[PASTOR MICHAEL NOVOTNY]
The devil will do whatever
he can to mess with your
faith. He wants to
separate you from the
presence of God; from
eternal life and happiness
and joy. But the good news
is that he can't touch and
Pastor Jeske tells us why
next on Time of Grace.
[MUSIC]
[PASTOR MARK JESKE]
The Gallup
organization is one of
America's best known
polling groups; they have
a huge network to gather
information about the
ideas and belief systems
of people in our country.
Today, I'd like to finish
out this little set of
what does our country
believe, but what do you
believe about the
existence of a devil? The
Gallup organization says
that 60 percent of
Americans believe in the
devil. Now is your glass
of beer 60 percent full or
40 percent empty?
Depending on how you look
at it, you might say,
"Good grief! Forty percent
of the people in this
world have no idea who
their enemy is! They have
no explanation of where
evil came from. They're
drifting around guessing
at the life struggle
against the forces of
evil. They don't even know
what they're fighting
against." Isn't that job
one of every military
person wearing a uniform?
If you pick up a weapon of
any kind, job one is
knowing your enemy: Where
is your enemy? How is your
enemy equipped? What am I
facing? What is their
strategy? Where will they
be coming at us? Where are
our vulnerabilities? If
you don't even know that
you have an enemy, you'll
be helpless when that
enemy comes after you. You
might say, "Well, thank
God at least 60 percent of
people get it." Not even
so sure about that number!
The Barna organization,
which is another huge
network of gathering
information about the
beliefs of the American
people, put the number
only in the low 40s and
they say at most, only
people in the low 40
percent range in our
country believe in a
personal devil. Other
people will say they
believe in Satan, but
that's a metaphor or
picture language or a
descriptor for evil in
general but they don't
believe that there is a
malignant intelligence
with great power and
durability going after
people; the men and women
and children of this
earth. And I'm scared to
death to actually ask for
an honest feedback of
where you are because I
might hear some very scary
things. And so, it
inspires me to want to
take nothing for granted
about this urgently
important topic. That the
devil not just become a
joke word; a ha ha ha, you
know, the devil made me do
it. Just like hell has
become a joke word today.
In fact, it's one of the
most terrifying concepts
in the English language or
any language. Satan, your
adversary, the devil, is
also terrifyingly real.
And I don't want you to
have to take my word for
it; I would like you to
hear from the one who
knows more about Satan
than anyone else. You
know, the agnostics and
the super educated people
of today, generation after
generation, get smarter
and smarter and have more
and more degrees after
their names. But you know
who you cannot fool about
the existence of real and
personal evil? Its kids.
Kids get it. And you know
how I know that? Because
Grimm's fairy tales will
not die; that's how I know
that for sure. You might
remember the War of 1812
as the year in which
America had the craziness
to actually declare war on
the most powerful nation
in the world and somehow
got away without being
destroyed completely. It
was the birth of our
national anthem; the Star
Spangled Banner came out
of that conflict. 1812 was
also the year that two
brothers in Germany
printed up and issued and
published a collection of
terrifying children's
stories that you might
think would have been a
dud because they're so
scary. In fact, children
ate them up and they
begged momma and grandma
and auntie and uncle to
read them those stories
over and over because
children know they're
true. Children know about
stalkers and evil.
Children - grownups think
that children have
worry-free, stress-free
lives. Children will tell
you different. Children
are afraid of many things.
And when they heard
stories about people who
make bad decisions, who do
just one or two greedy,
selfish things, and it
comes back to bite them
like Hansel and Gretel
just ate a little bit of
the witch's house but she
then captured them and put
them in a cage to fatten
them up for an act of
witchly cannibalism. And
the children didn't laugh
that off. Their eyes, when
they listened to the story
of Hansel and Gretel,
would get this big because
they know that there is
evil afoot and they're
afraid of it. A pregnant
woman desperately wanted
to eat a forbidden food
and pressured her husband
to go steal it from
someone who,
unfortunately, had the
ability to take their
firstborn daughter,
Rapunzel, and lock her up
in a tower with no stairs.
Children never got tired
of hearing about the woman
who then grew her hair so
long it became the only
ladder up to that tower.
That's a terrifying
thought to be locked away
from your parents and live
in total isolation! Isn't
that horrible? Sleeping
Beauty was basically put
to sleep for 100 years by
a malevolent fairy who
felt neglected and took
out her vengeance upon
this pretty woman who
seemed to have it all and
put everybody in the
castle to sleep,
potentially forever.
Children don't mind
hearing about that stuff
because they know it's
true. They know that you
should not be going in
dark woods to
grandmother's house.
You've got to wait for a
ride, get a ride; don't
walk in the forest. And
Little Red Riding Hood
makes total sense to
children who know how
creepy it is to be stalked
by someone. It's not funny
to them and they won't let
those stories die. 1812!
Think how long ago that
is! And those stories
weren't invented by the
Brothers Grimm; they go
back to the Middle Ages.
Some of those stories have
been told and retold in
Italy since the 13th and
12th centuries, maybe
longer. There just is no
written record going any
farther but they might be
part of an oral tradition
and children won't let
those stories die. And if
I live long enough and
actually am given some
grandchildren, I have a
hunch they're going to
know about Rumpelstiltskin
and Rapunzel and Little
Red Riding Hood also
because children know that
evil is real. It's not
just poverty, it's not
just racism. There is a
malevolent force infecting
and trying to destroy
everybody on the planet
and they get it. I'd like
to encourage you to take
the devil seriously.
Scripture describes the
devil with a bunch of
different words that you
will run into. One, the
devil itself, sounds like
something you do to eggs
to fill them up with
mayonnaise and stuff to
make them taste even a
little bit better, if that
would be possible. Devil
costumes always are big
sellers at Halloween time;
somebody is always showing
up at the party with
little red horns and a
pitchfork - ha, ha, ha.
It's hard to take - hard
to be too scared of that.
Well, the grownups,
unfortunately, are
belittling a concept that
you need to take very
seriously. "Devil" means
accuser and that's one of
the most insidious things
Satan can do to you is to
accuse you of everything
wrong in your life. First,
he and his henchmen, his
demons and the little
demon inside you, the
sinner that lives inside
you, all conspire for you
to break God's ways and to
try to do what Satan did
originally: Declare his
independence from God.
Which is - there's really
only one sin, which has
just many ways of
expressing itself. There
is only one sin and that's
declaring independence of
God, giving him the
finger, and setting
yourself up as God of your
own little universe and
trying to make that world
as big as possible; that's
really the only sin.
Everything else is just a
manifestation of you
wanting to be God. That
was Eve's undoing, Adam's
undoing, and all the rest
of us, as well. And Satan
then not only tempts you
to do that, but then he
outs you and howls
accusations at you. Diablo
in Greek means to accuse,
to throw accusations at,
to pelt people with
accusations. So devil is a
scary name. Don't be
fooled about the eggs;
it's a scary word. Satan
means the enemy. You have
an enemy not just - that's
not just a metaphor or a
literary device to talk
about evil in the world or
poverty or hardship or
some people who are just
selfish or whatever. There
is an individual with
intelligence, great power,
and immortality and
refuses to die; won't die.
At one time, equipped with
all of the powers of
heaven, one of the
archangels of God declared
his independence from God,
wanted nothing to do with
having to worship anyone
higher, wanted to set
himself up as the highest
form of authority, and
actually persuaded a
significant subset of the
angel armies to follow in
his declaration of
independence. He is your
enemy and he has inspired
his demons to hate you as
much as he does. And while
lying and passing himself
off as your friend, he in
fact will turn on you and
betray you, first chance
he gets. In body, enjoys
every bit of pain you've
ever suffered and would
like to cause a lot more.
Loves your mental
troubles, your depression
or insecurity that you
feel; the fear that gnaws
at your insides. The
self-loathing and
self-hatred you have to
struggle with, Satan feeds
off of that. It's like an
energy source. It's like
plugging in a smartphone
to your misery. That just
juices him because he's
miserable and likes it
when he has company. Most
of all, he wants you to
share his destiny so that
as he is slowly cooking in
that sea of burning
sulfur, there will be
other wails and shrieks
that will give him a sick
pleasure. This is what's
at stake. He's also called
a dragon, which is - if I
was writing the Bible, I
wouldn't have picked that
metaphor. Why on earth
when God knows that he's
going to have trouble
persuading people to trust
the Bible's accounts of
things, why would you pick
a mythological animal for
a metaphor for something
that's very real? People
have enough trouble
grasping the concept of
Satan without comparing it
to something else like a
unicorn. Like everybody
knows there's no such
thing as a unicorn. It is
a mythological animal; so
are dragons. There has
never been an animal that
was a walking flamethrower
which could, with blasts
of its breath, could
incinerate and turn
somebody into a barbecue
just by blowing hot fire
breath on them. That has
never existed. Or with a
spiky tail, you know,
there were dinosaurs but
no dragons so why would
God do that? Ironically,
the dragon was known in
almost every culture. It
was universally known as
something fierce and
fearsome; something to be
afraid of and so God
thought that's a good
metaphor. An animal that
weighs bigger than people,
something more powerful
than they, and something
that could easily destroy
them unless they have a
protector. And finally,
Scripture describes Satan
as a serpent and what
could be creepier than
that? It's the creepiest
of all the animals, isn't
it? They slither. They
don't just move on legs;
they slither and slither
around. They're sleek and
kind of slimy to the touch
and slicky and just have
this kind of ick feeling;
everybody has ick about
snakes. And the worst
thing is, some of them are
deadly. Their two main
teeth in their upper jaw
are like two little
hypodermic needles. Those
teeth are hollow and they
have poison sacks in their
cheeks that have poison so
lethal that they can cause
your heart to go into
arrest probably in 30
seconds and kill you.
You're already - your
corpse is already cooling
off before your friends
will even find your body;
that's how bad it is. And
that's the serpent that
Jesus allowed to sink his
fangs, those two syringes,
into him to try to kill
him and kill his mission.
And Jesus used that
instance to bring his foot
down on the serpent's
head. Now having said all
that, now you kind of -
that's the context for
what you're about to hear.
I invite you to take your
Bible with me and go
to Revelation 12 and
read what is
simultaneously a victory
chant and a warning. And
it celebrates the three
victories of Christ's King
over the enemy, the
accuser, the dragon, the
serpent. All these
descriptors all bundled
together have been
conquered by Jesus Christ
and this little poem
actually refers to all
three of Christ's
victories at the same
time. That's why unpacking
this slowly is necessary
cause you get tangled up
in the chronology. Jesus
defeated Satan, the King
has defeated Satan, three
different times and is
going to come to finish
his work; there is one
still. The fourth act of
this incredible drama
still is yet to come but
Jesus won three times. The
first was in heaven when
Satan originally launched
his rebellion. Jesus
rallied the archangel
Michael and all the good
angels and they literally
drove the devil and the
demons out of heaven. No
evil like that can be
allowed in God's holy
presence; they were driven
out. And Jesus told his
disciples once: "I saw
Satan fall like," remember
the metaphor he used? Do
you know this; this thing
he said? "I saw Satan fall
like lightning from the
sky." Zap! Fall like
lightning. He went flaming
out of heaven; howling
curses and hatred. Second,
Jesus defeated Satan with
his 33 years on earth in a
unique and wonderful way
by rejecting every one of
Satan's temptations. The
battleground was not a big
flat area where human
beings have their wars.
The battleground was in
the mind of Christ himself
and he rejected all those
temptations, including on
the cross. His wrestling
with Satan in the
wilderness at the
beginning of his ministry
was boot camp where he had
to fight the devil,
exhausted, hungry, near
the point of death. When
you don't eat for a month,
you are barely alive. Just
like when you go to Marine
boot camp, you don't get
pampered and spoiled with
really great food and get
massages every day and go
to the spa and basically
play a round of golf and
then in the evening have
cocktail hour and play
video games; that is not
what Marine boot camp is
like at all. You are
exhausted. You are pushed
to the limits of your
physical ability and then
you are expected to manage
your weapon and to do
military maneuvers, follow
instructions, and carry
out your mission. Not when
you're at your best but
when you're exhausted.
That is what Jesus' work
out in the wilderness
entailed; preparing him
for the cross where
exhaustion and near death
- he had to make a string
of the most important
decisions that have ever
been made in human history
- and he did it. He did
it! I celebrate that with
you today. That's why he's
your king! Not just cause
he's so powerful but
because he conquered
Satan, made himself
subject to Satan's
temptations in your place,
and hit them all out of
the park. He refused to
cave even once and he
died, allowed the serpent
to bite him in the heel,
Scripture says in
prophecy, but in that act,
Jesus lifted his heel and
brought it down on the
serpent's head. That was
victory number two.
Victory number three is
Satan still thought he
won. Even though he could
not get back at God, he
basically poisoned all of
God's children and to his
great delight, he found
out that sin was now
congenital; it was
contagious. It goes from
parents to their children.
And Satan basically had
the fantasy that he owned
them all. And the third
victory of Christ is
through the word and
through his blood, you and
I share in Christ's
victory, one by one in
human hearts, where you
and I push Satan away and
declare our loyalty, love
and allegiance to Christ
the King. The fourth
victory is yet to come.
Now that's all a big build
up for what you're going
to hear. "There was war in
heaven." This was a
reference to victory
number one. Revelation
12:7: "Michael and his
angels fought against the
dragon and the dragon and
his angels fought back.
But he was not strong
enough and they lost their
place in heaven." That's
when Satan fell like
lightning. "The great
dragon was hurled down -
the ancient serpent," with
the two hypodermic
syringes in his mouth,
"called the devil or
Satan," the accuser, the
enemy, "who leads the
whole world astray." At
least he thought he had
them all! "He was hurled
to the earth and his
angels with him. Then I
heard a loud voice in
heaven say," and here is
one of the angels talking,
most likely; functioning
according to their basic
function. Angelos, in the
Greek language, actually
doesn't mean a power
creature of spirit; it
actually means a
messenger. Angels are
talkers first; that's
their job number one is
they are God's messengers.
"Now have come the
salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our
God." This is now the
celebration of victory
number two: Christ on his
cross, crushing the head
of the serpent. "And the
authority of his Christ."
The humble one has now
been lifted up. Though he
humbled himself to the
point of death, he is now
exalted up to the highest
level. Why? For the
diablos, "The accuser of
our brothers who accuses
them before our God day
and night," who actually
thinks he has status or
standing in God's court,
"he's been hurled down,"
and now comes victory
number three: "They
overcame him by the blood
of the Lamb and the word
of their testimony; they
did not love their lives
so much as to shrink from
death." In other words,
even the martyrs who were
put to death for their
faith actually, in that
act, became magnificent
winners because they now
were safe and beyond
Satan's reach. Their death
on earth turned into just
an accelerated progress
into heaven; only Christ
could do that. "Therefore,
rejoice you heavens!" Good
news for you above because
you are now Satan free;
heaven is a Satan free,
evil free, sin free,
temptation free, violence
free zone. "And you who
dwell in them. But woe to
the earth and the sea."
That's why our world is
such a swamp because he's
still here. "The devil has
gone down to you! He is
filled with fury because
he knows his time is
short." Satan's been
convicted. He's chained;
his ankles, his ugly clove
and hoofs are chained in
hell and he's doomed but
he wants to take people
down with him. You and I
are in the last stages of
the war, the church
militant, as it's called.
We're in a deadly conflict
but the victory has
already been won and now
you've got to decide what
you're going to do with
this information. Be aware
that the world you live in
is very skeptical about
this. I suspect the Barna
numbers are right; that 40
percent - only 40 percent
- of your fellow
countrymen and
countrywomen actually
believe what I just said.
The majority of your
friends and neighbors
think what I just said is
ridiculous. Now you have
to make up your mind: Is
this ridiculous or not?
Does this not explain
where evil came from? Does
this not explain why
people are so mean and
cruel and racist and
aggressive and predatory
toward one another? Of
course it does. Doesn't
this also explain why you
have done so many things
you regret and what you've
said and done? Yes, it
does. It explains our
human dilemma but it also
explains the way out.
Christ the King has
defeated the serpent and
those who trust and
believe in him win with
him. All by yourself,
naked and alone, you are
no match for the dragon.
But through the victory of
Christ the King, you're
winners. That means one
little word can fell him.
Now rebuke him and he will
flee from you. God
promises you that. You now
have power over the devil.
How? The same two things
that the martyrs had power
over. You in your life
have power through the
blood of the Lamb; the
blood of Jesus has washed
you so clean that in spite
of the messes you've made
in your life, you shine
with holiness when God
looks at you right now. Is
that not the most insane
paradox you ever heard?
How can a dope and a
sinner like me be
considered pure and holy
in God's sight? It's
because you're not wearing
your old clothes anymore;
you're wearing the robes
of Team Jesus. You're
wearing his holiness. The
blood of the Lamb gives
you power over Satan.
Embrace it and praise the
giver of that blood:
Christ your King, who
still has kept the scars
on his hands and feet and
side that he may let you
see and touch someday.
You're going to have to
wait in line a long time
but, hey, what's the rush?
You've got forever. And
secondly, they defeated
him by the word of their
testimony. God's word
gives you power over the
devil. And that little
word - whether it's
"Christ" or that little
word is "forgiven" or
"free" or "pardoned" or
"justified" - all of those
say the same thing:
"Satan, get lost. I don't
want your lies anymore. My
worship, my love, my faith
are in Christ my King."
Brothers and sisters, be
strong with the blood of
Christ. Be strong with the
word of Christ your King.
Amen.
[MUSIC]
[PASTOR
MICHAEL NOVOTNY] What a
great reminder about the
power of Jesus and
confidence we have even in
the middle of a spiritual
fight. That makes me think
of the old story about
Martin Luther who lived
about 500 years ago. The
story goes that in the
middle of the night,
Martin Luther heard
something banging around
in his kitchen and he got
up to explore exactly what
was going on and he didn't
see anyone, he couldn't
find anything, so he
shouted into the darkness:
"Oh Satan, it's just you!
If I would have known, I
wouldn't have bothered to
get out of bed." [Pastor:
Laughter] I don't know
exactly what happened in
his kitchen that night but
I love his confidence. He
knew Jesus. He knew he was
loved by God and forgiven
at the cross so he didn't
need to be afraid of even
his fiercest spiritual
enemy and that can be your
confidence, too. I hope
Pastor Jeske's words
encourage you to live with
confidence of hope because
we have an incredible
Savior. I'll be back in a
moment with you to pray.
[PROMOTION] Hi, I'm Bruce
Becker. I serve on the
leadership team here at
Time of Grace and was
recently asked to write a
book on the subject of
Satan, the devil. I've
entitled it, "Give Satan
the Credit He is Due."
It's time to take Satan
seriously. I wrote this
book because you and I
have a very real and
determined spiritual
adversary who wants to rob
us of our joy and cripple
our faith. But as we begin
to understand who he
really is, his motivation
and the tactics he uses,
we'll be better equipped
to resist his attacks. In
this book, you'll learn
what it takes to overcome
him. When you know Jesus
as Savior, he empowers you
to stand against Satan and
to dispel his lies with
God's timeless truths.
"Give Satan the Credit He
is Due," is our way of
thanking you for your
generous gift this month.
Call 800-661-3311, visit
timeofgrace.org, or text
TIME to 313131.
[PASTOR
MICHAEL NOVOTNY] We here
at Time of Grace are so
grateful for your support
because while it seems so
simple that God loves us
and forgives us because of
Jesus, so many of us know
in practice it's not easy.
The devil accuses us and
he makes us feel unworthy
and unloved and not quite
ready to see God face to
face. So for every prayer
that you pray and every
dollar that you give, that
we can spread this good
news, even if people have
heard it a thousand times
before, we are so
grateful. And if you love
to continue or increase
your support, we would
love to reach more souls
with the incredible news
of our great Savior. Would
you join me and pray? Dear
God, I'm so thankful for
the confidence that you
give us in the face of
spiritual discourage in
prayer. I can think of
times in my own Christian
life when I wondered if
I'd fallen too far and had
done too much for you to
forgive me but you're so
faithful and so persistent
and surrounding me with
great people who gave me
the great news of Jesus.
And so we pray that over
every friend, over every
family member, over every
neighbor that we know. I
know the devil doesn't
need the world to fall
apart, just as long as our
hearts do and we question
whether you could still
love us. So give us
confidence, God, to speak
that good news time and
time again until it
settles so deep in our
heart that we actually
believe it. I thank you,
Jesus, for fighting the
devil for us. I thank you
that even though we often
give into temptation you
never did and I thank you
that because of your
blood, we have the
victory; we are more than
conquerors through you,
Jesus. We thank you so
much for this confidence
that we have and we pray
it all boldly in your
beautiful name. Amen. With
Time of Grace, I'm Pastor
Mike Novotny, and your
confidence - even in the
spiritual war - well, it
all starts now.
[MUSIC]
[ANNOUNCER] The preceding
program was sponsored by
the friends and partners
of Time of Grace.
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