Don't Let Satan Take Advantage of You - Zac Poonen - September 23, 2012

you know after mm-hmm Satan appears in Genesis 3 in the book of Job as well in the very first chapter you don't read much of Satan in the entire Old Testament he was always behind the scenes you know controlling Wicked Queen Jezebel controlling the Philistines and all the others who attacked Israel and sometimes moving in Israel too we read of one instance where he even you know deceived David Satan it says moved David to number the people so that he could so that David would depend upon men rather than upon God it's about the only reference to Satan that there is in the Old Testament because Israel dealt with people they didn't deal with Satan so much but he was behind the scenes but as soon as you come to the New Testament you see Satan there right there attacking Jesus and then very often through demons in the Gospels and they were always cast out and when you come to the Acts of the Apostles the Apostles encounter demon-possessed people and then when you go to the episodes there's a lot of reference to Satan and we're no longer fighting with human beings one mark of a Old Covenant believer is that he fights with human beings whether you knew it or not if you're still fighting with your husband or wife you're basically Old Covenant in the New Covenant we read in Ephesians 6:12 we don't fight with human beings but instead we fight with the devil but most believers that I've met are still fighting with human beings with people at work with their neighbors at home getting into a lot of arguments about things that have no eternal consequence I mean just think of the number of believers nowadays who are arguing about who's got to be who's gonna be the next president of the United States you think that's got some eternal consequence you got to come to India where it's one Hindu versus another Hindu or one Hindu or there's another Muslim what what stand do you take it's one of the mistakes that a lot of Christians make here thinking that America is a Christian country it's not there is no Christian country in the world I also want to say even 200 years ago America was not a Christian country there is no such thing as a Christian country in the world is a false sense of patriotism that makes you feel that you belong to a Christian country the Bible says that God is calling out of the nations of people for his name the only thing God recognizes on earth today is not America or England but the church in any country even if the churches in Iraq or Afghanistan is the church and it's very sad when we don't see with the way God sees and we get involved in fights and arguments about whether this president is right or that president is right we're fighting with human beings and the more we fight with human beings is exactly what the devil wants the less ability you have to fight him I mean the Lord showed me that many years ago that if you want to be strong to fight the devil just decide to stop fighting with human beings and we can have opinions but don't get into arguments about all these unnecessary things a lot of worldly matters and politics and all well I'll tell you this you lose a lot of energy arguing about things which 2,000 years from now you'll regret that you ever wasted your time arguing about all that stuff which has nothing to do with building the Church of Jesus Christ can you imagine Noah getting into arguments with people on the streets about who's got to be the next king or leader he had no time for that he was concentrating on building the ark he says hey fellas as world's gonna be destroyed that's the only thing that matters he doesn't matter which political party you belong to if you don't turn from sin you're gonna be lost I wonder if we realize this we have to be wise in these days we must not be influenced it's good to read the news internet or newspapers to know what's happening in the world but don't believe everything you read a lot of it is just to influence your mind in a certain direction you were not there you didn't see it but you believe what some journalist said and you get an opinion on it and then you begin to air that opinion and if you get ten journalists saying the same thing you got an opinion you know it says here our citizenship is in heaven and if you want to live as a citizen of heaven it says set your mind on the things that are above do you think the Lord Jesus is the right hand and the father is worried about political disputes in the world not at all or it says God is in control of everything all authority in heaven and earth is given to him and the Bible says just submit to the rulers and God will control them honor honor the king it says in 1 Peter in chapter 2 and verse 17 honor the king in those days by the way do you know who was the king when Peter wrote that letter Nero who was worse than any democrat or republican he was such a wicked Emperor he was persecuting the Christians killing them he's a fine man who finally beheaded Paul and Peter says listen don't get involved in all these things whoever is the ruler just let him rule we're here to build a church and let's believe that God will control the circumstances when God wants to get rid of Nero he'll do that and he doesn't need your help or any waters help and that's God's business we think we're gonna do it you know we have had situations in India you know an election time comes I say I don't get involved in the disputes I'm I'm not against this party or that party I'm not for this party or that party I'm against the devil that's about the only person in the universe I'm against and I'm 100% for Christ and if you are seeing the glory of God well I'm with you but in all these other earthly disputes I see we're not interested and we decided in our church there we're gonna pray that see God knows what's best for our country and God is going to when we're going to cast our vote in the prayer meeting and make sure that our world is going to be very influential because we're gonna pray and ask the Lord to influence the elections so that the right person comes into power and I'll tell you there's an amazing stories I don't have the time to tell you this where we have influenced the government and changed things by prayer in a little group like ours yeah so I want to mention this that it's Satan that we are concentrating on in the New Testament this business in the Old Testament Israel was a nation under God that was okay for them to have a discussion of whether Saul is going to be better king or a David's a better king but we're not in a nation now we're in a church and our conflict is not with people our conflict is with Satan it's very important to remember that it's important to remember that whenever conflict begins to arise in your home don't get into conflicts with your children or we got to discipline them but that's fine but you know when we get agitated about something something that's happening in the country and you get all worked up about it you got to be at rest I'll tell you what you need to be agitated about if you want to be agitated here's something to be really agitated about the name of Jesus Christ is being Dishonored in this land in every land does that agitate you that's what bothers me that's the thing I primarily pray because Jesus taught me to pray our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven and I'm not gonna get involved in all this low-level earthly stuff and you know the result of that it's me my life is being one of joy that's why I don't get into bad moods because I don't get into involved in all these earthly conflicts that so many believers get into and I want to encourage you in this area don't get in arguments or disputes with people at all I've had people come to my house sometimes and they act as though they're trying to get a clarification on some biblical doctrine now you'd think that I'd get into an argument about a biblical doctrine because stand for the truth I want to stand for the truth but when I see that what he's asking for is not an explanation what he wants to get into an argument I stop I say hey I'm not gonna get into an argument because you seem to be pretty convinced in your view about it fine god bless you let's talk about something else let's talk about cricket that's the game we play in India like here people play footballer because I say there we won't get an argument we are both on the same side do you want India to win right okay so let's talk about something where we are united because I know this will get nowhere we just get heated up and become enemies at the end of our discussion I say I don't want to I think you can believe that you won the argument fine that's why I change the subject Oh brothers that came the subject because he didn't have any argument fine you're welcome to believe that it doesn't bother me because your opinions only fit for the trash can like everybody else is open in my opinion if the trash can what does God think about you and me it's the only thing that matters so when it comes to Satan let's not think his power is weak if he had the boldness to tempt Jesus Christ and at the end of that temptation do you know what it says at the end of his tempting him for 40 days and James 4 sorry Luke 4:13 it's a very interesting verse I don't know whether you noticed it Luke for 13 at the end of the three temptations in the wilderness he says the devil finished every temptation for the time being and departed from Jesus until an opportune time for a season he said okay and that's what the devil says about you and me he said that about Jesus he said that would you and me okay I'll leave him for a while I'll wait for an opportune time when I can get at him again remember that if he said this was written about Jesus it's I believe the devil is waiting for an opportune time to get at me and you that's why we need to be alert and very often we fall into so many sins because we're not alert you know we there's a old proverb which they use for countries that are liberated from oppressive rulers it says eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty which means always being alert to oppressive forces trying to dominate you or foreign rulers trying to control your country always being alert so if you begin to sit back and relax you lose your Liberty and very often we fall into sin because we're not always alert Jesus kept on saying to people watch and pray watch and pray in other words that's an old 16th century word today's language say be alert that's the meaning be alert and pray be alert and pray I like to read it in these modern translations so I understand its meaning I understand be alert much more than I understand watch be alert all the time be alert be of sober spirit and be alert 1 Peter 5 verse 8 1 Peter 5 verse 8 it says be alert your adversary the devil is prowling about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour resist him firm in your faith but you can't resist him if you're fighting with human beings if you found that you're not able to overcome Satan just sit down for a moment and ask yourself have I been getting into fights with human beings have I get been getting into arguments on politics in some other area where I strong opinion I want to air my opinion and convince everybody that I'm right and I get some delight when people accept my view finally well you people may have accepted your view finally but the devil gets the better of you finally because you're not strong enough to fight him concentrate on Satan resistant firm in your faith and in that connection I want to show you something else in 1 Thessalonians and chapter 2 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 now I want you to read this slowly and see learn something from it Paul is writing to the Thessalonians and saying in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 17 we brethren brethren we having been bereft of you for a short while that means we were we've gone away and hadn't known much news about you hadn't met you for some while in person not in spirit we were with you in spirit but in person we were not with you we're all the more eager with desire to see your face I mean why did Paul want to go to the Thessalonians he says hey these guys are confused about the coming of the Lord and so many other things I want to go and establish them Paul had a great burden for the churches he planted that they would be established in the truth and not let astray by the devil here and there and he says we wanted to come to you more than once verse 18 I Paul wanted to come to you more than once but Satan hindered us can Satan hinder a mighty man like the Apostle Paul spirit-filled apostle who wasn't wasting his time on political arguments or fighting with human beings even a man like him Satan could hinder him and we sit back thinking or Satan will never hinder me I'm a Christian I'm just using the name of Jesus go away you think Paul couldn't use that we don't recognize Satan's power I'll tell you this Satan will not be able to frustrate God's plan as for sure but I can say this without a shadow of doubt that every Christian who fights with human beings the more he fights with human beings the more his power to fight Satan gets drained out and the more we get into worthless earthly arguments the more our power is drained out to fight Satan and that's the reason why you fall into sin so often ask yourself are you getting into a whole lot of unnecessarily worthless arguments with people which will have no value 2000 years from now whenever you get into a discussion with somebody and it's getting a bit heated and you want to convince people that you of you is right just ask yourself will this have any value 2000 years from now what does it matter if he says he's right okay brother go ahead and think you're right I want to be right about the things that are going to be important 2000 years from now I couldn't care less about things that are going to be important just for one or two years is this gonna be important in eternity has it's got some eternal value well then I'm gonna fight for it with all my heart but other things yeah I'm careful I'm cautious I want to be alert but I won't I'm not gonna fight with people about it no it's not worth it it's not worth winning an argument about something which is not no eternal value I see you're welcome to believe your view is right I respect your view I don't agree with it necessarily that's what I have to say to some people well I'm not gonna fight with you over Satan because I wanna all my energies concentrate and I've got only one life to live and the Lord's got a plan Lord wants me to do something with my one life and I don't want to spend my time getting into a lot of disputes and arguments and fights which will hinder me from fulfilling the purpose God has for me seyton hindered Paul I believe he can hinder me but if I'm alert I can overcome him even when he has hindered me in doing something and that's what I want to show you Satan hindered me did therefore Satan win no that's the thing I want you to see and he says when we couldn't chapter 3 verse 1 when we could not endure it any longer okay we decided to stay in Athens alone and we sent Timothy to strengthen and encourage you and when he was able to come there and when I could not endure it I sent to find out about your faith verse 5 and now that Timothy has come to us from you that means Satan could not hinder Timothy notice that he could hinder Paul but he couldn't hinder Timothy so Timothy went and encouraged them and blessed them and came back it says in verse 6 and brought us the good news of your faith and your love and your longing to see us etc and for this reason we were comforted when we heard of your faith why did God Almighty allow Satan to hinder Paul but not but made sure that Timothy went you know why I've seen that in India that God wants to train another generation to carry the torch and Paul was getting old and what's use Paul every time going to Thessalonica Salonika or Philip I or anywhere let's get an younger generation also fired up and blessing let's get these churches to respect another generation coming out they all respected Paul they needed to learn to respect Timothy who was also a godly man who is like Paul's son and so God Satan thought he was hindering God's purpose by holding Paul back and God always turns the tables on Satan that's happened throughout the Bible and he said okay Satan you think you're gonna accomplish something you're gonna accomplish my purpose I want another generation to come up and it is in my will that Paul is not going even though you think that you're accomplishing your purpose on the cross of Calvary Satan thought he had accomplished his purpose but it was God's purpose that was being accomplished see that verse in Acts chapter 2 it's a wonderful verse if you don't know it you must know it Acts chapter 2 and verse 2 I'm sorry verse 23 Acts chapter 2 and verse 23 talking about Jesus Christ there are two things I want you to see in this verse one is what Satan accomplished through godless men that's in the latter part of that verse acts 2:23 Paul if Peter is T preaching to the religious leaders you nailed Jesus to a cross by the hands of godless men godless men instigated by Satan killed Jesus Christ but he says that was according to the predetermined verse 23 plan of God you see that it was done by Satan through godless men but it was the predetermined plan of God and so we have that comfort - if I'm wholehearted radical really seeking to live for Christ alone my only ambition in life is to do the will of God and build his church just like Noah's one ambition was to complete the ark and save people nothing else what will happen is even the things that Satan does in my life in my home with my children my job or anything okay Satan did that and it looks as if he did something against me through godless men who hate Christians and we have lots of them in many parts of the world God according to his predetermined plan will work that thing with Satan did in some wonderful way to become good for me and my family and my children and my future this is the God we worship a God who turns the curse into a blessing see that verse in Deuteronomy some of these verses if they're good to memorize Deuteronomy 23 Deuteronomy 23 there are some verses in the Bible if you got the habit of underlining you better underline it and because it's good to remember it you're trying to me 23 verse 5 the last part God turned the curse into a blessing because He loves you he's not good somebody curses you and he turns it into a blessing because He loves you I've experienced you know as we preach truths that a lot of Christians don't like for example we preach that tithing is not a New Testament command it's in the Old Testament God doesn't want you too tight he wants you to give cheerfully do you know that almost every Pentecostal church in India hates me for preaching that they detest it or when I say you're not supposed to be a one-man ruler like a pastor running a church we need shared eldership with elders that's another thing a lot of pastors don't like because it takes away their throne and their kingdom so once when I was going to a place for meetings public meetings imagine the Pentecostal churches there got together to pray against the meetings have you ever heard of that people praying I mean you do you think the the Hindus and Muslims would do that these were Christians who claim to be believers praying against my meetings so here they are here's I'm having public meetings in some open ground and there they are in their church praying to God God bring confusion there or whatever they pray that it rain and thunder and everything else that should happen but you know God listens here's all that and says these guys don't know what their what they should be praying but they're praying so I'll answer something good because that's what I want to do a teeny turns it and we have a fantastic blessing he turns even the evil prayers that people pray against us for something good I remember another place where I went for public meetings and all the pastor's there it printed a big sheet saying the false prophet was coming here and and they distributed it all over and and they they were standing outside the place where we were having meetings and giving out these leaflets warning people against me and I sent a message to then I say if you give us some of those leaflets we will distribute it to everybody inside the hall as well we're not afraid of anything you say and if anybody's saying in this hall is afraid and you better go home right now you can't be afraid of people and follow the Lord it's impossible and so we're not afraid and you know what happened and the end of that some of the elders in that in their churches you know were gripped by the truth and decided to leave their church and come to our fellowships God is I've seen so many examples in my life of God turning a curse into a blessing that's why I don't hate them I don't hate a person who curses me the Bible says bless those who curse you because God's going to turn that curse into a blessing unless if you curse a person who curses you then you don't believe in God if you hate a person who's trying harm to you doing harm to you then you don't believe that God can turn that for your good see this is where our faith is tested the worst thing that Satan can do cannot harm us if you're doing seeking to do the will of God I often ask people this question what is the worst thing that Satan ever did in the history of man it was not eating at him astray that was pretty bad because it affected the whole human race but the worst thing in the worst sin that was ever committed on this earth you know what it was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ to crucify the Son of God is there is it possible to have a sin worse than that that anybody can commit no ok so we've decided what is the worst sin the worst thing that ever happened on this earth was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ then I ask people what is the best thing that ever happened on this earth what is that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was there anything better than that it ever happened on this earth I don't think so that's where all my sins got thrown away and that's where I got into fellowship with God so what do you see there the worst thing that ever happened became the best thing that ever happened because God turned it around like that and that is there's a message there in the cross that we need to see a lot of messages on Calvary if you meditate on it one is our sins are forgiven one is Satan is defeated and one is that the worst thing that the devil can do to you God can turn not only cancel its effect I mean that itself would have been great that God cancels the effect of that bad thing that devil did to you not that but it turns it into good have you read in the Old Testament how whole lot of enemies would come to fight against Israel one example is 2nd chronicles 20 whole lot of enemies come to fight against Israel and they're scared they begin to pray to God and God not only defeats their enemies he gives them all the wealth of their enemies you're at that so it is a good thing those fellows for Israel Israel became richer at the end of it and these are lessons written they're not just to read I mean it's all right when you're in children's sunday-school to read those are stories but when you grow up you need to see what is the spiritual meaning there for me that when Satan todate my enemies not the Philistines or the amorite s-- is the devil now we need comes against me and does a whole lot of things God's not just gonna cancel the effect of it he's gonna bring something good into my life which would not have taken place if Satan hadn't come for example when Satan comes and attacks me in some area and I fight and I overcome do you know at the end of it I've become a stronger Christian and I would not have become a stronger Christian if Satan hadn't made the mistake of trying to attack me so that's why we're never going to be defeated we're not afraid of the devil and we also know this wonderful promise in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that God will make sure that the temptation is not too strong for us every temptation that comes our way God decides is that strong enough for him no is that too strong for him then or her then God says Satan you can't do that you remember how when we read about God allowing Satan to tempt Joel why didn't he in Chapter one he lost his property and his children but he didn't get sick that was a little later maybe it would have been too much for him if it had all come together and God saw that a Satan you can't touch his body you can kill his children and his family and then as a second stage ok now he's overcome that now I'll allow you to touch his body so what we see there is right from the by the way that's the first book of the Bible written the book of job because job lived before Moses who wrote Genesis so the first book that God wrote when God decided to write a book for man the first book he said is the first book he wrote it was about a man of God who was upright who was attacked by Satan and who had a difficult why can a man of God have a difficult wife that happens often unfortunately but it didn't change him he stood for the Lord a man who suffered who lost his children lost his property but he came out triumphant the first book that God decided to write out of the 66 books for man was a story of a man because he was upright God turned everything that the devil did against him for his good and he ended up with he had seven sons and three daughters to begin with and in the last chapter he's got 14 sons and six daughters I mean ten of them in heaven and the other 10 on earth and all is properly doubled the message there is if you're faithful to God you fear God and okay you may not understand Joe couldn't understand why it was all going through today we can't understand because we have the Holy Spirit and we have the Bible job didn't have a Bible he didn't have the Holy Spirit so he couldn't understand so we don't have that excuse today today we understand and we know that the ultimate end of God is to turn the tables on Satan so that we are overcomers and that's why it's so important here brothers and sisters to recognize what are the tactics of Satan to make us weak let me turn you to 2nd Corinthians and chapter 2 and verse 11 Paul is talking to believers and he's not excluding himself he says in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan he's including himself he said I'm not different from you Corinthians it's not just oh you fellas Satan he could take advantage of you he includes himself look at his humility he says I don't want Satan to take advantage of me because we are not ignorant of this tactics or his schemes I want you brothers and sisters not to be ignorant of Satan's tactics and schemes they were ignorant in the Old Testament every Old Covenant Christian is ignorant of Satan's schemes yeah you know I was talking about the political debate and they discussed what are the tactics of the Democrats and tetrax tactics of the Republicans I'll tell you couldn't I couldn't care less I couldn't care less even in India I want to be aware of Satan's schemes and one of scales Satan's schemes is to get me involved in all these unnecessary disputes I'm not I'm not a man my citizenship is not here I belong to heaven now I'm not gonna get involved in all these things and neither am i going to get involved with fights with people over worthless earthly things I'm not ignorant of Satan's schemes because one of Satan's schemes is to get me so involved with earthly things and particularly fighting about unnecessary things that I'm weakened in fighting him I mean you can spend so much time seeing the pros and cons of a lot of things happening in the world that you don't have time to read the Bible I'm absolutely convinced that a lot of believers politically minded believers are not reading the Bible enough these days because they are listening to the opinions of journalists and so many other things are non television and not that what a work Satan has done underneath three things he gets them involved in so that they don't read the Bible so they don't get to know God are you ignorant of Satan's schemes I don't want to be ignorant I want to be alert you can say oh well after this face is over I'll repent and I turn to the Lord but you've wasted so many weeks I don't want to waste a single day of my life I've got only one life and every single day one of the things God shown me is every single day of my earthly life God's got something for me to do something for me to accomplish I don't mean witnessing to somebody every day but there's something God wants to do in my life every single day and I don't want anything to distract me from that leave alone waste a month I don't want to waste a single day I hope you're like that I hope you're serious about you know making progress in your Christian life personally progress in your relationship in your home with your family and seeking to grow in the Lord we are not ignorant of Satan's schemes so let me just mention a few of them for you turn back to Genesis chapter 3 I'll just quickly mention some of the things you'll see there in Genesis chapter 3 of how Satan came to the devil Satan came to Adam and Eve and this is something we must remember the number one tactic which he employs with Christians and that he employs with employed with Adam was Genesis 3:1 has God really said is the Bible really the Word of God and he's got many other tactics get into an argument about which version you should use it shouldn't be the King James Version no this other version or the other version I've told people every version says you gotta hates in every version of the Bible says if you don't take up the cross you can't follow Jesus let's concentrate on those things instead of arguing about this version and that version and you get sidetracked with all that and you read all those books on why the King James Version is the only version to be read what about your light brother what about your thought light is that pure take 26 translations of the New Testament they all say that if you lust after a woman its adultery concentrate on that but the devil won't let you concentrate on that he'll make you concentrate on some worse share to pay here you seem compared this verse in this version with that verse in the other version I don't have time for it I want to keep my thought light pure so that I can hear God I want to be free from bad moods 24 hours a day seven days a week that's much more important to me and the Bible says that every single version says rejoice always in the Lord is there any version which doesn't say that every version says in Ephesians 4:31 put away all anger I should never be angry in my home never be angry with believers why not take those verses instead of arguing about versions don't get into these Satan's trying to sidetrack you into all types of things which you think are so right because just like journalists that are Christian journalists who try to convince you about something that's important don't be ignorant those tactics of Satan see the end result in your life you can see from the end result in your life that you could have made a lot more progress if you hadn't got taken up with these side issues there's a phrase in English called majoring on minors majoring on minors that means giving more importance to the unnecessary trivial little things there's this expression which is used about you know the Titanic the big ship that sank in the Atlantic in the early part of the 20th century that arranging the deck chairs on the Atlantic on the Titanic when it's sinking oh the chairs are not in order let's put them in order the ship is sinking man and that's what I mean by majoring on minors search your life and see whether Satan gets you to major on minor things has God said that sin shall not have dominion over you Romans 6:14 it's the same in all 26 translations of the New Testament by the way sin cannot rule over you why not concentrate on that and the promise of God and and Satan says you think it really says that has God really said be anxious for nothing Philippians 4:6 why is it most believers are anxious worried because they don't believe God has really said it they'd be much more careful to obey what a traffic policeman says or what the government says and the Christians are very faithful to pay their taxes to the IRS they don't bother about God saying don't be anxious for anything yeah who cares for that that's a tactic of Satan take God's Word likely it's not so serious take the big command seriously like don't murder don't commit adultery in other words you take God's Word and be selective you decide which are the important ones and which are not important do not commit adultery take important do not commit adultery important do not be anxious no put it in another category not important it's the same God who said it but I decide it's not important do not fear no that's not important do not steal yeah that's important do you know that unconsciously you are making a selection in God's Word in a very holy way you say I believe the Bible is God's Word I don't believe you believe it if you did you would take everything God says seriously I'm not throwing stones at anybody for so many years of my Christian life after I was born again I did the same foolish thing I wish somebody had got a hold of me when I was young and say hey Zach don't do that take every word of God seriously I think I'd have made a lot more progress I don't want you to make a mistake I mean at least from now onwards take God's word seriously has God said that's the first sentence that he spoke to Adam you see Satan's tactic man and once he's tripped up once say he came to Eve like that and once he's got even to a discussion the next thing he says has God said you'll surely die verse 4 you will not die in other words Eve sin is not so serious as you think he's told the believers that cancer that's serious you better do something about it spend as much money as possible to get yourself treated and go to a doctor immediately if you're suspicious of cancer eat wow that's terrible if your blood report suspects age you better do something about it but anger that's not so serious bitterness and unforgiving spirit yeah you know those things you got to live with man do you see Paul says we are not ignorant of Satan's schemes the only believer who believes God's Word is the one who can say to the devil Satan I hate sin more than I hate cancer I hate sin more than I hate bitterness and Anna more than I hate AIDS or any rotten sickness there's in the world I'd rather have leprosy than I've sinned and mean it and I tell you this the day you mean it you'll suddenly discover victory over a whole lot of sins that you thought you could not overcome Satan succeeded in making you have a sort of a casual attitude towards it it's not sin it's a weakness it's not a weakness and the next thing is once he succeeded in making Eve sin you know lowering God's standards put it like that God said you shouldn't do this but let's lower God's standard and say it's permitted I know God has said it shouldn't be done but yeah well God understands you're being drawn to it and God understands take it the next thing that the devil does is get you to get you to make other people also lower their standard I mean you already slipped up Eve now get your husband also to come down to your level are you guilty of bringing other people down to your level you know how if our clothes are dirty we like to be in the midst of people whose clothes are dirty we don't like to be in the midst of people whose clothes are spotless we don't we like to be with people who are at our level there's a strange delight that man gets if other people are as dirty as he is yeah I mean even a simple thing like getting your clothes dirty when you're going somewhere for a wedding or something and you stepped in a puddle and your clothes got dirty this is certain carnal delight we get if somebody else also stepped in that puddle not just you it's evil I've come down to this level let me bring other people also down let me say it to other people don't be bothered about all those things let's not let's not be serious about all those things do you have the habit of bringing other people down because you're down and then the next thing you see is they suddenly realized were seven that they're naked now begins the accusation Satan is called in Revelation 12:10 the accuser of the Brethren he's called the deceiver of the whole world but the accuser of the Brethren his once he succeeded in all these things his next tactic is accuse you accuse you accuse you remember what you did 10 years ago you've already confessed it a hundred times but he still accuses you has God said that if you confess your sins he's faithful and righteous to forgive all your sins ah don't take it too lightly that's alright for small sins like little little things but the big ones you remember the big ones you did 10 years ago that doesn't come under 1 john 1:9 you've got to be you got to feel condemned about it all your life you've got to spread shed tears for it all your life because the more tears you shed the more you will be cleansed all this rubbish do you know that your tears will not cleanse one sin there's only the blood of Jesus that cleanses sin you can weep as much as you like over the sins you committed in the past they will not cleanse one sin of yours is the blood of Jesus we need to have sorrow sure I want to have sorrow over the years of my life where I didn't wholeheartedly live for God sure but what is the result of that sorrow the result of this sorrow is I am running much faster today to live for God for the rest of my life if that is the result good but it was going to bring depression who I failed and I messed up and dear brothers and sisters let's be aware Satan is the accuser whenever you hear a word of condemnation remember condemnation is an Old Testament ministry if you don't believe it turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 2nd Corinthians three the Old Testament ministry the entire Ministry of the law is called in verse 9 the Ministry of condemnation and it had a certain degree of glory that's what it says there people are made to feel bad about their sin but I'm not supposed to stop there when I feel bad about my sin I must move on to the new covenant which is called in verse 9 2nd Corinthians 3 now in the ministry of righteousness that I'm cleansed in the blood of Christ and if I keep condemning myself over something in the past I'm saying the blood of Christ is not good enough I'm glorifying the devil don't be ignorant of Satan's tactics you may not have done it deliberately but unconsciously many of us are glorifying Satan we are worshipping Him almost no I'm gonna stand on the ground of God's Word I'm gonna know that I'm righteous in Christ that when the Lord says I will not remember your sin anymore he means it I don't I am NOT going to allow myself to be condemned by Satan I'm not going to let the accuser of the Brethren keep on accusing me about things that have happened in the past I'm not even going to let him condemn me by saying you're not good enough as he ever said that to you imagine if you kept your telling your child you're not good enough you're not good enough whoever your child be up to some years do you know that God expects you only to live at the level of your understanding supposing you have a three-year-old son who's just learning to write the alphabet so four-year-old son and he sends he writes a little card for you on your birthday of his own handwriting happy birthday daddy or mummy and you know how when they start writing alphabets sometimes it's turned the other way around and crooked the e's the other way around and maybe the a is upside down and you look at this and say hey this is not good enough you the a is upside down you're telling your three-year-old child who sat up at night to write thank God for you and the first thing you see it in the morning you say this is not right this is not right what type of father are you what do you expect from that child he's expressing the love of his heart maybe he got the spelling a little wrong do you think God is a worse father than you gods a million times better than you when I come to him as a little three-year-old perhaps and I haven't spelled something right he just hugs me and says hey I'm delighted that you love me when you sing some of these songs and you don't know that tune properly God doesn't bother about the tune we got a brother in our church who can't sing one note right even after 20 years I believe that God loves his singing because he sings it from his heart I never get bothered that he's out at you because I know his heart and I know what God's like he's not bothered I remember once in my church some of the instruments were not playing together and I was a bit disturbed and God spoke to me immediately saying it doesn't disturb me it doesn't disturb you I said oh thank you he says what does disturb me is there's a husband and wife here who are not in tune with each other their two sisters here who don't talk to each other a couple of brothers you know don't get along with each other that disturbs me much more than two little instruments you're out of tune and I'd create a prayer that day I said Lord for the rest of my life anything that doesn't disturb you it's not going to disturb me and anything that does disturb you should disturb me think of the change that will come in your home when you say Lord anything that doesn't disturb you in this home is not going to be disturbed you know some people are so particular oh there was a little bit of dust on that windowsill it's not being wiped out a little bit something right or those shoes were not kept exactly in the right way you know it doesn't disturb God I tell you there are a hundred and one things out of place in your home that doesn't disturb God one bit but that little tension between you and your partner that disturbs got a million times more than clothes lying around here and there or something else not or the food was not exactly cooked properly God doesn't bother about it our life would be completely changed if our eyes are open to the tactics of Satan to bring misunderstandings maybe your husband or wife said something and the devil whispers you know why he said that say no I don't know instead of saying yeah I know why you don't know because it's a very good motive and the devil says it was a bad motive see no it wasn't don't allow that misunderstanding nip it in the bud and cut it off let's not be ignorant of Satan's schemes we are living in the New Testament let's forgive be quick to us forgiveness quick to forgive one another is the great advice I give to all newly married couples old married couples in one sentence one law for your married life be quick to ask forgiveness from each other and be quick to forgive let me show you that in closing second Corinthians chapter 2 2nd Corinthians 2 verse 10 to 10 whom you forgive anything I forgive what I have forgiven I've forgiven anything in the presence of Christ why do I forgive because otherwise verse 11 Satan will take advantage of us but I'm not ignorant of his schemes you see that forgiveness a little thing like that is where Satan can get an advantage that's why I say be quick to forgive and be quick to ask forgiveness and Satan will not get a foothold in your house let's pray let's bow our heads before God and allow what we have heard to sink right into our hearts and not just something we are inspired by momentarily but this is my prayer that this will result in a complete change in your attitude to the devil and to people you're gonna love people and hate the devil from now on and you can be going to be more aware of the schemes of Satan then about a whole lot of unnecessary things that go on in this earth Heavenly Father help us to be radical and to see the things that are really important our life is short and we have no time to get involved in things that don't have eternal consequence help us we pray that was not to be moved and influenced by the tremendous forces that are there are in this world that we'd like to drag us away from your perfect will for our lives help us each one every family here we pray in Jesus name Amen thank you brother Zack

Channel: River of Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 77,833

Rating: 4.835804 out of 5

Keywords: satan, advantage, zac, poonen, sermon, rlcf, river, life, christian, fellowship

Id: vrybezbY1Tw

Length: 56min 59sec (3419 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 23 2012