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The devil is Real

Sunday Evening, March 18, 2007

Bob Bradley

_________________________ 

1 Peter 5

 

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

 

WE HAVE AN ADVERSARY

 

Peter makes a statement in which we need to pay attention.  When he makes this statement, he is talking about our adversary.  The Bible says that Peter stated, “...the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” 

 

I hope that everybody believes that there is a devil.  he's real.  I know that we hear a lot of preaching and teaching about the devil.  I know we think a lot of different things about him.  I hope that we realize that he is a real personality.  he is someone that is cunning, and subtle. 

 

If you read the Bible, you will find out that in the millenniums past, that there was a time that lucifer, “sun of the morning”, was in heaven.  We know that satan is a created individual.  We know that he was in heaven.  We know that, as we read the scriptures, he must have held a very high position in heaven.  As he did this, something happened. 

 

Many times in people's lives, when they are lifted up or placed in positions of authority, they get proud, they get boastful, and they get lifted up in themselves.  They become unbearable people. 

 

This is what lucifer did.  When he was lifted up, the Bible says in “pride.”  he became very proud and he decided that he was going to overthrow God.  That is what he decided he was going to do.  He was so proud in his thinking that he thought he was mighty enough and he was strong enough that he could overthrow the God of eternity, the God of creation.  He thought that he could do that. 

 

Pride will not be tolerated in my life or in your life.  Pride was not tolerated in heaven. 

 

The Bible says that God cast out lucifer or satan from heaven because of his pride.  Since that time, lucifer has been trying to stop the plan of Almighty God. 

 

The plan of God is for men to be saved.  I know there are many things that go along with that.  I know many things go along with government, this earth, and all that goes on.  I know that God is in all that.  However, God's ultimate plan for mankind is that mankind be saved. 

 

satan, from the time that he was cast out of heaven, has been trying to stop the plan of Almighty God because he knows that there is no repentance for him.  he knows that there will never be a time that he can be brought back into a right relationship with God.  Therefore, he is trying to keep everyone that he can from being saved.  He is trying to stop the plan of God for mankind. 

 

I am not giving him any praise at all.  he is doing a pretty good job of what he is doing.  It is not because he is smart.  It is not because that we are stupid.  It is not because he is so intelligent.  Any individual that would think that he could overthrow God, couldn't be very smart.  he knew who God was.  he knew that God was the creator.  However, since he got lifted up in pride, he thought that he could overthrow God, that tells me that satan is not very smart, but he is very cunning and he is very subtle. 

 

CONVINCE

 

If you were the enemy/satan, what would you do to try to stop or to change the plan of Almighty God? 

 

Would you try to discredit people that say that there is a devil, that there is an enemy, that we have an adversary, and that there is someone trying to destroy us?  If you were satan, what would you do to try to undermine that kind of teaching? 

 

You could do many things.  The enemy is doing many things. 

 

One of the things that he doing today is that he is trying to convince people that there is no satan.  He is trying to convince people that there really is no lake of fire, that there is no lucifer, that there is no satan out there.   However, the Bible has something completely different to say about that.  He is cunning. We know that he is cunning.  We know that he is subtle.  We know that he is crafty.  We know all of that.

 

All we have to do is go back, look at Eve just for a few moments, and see what he did.  The Bible says that satan is able to transform himself unto an angel of light.  That means that he has all kinds of disguises that he can put on.  He is not carrying a pitch fork around.  He is not red and with big ears and a big tail dragging behind him.  That’s not satan at all. 

 

Many times, satan comes in beauty.  He comes in a way of light.  Many times, we look at something like that, we look at light and we look at beauty then we automatically think that must be something good.  He has all kinds of disguises and we do not need to be deceived into thinking that he is not real because satan is real.

 

He will get you if you are not very careful. 

 

When we read over in Ephesians 6:11, we can read about the wiles of the devil.  Satan has all kinds of tricks and methods that he is deceiving people with today.  He has all kinds of things today to try to convince people that he is not real.  If he can convince you, if he can convince this world that he is not real, then he can do all kinds of underhanded things.  He can go out here and do all of his tricks, all of his sin, all of his underhanded things because we are not looking for him when we think that he is not real.  However, he is real. 

 

He does exist.  As we said earlier, he is lion; he walks as a lion.  If you would see a lion, a dragon, or a serpent coming towards you, you would be scared to death.  Satan is dangerous.  If I am not living where I need to be living, if I am not being aware of what is going on around me, and if I am not following Jesus Christ, satan is dangerous.  We need to be aware of that.  It is a dangerous thing for people to live in sin.  It is dangerous because the devil is there.  He is as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.  He is trying to get you and me.  He is trying to trick us, to trap us, to convince us that there is no devil out there; but he is real.  If we are not very careful, he will convince us that he does not exist. 

 

If we listen to some of the mainline preachers and teachers today in America, they will tell you that satan is just an evil influence.  He is not an evil influence, he is real.  If Jesus said that satan had a kingdom, that means satan is real.  If Jesus Christ went into the wilderness forty days and forty nights and tempted of satan; he is real.  We need to be aware that the adversary is out there trying to destroy us.  If he can convince you that he does not exist then he can also convince you that there is no hell.  If he can convince you that he doesn’t exist and there is no hell, then you will never come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

 

You will never do that.  People say that people do not come because they are afraid.  The night that I got saved and probably a lot of you got saved, what got me to thinking about getting saved is where I was going to end up at if I died.  Sure, I knew God is love and I knew that God loved me, but the thing that made me think about getting saved is the thought of eternity in a lake of fire.  That got my attention.  That should get your attention.  God loves us, absolutely.  However, an enemy is out there trying to destroy us and if he can convince us that he does not exist then he has already won the battle. 

 

The result is that we will follow him all the way to the lake of fire because that is where he is going. 

 

MAKE SIN LOOK ATTRACTIVE

 

If we were satan, not only would we try to convince people that you didn't exist; but if we were satan we would try to make sin very pretty. 

 

If you read in the book of Genesis, you will find out that Eve was living in a garden full of beauty.  Eve was living in a garden that God had created and placed here on planet earth.  God had placed the man and the woman there.  He told them that they could eat of every tree that was in the garden, but the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 

 

One day the enemy came along and said, “Eve, I need to talk to you about something.  Has God really said that you cannot eat of this tree?  God knows that the day that you eat of it that you are going to become as gods knowing good and evil.”  The Bible says that when Eve saw that the tree was good to look upon and it was a tree to be desired, she reached up, took of the fruit, and ate of it.  Not only did she eat of it, but also she gave to her husband and he did eat. 

 

The enemy today is making sin look very attractive.  All you have to do is just drive a few blocks downtown and you will see bright lights, beautiful buildings and all kinds of glitter and glamour.  he wants sin to be appealing.  he wants sin to be attractive.  he wants sin to be something that when we look at it will get our attention.  Not everything that looks good is good.  Many things may look good, but he is making sin look very attractive and appealing today.  It is getting many people into trouble.

 

If you read II Corinthians 4, you will find out that Paul writes the god of this world has blinded the minds of them that do not believe. 

 

People look at glamorous things.  They look at attractive things and things appealing to the flesh.  They look at things that excites the flesh.  It looks good to them.  People say, “If it looks good to me and that's something that I want to do then I'm just going to go ahead and do it.  God is going to accept that.” 

 

God is not going to accept your sin.  God is not going to accept you living in sin.  I do not care what you think about it.  I do not care how much you think that God is going to overlook your sin and allow you to live in sin.  Sin is sin and God is going to judge sin.

 

In my life and in yours; in all of our lives, it may be something that is very attractive; it may be something that appeals to you and me.  It may be something that when we go past it just reaches out and grabs us drawing us in.  We need to be very careful under those things that appeals to this flesh because there are many things that appeals to this flesh, but it gets us in trouble.  It gets us in trouble.  he is trying to make sin look pretty.  he is trying to make sin look appealing.  he is trying to make sin look attractive and he is doing a good job of it. 

 

Many churches today are opening up their doors and saying, “Come on in.  Come on in satan and bring all your tricks.”  We may not think he is satan.  We may not say it that way, but when we are allowing the world to come into the church, bringing all the things that the world has to offer then we just open up the doors and say come on in; we are allowing him in and it is going to cause problems later.  It causes problems in my life and it will cause problems in your life.  You will look at something that is pretty longer than you will something that is ugly.

 

Men will look at a pretty woman more than they will look at an ugly woman.  Women will look at an attractive man more than an ugly man.  satan wants sin to look very attractive.  No.  I am not advocating looking at women; I am not doing that.  I am just saying that is human nature.  satan wants things to look pretty to us so that we will look at them longer.  We will focus our minds on them then after a while; it goes from looking to touching.  When we do that, we get in trouble.  It is one thing to look and it is another thing to touch. 

 

Some say if you “think it” then you might as well say it, but you are wrong.  If I had said everything that I have “thought” today, just today, I'd probably be in jail today.  You would too.  God knows what I think and that is between God and me.  That is a different message.

 

The Bible tells us some things that we can see and know.  Have you ever thought about why they put bright lights, shiny buildings, water fountains, and landscape there?  It is because they want it to look good.  They want it to be attractive.  They want it to be seductive.  They want it to appeal to us. 

 

That is what the enemy wants to do today with sin. 

 

If you listen to our politicians, on both sides of the fence whether Republicans, Democrats or whatever; they want to convince us that some of the sins of the flesh is okay.  If you listened to what they were saying the other day, when asked a question about homosexuality, some of the prime candidates that are running for President in 2008; they were saying that homosexuality is okay if that's what people want to do.  It is NOT okay! 

 

When you look at the Bible, at what God has said in His Word, and what God has done, the sin of homosexuality is a sin that God is going to judge and it is not okay.  It may look attractive, it may be something that may appeal to you, but the sin of homosexuality, God is going to judge.  God will judge this serious sin.    

 

When they said, “If that's what they want to do, its okay.”  That tells me what kind of a President those people would make.  If they support those things then they are going to support them then.  They do not know anything about God.  If a man does not know anything about God then I do not want him leading this country. 

 

Sin may look attractive.  The devil makes it look attractive because he can draw us in.

 

HINDRANCE

 

Not only is he trying to convince people that he does not exist, trying to make sin look attractive, but he is also trying to hinder the Word of God. 

 

The Word is powerful.  The Word of God is quick, it is powerful and it is sharper than any two-edged sword.  The Word of God changes people's lives.  The enemy today is trying to discredit the Word of God because he knows that if he can get preachers, teachers, and pastors not to preach the whole Word of God then he has won the battle.  he knows that it takes the Word of God.  By the Word of God preached, men ought to be saved.  If the enemy stops the preaching of the Word of God then he has won the battle.  Singing is great, but it takes more than singing to get people saved. 

 

All kinds of activities in the church are great, but it takes the Word of God to transform you from a sinner to Saint.  When the Word of God is preached and taught, it will change your life.  If he can hinder the Word of God and stop the Word of God from going out then he has won. 

 

If he can get this generation that we are living in today to stop teaching the Word of God to our children and our grandchildren, then we are just one generation away from losing the Truth.  When the Truth is gone, the church is gone because without the Truth the church cannot exist.  Without the Truth being preached and taught, the church cannot exist.  he tries to hinder the Word of God.  The Word of God is powerful, thus changing people’s lives.  Not only does it save people, but also it transforms us, it teaches us, it strengthens us.  If the enemy can stop the preaching and teaching of the Word of God, then he has won a great big battle.

 

When you read Matthew 13, you read about a sower.  I thought about this a lot today.  The Bible says a sower goes forth and sows the seed but the Bible says that as one particular sower goes forth and is sowing the seed that some fell by the wayside and the fowls of the air came and ate the seed that fell by the wayside. 

 

The Word of God is preached and taught but I think many people, sitting in pews today, are like the birds that go along the sides of the fields and pluck up the seed that have fallen by the wayside.  Many times we hear the Word preached and taught.  Afterwards, we go home from church.  Whether we go to a restaurant, to work, or sit in own home, we want to criticize the message or the messenger.  All the while, our children, grandchildren, neighbors, and co-workers are sitting there with the Word of God sowed in their heart.  We are like that bunch of a birds that are coming along and instead of trying to water it and help it grow, we are there just picking the seed that are within their hearts and we are plucking it out.  Then when they get around 15 years old, we cannot do anything with them, and they are juvenile delinquents then we wonder what went wrong.

 

Your children think what you think.  Your children do what you do. 

 

The day before yesterday, we had Abby at the house and everything that I would say; she would say the exact same thing.  Whatever it was that I would say, she would say.  Deb would talk and she would repeat exactly what she would say. 

 

Children do what their parents do.  When children sit at home and listen to their parents talk, or criticize the church and God's people, then they are going to do the same exact thing.  That is exactly what your children and grandchildren are going to do. 

 

If you go to school tomorrow, or if you go to work tomorrow and you talk with brother _____ about how dead the services were, or how bad they were; but you do not think about the fellow sitting here in the corner who may not say anything.  However, he has been thinking about getting saved.  He may have gone to church somewhere yesterday, and the Word of God was sown in his heart, but you are hindering the Word of God.  It is sown in this individual's heart and here you are criticizing what is going on. 

 

That is just like the birds that are there, you are plucking the seed that was sown in this individual's heart; it is dangerous stuff.  You may not think that it is, and you may not ever change, but it may be a lonely, sad day one day when you stand before the throne of Almighty God.  Not everybody that says “Lord, Lord” is going to go into the kingdom of heaven “but he that doeth the Will of my Father which is in heaven.”  Many people are saying yes Lord I am saved.  However, saved people do not kill saved people.  Saved people do not kill unsaved people.  I am talking about with their tongues. 

 

he is hindering the Word of God. 

 

If you have done those things in the past, then change.  You can change.  Today is the first day of the rest of your life.  We can change.  We need to change today.

 

QUARREL

 

Not only all of this but the enemy knows to hinder the plan of God and the best way that he can do that is by starting a quarrel among God's people. 

 

If you read in the early church in the book of Acts, things are going along fine.  People, by the thousands, were being saved, but it was not long until a quarrel started because some thought that they were being neglected.  That is when the first deacons came along and there was a little quarrel going on because they thought that some were neglecting this group, or this group was getting more than that group. 

 

There is nothing that will hinder the plan of God any quicker than people quarreling among themselves within the church. 

 

When he can get people to quarrel at one another and pick at one another then he hinders the plan of God.  He stops the plan of God.  He slows down the plan of God.  Shame on us!  When we cannot get along with people, especially people that we say that we love, we are liars.  If we say that we love people and we are going to go to heaven with people, yet when we see them, we turn our heads and run the other way, and then we are liars.  If you love me, then you are going to love. Love means that we have fellowship and that we can get along.  I may not agree with everything that you do and you may not agree with everything that I do and that is fine.  However, at the end of the day, we can still hug one another and say, “I love you, brother.” 

 

FALSE GOSPEL

 

Not only is he trying to get people to get at one another, but also he is trying to get ministers to preach another gospel.  Something that is not a gospel as Paul said.  Paul made a statement, if I, or an angel from heaven, preaches any other gospel other than that which has been preached unto you, let him be accursed.  Let him be cut off.  Let him be dead. 

 

The enemy is putting in ministers’ hearts--all you have to do is turn on your television--they will talk about positive thinking, self-image, and all kinds of things that make you feel good.  They will tell you do not do this, this and this; and if you keep all these rules then you are a good person. 

 

You can keep all the rules that you want, but if you bypass the cross, then you are lost.  Do you know why I do not go out here and do what I use to do?  It is because I am saved; I do not want to.  I do not want to do what I used to do because God has changed my life.  I can do all the good works that I want to, but those are just a by-product of being saved.  If we are not saved, then all the good works that we may do amounts to nothing. 

 

There are all kinds of gospel being preached today to do good works, think positive thoughts, get up in the morning and feel good about you.  Look in the mirror in the morning and smile.  We can do all that we want to, but if we bypass the cross then we are lost. 

 

People today, even in our own community, believe in all kinds of things.  Some believe they are the only ones going to heaven.  In their little churches that they have things just so, so and they think that, they are the only ones going.  I have news for them, I do not belong to their church and I am going.  I am on my way and you are too if you are saved. 

 

EXCUSES

 

Not only does he do all these other things, but one of the greatest things that he is doing in trying to stop the plan of God is convincing men that their excuses are okay.   The excuses that they are making, as to why they are not coming to church, why they are not living for Jesus Christ, and why they are not being faithful; he is convincing them that their excuses are okay.  Your excuses are not okay. 

 

We can make all the excuses that we want as to why we do not serve Jesus Christ.  Some people do not want to serve Jesus Christ because they will have to change the way that they live.  They will not be able to use their drugs and alcohol.  They will have to get rid of their mistress that they have at work, or they will have to get rid of the boyfriend that they have at work.  They would have to change their life if they lived for Jesus Christ.  The enemy convinces them that the excuses they make are okay and that God will accept their excuses.  God is not going to accept your excuses.  he, the enemy, is very sneaky, cunning, and dresses in many different garments.

 

I was thinking about a little story today.  It is a little story about “Little Red Riding Hood”.  She goes to grandma's house and she sees whom she thinks is grandma laying in the bed.  The individual that was lying in grandma's bed had grandma's clothes on and had grandma's hat on.  Even though the individual had grandma's clothes on, even though the individual was in grandma's house and in grandma's bed the individual was not grandma.  The individual was a big bad wolf.  The wolf was there to destroy. 

 

Many things in your life and in my life may look the same.  It may be in our house.  It may be where we think it should be.  It may be in a place of safety.  It may be something entirely different from what we may think it is, but the enemy has all kinds of disguises.  he will deceive us if we are not very careful.  The ultimate goal of satan is to lead us to a lake of fire.  he puts his best foot forward in the beginning and if he can get us to follow him then he can slack off a little bit  and we will continue to follow him.  The ultimate end is a lake of fire.  I do not want to see anyone there.

 

If you are not following Jesus Christ, then you are following satan.  You need to change directions now because you are living on a dangerous road. 

 

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