Psalm 83 Pt 6

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All right for this hour, back
to Psalm eighty three. We've been spending

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a lot of time on SAW eighty
three, being keeping up with the podcast.

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I don't know how many hours of
content I've already been with SAW eighty

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three. There we were what four
hours just here, and then the last

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hour would make five hours, so
put it all together, I don't even

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know how many hours total we spent
on SAW eighty three, and the more.

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I don't even want to be in
Saw eighty three anymore. But I

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feel like I have to bring this
to some kind of conclusion, and I'm

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just as I stated in the first
hour, I am just perplexed and confused

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at all the sermons I've listened to
on SAW eighty three make no sense.

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The original Sermons series that sparked all
of this, they, I think last

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night or yesterday they released Part twenty
one. Ninety percent of it has nothing

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to do with SAW eighty three.
I don't even know why they call it

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Saw eighty three. I don't know. It's just insane. It's crazy stuff.

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Supposedly it's about a coming future Middle
East war. When they get to

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part eleven or Part twelve, I
think it's a Part eleven or Part twelve.

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They just magically changed the name to
Saw eighty three, Part third thirteen,

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Saw Maty three, Part fourteen,
when all the original ones were the

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Coming Middle East War, the Coming
Middle East War, the Coming Middle East

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War. But I'm up to I
think Part eleven, and they never talk

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about the coming Middle East War,
So I don't know why they were calling

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it the coming It's the whole thing
is bizarre. But I can handle bizarre

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to some level. What I can
handle is all the things stated in that

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series and other sermons that are just
absolutely false. They're just not true.

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There's just lies about things, and
Saw eighty three about all kinds of things,

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and so that drives me crazy.
But I feel like we have to

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work on Saw eighty three. We
have done I think enough work that everyone

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here should know what Saw eighty three
is about. So if you don't know,

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I'm just gonna state it quickly.
Saw eighty three is a lament written

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by Asaf, who was the worship
leader during the time of David and part

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of the time of Solomon. He
is writing a lament that captures the emotions

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of the people of fear, of
doubt, of concern, of worry because

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they are facing a confederacy of nations
coming to wipe them off the face of

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the earth. It is describing a
present situation at that time. It describes

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their emotions. It's not talking about
some future war that that's not even happened

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in our lifetime. No, it's
talking about what happened during the time of

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Asaf. He's just simply composed a
lament to capture that emotion. If you

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want a basic lesson from psal Maty
three, it's very simple, it's very

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straightforward. Saw maighty three describes really
the reality of all Christians, of anyone

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who believes in God. Because psal
Maty three describes the life of people who

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believe in a God whom they cannot
see, living in the midst of circumstances

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that they can see, and those
very circumstances calls into question the very existence

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of that God whom you cannot see. That's the essence of the Psalm.

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Here's people who clearly believe in God. We can look at Psalm eighty three

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to one. They cry out to
God, do they not? Yes?

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But then they and they cannot see
that God, and they want that God

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to be active to do something because
they're in very difficult circumstances. It describes

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the circumstances. Those circumstances calls into
question the very presence of God or the

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existence of God. That's the essence
of the Christian life. Do we believe

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in God as Christians? Yes?
Can we see God? No? Do

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we live in Do we live in
the midst of circumstances that we can see?

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Yes? Do those circumstances on a
frequent basis scream that there is no

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God or where is God? Absolutely? I could bring in a stack of

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news articles every Sunday, and by
the end of every by just going through

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those news articles, we may question
the existence of God. That's the struggle

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of the Christian life that Psaw eighty
three. It's not I don't know why.

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I don't know why. It's it's
so complicated. I don't know why

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it's so difficult. I don't get
it. It's that should be the end

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of the series. Right. So
what I wanted to do today is because

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one of the criticisms that I receive
frequently is because we all know that when

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I go to the Bible and we
read a passage of scripture that I get

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very bothered when people take the scripture
and do what where they kick out the

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original recipients and insert us, they
assert us, are they insert the church

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or whatever the case may be.
I get bothered by that because because in

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many cases you do great damage to
the passage, or you tell people there's

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a promise to them that's not to
them, that's not to them in no

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way, shape or formance not to
them. Okay, so that drives me

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crazy. But I get criticized that, well, you don't think the Bible

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has anything to do with any of
us, and that's not true. So

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what I want to do with Sau
many three is we have already st published

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the basic concept. We're gonna take
three sections, three parts of Psaw eighty

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three, and I'm going to try
to demonstrate how we can possibly see ourselves

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in it without doing damage to the
original text. All right, And those

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three parts are this and Psalm eighty
three. Starting in verse two to five,

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the psawmis Asaf describes the attributes and
actions of the enemies. Everybody see

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that, all right. I'm not
gonna go back and read it again,

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but it's there. If you don't
believe me, it's there, Okay,

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now. We spent an entire hour
in the last hour making sure everyone knows

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those attributes, all right, For
those who are not here, I'm gonna

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rely on the people who were okay
to tell me what those attributes were,

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because I want everyone to have them
written down. The first attribute is what

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chaos. Chaos. Everybody see that
chaos because it says that they make a

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tumult. I can't go through all
the verses. They're just you're just gonna

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have to trust me. They're in
two through five, or we're never gonna

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get anywhere. There's they. They
are chaos. They they bring about chaos.

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They are chaotic, they make a
tumult. They're loud, they're disorganizing.

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You don't even know what to expect. They're they're they're under they're they're

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just you don't even know what they're
going to do. A right, there's

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chaos. Number two, they hate
God. They hate God. Number three,

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they're arrogant, they're proud, they're
defiant, they're rebellious. Next they

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are crafty, cunning, deceitful,
manipulative, shrewd. Next, they are

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united together. They have come together
for a purpose. Next, they have

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come together to destroy Israel. They
want Israel wiped off the face of the

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earth. Next, they go against
God's elect They go against what God treasures,

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They go against what God cares about. And those are the attributes.

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So that we're gonna we're gonna look
so I'm looking at the attributes and characteristics

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of the enemy that's described there.
The second part we're gonna look at is

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he lists the enemies, and you
can see that list starting what verse six

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to eight, they list the enemies
by name, and all of those enemies

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when you look at those names,
those are nations that have a long history

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of hating Israel and going against Israel. And many of those nations clearly are

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pagan and hate God. All right. So from a historical context they describe

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the enemies. They list the enemies. Good then and the Latin. The

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next part we're gonna look at is
starting in verse nine, this is where

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they ask God to act in the
present as he had in the past,

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all right. And we see that
where immediately when he starts asking as you

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dealt with me, right all right. So what we're going to do is

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we're going to take those three parts
and we're going to look to how we

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can fit in here, right.
And my argument is this, when you

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look at those characteristics and those attributes
of those enemies, clearly those attributes and

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characteristics go beyond just the enemies listed
right there. And when you look at

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that list of enemies, those enemies
have a specific name, but it reminds

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us of a list of enemies because
we as Christians have a list of enemies

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that have those exact same attributes and
characteristics. That's how we're going to make

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this applicable to us. Okay,
now, the third part they're the way

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they want God to deal with it
is going to be that. I don't

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know if that's going to be applicable
to us, but we are going to

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look at the enemies we face that
have the exact same attributes. And I

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will argue if you look at this
to I'll just go ahead and make kind

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of a on my argument here for
my hypotheses. If you look at the

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list of those enemies, right,
or if you look at the characteristics,

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if you look at the list and
then immediately the first thing that he wants

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them to do, he wants God
to deal with these current enemies like he

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dealt with Midian, all Right,
well, he dealt with the Midianites and

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Judges six seven and eight. If
you read Judge of six seven eight,

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God intervenes, he defeats the Midianites. You're like, okay, that's what

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we want. But immediately if you
read all of Judges six seven and eight,

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you should go, well, wait
a minute. If anyone knows that

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story, he may have defeated the
Midianites, but it didn't really accomplish much

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because if you remember what Gideon did, the people wanted Gideon to rule,

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and he's like, well, I
don't necessarily want you to rule, just

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give me some gold, give me
some materials, and he made an ephod.

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There was four idolatry. And not
only that we read about Gideon.

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Gideon wasn't such a great guy.
Now it had become an idolat He has

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a concubine, and he has multiple
lives, so he's a polygamist, an

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adulterer, and an idolatry, meaning
that even defeating the Midianites didn't defeat the

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real issue, because the real issue
is not a list of physical enemies,

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but of spiritual enemies. Now,
the minute we go there, then it

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can become very applicable to us is
that denying that these are physical enemies?

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Now we're not denying it. We
know that if we go read how these

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physical enemies are dealt with in the
past, it did not you know why,

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they're obviously still now present and the
present right for them. Right.

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In other words, he wants God
to deal with the Midianites the way he

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dealt with them in the past,
But obviously the Midianites are still still present

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and not lay that even if you
defeat the Midianites, the real issue isn't

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the Midianites. So I think we
can historically and textually prove this. So

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that's what we're going to do,
all right? Does that kind of defend

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my my hypothesis at least part?
Now, as we go through this,

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we're gonna test my hypothesis, and
at any point we can we can say

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no, we can, we can
throw this out. So this is the

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first paragraph the way it is written. And I took this from a different

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source, all right. In the
spiritual realm, Christians face various enemies that

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seek to undermine our relationship with God. Can we say amen to that?

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All right? These spiritual enemies take
different forms and present diverse challenges to believers.

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I think that we can say amen
to that. There are a number

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of them. They they approach in
different ways. These enemies, there's a

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number of them. They're together,
but they they're kind of different, different

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attributes, correct, all right,
So we're gonna look at our enemies,

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and this is the goal to see
if I've got I think I've came up

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with ten. We're not gonna be
able to get to ten, but we're

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gonna. I'm gonna go as many
as we can. I want us to

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try to determine how our spiritual enemies
if they have the exact same attributes and

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characteristics as the enemies and Saw eighty
three. If they do, then we

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have a clear what lesson that can
be derived from it without doing what any

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damage to the original Because those are
the attributes of those enemies. Are they

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the attributes of our enemies? And
we are enemies we're looking at are spiritual

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and even physical enemies. Is simply
a manifestation of a spiritual battle. Because

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every Christian knowes it. Let's all
quote it. We do not fight against

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flesh and blood. See who can
find that verse first? Find it first?

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Who can find it first? We
do not fight against flesh and blood.

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Who can find it first? Because
that this is going to be a

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key This is a key verse.
This, this sets up our entire hypotheses.

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So we've got to find it.
Ephesian six twelve. Read it directly,

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Okay, Fijian six twelve. Our
struggle is not against flesh and blood.

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That's the NIV says struggle as the
King James puts it, We wrestle

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not against flesh and blood. What
does it say, we strive not,

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we struggle not, we fight not
against flesh and blood. Principalities, powers,

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darknessess, spiritual, spiritual, weight, and high places. Okay,

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clearly, immediately it identifies that our
real issue is what spiritual? Does that

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deny the reality of physical enemies?
No, But in saying that there's something

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behind it, now, this is
always a difficult thing to maintain. But

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we as a Christian, look,
we do acknowledge that right now. If

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you take now remember my original kind
of thesis for SAW eighty three, what

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are the struggles? The Christian life
can be described as this, people who

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believe in God, and believe in
a God in whom we cannot see as

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we live in the midst of circumstances
that we can see that calls into question

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the existence of the God whom we
cannot see. Oh, but there's another

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part that we can add to this. Are you ready? The Christian life

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are people who face enemies whom they
can see, while we have to learn

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that the real enemy is the enemy
whom we cannot see. Come on,

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somebody should be like, WHOA,
that's some good. Saw eighty three right

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there, that's a good I'm going
to applaud it. Okay. The first

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part is as Christians, we believe
in a God whom we cannot see.

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As we live in the world where
there are circumstances which we can see,

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which calls into the question in the
existence of the God whom we cannot see.

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At the same time, we live
in a world where we can see

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our enemies, physical enemies, but
we have to learn to realize that there

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is an enemy, an enemies which
we cannot see, which we really need

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to focus on the enemies we cannot
see, because that's where we're supposed to

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fight. There's some there's some deep
spiritual truth in those two things. Now

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you can I like to throw them
out, not all polished, right,

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I like to throw out the concepts
because I want you to take those two

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concepts and you rewrite them until they're
much more polished, because I like you

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to participate, like I try to
give it to you can work on.

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Right, those are two concepts that
like, that's like discipleship one oh one,

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stuff that you're never taught because you're
almost taught. Well, you're gonna

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believe in God and God's just gonna
be seen everywhere and you're no, You're

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gonna be at a world where you
don't see God and you're gonna start questioning

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it. And you're gonna be in
a world where you're gonna see all of

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your enemies and you're gonna be fighting
this and this and this and this,

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and you're gonna completely miss the fact
that the real enemy is the one whom

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you cannot see. That's that's some
good stuff, all right. So with

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those concepts, let's look to our
Let's look to enemy number one. And

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I'm not putting this in order of
importance or significance. I'm just gonna go

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with the one. And the reason
I went with this one first because this

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is the easiest one to connect to
those attributes, right, Okay, At

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least this one. Okay, are
you ready? Enemy number one? Not

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an order of importance, right,
Just the first one we're gonna go with

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is Satan. We're gonna go with
Satan, all right. He is considered

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the primary adversary of Christians. Let's
state it this way. Satan is the

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primary external adversary of the Christian Satan
is the primary external adversary, right,

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because there's another primary adversary that's not
external, that's even more deadly than the

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external one. But okay, well
we'll get to that. We'll get to

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that later, all right, Okay. He is sometimes described as the prince

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of this world in the Bible.
He seeks to deceive, tempt, and

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accuse believers in order to lead them
away from God. Right, all right?

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Are we ready to look at some
of his characteristics? This is just

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a summary statement. You're ready.
Satan is portrayed in the Bible as powerful,

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prideful, crafty who harbors intense hatred
towards God and seeks to undermine his

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plans. Is that already not starting
to sound like Psalm eighty three? He

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is a powerful, prideful, and
crafty being who harbors intense hatred towards God

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and seeks to undermine his plan.
He is described as warring against God's chosen

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people and desires to eliminate them.
These are these characteristics are evident from a

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very a variety of passages in the
Bible. Everything described there is almost the

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exact attributes that I've already laid down
and saw maybe three. So when you

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see those attributes, you should immediately
went, oh wow, I know it's

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describing those physical enemies, but I
think this, this, this is like

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very I mean, the sawmist goes
into great detail to describe those attributes.

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He can have summarized it easy.
Right, Hey, there's a group a

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group of people coming this way who
hates you and hates us, but he

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goes very detailed. Why well,
because those details are absolutely identical to what

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well our primary external enemy, which
is Satan. All right, now,

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look, I don't want to get
into it. Let me just make sure

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we realize the fact that Satan exist
is one of the most philosophical dilemmas that

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I will never be able to wrap
my mind around in as long as I've

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studied theology. It makes literally no
sense. The existence of Satan makes absolutely

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no sense to me zero none.
In fact, it can almost bring me

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to the point of rejecting Christianity and
becoming an atheist. It makes literally no

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sense, right because who created him? That I don't understand. It makes

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no sense. In fact, you
know where that philosophically, where that leads

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us, right, it's very different. Nobody wants to admit this, and

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I know I'm not supposed to say. Then you have to admit that Satan

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is somehow a part of God's plan, which is just as disturbing because you're

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just one step away. You have
to almost acknowledge that our sin is a

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part of God's plan because God could
get do what to eliminate our sin?

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Well, he could just get rid
of our sinful nature. Boom, get

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rid of our nature and we're good. He could get rid. He didn't

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have to create Satan, and he
could eliminate our sinful nature, and then

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this would be what a sendless fat. So you can't say, well,

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God doesn't want you to sin.
Well, in some ways, if he

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didn't want me to sin, he
can eliminate them everything that causes. Okay,

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so that I know nobody everybody Christians
will get mad and they'll bow up

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and oh no, and get all
mad. You can get all mad,

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come back. Nobody can never offer
me a good explanation. Did God create

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Satan? It was God all knowing
this, God then therefore knew what he

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was going to do when Satan rebelled. What could he have done? Does

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he let him roam around? Did
God create people knowing they were gonna sin?

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Once they sin, he could have
done? What even if he didn't

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want to destroy them, he could
have eliminated the said nature? Right,

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I mean, that's not that's not
me being like a smarter like. That's

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just me being able to acknowledge the
reality in front of us. And when

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you look at that reality, then
you start screaming out, Hey God,

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I can't see you, but I'm
really having a hard time believing you're there

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because these circumstances make me think that
there is no God. Okay, does

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that make sense? All right?
So Satan is betrayed literally as these Let's

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look at just some of his some
of the scriptures, and this is going

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to be the struggle. How many
of the scriptures do we look at?

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How much of these do we read
to try to get these basic attributes down.

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Maybe we'll read more than others.
But let's we'll go to one immediately,

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go to Isaiah chapter fourteen. We'll
just read I'm gonna have to choose

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how many because we can literally spend
the next couple of months looking at all

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the scriptures to support all of these
attributes. All right, let's go to

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this one, all right, Isaiah
fourteen twelve. I remember, there's lots

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of debate over these passages. Whether
there's one in Isaiah, there's one in

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Ezekiel, do these apply to Satan. There's always debates and struggles with these.

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But Isaiah fourteen twelve says, how
you are fallen from heaven, Oh

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Lucifer, son of the Morning,
How you are cut down to the ground,

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you who weaken the nations. For
you have said in your heart,

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I will send into heaven. I
will exalt my throne above the stars of

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God. I will sit on the
mount of the congregation, on the further

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side of the north. I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds.

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I will be like the most high
God, are on the most high.

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Yet, and he says, yet
you should be brought down right. The

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point is this describes the attributes and
characters of Satan. Almost everyone believes this

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passage just referring to Satan. Some
don't. We could get into a whole

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discussion about that, but that would
immediately capture which attributes pride and a hatred

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for God. So he hates God, he wants to be exalted over God.

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He he is prideful, he is
arrogant. And guess what all of

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that would produce? What when you
have one being going against another being that's

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going against everything the creator wants,
that's going to lead to some chaos and

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be chaotic and be a tumult Because
now you're a spiritual war is under way.

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And if you think about it,
if a spiritual war is underway,

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we get caught in the miss miss
of it. Now you some will argue,

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well, it's not really a spiritual
war because God's already won the war.

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Well, if it's not a war, okay, Then it becomes like,

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well then why if there's not a
war, when, then why is

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Satan still then God's allowing him to
hold Than it becomes more convoluted and confusing,

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and you'll lose your mind if you
think about it. But can we

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say Satan meets the basic criteria so
far? Of this, I think I

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think we can say. I think
I don't even think we need to look

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anything else up. He's full of
pride, is he not? I know

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we could go to the Ezekiel passage, but then that we get into more

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issues. Does it apply to Satan
or not? But okay, so I

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think we got pride, we got
hatred for God, and we can see

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where chaos would arise from this.
How about Genesis chapter three? What attribute

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do we have in Genesis chapter three? Oh? I think we can see

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him using what see being? Look
at Genesis chapter three. Now the serpent

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was more subtle. Some translations say
cunning. How does the NIV translate Genesis

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three one? Okay, no,
crafty? Oh there's even the word crafty,

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all right, crafty, cunning,
subtle, deceitful. I don't think

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there's anyone any I don't Is there
any reason to argue against that? I

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mean, he follows the exact same
attributes, does he not? Look what

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happens in Revelation chapter twelve? Revelation
chapter twelve. Revelation chapter twelve is one

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of those passages of scripture that,
oh boy, you know, yeah,

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he's definitely seeking to destroy some things. Is it not. Let's just start

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in chapter twelve, verse one,
right, we could? I mean,

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you talk about a passage that can
spend years and nobody would ever agree on

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Romans Revelation Chapter twelve, verse one. Now, a great sign appeared in

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heaven a woman, and a woman
clothed with the sun, with the moon

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under her feet and on her head
garland of twelve stars. Then being with

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child, she cried out and labor
and in pain to give birth. And

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remember there's much debate on who the
woman is. Right, Okay, what

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are the two basic arguments? Two
basic theories? Mary are Israel. So

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I'm trying to make it the church, which becomes really weird. I don't

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know how you can make it the
church. That's just people want to make

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everything the church, okay, right, because this is the church giving birth

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to Christ. The Church did not
give birth to Christ unless you say the

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church goes all the way back to
Israel. And that's a way to make

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Israel no longer Israel, but to
make it the church. Okay, Well,

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we won't get into all of that. Right, And another sign appeared

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in heaven. Behold a great,
fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten

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horns and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the

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stars of heaven threw them to the
earth. And the dragon stood before the

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woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her child as soon as

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it was born. This is his
hatred for what God would love or care

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for. Right, And I think
that this child would be considered a sheltered

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one, or a treasured one,
or a hidden one that we talk about.

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Right. She bore a male child
who was to rule all nations with

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a rod of iron. Her child
was caught up to God and his throne.

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Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she was prepared by God

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that she should feed her one thousand, two hundred and sixty days and a

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war broke out in heaven. Michael
and his angels fought with the dragon,

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and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor

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was a place found for them in
heaven any longer. So the great Dragon

355
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was cast out, this serpent of
old, called the deceiver and Satan,

356
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who deceived the whole world. He
was cast to the earth, and his

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angels were cast out with him.
And I heard a loud voicing in Heaven.

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Now salvation and strength and the Kingdom
of our God and the power of

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His Christ have come. For the
accuser of our brethren, who accused them

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before our God day and night,
have been cast down. And they overcame

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him by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony.

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And they did not love their lives
to the end. They did not love

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their lives to the death. Therefore, rejoice, oh Heaven, you who

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dwell in them. Woe to the
inhabitants of the earth and the sea.

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For the devil has come down to
you, having great wrath because he knows

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his time is sure. This is
war, This is battle. This is

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fighting against God, hating God,
wanting to destroy what God would care for,

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and what God would choose where God
would desire. All the attributes in

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psal Maty three are clearly seen in
Satan. I mean, I think that

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we could the labor the point,
but I think you get the idea right

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right. We could go to John
ten ten. Now there's some debate here

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on John ten ten on exactly who
this is referencing, but we will at

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least look at it and apply it. How some people do You can argue

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with it if you want to,
John ten Ten, John ten ten,

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the thief does not come except to
still kill and to destroy. I have

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come that they may have life,
and they might have it more abundantly that

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thief, that thief that comes to
kill, still and destroy. Typically it's

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applied to Satan. It may not
be actually Satan. There may actually be

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the Pharisees and the Sadducees. It
would be the false religious leaders, but

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the false religious leaders would be following
the desires of Satan, not the mouse.

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So you still could have connect Satan
to it. Does that make sense

382
00:29:07.960 --> 00:29:11.200
if you want to. We could
get into a whole discussion about it,

383
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all right, Right now, I
think we can agree that Satan clearly meets

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the requirements of Psalm eighty three almost
to what, almost verbatim? Right,

385
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I mean, you look at that
again, Psalm eighty three. Can we

386
00:29:26.039 --> 00:29:32.359
agree? So we have an enemy, just like Israel had an enemy,

387
00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:34.440
right, Well, they had enemies. We'll get to our enemies. But

388
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one of our first enemies, all
right, we have multiple ones, but

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the first one, our first external
one, our first significant external one,

390
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is Satan. And Satan meets all
of those requirements, which then should do

391
00:29:48.440 --> 00:29:56.519
what for us? Well? What
did it do for the people? In

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00:29:56.559 --> 00:30:00.559
Psalm eighty three cry out to God, is should immediately make us realize what

393
00:30:03.400 --> 00:30:07.359
our dependency upon God, our need
for God. Now at the same time,

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it's going to raise those questions,
right because once again we believe in

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00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:15.559
a God whom we cannot see,
but we see circumstances which calls into question

396
00:30:17.279 --> 00:30:19.880
God. Well, at the same
time we see our physical enemies, when

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our real enemy is an enemy whom
we cannot see. But when we start

398
00:30:23.240 --> 00:30:29.599
considering the enemy whom we cannot see, it begins to call into question the

399
00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:33.279
God whom we cannot see. So
if we get past all of the things

400
00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:36.640
we can see, if we bring
it down to our third point, where

401
00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:41.200
we're still where if we acknowledge that
there are enemies whom we cannot see and

402
00:30:41.240 --> 00:30:45.319
there's a God whom we cannot see, the existence of the enemies we cannot

403
00:30:45.400 --> 00:30:49.559
see calls into question the God whom
we cannot see. So as a Christian,

404
00:30:49.880 --> 00:30:55.000
whether it's what we see or it's
what we don't see, it leads

405
00:30:55.039 --> 00:31:00.640
to the same struggle of questioning the
God whom we don't see. That's the

406
00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:07.960
reality Satan should bo the existence of
Satan should literally keep you up at night,

407
00:31:07.200 --> 00:31:12.480
It should bother you to no end. I don't understand it. I

408
00:31:12.480 --> 00:31:17.519
don't get it. You want to
talk about quoting Psalm eighty three, verse

409
00:31:17.559 --> 00:31:22.000
one, where are you God?
Like this makes absolutely no sense? Like

410
00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:26.680
it makes no sense none. Now. I know, as a young Christian,

411
00:31:26.680 --> 00:31:30.240
we just kind of accepted it,
right, But when you start thinking

412
00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:33.039
about it philosophical, the thing falls
apart. It just falls apart, Like

413
00:31:33.119 --> 00:31:37.480
I don't get it. It makes
me just like I don't I just don't

414
00:31:37.559 --> 00:31:41.640
understand. So all we can do
is we just have to do what except

415
00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:45.640
the reality. I don't understand the
reality. I don't get it. I

416
00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:49.920
will never get it. I just
look, I've struggled with it my whole

417
00:31:49.960 --> 00:31:53.359
Christian life, and I'm just as
perplexed by it now after all the years

418
00:31:53.359 --> 00:31:57.200
of theological study as I was when
I first came to the subject. First

419
00:31:57.240 --> 00:32:00.039
time I heard about it, it
was like, I don't understand, and

420
00:32:00.359 --> 00:32:05.559
I just don't understand why would God
create him? So then I almost probably

421
00:32:05.759 --> 00:32:08.240
as a young Christian, probably kind
of flirted with the idea, well maybe

422
00:32:08.240 --> 00:32:13.880
God didn't know right, well,
because that's the only thing I can.

423
00:32:14.039 --> 00:32:16.039
But then I'm like, if God
doesn't know, well then that's a pretty

424
00:32:16.039 --> 00:32:20.680
weak God. Well then you have
to start questioning his power. The whole

425
00:32:20.720 --> 00:32:23.640
thing makes no sense. But I
know this, that that enemy Satan,

426
00:32:25.039 --> 00:32:31.680
those very attributes, and I know
this it should bother us, and I

427
00:32:32.519 --> 00:32:38.599
feel that in a way. I
think, if we're honest, we come

428
00:32:38.640 --> 00:32:43.880
on, we don't. There's always
two extremes in the Christian life, right,

429
00:32:44.400 --> 00:32:50.799
the one extremest people see Satan where
everywhere and everything, the lights go

430
00:32:50.920 --> 00:32:52.079
off, and it's Satan, right, Satan Satan, Satan, Satan,

431
00:32:52.119 --> 00:32:55.799
Satan say, and we know that's
not helpful and that's ridiculous, right.

432
00:32:57.200 --> 00:33:02.079
But then there's the other extreme,
which which is what we don't even really

433
00:33:02.079 --> 00:33:06.279
ignowledge that it exists. I mean, we don't live like we exist right,

434
00:33:06.680 --> 00:33:15.400
Like sometimes I say, like I
think this will make sense. Since

435
00:33:15.440 --> 00:33:20.920
the beginning of the Russian envision into
Ukraine, I don't have the current numbers

436
00:33:20.920 --> 00:33:23.640
in front of me, but a
whole lot of people have died. People

437
00:33:23.720 --> 00:33:30.400
are dying every single day. As
you've lived your life over it's almost been

438
00:33:30.440 --> 00:33:32.119
three years now, I think almost
three years. I think I'd have to

439
00:33:32.160 --> 00:33:35.759
go back to the date, and
that's a number, so I'll probably get

440
00:33:35.759 --> 00:33:37.759
it wrong. But it's been almost
three years since that invasion has taken place

441
00:33:37.839 --> 00:33:40.039
Russia. That was going to be
over a couple of weeks. It's still

442
00:33:40.079 --> 00:33:44.119
going on. Death, death,
death, death. Let's be honest.

443
00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.119
Is that even probably even interrupted five
seconds of your day since it started?

444
00:33:49.960 --> 00:33:52.839
For most of us, I mean, I keep up with the news a

445
00:33:52.880 --> 00:33:58.160
lot, and I've got probably in
podcasts that are just dedicated to the to

446
00:33:58.480 --> 00:34:00.200
the war in Ukraine, So I
keep up with all the information, but

447
00:34:00.319 --> 00:34:06.079
it doesn't impact me too much,
right, it doesn't impact me too much.

448
00:34:06.880 --> 00:34:14.000
But if we were in Ukraine,
there would be having a profound impact

449
00:34:14.039 --> 00:34:16.400
on us every single day. Well, this is the weird part and a

450
00:34:16.519 --> 00:34:21.639
roundabout way. We as Christians,
we come to church and hear about Satan

451
00:34:21.960 --> 00:34:24.920
and these spiritual enemies, but we
kind of live our life like it's a

452
00:34:24.960 --> 00:34:30.800
war being fought somewhere else and we're
not really that involved. Because we really

453
00:34:30.840 --> 00:34:34.320
believed we're in a spiritual war,
probably every one of our lives would be

454
00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:37.559
different. Right if I'm really if
there's a real war going on, I'm

455
00:34:37.599 --> 00:34:43.639
probably not worried about ninety percent of
the things I'm worried about, but we

456
00:34:43.719 --> 00:34:49.079
don't see it right, So then
we just kind of I don't know the

457
00:34:49.119 --> 00:34:52.039
balance, Like I went in,
I want to be balanced, and I'm

458
00:34:52.079 --> 00:34:54.119
like, man, we are fight. We are fighting a spiritual war.

459
00:34:54.360 --> 00:34:58.760
We are not to be entangled with
the affairs of this life. We are

460
00:34:58.800 --> 00:35:01.320
to be focused on that. We
should be fasting, pray, We shouldn't

461
00:35:01.320 --> 00:35:07.480
be worried about anything else. All
lives should be scripture and prayer and war.

462
00:35:07.119 --> 00:35:12.880
But we don't do that. We
may get all excited during maybe a

463
00:35:12.920 --> 00:35:16.039
one week long conference on spiritual warfare. I'm like, okay, and then

464
00:35:16.239 --> 00:35:22.280
that lasts for about what two weeks, and then we're just right back to

465
00:35:22.519 --> 00:35:28.440
our normal lives because we can't see
it. In some ways, we do

466
00:35:28.519 --> 00:35:32.320
see it, but because we live
in a world around things we can see,

467
00:35:32.719 --> 00:35:38.320
we tend to forget about the war
we can't see, even though there's

468
00:35:38.360 --> 00:35:43.639
evidence around us that it exists.
So there is Satan. Can we all

469
00:35:43.679 --> 00:35:46.360
agree he meets the requirements of an
enemy in SAW eighty three as far as

470
00:35:46.400 --> 00:35:51.519
those attributes, okay, So then
what would be second on my list?

471
00:35:51.599 --> 00:35:53.440
If we have Satan, what would
be second on my list of enemies?

472
00:35:54.559 --> 00:36:02.199
Well, those enemies and Saw eighty
three they do something specific, they conspire

473
00:36:04.079 --> 00:36:07.000
together. So that immediately led me
to my second one. If we have

474
00:36:07.119 --> 00:36:15.960
Satan, what would be then my
second one? Demons? Does he not

475
00:36:15.079 --> 00:36:19.480
work with demons? Okay? So
right, because I remember Saw maybe three

476
00:36:19.480 --> 00:36:21.519
they conspire together. So I had
to be like, well, who does

477
00:36:21.519 --> 00:36:24.239
Satan conspire together with? Right,
Well, he has an entire army of

478
00:36:25.400 --> 00:36:29.840
demons, and I think they kind
of meet the same attributes, do they

479
00:36:29.920 --> 00:36:35.000
not? If we say, if
we define demons basically something along like this,

480
00:36:35.559 --> 00:36:38.360
evil spirits that work under the influence
of Satan to disrupt and harm believers.

481
00:36:38.519 --> 00:36:44.440
Is that a fair assessment? Right? Evil spirits that work to under

482
00:36:44.480 --> 00:36:47.719
the influence of Satan to disrupt and
harm believers. They can manifest in various

483
00:36:47.719 --> 00:36:52.159
ways. And then well we could
get into, you know, some of

484
00:36:52.800 --> 00:36:59.079
the basic idea. There's usually three
ideas that Satan possibly or demons are possibly

485
00:36:59.079 --> 00:37:02.880
involved in. Okay, and these
what are these three ways which demons sometimes

486
00:37:02.920 --> 00:37:07.360
are known to operate? All right? Well, many we know in the

487
00:37:07.400 --> 00:37:12.159
scriptures. The main one that we
see a lot in the Gospels is possession

488
00:37:13.960 --> 00:37:21.039
Satan demons possessing individuals. Now,
I've always been perplexed and confused by this

489
00:37:21.119 --> 00:37:24.440
one. What is the most perplexing
and confusing things about demon possession? What

490
00:37:24.519 --> 00:37:34.079
is the most perplexing thing about it? I have Okay, do what?

491
00:37:37.079 --> 00:37:38.679
Yeah, y'all don't ask these questions
like I do. I guess okay,

492
00:37:38.719 --> 00:37:42.000
because when I read my Bible,
I just spend the whole time going,

493
00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:44.440
this is this is the most made
up stuff I've ever read in my entire

494
00:37:44.480 --> 00:37:47.079
life. Okay, because I'm just
telling you, I just like, I

495
00:37:47.159 --> 00:37:51.440
just have one question when I read
about demon possession, and it should be

496
00:37:51.440 --> 00:37:53.119
pretty I think, I don't know
how anybody else can read their Bible,

497
00:37:53.119 --> 00:38:00.519
and I go, this makes absolutely
no sense. Why doesn't he possess everyone?

498
00:38:02.599 --> 00:38:07.840
If Satan can possess people, then
possess everyone and then lead all of

499
00:38:07.880 --> 00:38:15.679
those people to kill themself and then
it's over. Nobody else has ever thought

500
00:38:15.719 --> 00:38:21.440
that. Okay, so obviously there's
some reason he can't, right, But

501
00:38:21.679 --> 00:38:24.280
that just seemed like, if he
can possess some why doesn't he possess all?

502
00:38:24.559 --> 00:38:28.280
And then it would be everyone would
be under the control of saying because

503
00:38:28.360 --> 00:38:30.119
on one hand, it would seem
to make sense since by nature we're all

504
00:38:30.199 --> 00:38:36.880
children of the devil, then why
doesn't he then possess all of his children?

505
00:38:36.920 --> 00:38:40.719
That is the most conflicting, confusing, convoluted thing I've ever written in

506
00:38:40.719 --> 00:38:45.960
my life. Bobby's answer is at
least decent. Obviously he can't. Okay,

507
00:38:46.039 --> 00:38:49.719
right, but well, I mean, I guess I can thank God

508
00:38:49.719 --> 00:38:51.920
that he doesn't possess this. But
I mean, at the same time,

509
00:38:51.920 --> 00:38:53.280
I got to thank God that I
was born a child of the devil by

510
00:38:53.400 --> 00:38:57.440
nature. I mean, that wasn't
as Kate would say, I didn't ask

511
00:38:57.480 --> 00:39:00.840
to be born. Okay, has
to be born. So why would I

512
00:39:00.880 --> 00:39:05.199
be born already a child and the
devil? That seems kind of like the

513
00:39:05.239 --> 00:39:17.079
game is rigged. Okay, Well
if for those who are who are the

514
00:39:17.159 --> 00:39:22.840
elect, right, okay, yeah, but if you're not the elect Okay,

515
00:39:22.079 --> 00:39:25.320
you see there these are all disturbing
questions. But when it comes to

516
00:39:25.400 --> 00:39:30.599
demons, we can everone agree.
The Bible speaks a possession. We can

517
00:39:30.639 --> 00:39:35.000
all agree with that. Typically,
Now there's not agreement on this within christiandom

518
00:39:35.079 --> 00:39:39.480
Okay, if you don't know this, right, Okay. The famous the

519
00:39:39.519 --> 00:39:45.519
pastor in Tennessee Greg Locke. Right, Okay, he used to be all

520
00:39:45.559 --> 00:39:49.480
Trump, Trump, politics, politics, politics, politics, and rather crazy

521
00:39:49.519 --> 00:39:52.239
things during COVID. Okay, he
came out with a movie on it.

522
00:39:52.360 --> 00:39:58.519
Everything else. His belief is that
the number one issue facing Christians today and

523
00:39:58.599 --> 00:40:01.920
the problem with the church, to
the issue with the Church today is that

524
00:40:02.039 --> 00:40:07.440
Christians are possessed by demons and they
need to be delivered so that they can

525
00:40:07.480 --> 00:40:12.400
live the Christian life. The reason
Christianity is so worldly and so weak,

526
00:40:12.599 --> 00:40:15.719
and they are defeated under temptation,
and the reason the Church is so pathetic

527
00:40:15.960 --> 00:40:21.280
is because Christians are possessed by demons, so they need a deliverer to deliver

528
00:40:21.400 --> 00:40:27.239
them from the demons so they can
live the Christian life. Right now,

529
00:40:27.480 --> 00:40:30.239
on one hand, I can understand
what leads to that because you look at

530
00:40:30.239 --> 00:40:32.719
the church and like, the church
is an absolute joke. I mean like

531
00:40:32.760 --> 00:40:35.880
I mean, I mean, I've
been taught to it. I mean everyone

532
00:40:35.960 --> 00:40:38.559
has to acknowledge this right now.
To me, I think there's a morphological

533
00:40:38.599 --> 00:40:42.559
answer. But if you look,
this has always been the case. Why

534
00:40:42.599 --> 00:40:46.000
did MacArthur so so go strong with
the lordship? I did because they looked

535
00:40:46.039 --> 00:40:50.559
at the church, and he was
like, the church is an absolute joke.

536
00:40:50.760 --> 00:40:52.199
I can't get anybody to read the
Bible. I can't get anybody to

537
00:40:52.239 --> 00:40:55.239
study the Bible. You can't even
get people to show up the church.

538
00:40:55.480 --> 00:40:59.920
What is the point? It's a
mess? So what was MacArthur's conclusion,

539
00:41:00.199 --> 00:41:04.639
They're not saved? All right?
Well somebody else comes like, well,

540
00:41:04.639 --> 00:41:08.639
I don't want to say they're not
saved. They have a demon that will

541
00:41:08.639 --> 00:41:13.760
expact. Everyone always tries to come
up with an answer. Now to me,

542
00:41:14.079 --> 00:41:17.679
what is the real answer Why the
church is always weak, pathetic and

543
00:41:17.760 --> 00:41:22.960
doesn't do it even half the things
it claims it loves. It is made

544
00:41:23.000 --> 00:41:30.760
up of depraved sinners who cannot keep
the law. That's why we are and

545
00:41:30.800 --> 00:41:32.920
because we are saved by an imputed
righteousness. If we were saved by an

546
00:41:32.920 --> 00:41:37.000
infused righteousness, the church would probably
look different. But since we're saved by

547
00:41:37.039 --> 00:41:42.079
an imputed righteousness, it doesn't change
you. It just declares you to be

548
00:41:42.159 --> 00:41:47.320
something you're not. Do you realize
how we are so set up? Wait,

549
00:41:47.360 --> 00:41:52.119
I'm declared to be something i'm not, which by definition will make me

550
00:41:52.360 --> 00:42:07.119
a hypocrite something I'm not. Someone's
gonna accuse you of being what hypocrite?

551
00:42:07.159 --> 00:42:09.440
Well you're you claim to be this, Well, I am righteous and holy,

552
00:42:09.679 --> 00:42:13.880
but you're not. I know.
That's the way godness. That's why

553
00:42:13.880 --> 00:42:16.320
we are saying by an imputed righteousness. Now what blows my mind is all

554
00:42:16.360 --> 00:42:21.760
the Christians who reject the imputed righteousness, like you will do this, you

555
00:42:21.880 --> 00:42:23.119
will do that, or you're not. Just get out of my face,

556
00:42:23.199 --> 00:42:27.199
Okay, you just go away,
all right. You think you're so godly,

557
00:42:28.039 --> 00:42:30.840
give me five minutes with your life
and I can demonstrate that you're just

558
00:42:30.880 --> 00:42:37.639
as much a hypocrite, maybe not
in the same ways. But is that

559
00:42:37.719 --> 00:42:40.159
hypocrisy everywhere? Yes? All right, But you can see why people would

560
00:42:40.199 --> 00:42:44.280
want to try to come with the
possession idea, right because, I mean

561
00:42:44.360 --> 00:42:47.599
does the church at times? I
mean, every statistic comes out. Christians

562
00:42:47.639 --> 00:42:52.840
are not reading their bibles, Christians
will not study their Bible, Christians will

563
00:42:52.880 --> 00:42:55.280
not go to church. I mean, church attendance is dropping. There's so

564
00:42:55.320 --> 00:42:59.800
many just closing their doors right now. It's not even funny. You can't

565
00:42:59.840 --> 00:43:02.320
get churches to engage. You can't
get Christians to engage in anything. They

566
00:43:02.400 --> 00:43:06.440
just do what they want to do, and they don't care. Churches fight,

567
00:43:06.840 --> 00:43:09.119
argue, divide, they can't agree
on anything. It's a mess.

568
00:43:10.559 --> 00:43:15.320
It's an absolute mess. And everyone
throws up their hands like what are we

569
00:43:15.360 --> 00:43:16.239
going to do? So I can
see why someone said, well, maybe

570
00:43:16.239 --> 00:43:21.920
the problem is possession. But for
the most part, most Christians throughout history

571
00:43:21.960 --> 00:43:27.719
is said, a Christian cannot be
possessed because we are already possessed. The

572
00:43:27.719 --> 00:43:31.199
Holy Spirit took possession of us,
and so where the Holy Spirit is,

573
00:43:31.239 --> 00:43:35.400
Satan cannot move in. Right,
So that's typically the case. Right,

574
00:43:35.559 --> 00:43:38.519
So there's possession. What's the other
things supposedly Satan or demons can do?

575
00:43:39.039 --> 00:43:44.840
Like I said, Satan, but
demons, right, we have possession,

576
00:43:45.039 --> 00:43:50.880
And then many refer to it as
oppression, right, that he can oppress.

577
00:43:51.280 --> 00:43:55.440
And the typically the philological understanding is
that demons they cannot possess a Christian,

578
00:43:55.480 --> 00:44:00.960
but they can oppress a Christian.
And the idea of a press means

579
00:44:01.000 --> 00:44:07.760
to do what let's see I did
to a press, do what to push

580
00:44:07.880 --> 00:44:15.320
down, to interfere, to hold
back, to be a negative influence upon

581
00:44:15.519 --> 00:44:19.360
So what A lot of Christs and
a lot of times Christians who struggle greatly

582
00:44:19.400 --> 00:44:22.400
with maybe a specific which is so
weird. Again. Christianity makes no sense

583
00:44:22.400 --> 00:44:27.000
to me because you always have those
Christians who are like, oh, I'm

584
00:44:27.039 --> 00:44:30.760
struggling with this sin and this sin
and this sin, and they actually care.

585
00:44:31.119 --> 00:44:35.239
Well, other Christians act like that
they don't struggle with any sin.

586
00:44:35.440 --> 00:44:39.440
Well, anyone who's five seconds honest
with scripture. Everyone should be constantly bothered

587
00:44:39.480 --> 00:44:44.400
because we live in a perpetual state
of sin. I know when I say

588
00:44:44.400 --> 00:44:46.199
that, people lose their mind on
me, but no one's yet to prove

589
00:44:46.239 --> 00:44:51.079
me wrong. Because all I have
to do is I remember getting into an

590
00:44:51.159 --> 00:44:55.199
argument with someone I do not live
perpetual sin, and I'm like, well,

591
00:44:55.320 --> 00:44:58.199
do you love God with all your
heart, mind, body and soul.

592
00:44:59.480 --> 00:45:06.280
We I mean, are you holy
as He is holy? You are

593
00:45:06.320 --> 00:45:09.960
in perpetual sin. And nobody wants
to admit that, and it weird.

594
00:45:10.159 --> 00:45:14.880
But some people will be bothered,
so they'll start thinking maybe it's a demon

595
00:45:14.920 --> 00:45:20.800
of pressing me. I went to
our brother Mike at First Baptist Church Tuscola,

596
00:45:21.039 --> 00:45:23.800
walked into his office because I was
a Christian. And now I've told

597
00:45:23.840 --> 00:45:25.760
that. You know, I've got
the Holy Spirit and I got power and

598
00:45:25.800 --> 00:45:28.599
I can do this and I can
do this, and I can do this.

599
00:45:28.840 --> 00:45:31.800
But I also was a teenager,
right, and so I was struggling

600
00:45:31.800 --> 00:45:37.199
with some sins and I didn't understand
it. So I went and I thought,

601
00:45:37.199 --> 00:45:44.360
well, maybe I'm oppressed by a
demon. They didn't really entertain my

602
00:45:44.360 --> 00:45:45.079
my thought, but I was like, well, well why not. I

603
00:45:45.079 --> 00:45:49.039
mean, everybody, why can't it
be that? Right? But then it's

604
00:45:49.079 --> 00:45:51.039
just like, you gotta do better, you gotta read your Bible more,

605
00:45:51.119 --> 00:45:52.480
if you come to church more,
you pray more. It's always the same

606
00:45:52.519 --> 00:45:54.920
things, right, do this,
do this. It's always a list of

607
00:45:55.000 --> 00:46:00.519
dues, right, just we always
remember when someone is broken and ruggling with

608
00:46:00.559 --> 00:46:04.559
sin, don't give them a list
of dues. Give them a map to

609
00:46:04.639 --> 00:46:09.760
the one who did Christ did it
for you find everyone thinks that that's making

610
00:46:09.800 --> 00:46:13.960
an excuse for sin. No,
that's the only thing you can do,

611
00:46:14.320 --> 00:46:17.039
because you can try. You need
an accountability partner. You need to do

612
00:46:17.079 --> 00:46:19.960
this, You need to do this, You need to do this, you

613
00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:22.440
need to do this, you need
to do this. Well, all of

614
00:46:22.440 --> 00:46:27.079
those things have been available for since
the creation of man, and it hasn't

615
00:46:27.119 --> 00:46:32.880
stopped sin yet, right, I
mean, we all know what's gone down,

616
00:46:34.039 --> 00:46:37.199
and what is Dallas for worth?
Where Robert Morris is right, that

617
00:46:37.320 --> 00:46:43.360
whole horrible thing. Who was the
spiritual advisor for Trump? And well there

618
00:46:43.400 --> 00:46:46.800
was you know, he got in
trouble for some kind of sexual misconduct.

619
00:46:46.800 --> 00:46:51.440
Come to find out it was with
a minor twelve years of age. The

620
00:46:51.480 --> 00:46:54.920
whole ministry is now an implosion.
Then doctor Tony Evans had to step down.

621
00:46:55.239 --> 00:47:00.519
We don't know what the sin was. Okay, something happened been there,

622
00:47:00.039 --> 00:47:04.000
like I mean, just Christian post
every day it's like this, this

623
00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:07.039
this thing and be like, what
is wrong? Well, now it's just

624
00:47:07.039 --> 00:47:09.159
because it's more prevalent. You can
see it, right, because now people

625
00:47:09.159 --> 00:47:13.880
can make it an accusation. It
can go anywhere quickly. Before the internet

626
00:47:15.039 --> 00:47:19.199
be very difficult to get the So
now we know it. But the point

627
00:47:19.280 --> 00:47:22.400
is sin is everywhere now. So
a lot of times we want to say

628
00:47:22.400 --> 00:47:29.039
it's demonic oppression, right, oppression
For a Christian it would be oppression.

629
00:47:29.079 --> 00:47:32.840
Right. So there's possession, there's
oppression. What is a third thing sometimes

630
00:47:32.840 --> 00:47:40.199
demons are seeing that they can do
and this one gets really complicated. Possession,

631
00:47:40.360 --> 00:47:47.960
oppression, and temptation. Now this
one make it very complicated if demons

632
00:47:47.960 --> 00:47:52.639
can walk around and tempt you,
well, then that's very difficult. How

633
00:47:52.719 --> 00:47:53.920
am I going to deal with that? Right now? I don't know.

634
00:47:54.239 --> 00:47:58.960
I don't know how much temptation we
blame on demons. I don't know how

635
00:47:59.039 --> 00:48:01.840
much we blame on it because I
have a different philological answer. But okay,

636
00:48:02.000 --> 00:48:06.679
so those are the three things.
So the ideas and saw many three.

637
00:48:07.079 --> 00:48:09.360
You have enemies that conspire together,
while we have spiritually is we have

638
00:48:09.400 --> 00:48:16.199
Satan who conspires and works with demons
who possibly do those three things, possess,

639
00:48:17.400 --> 00:48:22.199
oppress, or tempt right, those
are at least those at least three

640
00:48:22.239 --> 00:48:29.360
things. Can we agree with that
all? Right? Now? If we

641
00:48:29.760 --> 00:48:31.199
kind of go through this, I
think we can agree that. In Christian

642
00:48:31.239 --> 00:48:35.920
theology, Satan is believed to have
been a high ranking angel who rebelled against

643
00:48:35.920 --> 00:48:39.079
God and was cast out of heaven
along with rebellious angels who became demons.

644
00:48:39.320 --> 00:48:44.599
These demons follow Satan's authority and work
in accordance with his will. So there

645
00:48:44.679 --> 00:48:50.480
is the confederacy, there is the
conspiring, they work together. We don't

646
00:48:50.519 --> 00:48:55.280
have any record of where the demon
tells Satan. No, I'm not going

647
00:48:55.360 --> 00:48:59.679
to do that. We have no
where there's a fight between Satan and the

648
00:48:59.719 --> 00:49:02.920
demon. We have no record of
that. Correct, They seem to be

649
00:49:02.960 --> 00:49:08.199
in perfect harmony. Which does that
not sound like Psaw eighty three? I

650
00:49:08.199 --> 00:49:12.519
think we can, can we?
So? Therefore, since they follow Satan,

651
00:49:12.599 --> 00:49:15.199
I've got a lot of other things
written down here, but I think

652
00:49:15.239 --> 00:49:17.719
we can say. I think we
can go with some basic idea then that

653
00:49:17.880 --> 00:49:22.519
guess what those demons would Then?
What other attributes would they carry? Would

654
00:49:22.519 --> 00:49:27.280
they be prideful and arrogant? Yes? Would they hate God? Yes?

655
00:49:27.440 --> 00:49:31.199
Would they hate what God loves?
Yes? Would they hate God's chosen ones?

656
00:49:31.559 --> 00:49:37.199
Yes? So I got more scripture, But I think that's that's a

657
00:49:37.199 --> 00:49:40.360
fair way to put it out right. So our two enemies, we have

658
00:49:40.400 --> 00:49:49.119
Satan, we have demons. They
conspire together to do exactly what the enemies

659
00:49:49.320 --> 00:49:52.199
described in Psalm eighty three wants to
do. They want to destroy. In

660
00:49:52.239 --> 00:49:57.000
fact, you could argue they have
an animosity towards Israel itself. Correct,

661
00:49:57.039 --> 00:50:00.840
I think that would be fair.
I think there's a demonic hatred towards Israel,

662
00:50:00.039 --> 00:50:07.280
just as there's a demonic hatred for
Christians because we are now adopted children

663
00:50:07.400 --> 00:50:13.039
of God. Right, Okay,
now we have, Oh we got I'm

664
00:50:13.039 --> 00:50:15.159
just gonna try to get a couple
more minutes and we'll try to do one

665
00:50:15.199 --> 00:50:20.320
more. What would be a third
enemy? Now, this one, I'm

666
00:50:20.320 --> 00:50:23.920
gonna I made it separate. I'm
debating myself if I should have just referred

667
00:50:23.960 --> 00:50:27.280
to this, but I think this, I think this one will make sense

668
00:50:27.280 --> 00:50:30.599
a right. So the first two
are what kind of enemies? Those are

669
00:50:30.599 --> 00:50:34.320
external? They're spiritual, of course, and they are external. They are

670
00:50:34.320 --> 00:50:37.960
external. Satan and demons are outside
of us. They are external, but

671
00:50:38.000 --> 00:50:43.639
they have some influence upon us and
are fighting against us. Now, there's

672
00:50:43.679 --> 00:50:49.239
all kinds of debate sometimes, and
Christians do such weird double speak. Right,

673
00:50:49.519 --> 00:50:53.079
So I was listening to I was
watching all the webcasts on the sermon's

674
00:50:53.079 --> 00:50:57.280
two point o app right, and
I was just going from webcast to webcast

675
00:50:57.320 --> 00:51:00.440
to webcasts. So two web there
were like third webcasts going on, but

676
00:51:00.480 --> 00:51:04.880
there was two of them. I
just chose two of them. One of

677
00:51:04.920 --> 00:51:09.239
them was called what Satan Saw at
Job's House, and the other one I

678
00:51:09.239 --> 00:51:14.639
think was maybe something on sanctification.
I can't remember what I think it was

679
00:51:14.679 --> 00:51:16.880
about sanctification. So I was just
kind of going back and forth, click

680
00:51:16.920 --> 00:51:19.880
on one and click on the other. Click on the one, click on

681
00:51:19.880 --> 00:51:22.880
the other, go back and forth. Well, the one about what Satan

682
00:51:22.880 --> 00:51:28.559
saw at Job's house, the emphasis
was God has placed a hedge around all

683
00:51:28.599 --> 00:51:35.519
believers, and Satan can not get
through that hedge. God is our rut,

684
00:51:35.599 --> 00:51:38.960
he's our defender, he's our shield, he is our fortress. Satan

685
00:51:39.039 --> 00:51:43.239
cannot get to us. I was
like, whoa, hey, man,

686
00:51:43.280 --> 00:51:46.719
that's good news, right. I
click on the other one. Satan is

687
00:51:46.760 --> 00:51:52.559
attacking you every single day. He
is coming after you. He is doing

688
00:51:52.639 --> 00:51:54.519
this. He's playing with your mind, he's playing with your mother. And

689
00:51:54.559 --> 00:51:59.039
so then I was like, this
is a good example of biblical Christianity.

690
00:51:59.039 --> 00:52:04.199
In twenty twenty four, two messages
on the exact same platform, who all

691
00:52:04.239 --> 00:52:12.320
agree to the exact same statement of
faith. I don't even know what you

692
00:52:12.360 --> 00:52:15.119
do with that, right, So, but we can't agree that Satan.

693
00:52:17.119 --> 00:52:20.599
No, we don't agree with al
Millenny of us who believe he's already been

694
00:52:20.920 --> 00:52:23.480
chained, right, because that makes
no sense. Right, So we believe

695
00:52:23.480 --> 00:52:29.679
he's roaming about seeking whom he devour, and he works with demons, and

696
00:52:29.719 --> 00:52:34.880
that they carry the attributes and actions
described in psamty three. Can does that

697
00:52:34.920 --> 00:52:37.880
seem like we can at least agree
with that? All right? So the

698
00:52:37.880 --> 00:52:44.920
third one I put down, let's
put down sin. Sin is clearly an

699
00:52:45.039 --> 00:52:51.239
enemy, right because sin goes against
everything that we're supposed to do. Right,

700
00:52:52.000 --> 00:52:57.360
Okay, So I'm just gonna throw
some things out here, right.

701
00:52:58.400 --> 00:53:02.880
Sin is the underlying cause of our
separation between humans and God. And sin.

702
00:53:04.760 --> 00:53:07.320
I wrote this down a couple of
different ways, but I think simply

703
00:53:07.480 --> 00:53:12.559
sin is what any lack of conformity
to God's holiness. Right. Sin can

704
00:53:12.599 --> 00:53:16.920
manifest itself in thought, word,
deed, desire, and feelings, right,

705
00:53:17.199 --> 00:53:22.920
and it's present all the time.
But sin clearly is an enemy because

706
00:53:22.920 --> 00:53:28.880
it directly causes me to be in
direct opposition to God. Right. So

707
00:53:28.960 --> 00:53:31.079
if we kind of think of the
nature of sin, I know, define

708
00:53:31.239 --> 00:53:36.000
it's easier to define Satan and demons
as an enemy, but we can see

709
00:53:36.000 --> 00:53:37.840
how sin clearly is an enemy,
is it not? All right? So

710
00:53:38.000 --> 00:53:43.079
let's just think of some things.
I think we can agree that sin brings

711
00:53:43.159 --> 00:53:50.360
chaos and disorder, right, And
in fact, chaos and disorder is often

712
00:53:50.400 --> 00:53:53.840
describes as the consequence of sin leading
to confusion, turmoil, and instability.

713
00:53:54.360 --> 00:53:58.400
Sin causes that. I think we
can agree with that. Right. It

714
00:53:58.400 --> 00:54:07.639
brings, It brings disturbance, It
brings instability, It brings chaos into your

715
00:54:07.679 --> 00:54:10.119
life, in my life, because
we constantly know the consequences of sin,

716
00:54:10.280 --> 00:54:14.079
right, we faced them all the
time. It's never good, right,

717
00:54:14.760 --> 00:54:19.480
Sin by its very nature hates God, does it not? Sin is betrayed

718
00:54:19.480 --> 00:54:22.239
as a rebellion against God's authority and
rejection of his will. Those who engage

719
00:54:22.239 --> 00:54:25.360
in sinful behavior or scene is turning
away from God's love and choosing to go

720
00:54:25.400 --> 00:54:30.599
against his commandments. So it's a
hatred for God. Sin by its very

721
00:54:30.800 --> 00:54:40.840
nature is what deceptive, cunning,
crafty is. It deceives, it manipulates.

722
00:54:43.840 --> 00:54:45.840
Can we agree that sin is all
of those things? All right?

723
00:54:46.840 --> 00:54:52.039
Sin, by its very nature,
it hates what God treasures. It hates

724
00:54:52.039 --> 00:54:55.840
what God chooses, does it not? Sin doesn't want anything to do with

725
00:54:55.880 --> 00:54:59.760
God. It goes against everything.
It hates everything. It wants to get

726
00:54:59.800 --> 00:55:07.719
rid of of anything that's godly.
All right? Now, I can find

727
00:55:07.719 --> 00:55:13.199
scripture to promote a lot of this, right. I just for example,

728
00:55:13.280 --> 00:55:15.280
Romans eighty seven. The mind governed
by the flesh is hostile to God.

729
00:55:15.719 --> 00:55:20.000
Does not submit to God's law,
nor can it do so. Well,

730
00:55:20.039 --> 00:55:23.079
that's the sinful mind, right,
James four to four, You adulterous people.

731
00:55:23.119 --> 00:55:27.519
Don't you know that friendship with the
world means enmity against God? Well,

732
00:55:27.519 --> 00:55:30.840
when you're a friend with the world, that's sin crafty. We could

733
00:55:30.880 --> 00:55:36.679
go all through the deceitfulness of sin
Hebrews three thirteen, But exhort one another

734
00:55:36.760 --> 00:55:39.320
every day as long as it is
called that none of you be hardened by

735
00:55:39.360 --> 00:55:46.760
the deceitfulness of sin. Sin is
deceitful, right, sin is crafty?

736
00:55:47.159 --> 00:55:52.280
Can we agree that sin meets all
of those requirements? All right? Now,

737
00:55:52.360 --> 00:55:55.039
we're out of time, so let's
go through this all right. Saw

738
00:55:55.079 --> 00:56:01.320
Maybe three gives us the attributes and
characteristics of the enemies Israel. Those attributes

739
00:56:01.559 --> 00:56:07.239
can clearly be applied to our spiritual
enemies. They fit the description, those

740
00:56:07.880 --> 00:56:12.239
attributes and characteristics fit the description of
Satan, or Satan fits that description of

741
00:56:12.239 --> 00:56:19.000
those attributes and characteristics of demons and
of sin itself. As believers, we

742
00:56:19.199 --> 00:56:30.119
face those three enemies what daily,
every single day, and those realities of

743
00:56:30.199 --> 00:56:35.599
those three things coming at us every
single day, because every single day we're

744
00:56:35.599 --> 00:56:37.880
in sin we sin in some way, shape or form. We don't know

745
00:56:37.880 --> 00:56:42.679
what demons or Satan is doing because
Satan is not omnipresent, but demons are

746
00:56:42.719 --> 00:56:46.280
around. We can't perceive that.
But all of those things are working against

747
00:56:46.400 --> 00:56:51.400
us, which then should lead us, if we're even remotely honest with that

748
00:56:51.440 --> 00:56:54.320
reality, or if we'll take the
time to acknowledge that reality which we cannot

749
00:56:54.400 --> 00:57:00.480
see, should lead us to do
what saw Maybe three to one meant to

750
00:57:00.599 --> 00:57:04.000
God, God, what am I
supposed to do? Because in reality,

751
00:57:04.159 --> 00:57:07.559
what can I do against that?
Like? And it's so weird that Christians

752
00:57:07.719 --> 00:57:14.119
will acknowledge those three things but at
the same time try to act like that

753
00:57:14.280 --> 00:57:17.679
Christians should never sin. Well,
how are we going to stand against any

754
00:57:17.679 --> 00:57:22.760
of that? Considering not only do
we have those are all well, sin

755
00:57:22.840 --> 00:57:25.199
in a sense is kind of internal
and external, but the other two are

756
00:57:25.199 --> 00:57:30.360
external, just those things themselves.
Hope. What's our hope? Well,

757
00:57:30.559 --> 00:57:35.079
the way the Church puts it is
the hope is that you're gonna stop doing

758
00:57:35.119 --> 00:57:37.400
it. But we know we're not
gonna stop doing it, because the only

759
00:57:37.400 --> 00:57:39.920
way you can say I'm gonna stop
doing it is you would have to believe

760
00:57:39.920 --> 00:57:44.480
that I could be perfect. Can
any of us be perfect? No?

761
00:57:44.679 --> 00:57:46.719
So that means we're always going to
be victims in a sense to those three

762
00:57:46.760 --> 00:57:54.360
things. Correct. So then what
is my hope is in Christ, his

763
00:57:54.440 --> 00:58:00.519
imputed righteousness, because in his imputed
presciousness. Listen to this carefully. Does

764
00:58:00.519 --> 00:58:07.559
Satan destroy imputed righteousness? Can Satan
take away imputed righteousness? Can demons destroy

765
00:58:07.760 --> 00:58:09.480
or take away imputed righteousness? Oh? Now, this one's God. I'm

766
00:58:09.480 --> 00:58:20.320
gonna get myself in bad trouble?
Does sin take away imputed righteousness? Does

767
00:58:20.360 --> 00:58:27.000
sin call into question imputed righteousness?
Oh? It does that. It can't

768
00:58:27.000 --> 00:58:30.920
call into question imputed riciouness. Okay, now from the outside world maybe,

769
00:58:30.960 --> 00:58:34.679
but not from a thiological perspective.
And I know that makes people nervous.

770
00:58:34.760 --> 00:58:38.599
Right when I say sin does not
call into question imputed righteousness, everyone loses

771
00:58:38.639 --> 00:58:45.039
their minds. But it's imputed.
Imputed has nothing to do with how much

772
00:58:45.039 --> 00:58:49.599
I sin or don't sin. It's
imputed. If it was infused, then

773
00:58:50.000 --> 00:58:52.719
there would be a battle against sin. Imputed does not battle sin. Does

774
00:58:52.719 --> 00:58:58.400
everyone understand that imputed righteousness does not
battle sin. It does not limit sin,

775
00:58:58.800 --> 00:59:01.840
It does not lessen sin. It
just comes along and says Bobby is

776
00:59:02.480 --> 00:59:08.960
righteous even though he is a dirty, rotten sinner. Oh man, that

777
00:59:09.000 --> 00:59:15.679
makes me. It's so weird that
now that the evangelical world now will go

778
00:59:15.800 --> 00:59:20.000
lose their minds over that because they
want to go back to Catholicism. We're

779
00:59:20.039 --> 00:59:23.400
not Catholics. If we're Catholics,
we would believe that Bobby received an infused

780
00:59:23.480 --> 00:59:28.400
righteousness. So Bobby better be different. He was infused with the righteousness of

781
00:59:28.440 --> 00:59:34.159
God right, and he works together
with that infused righteousness, with the sacraments

782
00:59:34.159 --> 00:59:37.719
and with the Church so that he
can defeat sin. No. I know,

783
00:59:37.800 --> 00:59:44.239
Catholics then don't do any better than
Evangelicals. Nobody does any good,

784
00:59:44.360 --> 00:59:47.639
which seems to indicate to me there's
something wrong with so many theology. But

785
00:59:47.800 --> 00:59:52.920
with an imputed righteousness, it doesn't. Sin doesn't do anything to it.

786
00:59:58.239 --> 01:00:00.440
I know, I'll be I'm gonna
get anym I'm gonna be a you're giving

787
01:00:00.480 --> 01:00:05.599
a license to sin. I didn't
say anything about you should. I'm not

788
01:00:05.639 --> 01:00:08.559
saying anything that you've been a license
to. What I've been saying is is

789
01:00:08.599 --> 01:00:14.920
that that sin does not do what
cannot touch imputed righteousness. It doesn't call

790
01:00:15.000 --> 01:00:19.920
it and the accuser has to be
quiet because I am covered in the righteousness

791
01:00:19.920 --> 01:00:24.400
of Christ. For every accusation Bobby
brings towards me, for every accusation Satan

792
01:00:24.440 --> 01:00:30.159
brings towards me, what is my
answer to that accusation? Imputed righteousness.

793
01:00:30.360 --> 01:00:34.960
So if if somebody goes to another
church somewhere else and they come to me

794
01:00:35.039 --> 01:00:37.840
with their little lordship test and go
here, here, use their lordship,

795
01:00:38.000 --> 01:00:40.519
Are you really saved? I'll be
like, well, thank you for your

796
01:00:40.559 --> 01:00:44.320
test, and I'll hand it to
Jesus, and then Jesus can go tell

797
01:00:44.360 --> 01:00:51.639
the person back off, and I'll
be no. MacArthur said, well,

798
01:00:51.679 --> 01:00:59.519
MacArthur can argue with Jesus because Jesus
is greater than MacArthur. And for all

799
01:00:59.559 --> 01:01:05.800
the test, Jesus passed, and
I'm in him, so I pass the

800
01:01:05.880 --> 01:01:08.639
test. Now, if you want
to talk about practically, you have every

801
01:01:08.679 --> 01:01:12.920
right to say, well, practically
you are a piece of trash, You

802
01:01:12.960 --> 01:01:15.960
are a dumpster fire, And I'll
be like, you don't even know the

803
01:01:15.000 --> 01:01:22.000
half of it. Am I justifying
it? No? Am I excusing it?

804
01:01:22.679 --> 01:01:28.480
Should I stop it all? Yes? But whatever I stop today,

805
01:01:28.920 --> 01:01:34.079
I will never be able to stop
all of it because I will never love

806
01:01:34.119 --> 01:01:36.920
God with all my heartlind, body
and soul. I will never love my

807
01:01:36.960 --> 01:01:39.440
neighbor as myself, and I will
never be holy as He is holy until

808
01:01:39.519 --> 01:01:44.480
glorification, where then the old is
gone and I am made like him.

809
01:01:45.280 --> 01:01:49.880
And obviously if I could be that
now, then we wouldn't need glorification,

810
01:01:51.360 --> 01:01:53.239
all right? Does that make sense? So do we have these enemies?

811
01:01:54.000 --> 01:02:00.159
Yes? Do they meet the exact
attributes Psalm eighty three, Yes? Do

812
01:02:00.039 --> 01:02:04.719
Should it lead to us a lament
to God? Yes? But our lament

813
01:02:04.800 --> 01:02:09.880
should be only by your grace and
mercy. Do I have any hope?

814
01:02:10.920 --> 01:02:15.760
Because if you go after even if
just say, even if God eliminated Satan,

815
01:02:16.280 --> 01:02:23.960
even if God eliminated demons, I
would still be defeated. And that's

816
01:02:23.960 --> 01:02:28.440
what we're gonna see in Psau eighty
three, because they want God to get

817
01:02:28.519 --> 01:02:30.840
rid of their external enemies, just
like he did for Gideon. And then

818
01:02:30.840 --> 01:02:38.960
Gideon turned around and demonstrated still a
sinner. All the external enemies could be

819
01:02:39.039 --> 01:02:45.800
removed and we would still be sinners. So the real thing we need is

820
01:02:45.840 --> 01:02:49.320
then that now. In psau Mati
three, of course, you can see

821
01:02:49.360 --> 01:02:52.599
why they're not really focused on the
spiritual the time they're worried about the physical

822
01:02:52.679 --> 01:02:54.559
enemy. And I can understand that, But that goes back to our two

823
01:02:54.599 --> 01:03:00.800
major points. Right. Christianity is
people who believe and the God whom they

824
01:03:00.880 --> 01:03:05.719
cannot see, living in circumstances that
they can see. That calls into question

825
01:03:05.800 --> 01:03:09.519
the existence of that God whom they
cannot see. And as Christians, we

826
01:03:09.599 --> 01:03:15.760
see we live a life surrounded by
enemies we can see. So many times

827
01:03:15.920 --> 01:03:21.440
we forget the enemies which we cannot
see. But this is the most important

828
01:03:21.480 --> 01:03:27.599
thing, whether it's circumstances or whether
it's enemies, our only hope is in

829
01:03:27.639 --> 01:03:37.679
an imputed righteousness which we cannot see. We don't see imputed righteousness. Does

830
01:03:37.719 --> 01:03:43.239
everybody hear that you do not see
imputed righteousness. I can't look to Bobby

831
01:03:43.320 --> 01:03:45.840
or Sarah or anybody can go imputed. I can't see it. How do

832
01:03:45.920 --> 01:03:49.960
I know they have it? Bobby? What is your only hope in life

833
01:03:49.960 --> 01:03:52.480
and death? If he says Jesus
Christ is my only hope his death for

834
01:03:52.639 --> 01:03:57.239
me, well then I know then
he has imputed righteousness. And then I

835
01:03:57.280 --> 01:04:00.760
am to then see I can't see
it. But I am to treat Bobby

836
01:04:00.800 --> 01:04:02.159
as a new creature in Christ,
old things have passed away, and all

837
01:04:02.199 --> 01:04:05.599
things have become new in His position, even though I cannot see it.

838
01:04:05.760 --> 01:04:10.760
In this a weird idea showing up
a lot here of what we see and

839
01:04:10.800 --> 01:04:15.280
what we cannot see. We live
a life where what we see calls into

840
01:04:15.320 --> 01:04:17.760
question and what we cannot see,
and in some ways, the same thing

841
01:04:17.760 --> 01:04:23.159
happens with our imputed righteousness. I
can question my imputed righteousness based off what

842
01:04:23.280 --> 01:04:28.280
I see, but I have to
trust in what I cannot see, just

843
01:04:28.320 --> 01:04:30.840
like I have to trust in a
God whom I cannot see, even though

844
01:04:30.880 --> 01:04:34.239
what I can see calls into question. And when I focus on the enemies

845
01:04:34.280 --> 01:04:38.960
which I can see, I've got
to be very careful because I'm really forgetting

846
01:04:38.960 --> 01:04:42.599
the enemy which I cannot see,
which is where I really need to focus.

847
01:04:42.800 --> 01:04:45.639
Oh there's a lot right there.
Okay, all right, there we

848
01:04:45.679 --> 01:04:48.599
go. Let's stop right through this
prayer. Lore got we come before you

849
01:04:48.639 --> 01:04:55.880
this afternoon. Lord. There's a
lot here about enemies and about our perception

850
01:04:56.039 --> 01:04:59.280
of what we see and can't see. Lord. A lot of this is

851
01:04:59.360 --> 01:05:02.599
just ideas, is that we've thrown
out. I hope that everyone here will

852
01:05:02.599 --> 01:05:08.239
give these serious thoughts and contemplation,
and that this will benefit all of us.

853
01:05:08.239 --> 01:05:11.599
When we ask this in Jesus,
name it, Gos people said,