Overcome The Devil TODAY (With Greg Laurie) Beat the devil at his own game

[Music] book of revelation that in end times israelis have to endure terrorist attacks ladies and gentlemen whether you like it or not the rate of hiv aids in the us capital is higher than any others mexico are having microchips this is what it would be it's like to imagine just precisely how this thing will manifest itself no one had expected that something like this was about to happen let's grab our bibles now and turn to revelation chapter 12 and the title of my message is how to overcome the devil you know captain scotty smiley is a fantastic example of bravery and courage on the battlefield but we too are in a battle but a battle of a different kind not a physical battle but a spiritual one but just as real the bible tells us that we're fighting against principalities and powers and spiritual might in high places or in the supernatural realm ephesians 6 says we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities powers the rulers of the darkness of this age against spiritual hosts of wickedness and the heavenly places i mean it would blow our minds if god were to sort of pull back the curtain and let us see into the spiritual world the world of god and satan the world of angels and demons the world of heaven and hell look we're in a spiritual battle as i've often said the christian life is not a playground it's a battleground so here's our choice we either are going to win or lose in this battle we're either going to gain ground or we're going to lose ground we're going to advance or we're going to retreat it's a decision we need to make and i want to talk to you about how to overcome the devil now here in revelation 12 uh we're sort of shifting gears up to this point we've been looking at what's happening on earth from a heavenly perspective sort of up there looking down now we're up there looking around because revelation 12 is a description of a war in heaven who would ever think there would be a war in heaven well indeed there is and it's a war among the angels now earlier in revelation angels are like into stars so this is literally star wars here that we're looking at and we see michael the archangel duking it out with satan who is called the dragon so let's read about it revelation 12. uh we're going to read verses 7 to 12 when we're going to come back uh to verses 1 to 7 in our next look at revelation but for today we'll just look at verses 7 to 12. and war broke out in heaven michael and his angels fought with the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought but they did not prevail nor was the place found for them in heaven any longer so the great dragon was cast out that serpent of old called the devil and satan who deceives the whole world he was cast down to the earth and his angels were cast out with him and i heard a loud voice saying in heaven now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our god and the power of his christ have come for the accuser of the brethren who accused them before our god day and night has been cast down and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb by the word of their testimony and he did not love their lives to the death therefore rejoice o heavens and you who dwell in them woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea for the devil has come down to you having great wrath because he knows he has a short time wow revelation 12 is an exciting chapter and i don't think the devil wants us to read this chapter and i certainly don't think the devil wants us to discover some very important truths that are revealed in it here are some things the devil doesn't want you to know number one satan is nowhere near to being the equal of god again satan is nowhere near to being the equal of god yes satan is mighty but god is almighty satan is a destroyer but god will ultimately destroy the destroyer here's what we know about god he's omnipotent he's omniscient and he's omnipresent omnipotent means he has unlimited power omniscient means he has unlimited knowledge omnipresent means he's present everywhere the devil is not equal to that the devil is certainly not not omnipotent he has a lot of power but nowhere near to uh being equal with the power of god he's not omniscient satan knows quite a few things but he doesn't know all things like god and he is not on the present the devil can only be in one place at one time so when we say the devil was tempting me the fact is it was probably one of his demons doing his dirty work he has a well organized network of fallen angels also known as demons that do his bidding so here now in this heavenly scene we have michael and satan fighting it out not god and satan because if satan has an equal it would be michael the archangel not god so here now these two powerful angels are warring against each other and this is ironic because they once served on the same side uh not like um not unlike the civil war we remember that general general grant led the union forces and general lee led the confederate forces but prior to that they both attended west point together they both fought side by side in the mexican-american war but suddenly in the civil war they found themselves on the opposite side of each other and ultimately general grant prevailed over general lee and in the same way we find michael prevailing over lucifer and so here's the thing we need to know satan is nowhere near to be in the equal of god if he has an equal it would be michael not god number two the devil can do nothing in the life of the christian without god's permission he can do nothing on the life of the christian without god's permission this may come as a surprise to some but the devil does have some access to heaven verse 8 says they did not prevail nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer okay so what we're reading about here in revelation 12 has not happened yet this is still in the future but at this moment the devil does have some access to heaven that surprises some people it's not unlimited access now before he had an all-access pass uh he was a high-ranking angel in some kind of a worship leading role and then he of course rebelled against god and led an angelic rebellion so he lost his all excess pass if you will but he does have some access still in heaven but one thing is clear satan is on his way down and if you follow him you're going to go down with him i find it interesting that michael and his angels fought with the dragon another word for satan the grammatical construction of this phrase in the greek indicates that satan starts this it can be translated michael and his angels had to fight the dragon so the devil's starting this fight uh something's prompting him to start it and we wonder what it is and it is with the arcane so we wonder does the rapture play a part in this uh because remember in first thessalonians 4 16 we read the lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with a voice of the archangel so we assume that's michael because he's the only angel identified as an archangel in scripture so maybe when the lord's calling the church home the devil is like totally ticked off like no way this cannot happen so this conflict begins and they fight but it is clear that the devil is going to lose this fight now he has access but as i said it's limited it's almost like he's summoned more than he gets to go where he wants to go sort of like being called to the principal's office which happened to me many times in school that's not a good feeling when it's announced to the entire class greg laurie you've been called to the principal's office it was because of something i had done so periodically the devil is called into the presence of god we have a behind-the-scenes look at this in the book of job uh where we read in job 1 6 one day the angels came to present themselves before the lord and satan came with them and the lord said to the devil well where have you come from satan answered oh i've been going back and forth across the earth watching everything that's going on what a perfect description of satan just roaming about like a lion looking for a prey checking everything out then the lord said to satan have you considered my servant job a perfect and upright man one that fears god and shuns evil the devil says i'll give me a break let's paraphrase here does job fear you for nothing he fears you because you put a hedge of protection or a wall around him but here's the point the devil wanted to attack job but he recognized there was protection around god's servant and in the same way when the devil comes our way he has to first get permission from god he cannot just run through our life willy nilly i don't even know what willy nilly means but i'm telling you he can't do it and know this whatever god allows in your life he allows it for a purpose you know i was talking with scotty in the back room and i said scotty i'm sure if you had your choice in life you would rather have your old life back with your eyesight but you were not given that choice but despite this adversity god has given you a platform to glorify him with and that's exactly what captain smiley is doing but the lord allowed this in his life we can't dispute that and the lord allows tragedy in our lives he's allowed tragedy in my life he's allowed tragedy or hardship and some of yours and and we wonder why sometimes we can't answer that but here's what we do know god will never give us more than we can handle and when we're tempted when we're tempted there's always a way out quick uh poll it's not scientific how many of you have ever been tempted to sin raise your hand up king i hope all of you are racist not everyone's raising their hand would you how many have never been tempted to sin okay we need to talk afterwards yeah okay uh number two how many of you have given into the temptation to sin you have sinned raise your hand up okay right now one last question when the temptation came was there a way out of it of course yes because first corinthians 10 13 says there is no temptation taken us but such as is common to man god who is faithful will not allow us to be tempted above which we are able but will with the temptation make a way of escape that we may be able to bear it and sometimes the way out of that temptation is as simple as using the door just walking away if you have to but god will allow these things but he will never give us more than we can handle bringing me to point number three the devil does not want you to know he is doomed he doesn't want you to know he's doomed look at verse 12. the devil has come down to you in great anger and he knows he has little time the phrase it is used here for great anger refers to a violent outburst of rage the word depicts a turbulent emotional fury rather than a rational anger commentator john phillips wrote the following and i quote satan is now like a caged lion and raged beyond words by the limitations now placed upon his freedom he picks himself up from the dust of the earth shakes his fist at the sky and glares around choking with fury for ways to bend his hatred and a spite upon humankind end quote well said why is the devil behaving as a cornered animal ready to strike why is satan filled with so much venom and hatred why does satan want our destruction answer because he knows jesus christ is coming back again go back to verse 12. thank you for that smattering of applause verse 12 says the devil has come down you in great anger he knows he has little time listen even if some liberal theologians don't believe it the devil believes jesus christ is coming back his goal his objective is to his is to wreck as much havoc as he can in that time and we need to wake up to the reality of it and that is why the devil attacks us and sometimes it seems like we're getting hit from every side i heard a story from the korean war it illustrates the attitude that we ought to have as enemy forces were advancing baker company was cut off from the rest of the regiment for several hours no word was heard even through headquarters who tried to communicate with this missing unit finally a faint signal was received straining to hear each word a corpsman not a corpseman asked i'm not going to explain that baker company do you read me the reply this is baker company what is your situation baker company replied the enemy is to the east of us the enemy is to the west of us the enemy is to the south of us and the enemy is to the north of us after a brief pause a sergeant from baker company then said and we're not going to let them escape this time i like that that's the attitude you know sometimes it feels like the devil is hitting us from the north and the south and the east and the west everywhere we turn there's an attack there's a temptation there's a problem there's an issue but listen god will give us the strength to get through these things here's something the devil doesn't want you to know number three he doesn't want you to know that he attacks primarily through accusation he attacks who accusation it's good for us to know how the devil works um paul said we're not ignorant of his devices it was victor hugo the author of les miserables the book who wrote these words quote a good general must penetrate the brain of his enemy end quote how does the devil attack us often through accusation look at verse 10. i heard a loud voice saying in heaven now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our god and the power of his christ has come for the accuser of our brethren of our brethren has been who accused him before god day and night has been cast down that's the devil he is the accuser of the brethren he's quite clever here's how it works he comes to you with the temptation and by the way it's not a sin to be tempted sometimes i don't think we know that it's not the bait that constitutes temptation it's the bite and it comes at the worst times doesn't it maybe even when you're in church you're just sitting there listening away and all of a sudden this ungodly horrid thought is placed in front of you and you're like i can't believe this now look it's not a sin to be tempted i don't care what the thought was because it just came randomly you weren't even thinking about that topic or it just killed you boom whoa where did that come from and the devil says you're so twisted what is your problem why would you think such a horrible thought and you're thinking man why would i think such a horrible thought man you you call yourself a christian what kind of christian are you man i call myself a christian what kind of christian am i you ought to just leave church right now i'm just going to leave church right wait wait that's a devil talking to you friend don't listen to him it's not a sin to be tempted it's a sin to give into the temptation but let's say you do give in to it he tempts you you take the bait now he comes in and says you're a hypocrite god would never hear your prayer don't ever even think about going to god in prayer and asking for his forgiveness you are not worthy to approach god listen your response to the accusations of the devil is the intercession of jesus on your behalf see jesus is standing in the gap for you jesus said to peter once simon simon satan has been asking excessively that you would be taken out of the care and protection of god but then he went on to say but i have prayed for you that your faith would not fail and when you have returned strengthen your brothers peter the devil's been asked petel a peter um the devil has been asking for you by name but i prayed for you i'm interceding for you and the bible tells us that christ intercedes for us in heaven romans 8 33 who will bring any charge against those whom god has chosen it is god who justifies who is he that condemns christ who died more than that was raised to life is at the right hand of god interceding for us all right well let's wrap this up because the title of the message is how to overcome the devil so how do we do that well we're introduced to a group of believers here that are able to overcome satan now where are we in the in the book of revelation well we're looking at the tribulation period the rapture has already happened there have been certain believers that have been martyred that we looked at earlier in revelation 7 who had been washed in the blood of the lamb who are saying how long o lord holy and true until you avenge our blood and those that dwell in the earth so now we read about these believers that are being persecuted no doubt by the antichrist but they're able to overcome the devil how do they do it look at verse 11 they overcame him by the blood of the lamb by the word of their testimony and did they did not love their lives to the death how do you overcome satan number one you overcome him by the blood of the lamb so the next time the devil comes to you and says you're not worthy to approach god you know what i advise agree you know you're right i'm not worthy to approach god and i never was worthy to approach god and i never will be worthy to approach god my access to god's presence is not based on my worthiness it's based on what christ did for me at the cross see sometimes we get into this [Applause] sometimes you get into kind of a works righteousness mentality as a christian and here's how we think well i did really well today i got up in the morning and i read four chapters from the bible and i said grace over my meal at lunch and i even shared my faith with someone at work and and i went to a midweek bible study man i'm doing so well spiritually and i know i can just approach god and pray well maybe the next day you slept in and you didn't read the bible and you forgot to say grace over your meal and you didn't share jesus and you missed that midweek study oh man i'm not doing as well as i should be doing i'm not worthy to approach god now look we can talk about how important all those elements are but let's not be sidetracked the point i'm making is simply this your access to god is there and if you've done well great approach god if you've sinned approach god and say lord i've sinned and this is why i need the blood of the lamb listen the devil will always try to keep you away from the cross and the holy spirit will always bring you to it the devil will accuse you and condemn you and say you can't go to god but the holy spirit will convict you and convince you and say you must come to god see if you are feeling bad about something you've done that is wrong that's a good thing it really is you know why it means your conscience is working you want to have a working conscience right because the bible warns about having your conscience seared as with a hot iron you know we have a fire alarm in our house actually i think it's a smoke alarm all i know is it goes up all the time my wife cooks an egg and the smoke alarm goes up there's no smoke and the thing goes off it's hypersensitive i guess it's better to have a hypersensitive alarm than one that isn't sensitive enough right so if your conscience is sensitive that's a good thing you don't want it seared like an iron was applied to it i heard a story about a man that went to see a doctor with two severely burned ears doctor said wow both your ears are burned you have to tell me how did this happen i said well let me explain doc i was ironing a shirt and someone called me on the phone and i answered the iron instead of the phone that's horrible okay that explains one ear being burned how did you burn the other well they called back and by the way that's me that happened to me no no but here's the thing you want your conscience to be sensitive and open to the work of the spirit it's the blood of the lamb my access to god is a result of what jesus has done for me hebrews 10 19 says dear friends we can boldly enter heaven's most holy place because of the blood of jesus this is the new life-giving way christ has opened up for us to the sacred curtain by means of his death for us ephesians 2 13 you who are sometimes far off have been made near by the blood of christ first sean tells us if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of jesus christ cleanses us from all sin it's like that old song says there's power in the blood oh the devil doesn't want us to talk about the blood and the devil certainly doesn't want us to appropriate the blood i asked billy graham years ago if older billy could speak to a younger billy who was just starting out in ministry what would you say the younger billy should emphasize more billy said i would preach more on the cross of christ and the blood because that's where the power is the devil doesn't want us to talk about the blood why because you can overcome him by the blood say you're losing your blood blood blood what's all the blood okay listen because jesus died on the cross and met the righteous demands of god i can approach the lord any time no matter what i've done if i will confess my sin and ask for his forgiveness remember the israelites and the passover god told them to slay a lamb and then apply the blood over their doorway on the top and on the right and on the left and when god's judgment came upon the land if the blood was applied he passed over right so we apply the blood lord i can approach you because of the shed blood of jesus they overcame them by the blood of the lamb number two they overcame them by the word of their testimony when a believer is cleansed and walking in fellowship with god they will want to tell others i think the best defense is a good offense so instead of just trying to hold ground we should gain ground we should move forward tell others and i think you know when you sort of identify yourself as a christian it's a good way to make yourself accountable even in non-believers to say in your workplace i'm a christian not in an obnoxious way but you just come out and say i believe in jesus christ to say to members of your family or in your neighborhood among your friends i'm a follower of jesus the moment you put that stake in the ground they're going to be watching you and evaluating you and frankly evaluating your god they're going to say so that's how a christian acts oh so that's how a christian treats his wife oh so that's how a christian treats her husband oh i get it that's how a christian raises their child oh that's how a christian does thus and so they're watching you nothing is worse than getting corrected by a non-believer especially when they're right has that ever happened to you you've done something inconsistent and your non-christian friend says i thought you were a christian well i am praise god then why did you just do that well uh maybe you should just say because i sin thank you for calling me on it the word of their testimony they spoke up listen everybody has a testimony a testimony is just your story we heard scottie smiley's testimony it's a powerful one it's a story of a man raised in church who went to serve his country in the military he was severely injured in an act of heroism and despite his adversity he has faith in god and wants to encourage others who are hurting that's a great testimony what's your testimony say well greg i haven't gone through any great adversity you don't have to go through adversity to have a testimony what would people say about you well you know what let me tell you about this guy let me tell you about this girl you have a testimony the question is is it a good one or is it a poor one but it's your story and these folks overcame the devil by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony they spoke out for what they believed and finally they did not love their lives to the death what does that mean that means that these believers knew their lives belonged to god you had already seen others martyred that we read about earlier in revelation they knew as followers of jesus in the tribulation period with the antichrist can control that they could lose their lives but as far as they were concerned that was up to god they knew that their times weren't in his hands thus they spoke up for their faith in christ and whatever the consequences were they were ready to face them how important it is for us to know that our lives belong to god god decides the day of our birth god decides a day of our death and it's up to us what we do with that in between part that little dash between the two dates birth and death you don't decide what happens on those dates god decides the beginning god decides the end you have everything to do with the dash that's your part that's where you have the testimony and love not your life to the death story is told from the back pages of christian history of a believer who was brought before one of the caesars he was told to renounce his fate and give glory to caesar the man would not do it so the emperor said to him give up christ or i'll banish you the christian said well you can't banish me from christ for god says i'll never leave you or forsake you the emperor said well i'll confiscate your property the christian said my treasures are laid up in heaven you can't touch them the emperor said i'll kill you the christian said i've been dead to this world in christ for 40 years my life is hid with christ and god you can't touch it the emperor turned to some of the members of his court and said in complete disgust what can you do with such a fanatic god give us more people like this they did not love their lives to the death now listen maybe some of you have come here today and with a heavy heart you know you are full of guilt because of a sin you've committed you didn't even want to come to church today you felt so unworthy listen you've never been worthy and you never will be so let's just get that off the table and let's talk about how to get rid of your guilt let's talk about how to be relieved from the penalty of your sin it's the blood of the lamb you have to say god i'm sorry for my sin i admit it and then recognize that once you've received his forgiveness you have open access to his presence any time you want to go there maybe you've been running from god maybe you've rebelled against god scotty shared how he had to ask forgiveness because he doubted god he was angry with god maybe that describes you maybe something's happened in your life that you don't think is fair and you're holding god responsible for it you need to say lord i'm sorry i don't understand i want to believe in you today and he'll forgive you of all of your sin and you can leave here in that same victory that these believers had overcoming the devil or you can go away from here mad at god running from god rebelling against god and frankly you'll face the consequences listen to this the devil he's on his way down he's going down baby way down okay [Applause] and if you follow the devil you're going down with them say well i'm not following the devil well listen i hate to break this to you if you're not following christ you are following the devil well i don't agree with that i'm the master of my own fate i'm the captain of my own ship uh you're an idiot sorry probably shouldn't have said it okay you're not an idiot you're a jerk is that better no listen fool you put the word in you like you're being manipulated you're being ripped off because the bible says that the devil the prince of the power of the air as he has described in scripture are the god of this world listen has blinded the minds of those that do not believe and they're under the control of the devil see one of his greatest strategies is convincing us to believe there is no devil and we're in charge when in reality he's the puppeteer he's the one calling the shots listen you don't have to live that way you want true freedom it's not living in sin it's living free from sin it's following christ and he'll forgive you today if you will turn to him so we're going to close in prayer and i'm going to give you an opportunity if you need to to get the blood of the lamb working in your life so you can be forgiven and right with god let's pray father thank you for your word to us today now i pray for all of those here listening watching they may not know you that may be living apart from you because of sin that has not been dealt with lord would you help them to see the reality of their sin help them to turn from it and help them to receive the forgiveness given to us through the shed blood of jesus christ on the cross while our heads are bad and our eyes are closed and we're praying maybe you would like god's forgiveness today you would like your guilt removed you would like to know that when you die you will go to heaven you want to be ready for the lord's return you're ready to say yes to jesus if that's your desire wherever you're sitting if you want christ to come into your life you want him to forgive you of your sin you want to go to heaven when you die would you lift your hand up right now wherever you're sitting and i'll pray for you just lift your hand up for i can see it please god bless you god bless you in you up in the balcony god bless you guys god bless all of you raising your hand now i can't see you everywhere you outside in the amphitheater in the court building that harvest orange county harvest orange crest but you raise your hand as well just saying i need jesus christ on my life today and i'll pray for you god bless you god bless all of you now i'm going to ask all of you that just raised your hand if you would please i want you to stand to your feet and i'm going to lead you in a prayer of commitment to jesus again just stand to your feet you that raise your hand you that want his forgiveness wherever you are here in the main sanctuary if you're watching the video screen wherever you are stand to your feet if you want to make this commitment or maybe a re-commitment to jesus and i'm going to lead you in a prayer anybody else stand now one final moment stand now i'll lead you in this prayer all right god bless you that are standing pray this prayer out loud after me pray this now lord jesus i'm a sinner but you died on the cross for my sin and shed your blood for me i turn now from my sin i choose to follow you from this moment forward thank you for loving me and calling me and forgiving me in jesus name i pray amen god bless you guys i prayed that prayer [Music] amen [Music] you

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

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Keywords: harvest, greg, laurie, Harvest Christian Fellowship, Greg Laurie Sermons, bible study for me, bible study, youtube sermons, Overcome The Devil TODAY, How YOU Can Overcome The Devil, Overcome The Devil, Beat the devil at his own game, defeat the devil, how to defeat the devil

Id: hkmJT6utauA

Length: 36min 31sec (2191 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 21 2020