The Wiles of The Devil
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to convince people that he didn't exist, but many credible sources confirm that they have seen him in physical form.
He masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14) and enters people through various open doors including greed (Luke 22:3), lust, trauma, drugs, alcohol, un-forgiveness (2 Corinthians 2:10-11) and anger (Ephesians 4:26-27).
Anything that affects our mental state, taking us away from peace, faith and right action, creates an open door for the enemy to enter and we must not give him a foothold (Ephesians 4:27).
Sinful desires wage war against our soul (1 Peter 2:11) and we must be alert and of sober mind as our enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).
Satan leads the whole world astray (Revelation 12:9), he is a murderer and a liar (John 8:44) and we must demolish every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Finding Joy In The Struggle
We are instructed to consider it pure joy whenever we face trials of many kinds, because the testing of our faith produces perseverance and we must let perseverance finish its work so that we may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
If any of us lack wisdom, we should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault.
But when we ask, we must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind, and that person should not expect to receive anything as they are double-minded and unstable in all they do. (James 1:2-8)
God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).
God's plans are to prosper us and not harm us and to give us hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).
The Devil Comes To Test Us
We must not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that comes on us to test us (1 Peter 4:12), we are all undergoing the same kind of sufferings (1 Peter 5:8-9) and Satan asks to sift all of us as wheat (Luke 22:31).
God is testing us to find out whether we love him with all our heart and with all our soul. It is God we must follow and revere. We are to keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him (Deuteronomy 13:3-4).
Jesus himself was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1).
We must not be afraid of what we are about to suffer. The devil will put some of us in prison to test us, and we will suffer persecution, but we must be faithful, even to the point of death, and we will be given life as our victor’s crown (Revelation 2:10)
When we fail to accept God and reject the obvious evidence before us, we are given over to the destruction of the flesh so that our soul might be saved in the day of the Lord.
The Wrath of God
The wrath of God is being revealed against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another (Romans 1:18-24).
Having lost all sensitivity, we give ourselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and we are full of greed (Ephesians 4:18-19).
Exchanging The Truth About God For A Lie
Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it’ (Jeremiah 6:16).
People exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator.
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.
In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.
Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error (Romans 1:25-27).
The Penalty For Error
The penalty of their error that men receive in themselves is futile thinking, the darkening of their hearts, spiritual disconnection, a depraved mind and a loss of sensitivity.
Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done (Romans 1:28).
We must not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men, nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like (Galatians 5:19-21).
See that no one is sexually immoral, or godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance. Afterward, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected, even though he sought it with tears, he could not change what he had done (Hebrews 12:16-17).
Our Body Is Meant For The Lord & The Lord For Our Body
“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. The body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!
Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
God tells us to free from sexual immorality as all other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body (1 Corinthians 6:9-18).
We are to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is our true and proper worship (Romans 12:1).
God's Commandments Are For Our Good
God gave us commandments and laws for our benefit, to help us not to harm us, it is sin that harms us, hence why God steers us away from sin and towards righteousness.
The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple (Psalm 19:7).
We are commanded to love God, walk in obedience to Him and keep His commands, decrees and laws, we will live and increase and God will bless us (Deuteronomy 30:16).
We are to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is our true and proper worship (Romans 12:2).
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I (Jesus) will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28-29).
The Duty of All Mankind
Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7).
The first and greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength and with all our mind. The second is to love our neighbour as ourself, and all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two (Luke 10:27 & Matthew 22:37-40).
Loving God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind is often overlooked, it means to put God first, to make Him the centre of our existence and to turn to Him for everything.
In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world (1 John 5:3-4).
Becoming A New Creation
We must no longer gratify the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts (Ephesians 2:3).
We are not to conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind, then we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2).
We must put off our old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of our minds; and put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24).
In the shedding of our old identity and the death of self, there is neither male nor female, for we are all one in Christ (Galatians 3:28).
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, to destroy the devil's work (1 John 3:8) and so that in Jesus, we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Real Transition
We must allow God to strip away everything that is not of Him and allow ourselves to be washed clean with the baptism of repentance and purified by the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew 3:11).
We must seek to reconcile all aspects of ourselves to God, not by our might or power, but by God's Holy Spirit (Zechariah 4:6) as we can only be made perfect in Christ.
We must whole-heartedly surrender ourselves to God, so that we can truly become a new creation, where the old is gone and the new is here (2 Corinthians 5:17).
We are to crucify the flesh with its passions and desires (Galatians 5:24), and be crucified with Christ so that we no longer live, but Christ lives in us (Galatians 2:20).
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:36). Real transition is spiritual.
Drawing Strength From God
We must be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power and put on the full armour of God, so that we can take our stand against the devil’s schemes, and after we have done everything, to stand.
We must stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around our waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with our feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
In addition, we must take up the shield of faith, with which we can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
And we must pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests (Ephesians 6:10-18).
God is faithful; He will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear, and when we are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that we can endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:12-13).
The Excellency of Christ
The Excellency of Christ is a rich and sumptuous feast of delight in the gloriously diverse and paradoxical elements of Jesus Christ, and is perhaps one of the single most impacting sermons that we may ever read.
Jesus is described as a lion in majesty and a lamb in meekness, having the deepest reverence towards God and yet equality with God, and having an exceeding spirit of obedience with supreme dominion over heaven and earth.
He is infinite highness and infinite condescension, infinite justice and infinite grace, infinitely holy and just and the infinitely just Judge and yet infinitely gracious and merciful, infinite worthiness of good and the greatest patience under sufferings of evil, infinite glory and lowest humility and absolute sovereignty and perfect resignation.
So let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith (Hebrews 12:1-2), being made alive in Christ, built to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22).
For when the new heaven and new earth comes, God’s dwelling place will once again be among us, He will wipe every tear from our eyes and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things will have passed away and those who are victorious will once again drink water without cost from the spring of the water of life (Revelation 21:1-7).
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