Tue, 23 May 2006 Welcome back! I'm so glad that you have joined us at church growth, mission, and evangelism; this blog is a ministry of www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org. Please take time to visit our site. Thank-you! We continue with gaining peace with God: Man’s only salvation from sin stands on a lonely, barren, skullshaped hill; a thief hangs on one cross, a murder on the other, and between them, a man with a crown of thorns. He is the Son of God. This is He, before whom angels fall down and veil their faces. And yet he hangs bleeding and forsaken on the cross! Man’s hideous injustice that crucified Christ became the means that opened the way for man to become free. Sin’s masterpiece of shame and hate became God’s masterpiece of mercy and forgiveness. Through the death of Christ on the cross, sin itself was crucified for those who believe in Him. He proved the truth of all God’s promises to man, and if you will accept Christ by faith today, you, too, can be forgiven of your sins. You can stand secure and free in the knowledge that through the love of Christ your soul is cleansed of sin and saved from damnation.
Satan is determined that humanity shall continue on its tormented way until the end of time. There is no doubt that the devil exists. How and why did the devil come to be? We know from the story of Adam and Eve that the devil already existed. If the devil hadn’t already existed, then there would have been no reason for God to create the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Long before Adam existed, it would appear that God’s universe was divided into spheres of influence, each of which was under the supervision and control of an angel or heavenly prince, all of whom were responsible directly to God. The devil must have been just such a powerful, heavenly prince, having the earth assigned to him, perhaps as his special province.
This heavenly prince, known as Lucifer, must have stood very close to God, so close that ambition entered his heart and he determined not to be God’s beloved prince, but to place himself on an equal footing with God. Lucifer was not a counterpart of God, but of Gabriel or Michael, he was not a fallen god, but a fallen angel. It was at this moment that the breech appeared, the universe split, and a portion set itself in opposition to God. Lucifer left his position in the government of God, descended to the lower heavens, and declared that he would be like the most high God.
As a mighty prince, with hosts of angels at his command, Lucifer has set up his kingdom on earth. His power and position were the very reason that the Scriptures came to be written. There was no doubt in Jesus’ mind about the presence of the devil, nor the power that he wielded here on earth. The devil is a creature of vastly superior intelligence, a mighty and gifted spirit of infinite resourcefulness. We forget that the devil was probably the greatest and most exalted of all of God’s angels. He is not however, all-powerful, omniscient, or omnipresent.
We know that the anti-Christ will appear and try to ensnare the minds and hearts of men. The signs of the false prophet are everywhere at hand, and many may be the living witnesses of this awesome moment when the final act of this age-old drama begins. It will be a battle to the death that will continue until the end of time, until one or the other of these mighty forces triumphs and places a king on the throne.
Never for a second of your waking or sleeping life are you without the influence of these two powerful forces. Don’t doubt for a moment the existence of the devil! He is very personal and he is very real. He is extremely clever. Perhaps the cleverest thing that he has done is to convince people that he doesn’t exist. Once asked how he overcomes the devil, Martin Luther replied, “Well, when he comes knocking upon the door of my heart and asks, “Who lives here?� the dear Lord Jesus goes to the door and says, Martin Luther used to live here, but he has moved out. Now I live here. The Devil takes flight immediately.�
How can you explain humanity’s eagerness to listen to the base and vulgar and vile, while it turns a deaf ear to the good and clean and pure? We constantly pass up the rich and beautiful and ennobling experiences and seek out the tawdry, the cheap, and the degrading.
There is a much greater struggle going on that we cannot see. One of the many prices that Adam paid for listening to the devil was to lose the vision of spiritual dimensions. He lost for himself and all humanity the capacity for seeing and hearing and understanding anything that was not basely material. It is the evil and distortion within ourselves that keeps us from seeing and experiencing God’s perfect world. That's all for today. Remember to listen to our podcast tomorrow! The podcast gets bigger and bigger. There is so much material to cover. Our task here is so important and time is short. Our podcast for tomorrow will include: Greeting Introduction Continuation of gaining peace with God More uplifting thoughts from Joel Osteen Wrap up and hopefully some short bits of music if all goes well Until then. Thank-you and God Bless. Pastor Bob Emery bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org - please let me know what you think Category: Religion -- posted at: 10:28 PM Comments[0] |
