When the Devil Knocks: Week 2 - The Accuser

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called when the devil knocks somebody might say why are we talking about the devil in church I want to just be real clear this is not a devil glorifying teaching what this is is equipping those who are followers of Christ to know how to do battle against the one who hates God and hates you his mission is very very clear he's here to steal kill and destroy everything that matters to the heart of God the good news his greater is He Who is in us than the enemy who dwells within this world and so I want to dive into J and just get right into it Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12 and many ways we'll set the context this is what the Apostle Paul says about a real battle he says for we are not battling against flesh and blood enemies in other words the people who drive you crazy they're not the real enemies but our battle is against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world there is more to this world than just what we see there's a spiritual world as well as a physical world he says this battle we fight against mighty powers in the dark world and against evil spirits in heavenly places if you missed last week we're talking about our spiritual enemy he has many different names and the Bible is called Satan he's called Lucifer he's called the deceiver he's called the destroyer he's called the accuser he's called the father of lies he's called the Prince of Darkness we're looking at in this series three different images or metaphors of our spiritual enemy last week we looked at the deceiver and we talked about this who is the devil he is the deceiver who attacks your mind with lies he attacks your mind with lies next week is probably the most personal one to me we're gonna talk about the destroyer who is Satan he is the destroyer who attacks your will with pride he attacks your will with pride today I want to talk about the image of the accuser Satan is the accuser who attacks your heart with accusations the accuser who attacks your heart with accusations for example I'll tell you a story and talk to you about honestly how I heard the accusatory voice of my enemy the good news is Amy and I Amy's my wife we've been married for 26 amazing years and we rarely ever fight if you're around us you say yeah you really don't fight much the bad news is when we do baby we make up for lost time and it can get really really big Harriette fast you some of you if you've ever met Amy like that girl she's so sweet so innocent do not let that fool you that chick can throw down you have no idea one time in a fight she came to be crawling on her hands and knees and said get out from under that bed you coward and fight like a man that's just dumb but she can fight man she can fight she can get it going and so the surest way for us to get in a fight honestly it's over stupid stuff if we just drive out of town trying to get somewhere we've never been before dear God in heaven we fight like crazy and sure enough a few weeks ago we were going to a soccer tournament I was really excited because I haven't been to many this year because of my schedule we had my kids in the car we had a few extra kids on their pasture there in the car and we were running late I'm gonna tell you why we're late but it could have been someone else's fault who is not here in this particular service which gives me freedom to tell this story exactly the way I want to so anyway we were running late and I'm driving and Amy thinks it's her job to navigate if I listen to directions on my phone she gets highly offended because I'm doing her job she thinks I'm controlling but you can see we both have this shoes when it comes to this so she's navigating but she refuses to listen to her phone because it interrupts her conversation so I said she just looks at it with the volume down but the problem is she's always talking to the kids in the back and she'll often miss telling me when to turn so she missed a turn no big deal I got off turned around she missed another turn that is an issue but we'll have grace when she missed the third one something snapped in me it was it snapped and I might have banged on the steering wheel really hard multiple times and then hit the accelerator at a at a at a rate that that that the suburban is probably not designed to do in normal family driving and then started driving perhaps what you might say theologically speaking like a bat out of hell okay since we're talking about and I went really really fast and I'm sawing accelerating I'm getting off the highway and clearing there and jinyo like she often does instead when I pulled up to a stop sign she just decided to exit the vehicle in another town it even happens in pastors homes probably never in yours she's unbuckling her seatbelt she's unlocking the car there's all these kids to back she's trying to get out in the middle of who knows where so I accelerated rapidly to make it far too dangerous for her to get out of the car did I tell you we got in a pretty big fight we went to the game we didn't talk we're into the next game we didn't talk we drove home that we didn't talk we obviously worked it out but here's what happened to me for the next probably three days I experienced fiery darts of accusations like you cannot imagine you're not a man of God you shouldn't even be preaching you're not worthy to be married to her you you are so unrighteous you are so filthy you are so undeserving you are a bad example to not only your children but to those other kids who are in the car who see you as their pastor look up to you as a man of God you let them down then it just kept spiraling literally for a few days where I just Dennis like I'm not a good dad and all of a sudden this guilt like when I had three kids Katie Mandy and I was involved in everything and now the schedule is so intense and there's so many I'm just I'm a failure I'm not a good dad I shouldn't be a pastor and on and on and on and on fiery darts of accusations but I hope you'll understand is those voices they were not from my Heavenly Father who loves me they were from my enemy who hates me all of our churches how many of you have ever experienced something like that where you hear the voice says you're unworthy you're not good enough you're not lovable you're not trustworthy and on and on and on it comes from our enemy who is known as the accuser my prayer for you is this Isaiah 54 verse 17 this is my prayer for you that no weapon turned against you will succeed they you will silence every voice raised up to accuse you by the power of the risen Christ may you silence every voice risen to accuse you let's talk about the devil the accuser this is what John called the devil in Revelation chapter 12 verse 10 he said then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying now have come the salvation and the power and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah for the now watch this for the accuser of our brothers and sister the greek word translated as accuser is where Diablos it's used 35 different times in the New Testament it's translated as devil adversary or accuser for the accuser of our brothers and sisters who accuses them before our God day and night night and day on and on he accuses for the accuser of our brothers has been hurled down he is defeated by the risen Christ he has been hurled down but he doesn't stop accusing day and night what's so interesting is what the accuser will do is before you ever sin he lies to you he'll say hey go ahead and bang on the steering wheel go ahead and yell a little bit go ahead and drive crazy because she deserves that afterwards the tone changes your own word that you're unlovable you're undeserving you're nothing before you sin the devil says go ahead and do it it's no big deal everybody else does it you're not gonna get caught besides maybe who really cares just your life anyway after you do it you're pathetic you're no good God doesn't love you God will never ever use you again you've gone too far before you sin he lies after you sin what does he do he accuses in fact if you're taking notes that I think this is so powerful when the devil talks to you about God he lies he lies did God really say last week that's what we talked about when the devil talks to you about you though he accuses you're no good you're pathetic you're unworthy you're unlovable we're talking today about how to overcome the the voices of the accuser and what we're going to do is look at it very powerful very personal and prophetic text from the book of Zechariah in the Old Testament Zachariah chapter 3 and let me kind of give you the context zechariah has a vision and sees kind of this heavenly courtroom so what i want you to do is imagine a courtroom and we're going to see three different characters in this story first of all there's God and God is the judge in this story then there is Joshua and Joshua is the high priest he's the one on trial he is the defendant then they're Satan Satan is the prosecutor Satan is the one who is trying to convince the judge god of Joshua's guilt he is the accuser what's interesting is Satan actually appears to have a case about Joshua's guilt because he's going to say Joshua's robes are very dirty and a high priest robes should be clean filth is always a sign or a picture of sin and so Satan appears to have a case perhaps Joshua the high priest really is guilty he's on trial God is the judge and Joshua is now being attacked by the accuser here's how the story goes in Zechariah 3 verse 1 then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord let's pause for a moment I want to talk about the angel of the Lord the angel of the Lord is most likely Christ you may say how is Christ in the Old Testament let me teach you a word that I learned in seminary it's a word I've never used before since seminary and after spending four years and a lot of money in seminary I would like to use a word I learned in seminary but what I learned as the word christophany christophany a christophany is an appearance of Christ in the Bible in a non-physical form there's many christophany in the Book of Daniel there were three Hebrew children who wouldn't bow down to worship faul Scott they were thrown into a fiery furnace and suddenly there was a fourth man in the furnace as they were not being consumed who was that fourth man that was Christ appearing in the Bible in non-physical form that is a christophany can you say wow Craig I'm so glad you were to seminary because you just used a word from seminary christophany this is the angel of the Lord let's look at it again then he showed me Josh with a high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right side and what was the devil doing what he always does he was there to accuse him he's accusing Joshua the Lord said to Satan the Lord rebuke you Satan the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you is not this man a burning stick smash from the fire in other words he may be guilty he may may be he is guilty but he's being he's being saved from the punishment now here's the truth Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel he was he was dirty when he should have been clean imagine this he's standing before God and he apparently is guilty have any of you ever been somewhere and you were way underdressed who grossly underdressed no I hate that feeling I was asked to speak at an event about 5,000 people my office said how do you want Craig to dress they said like he always does and so I dressed like I always did I came in there I was the only man in the whole place five thousand people not wearing a suit and tie I felt so embarrassed humiliating so underdressed imagine those standing before God do not just underdressed but you you've got sin on you you've got the reeve got the stain of sin God is holy and suddenly oh my gosh you feel incredibly guilty then imagine the prosecutor the accuser the devil sitting there pointing out what you did wrong Hey for me it could have been these would be true hey weren't didn't use to shoplift all the time didn't you get caught in in college for actually stealing didn't you cheat on tests all the time didn't you say a really bad word in the basement if you've been here for a while you know what I'm talking about it's the one that rhymes with you know doc quack-quack okay didn't you say that Pastor Craig you know didn't you bang your fist on the didn't you weren't you a bad example in front of kids didn't you let people down again and again and again and I could just feel myself just shrinking as a devil accuses I don't know what he'd say for you didn't you lie didn't didn't you cheat didn't didn't you commit adultery don't you battled lust I mean there you are you're looking at porn all week long and then coming to church and acting like you really love Jesus didn't you didn't you file bankruptcy you couldn't even pay your own bills didn't didn't you didn't you let somebody down didn't you hurt put it on and on and on the devil accuses hurling guilt and shame and condemnation this is what the devil does he is the accuser who accuses God's people day in and day out now before we look at the rest of the story I'm gonna show you some really good news because we've looked at who the devil is but I also want to look at who Jesus is who is the devil if you're taking notes the devil is the accuser who is Jesus the good news is Jesus is your advocate in fact first John 2:1 tells us amazing news 1st John says my dear children I'm writing this to you so that you will not sin but if anyone does sin we have an advocate who pleads our case before the father who is our advocate he is Jesus Christ the only one who is truly righteous we have the one who accuses again and again but we had the Son of God who is our advocate he is our friend he pitches our case he defends us whenever the enemy attacks us the devil is trying to prove Joshua's guilt Jesus is the defense verse 4 the angel says to those who were standing before Joshua take off Joshua's filthy clothes then he said to Joshua see I have taken away your sin and I will put fine garments on you yes you're dirty yes you're guilty yes sir you may be unworthy but I'm taking away that which shows the residue of your sin I'm putting fine garments on I'm putting on you something you cannot earn or you did not even deserve and I'm doing it not because you were good but this shows just how good I am take off those filthy clothes put the robes of righteous is on it see I have forgiven you and this perfectly parallels the story that Jesus told recorded in Luke's Gospel the fifteenth chapter he said there was a father who had two sons and one son said I want what's mine I want to go out and live the way I want to live I'm not living according to your rules so the son went off and he lived while he party hard he's smoking the funny weed he's playing truth or dare and always taken there so he can live on the edge you know he's partying hard and then one day he wakes up and he realizes I am messed up what did I do listen some of you this is exactly where you are right now I thought this is what I wanted but this is so far from where I ever wanted to be and he was hurting because of his sin and he and scripture says he came to his senses and he realized even the servants have it better at my father's place maybe I'll go back and he'll just take me in as a servant but when he started coming back to town he had no idea that his father wasn't mad his father was on the edge of town every day watching waiting it would today be the day that my son comes home and when the father saw the son the father ran toward the Sun and even though the Sun was filthy and dirty the father took off his very own robe that was completely clean put it over the filth of the Sun so when the father looked at the son he didn't see the residue of sin but instead he saw the outward righteousness of the father and he said you are always a son to me let's come home and celebrate this is the perfect picture of what happened in Zechariah 3 the high priest was guilty and the angel of the Lord Christ in the Old Testament says take off those dirty robes put on the fine garments see I have taken your sin away it's all by the grace of God I've taken your sin away then in verse 5 this is what he said that I said put a clean turban on his head so they put a clean turban on his head and they clothed him while the angel of the Lord stood by then the angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua here's your assignment what I want you to notice is what the angel didn't say the angel didn't say now Joshua after your poor behavior we're gonna have to put you on one-year probation and if you live up to our standards then perhaps at the end of the year you can enter back into the service of the Lord at an entry-level position and if you're really really good over three year period we might move you up in the ranks but you've got to be good if you have any doubt any sin you're gonna be taken out of the game because we can't have someone of your character in nature serving our God we don't see any of that I want to tell you exactly what we see this is what the Lord Almighty says if you'll walk in obedience and keep my requirements Joshua then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts and I would give you a place among these standing here the angel ordered take off the filthy garments put on the fine garments and then he said essentially return to the temple and keep on serving the Lord return to the temple and keep on serving the Lord I don't know who needs to hear this but you've been living under the accusations of the enemy you can't and you never will and after what you did and you've been away and you're no good and you've had doubt and you've battled with this and you've had battle with that and God says no no no I have forgiven your sins get back to the temple and keep on serving the Lord get back in the game keep on loving others keep on pointing them to Jesus keep on love in my name keep on lifting up my name get back to the temple and keep on serving the Lord how do we know whenever we've done something wrong and we start to hear that that that inner sense of something we need as Jesus followers to learn to clearly distinguish between the devil's accusations and the spirits conviction because they're very very different the devil accuses but the spirit convicts in fact what is an accusation do whatever the devil accuses it drives us away from God I'm unworthy I can't even go into God's presence but conviction leads us to God I need His grace I need His mercy accusations make us feel guilty and ashamed and dirty and distant but conviction shows us our need it pulls us into the goodness and the grace of God whatever Satan accuses us he wants you to feel guilty they want you to feel shame he wants you to feel unlovable and unworthy but whenever the Spirit convicts you it draws you to the presence of God to experience His grace and His goodness it's the conviction that leads you to confess your sins because God is faithful and just and will forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness it's a the conviction that draws you into the goodness of God where his president says now therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus whenever the Spirit convicts we step into God we step into his grace because He is good through and through I love what one preacher said he said something like this if you're taking notes he said the devil knows your name but calls you by your sin God knows your sin but he calls you by your name he may know what you did but he doesn't hold your sin against you in fact I love the Paul describes this kind of whole process how do we do battle against the evil one when we recognize that we are in a spiritual battle we don't fight as humans fight we fight with spiritual weapons this is what the Apostle Paul says he says for though we live in the world we do not wage war as the world does the weapons that we fight with are not the weapons of this world on the contrary our weapons they have divine power to demolish strongholds what do we do we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought and make it obedience to Christ whenever the enemy starts lying to us accusing telling us what we are not we take that thought captive and we fight with spiritual weapons what do we have the helmet of salvation the breastplate of righteousness the shield of faith which quenches out the fiery darts of the evil one the belt of truth the shoes prepared with the gospel of the FPS and we have the offensive weapon the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God sharper than any double-edged sword we take the accusations of the enemy we capture them we make those thoughts obedient to Christ whenever we hear you're a failure you're no good no I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus I am a new creation the old is gone the new has come God is punishing you God is punishing you no my father is a good God he's just good gifts to his children that he loves this is an attack from the evil one and what the evil one meant for to harm my God will use for good I may be going through a hard time right now but hey I consider it pure joy my brothers whenever I face trials of many kinds because I know the testing of my faith develops perseverance and perseverance must finish its work in me so I may be richer and complete not lacking and thing in the devil says after what you did God could never use you God doesn't love you you're in big trouble no I take that thought make it obedient to Christ I will rejoice in the Lord always I will say it again I will rejoice because the Lord is near I am NOT anxious for anything but in everything by prayer and petition I make my requests known unto my God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus and the devil says God doesn't love you God's not with you no no no no we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us for I am convinced that neither death nor life neither demons nor principalities no any power neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus my Lord my God is with me my God is for me greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world no weapon formed against me will prosper I will silence every voice raised up to accuse me I am NOT who the devil says I am I am NOT what the devil says I did I am who Christ says I am he says I am his child I belong to him I am a kid of the King the very same spirit that raised him from the dead it dwells within me whenever the devil accuses and tells you what your not and what you can't do you capture that you make it obedient to Christ you fight back with the word of God the sword of this spirit you are not who your enemy says he is trying to talk you out of living for God glorifying God making the difference being connected to people he has a mission to steal kill and destroy everything that matters to God and he is attacking you with accusations accusations the good news is you have an advocate you have a defense and he seated right next to God the Father and he says no that's not true let me tell you what's true there is no condemnation she is new in Christ he is forgiven he has made new oh that's what he did but that's not who he is that's what the devil said but let me tell you the truth there is so much more don't ever let the devil talk you out of doing what God created you to do my prayer for you it's very simple because I know because I've heard it because I've experienced it because I hate it you're not good enough Craig you shouldn't be a preacher you're naughty not even worthy of this marriage you're not a good example no no no no the righteousness of Christ is my righteousness I'm blessed coming in blessed going out I am made completely new I will lay down my life to serve my wife and my family as Christ loved the church I am imparting spiritual life to my children raising up biblically anchored Christ centered world-changers I might not have got it right then but I'm getting it right now because the Spirit of Truth dwells within me the devil is a liar Jesus is the truth the devil is a liar Jesus is the truth and when you know the truth the truth will set you free so when your enemy accuses this is my prayer for you that no weapon turned against you would succeed that by the power of truth you would take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ because you know the truth and the truth will set you free you will silence every voice raised up to accuse you and the good news is you have got Christ defending you and standing with you and greater is the one who is in you than the one who is in this world so father today we ask that you would give us the power of your Living Word to defeat the lies and accusations of the evil one all of our churches today those of you who would say yes I am a Jesus follower and I want even more help to fight off the accusation with the truth of Jesus if that's you would you lift your hands high right now lift him up right now father I thank you for your Living Word I pray God that you would quince the fiery darts of accusation God for those who feel defeated who feel unworthy who feel unlovable God who feel full of shame we thank you God that they are not what they did you are who they say you we are they are who you say they are we pray today God that their mind would be renewed with truth the devil is a liar you are the truth Jesus and the truth would set us free brother I thank you this week at live groups this week as we discuss God that we're gonna sharpen one another to even become closer to you God renew our minds silence the accusations of the evil one and we thank you for Jesus who defends us may we step into the truth of who he says we are and live the calling he's called us to live by the truth God for the truth set your people free as you keep praying today at all of our churches some of you you've been under the accusations forever you're not good enough you'll never measure up God couldn't love you hey after what you did you're too far gone you've been away for too long God's not gonna take you back at all the churches there those of you you need to hear the truth because there's some truth in this have you sinned yes you have and so why have you messed up yes you have so have I are we unworthy it's actually true yes you are and so am i but this is where the goodness of God shines not because of our goodness but because of His grace in His love God became one of us in the person of Jesus Christ Jesus born of a virgin the one who never ever sinned he was called the Lamb of God the one without blemish the one who gave His life on a cross for our forgiveness for all of our sins on the third day when the stone was not there the tomb was empty why because Jesus was raised from the dead Jesus now sits at the right hand of God the Father and anyone who calls on the name of Jesus scripture says will be saved anyone in this includes you doesn't matter what you've done does matter what the voices say when you on the name of Jesus you will be saved and all of our churches are those of you you recognized you need his grace you need its mercy you are not here today you're not watching by accident God brought you here today God brought you here today all of our churches doesn't say I need his mercy I turn from my sin I turned toward him I give my life to Him that's your prayer lift your hands high right now all of our churches lift them up and say yes right back over there both of you over here praise God for you over here in the middle section leave them up if you will sir god bless you man my brother right back here both hands up others saying yes right back over here Jesus over here in the back both of you here Church somebody ought to celebrate louder than that right back over here way back here towards the back Jesus is in this place he's changing what others W today step into it lift it up right now I need his grace I need his mercy church would you pray with those around you everybody pray 11 nobody prays alone we are family welcome to our family pray Heavenly Father I give you my life forgive me of my sins make me brand new I believe Jesus died for me and he rose again so I could live for you fill me with your spirit so I could follow you silence the accusations replace them with your truth my life is yours thank you for a new life now you have mine in Jesus name I pray my church would you worship there would you celebrate worship the God who sets people free [Applause] as a church it's our honor to play a small part in all that God is doing in and through your life and we would love to continue with you on that journey to find out what your next steps to be in your relationship with Christ all you have to do is go to Life Church slash next you know here at Life Church it's our mission to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ that statement drives everything we do as a church all because we know and we believe whoever finds God finds life you

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Length: 35min 36sec (2136 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 06 2017