perhaps pop culture
14:13 - armageddon has like two bad
14:16 - like two two armies clashing with each
14:17 - other the forces of good and the forces
14:19 - of evil
14:20 - in truth how this is gonna go down is
14:21 - that jesus is gonna come back and he’s
14:23 - single-handedly gonna obliterate all his
14:25 - enemies
14:25 - he doesn’t need our help because he’s
14:27 - god and that is how overpowered
14:30 - this this exchange is god
14:33 - it’s like a character in a video game
14:36 - who has all his skills maxed out and
14:37 - he’s facing like
14:38 - the newest person in the game that to an
14:41 - infinite degree more
14:42 - is how much more powerful god is than
14:44 - satan so
14:46 - in any instant god could do this and
14:48 - like i said
14:49 - this is already prophesied to happen
14:51 - jesus will come
14:52 - when he returns in glory and he will
14:54 - destroy all the armies of evil
14:56 - before him so the second point in fact
14:59 - when jesus paid for our sins on the
15:00 - cross
15:01 - satan lost totally and completely so as
15:04 - prophesied in genesis 3 15 the head of
15:07 - the serpent was crushed by the seat of
15:08 - the woman
15:09 - so this is after satan had tempted adam
15:12 - and eve to fall
15:14 - this is what god declares he said i will
15:15 - put enmity between you and the woman and
15:17 - between your seed and her seed
15:19 - he shall bruise you on the head and you
15:20 - shall bruise him on the heel
15:23 - so i’m taking some liberties here saying
15:24 - the head of the serpent being crushed
15:26 - um but the point is when someone gets
15:29 - bit on the heel
15:30 - it doesn’t end them when the serpent’s
15:32 - head gets crushed
15:33 - he’s completely defeated that’s what the
15:35 - cross was so
15:37 - jesus christ robbed death of its
15:40 - well he robbed death of its sting on the
15:42 - cross
15:43 - so death has no power over us anymore
15:45 - and in fact the cross
15:46 - reconciled us to god so humanity after
15:49 - the fall
15:50 - was positionally far away from god you
15:53 - know we had this
15:54 - this blood guilt upon us from our sin
15:56 - but god washed that all away with the
15:58 - blood of christ
15:59 - when he died for us on the cross so this
16:01 - is what we mean by
16:02 - satan’s already lost so you may have
16:05 - remembered
16:06 - i think it was a few weeks back on the
16:08 - shared group recording we have on
16:09 - saturdays audi and i were talking about
16:11 - this how
16:12 - positionally satan’s already lost it not
16:15 - only
16:15 - is his fight against god completely
16:17 - insane to begin with
16:18 - but he’s still fighting after he lost
16:22 - his entire army as it were after he was
16:24 - dealt a crushing defeat
16:26 - he’s still insane enough to think he can
16:27 - win right so
16:29 - not only can we put our trust in god as
16:32 - the undisputably more powerful person in
16:35 - this conflict but god has already won
16:37 - basically and in fact point number three
16:40 - no matter what satan does to us
16:41 - even up to the point of imprisonment
16:43 - torture and death he can’t take away
16:45 - anything of any eternal import
16:47 - god sees us and eternity is all that
16:49 - matters so what i mean by this
16:51 - is even if we do die you know people
16:54 - might get
16:55 - all up in arms about this even if we do
16:57 - die even if we face torture imprisonment
16:59 - and death
17:00 - it doesn’t really matter spiritually
17:02 - because we know that
17:03 - martyrs are given a cheerful reunion
17:06 - when we when we go to see god in heaven
17:08 - if we are martyred
17:09 - we’ll be held up and receive glory and
17:12 - honor for it
17:13 - it’s not something for us to necessarily
17:15 - be afraid of
17:16 - if we look with eyes of faith this runs
17:19 - very counter to the world of course who
17:20 - says that this life is all there is
17:22 - and so if you don’t go away don’t go
17:25 - away thinking that martyrdom’s a good
17:26 - thing because then it’s over
17:28 - well for us as christians we don’t
17:29 - believe that we believe that
17:31 - to live as christ and to die is gain to
17:33 - quote paul and so
17:35 - it’s actually not the end of the world
17:38 - if we die
17:39 - or if bad things happen to us because we
17:41 - know that if we hold the correct
17:43 - perspective
17:44 - it is the eternal things that are
17:45 - important not things in this life
17:47 - and so these are three points that are
17:49 - important for us to keep in mind
17:51 - and it’s important for us to actually
17:52 - believe these things because these
17:53 - things are true
17:54 - so let me repeat that again if we
17:56 - believe these things
17:57 - it’s important for us to hold them in
17:59 - our minds because they’re actually true
18:01 - spiritually um
18:02 - so it doesn’t mean we have to like them
18:04 - necessarily but
18:06 - these are the realities of how the
18:08 - spiritual world really works
18:10 - and so the correct perspective for us to
18:13 - keep in mind
18:14 - is that even if satan is given rain to
18:16 - manipulate the world strings today
18:18 - tomorrow will be cast into lake of fire
18:20 - forever so
18:21 - on the stage of eternity the span of
18:24 - human history is actually quite short
18:26 - you know satan is is only given time to
18:29 - do his thing for a very short period of
18:31 - time and after that
18:32 - he’ll be completely destroyed and we
18:35 - won’t
18:36 - have to worry about anything he could do
18:38 - to us ever again
18:39 - and in fact even on top of everything
18:41 - we’ve just talked about here
18:43 - things are only going to get worse
18:44 - during the tribulation
18:46 - and the tribulation is talked about in
18:48 - the book of revelation so
18:50 - we really better get used to the idea
18:51 - that this world is enemy territory for
18:53 - us
18:54 - because someday in the future this world
18:56 - is going to start putting us to death
18:57 - for our faith
18:58 - and so even if these things don’t seem
19:01 - so realistic now you know the
19:03 - the enmity between us and the world may
19:05 - not rear its head for us every day
19:07 - well we do need to get it through our
19:09 - heads this is actually the case
19:11 - because at some point in the future the
19:12 - world will turn on us and it will turn
19:14 - on us quickly
19:15 - we won’t have warning but perhaps even
19:17 - more frightening people who’ve made
19:18 - friends with the world
19:20 - will be too late for them the book of
19:21 - revelation talks about
19:23 - apostasy for a full third of the true
19:25 - church people
19:27 - who don’t catch the warning signs fast
19:29 - enough
19:30 - won’t recognize the spiritual things
19:32 - playing out before their eyes
19:33 - because they decided that making friends
19:36 - with the world was more important than
19:38 - holding on to their faith as christians
19:40 - and we might say oh well that won’t be
19:42 - me you know i have it all together
19:43 - spiritually
19:44 - well one of the reasons why the bible is
19:47 - so frequent in
19:48 - in telling us to to check ourselves and
19:51 - it warns us to be on guard
19:53 - is because none of us can none of us
19:56 - knows
19:57 - exactly where our hearts will lead us to
20:00 - and you know the bible is always talking
20:02 - about this principle of imminence too
20:04 - because positionally the end has been
20:05 - near for 2000 years now we
20:07 - we live in the last days as it were and
20:10 - none of us knows the time
20:11 - either all right so we had a good
20:13 - question from someone listening in this
20:15 - week
20:16 - talking about this idea of phrasing of
20:18 - how when we say that
20:20 - you know satan is in present control of
20:22 - this world it is kind of important for
20:24 - us to not just say oh well god gave it
20:26 - to him
20:27 - like god gifted satan control of this
20:29 - world as if this were
20:30 - the state of affairs that oh i don’t
20:32 - know what’s the right way to phrase this
20:34 - that that god like is the agent in this
20:36 - um so god
20:37 - lets it happen but that’s very different
20:39 - than god being the one
20:41 - who’s driving satan to do this right as
20:43 - if god’s pulling him along
20:44 - and satan has no choice in this matter
20:46 - so properly
20:48 - speaking satan usurped the throne that
20:50 - he’s sitting on of the world it’s not
20:52 - his it doesn’t belong to him
20:53 - he’s a tyrant sitting in that seat and
20:56 - that’s why he will be overthrown
20:57 - eventually
20:58 - because he’s not the rightful ruler of
21:00 - this world
21:01 - in fact in the millennium jesus christ
21:04 - will come to rule the world in person
21:06 - in the new jerusalem not in the new
21:08 - jerusalem in jerusalem new jerusalem is
21:10 - what happens after
21:11 - the heavens and the earth will be made
21:13 - but jesus will come
21:14 - bodily to rule the world and jesus
21:16 - christ
21:17 - the son of man the true morning star is
21:20 - the one who the throne of the world
21:22 - belongs to not satan
21:24 - but one thing i wanted to establish up
21:27 - front is that the bible itself does call
21:29 - satan the ruler of this world so this is
21:30 - picking up in ephesians chapter two
21:32 - verse two so it talks about
21:35 - the ruler of the kingdom of the air
21:38 - right so that’s this world it presents
21:40 - right the spirit who is now at work and
21:41 - those who are disobedient
21:44 - so satan really is called the ruler of
21:47 - the kingdom of the air right so this
21:48 - doesn’t mean
21:49 - this doesn’t mean that satan what’s the
21:52 - right way to put this
21:53 - this doesn’t mean that satan is the true
21:55 - spiritual ruler of this world
21:57 - but he is the one who is in control of
21:59 - the physical world
22:00 - presently so i just wanted to pull this
22:02 - verse up to show that we’re not just
22:04 - calling satan ruler of this world
22:05 - willy-nilly
22:06 - as if as if oh i don’t know we’re
22:08 - filling in blanks that the bible doesn’t
22:10 - actually talk about this is what the
22:12 - bible itself says in ephesians chapter
22:13 - 2.
22:14 - so i mentioned positionally how jesus
22:16 - christ is the rightful ruler of this
22:18 - world
22:19 - but it is important to talk about
22:21 - satan’s dominion over the physical world
22:23 - also in terms of man and man’s initial
22:26 - place in the world
22:27 - so i’m picking up in chapter in genesis
22:29 - chapter 1 here verse 26
22:31 - so i’m going to go ahead and read this
22:33 - verse 26 then god said let us make
22:35 - mankind in our image
22:36 - in our likeness so that they may rule
22:38 - over the fish in the sea and the birds
22:40 - in the sky over the livestock and all
22:42 - the wild animals
22:43 - and over all the creatures that move
22:45 - along the ground so god created mankind
22:47 - in his own image
22:48 - in the image of god he created them male
22:50 - and female he created them
22:52 - god blessed them and said to them be
22:54 - fruitful and increase in number
22:56 - fill the earth and subdue it rule over
22:58 - the fish in the sea
22:59 - and the birds in the sky and over every
23:00 - living creature that moves on the ground
23:02 - so this rule over bit is what i was
23:05 - going to have us
23:06 - examine here so man initially was
23:09 - written
23:10 - or not written was created as
23:13 - the creature having dominion over others
23:15 - in the world and so in genesis chapter 2
23:17 - god brings animals to adam and then
23:21 - adam gets to name animals and the names
23:24 - of adam picks stick
23:25 - right so this was man’s initial place in
23:27 - the world and in the garden of eden
23:29 - before there was conflict and sin
23:31 - you know man enjoyed his days sort of
23:33 - being
23:34 - the de facto ruler of this existence but
23:37 - then the fall happened in genesis
23:39 - chapter 3
23:40 - so satan is now somewhat in the place of
23:43 - where man was and of course positionally
23:45 - in an eternal sense we also mention how
23:48 - the person who’s thrown satan really
23:49 - stole was jesus christ
23:51 - and you know jesus christ will come to
23:53 - reclaim it but
23:54 - you know satan is an angel and the other
23:57 - angels along with him
23:58 - don’t have the same physicality that we
24:00 - do as human beings
24:02 - and so in some sense our place in the
24:04 - world as well was usurped by satan you
24:06 - know he destabilized the relationship
24:08 - between man and god
24:10 - and then men then we as man
24:13 - or not we collectively but adam and eve
24:15 - were kicked out of the garden of eden
24:17 - um and this was because of satan’s
24:19 - trickery and deceit
24:20 - so our place our rightful place in the
24:22 - universe which will be restored
24:24 - when god comes back in victory was also
24:27 - taken by satan
24:28 - so to address this question that we’re
24:30 - talking about of did god give satan
24:32 - control
24:33 - is that phrasing appropriate that
24:34 - phrasing really isn’t um and
24:37 - if we were to say things like that it’s
24:39 - just important for us to clarify that
24:41 - god let this happen that’s again
24:43 - different from god
24:44 - making it happen because satan is the
24:46 - one who’s usurping this authority
24:49 - the one who’s taking what is not
24:50 - rightfully his
24:52 - and as we did touch on in the study the
24:54 - reason why god has let this happen is
24:56 - because god’s using satan for his own
24:58 - purposes
24:59 - in fact as in the cross god is letting
25:02 - satan
25:02 - make a fool of himself so to speak just
25:05 - to prove
25:06 - to all people human and and angel kind
25:09 - alike
25:09 - that god is perfectly just and righteous
25:12 - and also perfect in his mercy
25:14 - in that he can save sinful mankind even
25:17 - despite
25:18 - satan’s best efforts to throw a wrench
25:19 - in god’s plan for doing so
25:21 - so satan is completely powerless to stop
25:24 - this
25:24 - but satan nonetheless is the one who’s
25:27 - making all of these decisions in
25:28 - opposition to god
25:29 - god’s not compelling him to do it but
25:31 - god is letting it happen
25:33 - for the purpose of testing our hearts in
25:35 - this world
25:36 - so you may have heard the phrase used of
25:39 - us as christians that life is all about
25:40 - choice
25:41 - it’s all about whether we apply our free
25:44 - will
25:44 - to follow the things that god would have
25:46 - for us or
25:48 - apply our free will to other things you
25:49 - know the things of the world which are
25:51 - all ultimately controlled by satan
25:53 - and that ultimately is why god allows
25:56 - satan
25:56 - to be here in a position of power in
25:58 - this present creation
26:00 - is to test us so we have the ability as
26:03 - humans to choose between good and evil
26:06 - and ultimately that’s why we’re here we
26:09 - have the ability god’s in fact done
26:11 - everything already for us
26:12 - by giving us a chance to be redeemed to
26:16 - accept the sacrifice that jesus made for
26:17 - us on the cross
26:18 - and all we have to do is not say no but
26:21 - this world is set up
26:22 - to force us into that choice that in
26:25 - large part is why god
26:26 - let satan do the things that he does now
26:29 - not because god couldn’t stop him
26:31 - not because god won’t stop him
26:32 - eventually but because
26:35 - in the time we call now the present god
26:38 - is setting things up
26:39 - to give us a choice to follow him or to
26:41 - follow satan who’s the present ruler of
26:43 - this world