Discussion - Level of depth; calling many deceived -- too harsh?; why God allows Satan control

Video/audio transcript

0:00 - hey guys so today on friday we are
0:02 - picking up with the first
0:04 - questions and answers video relating to
0:06 - lesson one
0:07 - of what was posted on sr4 so
0:11 - this is the outline of the things that
0:14 - we did
0:14 - earlier in the week for that video that
0:17 - i uploaded
0:18 - and so the general format for this is
0:20 - that video
0:21 - which is pre-recorded by me will go up
0:23 - earlier in the week
0:24 - and if people have questions then they
0:27 - can post those in the google doc
0:29 - and if questions are there i can prepare
0:32 - things
0:33 - in advance and we’ll we’ll hit those
0:35 - questions but if people have questions
0:37 - as we come up here
0:38 - we will be pausing between each thing we
0:41 - talk about
0:41 - and so we can kind of steer the
0:43 - direction of the conversation that way
0:44 - as well
0:45 - now with this being said most of the
0:47 - time even if there’s no questions i come
0:49 - up with some so we’ll always have some
0:50 - things to talk about
0:52 - but that’s the general format for these
0:54 - questions and answers videos
0:57 - so the first thing that i thought we’d
0:59 - talk about today was
1:00 - this question here i may have danced
1:03 - around this a little bit
1:04 - in the actual lesson video but someone
1:07 - might ask the question
1:09 - is this much depth really necessary so
1:11 - if we were to just say
1:13 - satan manipulates people and events in
1:14 - the world to lead us christians away
1:16 - from the truth
1:17 - that really is basically the gist of
1:20 - what we talked about in the video
1:21 - earlier in the week and
1:23 - that is the main contention of the study
1:25 - that we’re going through but if we just
1:26 - say it in one sentence
1:28 - is that enough on its own why do we have
1:30 - to spend weeks and weeks
1:32 - because i’m sure that’s how long this
1:33 - will take and wade through hundreds of
1:35 - pages
1:36 - of teaching on all of this if we can
1:38 - just say it like that
1:40 - and so this second paragraph here is is
1:43 - this is really
1:43 - the reason right here um so i’m just
1:46 - going to read it
1:47 - a cardinal rule of any battle is knowing
1:49 - your enemy
1:50 - not just a little bit but everything
1:51 - about them you may have also heard the
1:53 - latin
1:54 - phrase schiente potentia este knowledge
1:57 - is power
1:58 - so if we don’t know about what satan is
2:02 - trying to do
2:03 - and the methodologies he employs the
2:05 - tactics
2:06 - and all of that we are going to be
2:08 - flying blind
2:10 - and going with that metaphor of life as
2:13 - a spiritual battlefield like we’ve spent
2:14 - so much time talking about
2:16 - in the study on peripherology that we’ve
2:19 - been doing for a long time now
2:20 - you do not want to be without
2:22 - information in a battle
2:24 - in military history actually uh people
2:27 - who study strategy and stuff will tell
2:28 - you that information on the battlefield
2:30 - is the most crucial thing
2:32 - so the element of surprise in warfare is
2:35 - absolutely huge
2:36 - and for us as christians we don’t want
2:39 - surprises in terms of what we thought
2:41 - was the case we what we thought was
2:43 - important
2:44 - to be revealed to be false on judgment
2:47 - day because we wasted all of our time
2:50 - on things that only happen to look
2:52 - important
2:53 - um so pulling all this together really
2:56 - the basic idea is that if we have an
2:58 - in-depth understanding of how satan
3:00 - actually does control and influence the
3:02 - world
3:02 - we are better able to inoculate
3:04 - ourselves against the illusion around us
3:06 - so you can kind of think of this as a
3:08 - vaccine against
3:10 - all of the lies and the deceit that
3:12 - satan peddles to try to turn us away
3:14 - from the truth
3:15 - so in medicine vaccines are you know
3:18 - a shot in the arm something that you
3:20 - take beforehand
3:21 - to prepare yourself against the disease
3:24 - that you know
3:25 - is out there around and so for us as
3:27 - christians
3:28 - if you compare the lies of satan and
3:30 - what he tries to feed us
3:32 - to a disease then if we stick ourselves
3:35 - in the arm beforehand
3:37 - we can come sort of forearmed and
3:39 - prepared to handle
3:41 - whatever satan may throw at us all right
3:44 - so another question
3:45 - that someone might ask is this one here
3:47 - so are many christians really as
3:49 - helpless as the people chained in place
3:51 - looking at shadows on the wall
3:53 - so that’s coming from plato’s allegory
3:54 - of the cave which we talked about
3:56 - as a helpful parallel for us navigating
3:59 - the web of lies that satan has before us
4:01 - in this world
4:02 - and so it’s not a very flattering
4:04 - comparison for us
4:06 - because these people as we sort of
4:08 - talked about
4:09 - have the tendency to scoff at the people
4:12 - who
4:12 - go out outside the cave into the light
4:15 - you know they think that
4:16 - those people are the ones with delusions
4:18 - um
4:19 - and so the question is if we really
4:21 - don’t want to be compared to those
4:22 - people
4:23 - well how much are we really like them
4:25 - are we really trapped
4:26 - in a cave are we really that caught up
4:29 - in the illusion that we don’t even
4:30 - recognize it
4:31 - and it certainly does depend uh to a
4:34 - degree on your spiritual growth
4:36 - and whether you’ve come across all of
4:37 - this stuff before and
4:39 - you know sort of your i guess your
4:41 - overall level of spiritual cynicism
4:43 - if that’s a thing as well uh but the
4:45 - answer is actually yes
4:47 - um and this is unfortunate for us i
4:50 - think particularly in our modern world
4:52 - where we have distractions all around us
4:54 - in terms of
4:55 - movies and books and fiction and all of
4:58 - these things that the internet lets us
4:59 - consume 24 7.
5:01 - i think a lot of people even though in
5:04 - their hearts they’re not
5:05 - setting out to turn themselves away from
5:07 - spiritual truth
5:09 - end up sort of adrift uh spending their
5:11 - time on other things
5:13 - and so the real problem is summarized by
5:15 - the second paragraph here is just that
5:17 - a lot of people don’t view things that
5:19 - they maybe ought to be a little bit
5:21 - skeptical of spiritually
5:23 - they don’t hold them at arm’s length um
5:26 - so
5:26 - if you don’t recognize that satan is in
5:29 - control of these things in the world
5:31 - so the government media messages from tv
5:34 - and works of fiction
5:36 - then you’re liable to consume them
5:40 - more than you might or trust them and
5:43 - get your ideas from them
5:44 - more than you would otherwise and even
5:47 - more than this and this is the thing
5:48 - that’s actually really scary
5:50 - is that sometimes satan saying
5:53 - most effective um weapons against us in
5:57 - the church
5:58 - aren’t necessarily things that we don’t
6:00 - look to for our spiritual nourishment
6:02 - but they’re false teachers within the
6:04 - church so
6:05 - people who we as christians look up to
6:08 - and respect
6:09 - well even if those people are well
6:11 - intentioned
6:12 - if satan empowers error as it were so he
6:17 - he sort of encourages false teaching to
6:19 - crop up in the church
6:21 - then these people even if they have good
6:23 - intentions can end up doing lots and
6:24 - lots of damage
6:26 - and not to get off on too much of a side
6:27 - tangent but this is one reason why we
6:29 - really really
6:30 - should be careful uh about who we
6:33 - respect as teachers
6:35 - um even because people generally want to
6:38 - give
6:38 - others the benefit of the doubt in terms
6:40 - of well maybe his doctrine isn’t
6:43 - full on but you know he’s a good guy
6:44 - he’s trying to do the right thing
6:46 - uh it’s not that we should necessarily
6:49 - you know
6:49 - drag down teachers and um what’s the
6:53 - right way to say this
6:54 - um i don’t know sort of victimize them
6:57 - you know like
6:58 - make them make them like uh
7:01 - gosh i’m not being very elegant here um
7:03 - i i guess just make an example of them
7:05 - or you know sort of like french
7:06 - revolution style
7:07 - down with the leaders that sort of thing
7:09 - i’m not at all saying that um
7:11 - what i’m trying to say is that the
7:13 - excuse of well he’s just doing his best
7:15 - really shouldn’t cut it and the reason
7:17 - for that is because
7:18 - satan does use teachers in the church
7:21 - who
7:22 - are off on the wrong path you know
7:24 - they’re teaching something false
7:25 - those are in many respects satan’s most
7:27 - powerful weapons
7:29 - and we should understand and respect
7:32 - that
7:32 - um in our own application of who we
7:34 - follow and and sort of vote with our
7:36 - feet
7:37 - um and so i’m bringing all this up just
7:39 - because
7:40 - it isn’t too far out there to say that
7:43 - many times the most popular teachings
7:45 - and the ones that have
7:47 - the most adherence who strongly who
7:48 - strongly stick to them
7:50 - are false teachings as unfortunate it is
7:53 - to say so
7:54 - the one that i use as an example and
7:56 - this is a pretty good example in general
7:57 - is the prosperity gospel so the idea
7:59 - that
8:00 - that god wants us to be rich and blessed
8:02 - and oh if you give me money god will
8:04 - bless you
8:05 - that sort of thing which seems to many
8:07 - of us to be very obviously false right
8:09 - at the outset
8:09 - but it’s a pretty popular teaching
8:12 - nonetheless
8:13 - and that doesn’t just happen i mean this
8:16 - particular one is something that people
8:17 - want to believe
8:18 - but to use the the words that james does
8:21 - in
8:21 - in james chapter 3 it’s set on fire by
8:24 - hell
8:24 - right so that’s talking about the tongue
8:26 - but false teaching as well
8:28 - um these things don’t just come up in
8:30 - the church by happenstance
8:31 - um satan is architecting this system of
8:35 - of lies and false teaching
8:37 - you know he’s planting these things uh
8:39 - within the church
8:40 - to try to destroy it from within all
8:42 - right so i won’t spend too much more
8:44 - time there i mean i just think that’s a
8:45 - perhaps an area in which people don’t
8:47 - recognize the risk
8:49 - as much as we should and so the main
8:51 - takeaway from this
8:52 - slide is that in truth many people
8:55 - really are oblivious to the fact that
8:57 - this world is completely within satan’s
8:59 - control
9:00 - and that it is set up to deceive and
9:02 - distract us from the things that are
9:03 - actually important spiritually
9:05 - and so all of this together is why
9:07 - pursuing something like sr4 really is
9:09 - valuable for us
9:11 - because even if we might wish to say
9:14 - that the church in general is on the
9:16 - right track or doing good the truth is
9:18 - especially in our time and place a lot
9:20 - of people aren’t as aware
9:22 - as they should be as to the fact that we
9:25 - are called to be enemies to the world so
9:27 - friendship with god
9:28 - makes us enemies of the world all right
9:30 - so we just said
9:32 - that friendship with god makes us
9:34 - enemies of the world
9:35 - and this is a good passage here in john
9:37 - chapter 15 that talks about this so i’m
9:39 - just going to go ahead and read
9:40 - picking up at verse 18 of john chapter
9:43 - 15. if the world hates you keep in mind
9:45 - that it hated me first
9:47 - if you belong to the world it would love
9:48 - you as you as its own
9:50 - as it is you do not belong to the world
9:52 - but i have chosen you out of the world
9:54 - that is why the world hates you remember
9:56 - what i told you
9:57 - a servant is not greater than his master
9:59 - if they persecuted me they will
10:00 - persecute you also
10:02 - if they obeyed my teaching they will
10:03 - obey yours also they will treat you
10:05 - this way because of my name for they do
10:07 - not know who sent me
10:09 - so this passage here is just supporting
10:12 - what we were talking about in terms of
10:14 - we really do have to pick
10:15 - one so are we on god’s side
10:18 - or do we side with the world and if we
10:20 - side with the world
10:21 - even though it may not seem like it from
10:23 - the outset siding with the world means
10:25 - reciting with satan
10:26 - against god so it might seem like we’re
10:29 - being kind of harsh here
10:30 - uh you know we’re very much calling
10:32 - people out for not recognizing the
10:34 - dangers around us
10:36 - and so even though we are talking in
10:39 - generality so we’re saying you know many
10:41 - people
10:41 - not that person right over there um it
10:44 - does seem like maybe we’re coming off as
10:46 - overly harsh
10:47 - and something that should help temper
10:48 - this a little bit is to recognize that
10:51 - we
10:51 - are these people ourselves as well at
10:53 - least from time to time
10:55 - so as i phrased it here do you wake up
10:57 - in the morning and remind yourself that
10:58 - this world is nothing but ashes and dust
11:01 - and that it is the invisible that is
11:02 - eternal well no
11:04 - i don’t either at least not most of the
11:06 - time however
11:08 - even so even though we ourselves are
11:10 - unworthy we do
11:11 - have to be harsh and say what needs to
11:13 - be said because satan is all too happy
11:15 - to use
11:16 - niceness as a club to beat down the
11:18 - truth in this world
11:19 - and so what i mean by that is that some
11:22 - people might take
11:23 - issue with sort of calling things how
11:25 - they are and for
11:26 - saying you know what people need to be
11:28 - more red-hot for the truth
11:30 - people should stop getting so caught up
11:32 - in the lies of the world even if
11:34 - even if these things aren’t out and out
11:36 - terrible all on their own
11:38 - because anything that takes our time and
11:40 - focus off god
11:41 - ultimately is leading us away from god
11:45 - so this verse in first corinthians
11:46 - chapter 10
11:48 - talks on what we just said that even if
11:52 - it is not things that are obviously evil
11:54 - in front of us
11:55 - sometimes just spending time on things
11:57 - that things that aren’t
11:59 - so dedicated to spiritual growth may not
12:02 - be the best thing for us
12:03 - so this is first corinthians chapter 10
12:06 - verse 23
12:07 - i have the right to do anything you say
12:08 - but not everything is beneficial
12:10 - i have the right to do anything but not
12:12 - everything is constructed
12:13 - so just because something is an out and
12:15 - out sin doesn’t necessarily mean that
12:17 - there isn’t opportunity cost for us
12:19 - spiritually
12:20 - in doing it because as i tried to say
12:23 - before
12:23 - any time we aren’t focused on the truth
12:26 - learning believing applying it to our
12:28 - lives
12:28 - praying for the church doing ministry
12:30 - all of these things that are very
12:32 - constructive spiritually any time we
12:34 - spend that’s not that
12:36 - arguably is time that we’re not spending
12:38 - most effectively unto the kingdom of god
12:40 - all right so another question that i
12:42 - know we did hit
12:43 - somewhat in the lesson itself but i just
12:45 - wanted to come back up and perhaps talk
12:47 - about in a little more depth
12:49 - is why god doesn’t just defeat satan
12:51 - already
12:52 - right at this point in time you know why
12:53 - why does god keep letting this go on how
12:56 - it is in the world
12:57 - um so god is omnipotent
13:00 - outside of space-time satan on the other
13:02 - hand even though he’s
13:04 - way way more powerful than we are as
13:05 - humans so you know angels are in general
13:08 - but satan
13:09 - was himself the the the preeminent angel
13:11 - right the guardian of god’s holiness
13:14 - um so even he’s more powerful than
13:16 - garden variety angels as it were
13:18 - um but even so he’s only still a finite
13:21 - creature
13:21 - so contrast that we just said god’s
13:24 - outside of space time satan is a created
13:26 - being
13:27 - within the bounds of space-time so this
13:30 - makes his
13:30 - fight against god complete madness
13:33 - because god could completely obliterate
13:34 - him in an instant
13:35 - so satan doesn’t even stand a chance as
13:38 - what we’re saying here
13:39 - and so i’ve made several points here
13:41 - that i think
13:42 - illustrate this well so i’m just going
13:44 - to go ahead and read them you know maybe
13:45 - i’ll pause in between
13:46 - but in fact when jesus returns in
13:49 - radiant glory he will
13:50 - single-handedly destroy all of the
13:52 - armies of the antichrist
13:54 - their death warrant is signed the end is
13:55 - coming for them so
13:57 - it’s just that even though god is not
14:00 - destroying
14:01 - all the forces of evil right now
14:03 - presently today
14:04 - in front of us that doesn’t mean that
14:06 - it’s not coming um this is in the book
14:08 - of revelation we’re talking about the
14:10 - battle of armageddon
14:11 - you know in perhaps pop culture
14:13 - armageddon has like two bad
14:16 - like two two armies clashing with each
14:17 - other the forces of good and the forces
14:19 - of evil
14:20 - in truth how this is gonna go down is
14:21 - that jesus is gonna come back and he’s
14:23 - single-handedly gonna obliterate all his
14:25 - enemies
14:25 - he doesn’t need our help because he’s
14:27 - god and that is how overpowered
14:30 - this this exchange is god
14:33 - it’s like a character in a video game
14:36 - who has all his skills maxed out and
14:37 - he’s facing like
14:38 - the newest person in the game that to an
14:41 - infinite degree more
14:42 - is how much more powerful god is than
14:44 - satan so
14:46 - in any instant god could do this and
14:48 - like i said
14:49 - this is already prophesied to happen
14:51 - jesus will come
14:52 - when he returns in glory and he will
14:54 - destroy all the armies of evil
14:56 - before him so the second point in fact
14:59 - when jesus paid for our sins on the
15:00 - cross
15:01 - satan lost totally and completely so as
15:04 - prophesied in genesis 3 15 the head of
15:07 - the serpent was crushed by the seat of
15:08 - the woman
15:09 - so this is after satan had tempted adam
15:12 - and eve to fall
15:14 - this is what god declares he said i will
15:15 - put enmity between you and the woman and
15:17 - between your seed and her seed
15:19 - he shall bruise you on the head and you
15:20 - shall bruise him on the heel
15:23 - so i’m taking some liberties here saying
15:24 - the head of the serpent being crushed
15:26 - um but the point is when someone gets
15:29 - bit on the heel
15:30 - it doesn’t end them when the serpent’s
15:32 - head gets crushed
15:33 - he’s completely defeated that’s what the
15:35 - cross was so
15:37 - jesus christ robbed death of its
15:40 - well he robbed death of its sting on the
15:42 - cross
15:43 - so death has no power over us anymore
15:45 - and in fact the cross
15:46 - reconciled us to god so humanity after
15:49 - the fall
15:50 - was positionally far away from god you
15:53 - know we had this
15:54 - this blood guilt upon us from our sin
15:56 - but god washed that all away with the
15:58 - blood of christ
15:59 - when he died for us on the cross so this
16:01 - is what we mean by
16:02 - satan’s already lost so you may have
16:05 - remembered
16:06 - i think it was a few weeks back on the
16:08 - shared group recording we have on
16:09 - saturdays audi and i were talking about
16:11 - this how
16:12 - positionally satan’s already lost it not
16:15 - only
16:15 - is his fight against god completely
16:17 - insane to begin with
16:18 - but he’s still fighting after he lost
16:22 - his entire army as it were after he was
16:24 - dealt a crushing defeat
16:26 - he’s still insane enough to think he can
16:27 - win right so
16:29 - not only can we put our trust in god as
16:32 - the undisputably more powerful person in
16:35 - this conflict but god has already won
16:37 - basically and in fact point number three
16:40 - no matter what satan does to us
16:41 - even up to the point of imprisonment
16:43 - torture and death he can’t take away
16:45 - anything of any eternal import
16:47 - god sees us and eternity is all that
16:49 - matters so what i mean by this
16:51 - is even if we do die you know people
16:54 - might get
16:55 - all up in arms about this even if we do
16:57 - die even if we face torture imprisonment
16:59 - and death
17:00 - it doesn’t really matter spiritually
17:02 - because we know that
17:03 - martyrs are given a cheerful reunion
17:06 - when we when we go to see god in heaven
17:08 - if we are martyred
17:09 - we’ll be held up and receive glory and
17:12 - honor for it
17:13 - it’s not something for us to necessarily
17:15 - be afraid of
17:16 - if we look with eyes of faith this runs
17:19 - very counter to the world of course who
17:20 - says that this life is all there is
17:22 - and so if you don’t go away don’t go
17:25 - away thinking that martyrdom’s a good
17:26 - thing because then it’s over
17:28 - well for us as christians we don’t
17:29 - believe that we believe that
17:31 - to live as christ and to die is gain to
17:33 - quote paul and so
17:35 - it’s actually not the end of the world
17:38 - if we die
17:39 - or if bad things happen to us because we
17:41 - know that if we hold the correct
17:43 - perspective
17:44 - it is the eternal things that are
17:45 - important not things in this life
17:47 - and so these are three points that are
17:49 - important for us to keep in mind
17:51 - and it’s important for us to actually
17:52 - believe these things because these
17:53 - things are true
17:54 - so let me repeat that again if we
17:56 - believe these things
17:57 - it’s important for us to hold them in
17:59 - our minds because they’re actually true
18:01 - spiritually um
18:02 - so it doesn’t mean we have to like them
18:04 - necessarily but
18:06 - these are the realities of how the
18:08 - spiritual world really works
18:10 - and so the correct perspective for us to
18:13 - keep in mind
18:14 - is that even if satan is given rain to
18:16 - manipulate the world strings today
18:18 - tomorrow will be cast into lake of fire
18:20 - forever so
18:21 - on the stage of eternity the span of
18:24 - human history is actually quite short
18:26 - you know satan is is only given time to
18:29 - do his thing for a very short period of
18:31 - time and after that
18:32 - he’ll be completely destroyed and we
18:35 - won’t
18:36 - have to worry about anything he could do
18:38 - to us ever again
18:39 - and in fact even on top of everything
18:41 - we’ve just talked about here
18:43 - things are only going to get worse
18:44 - during the tribulation
18:46 - and the tribulation is talked about in
18:48 - the book of revelation so
18:50 - we really better get used to the idea
18:51 - that this world is enemy territory for
18:53 - us
18:54 - because someday in the future this world
18:56 - is going to start putting us to death
18:57 - for our faith
18:58 - and so even if these things don’t seem
19:01 - so realistic now you know the
19:03 - the enmity between us and the world may
19:05 - not rear its head for us every day
19:07 - well we do need to get it through our
19:09 - heads this is actually the case
19:11 - because at some point in the future the
19:12 - world will turn on us and it will turn
19:14 - on us quickly
19:15 - we won’t have warning but perhaps even
19:17 - more frightening people who’ve made
19:18 - friends with the world
19:20 - will be too late for them the book of
19:21 - revelation talks about
19:23 - apostasy for a full third of the true
19:25 - church people
19:27 - who don’t catch the warning signs fast
19:29 - enough
19:30 - won’t recognize the spiritual things
19:32 - playing out before their eyes
19:33 - because they decided that making friends
19:36 - with the world was more important than
19:38 - holding on to their faith as christians
19:40 - and we might say oh well that won’t be
19:42 - me you know i have it all together
19:43 - spiritually
19:44 - well one of the reasons why the bible is
19:47 - so frequent in
19:48 - in telling us to to check ourselves and
19:51 - it warns us to be on guard
19:53 - is because none of us can none of us
19:56 - knows
19:57 - exactly where our hearts will lead us to
20:00 - and you know the bible is always talking
20:02 - about this principle of imminence too
20:04 - because positionally the end has been
20:05 - near for 2000 years now we
20:07 - we live in the last days as it were and
20:10 - none of us knows the time
20:11 - either all right so we had a good
20:13 - question from someone listening in this
20:15 - week
20:16 - talking about this idea of phrasing of
20:18 - how when we say that
20:20 - you know satan is in present control of
20:22 - this world it is kind of important for
20:24 - us to not just say oh well god gave it
20:26 - to him
20:27 - like god gifted satan control of this
20:29 - world as if this were
20:30 - the state of affairs that oh i don’t
20:32 - know what’s the right way to phrase this
20:34 - that that god like is the agent in this
20:36 - um so god
20:37 - lets it happen but that’s very different
20:39 - than god being the one
20:41 - who’s driving satan to do this right as
20:43 - if god’s pulling him along
20:44 - and satan has no choice in this matter
20:46 - so properly
20:48 - speaking satan usurped the throne that
20:50 - he’s sitting on of the world it’s not
20:52 - his it doesn’t belong to him
20:53 - he’s a tyrant sitting in that seat and
20:56 - that’s why he will be overthrown
20:57 - eventually
20:58 - because he’s not the rightful ruler of
21:00 - this world
21:01 - in fact in the millennium jesus christ
21:04 - will come to rule the world in person
21:06 - in the new jerusalem not in the new
21:08 - jerusalem in jerusalem new jerusalem is
21:10 - what happens after
21:11 - the heavens and the earth will be made
21:13 - but jesus will come
21:14 - bodily to rule the world and jesus
21:16 - christ
21:17 - the son of man the true morning star is
21:20 - the one who the throne of the world
21:22 - belongs to not satan
21:24 - but one thing i wanted to establish up
21:27 - front is that the bible itself does call
21:29 - satan the ruler of this world so this is
21:30 - picking up in ephesians chapter two
21:32 - verse two so it talks about
21:35 - the ruler of the kingdom of the air
21:38 - right so that’s this world it presents
21:40 - right the spirit who is now at work and
21:41 - those who are disobedient
21:44 - so satan really is called the ruler of
21:47 - the kingdom of the air right so this
21:48 - doesn’t mean
21:49 - this doesn’t mean that satan what’s the
21:52 - right way to put this
21:53 - this doesn’t mean that satan is the true
21:55 - spiritual ruler of this world
21:57 - but he is the one who is in control of
21:59 - the physical world
22:00 - presently so i just wanted to pull this
22:02 - verse up to show that we’re not just
22:04 - calling satan ruler of this world
22:05 - willy-nilly
22:06 - as if as if oh i don’t know we’re
22:08 - filling in blanks that the bible doesn’t
22:10 - actually talk about this is what the
22:12 - bible itself says in ephesians chapter
22:13 - 2.
22:14 - so i mentioned positionally how jesus
22:16 - christ is the rightful ruler of this
22:18 - world
22:19 - but it is important to talk about
22:21 - satan’s dominion over the physical world
22:23 - also in terms of man and man’s initial
22:26 - place in the world
22:27 - so i’m picking up in chapter in genesis
22:29 - chapter 1 here verse 26
22:31 - so i’m going to go ahead and read this
22:33 - verse 26 then god said let us make
22:35 - mankind in our image
22:36 - in our likeness so that they may rule
22:38 - over the fish in the sea and the birds
22:40 - in the sky over the livestock and all
22:42 - the wild animals
22:43 - and over all the creatures that move
22:45 - along the ground so god created mankind
22:47 - in his own image
22:48 - in the image of god he created them male
22:50 - and female he created them
22:52 - god blessed them and said to them be
22:54 - fruitful and increase in number
22:56 - fill the earth and subdue it rule over
22:58 - the fish in the sea
22:59 - and the birds in the sky and over every
23:00 - living creature that moves on the ground
23:02 - so this rule over bit is what i was
23:05 - going to have us
23:06 - examine here so man initially was
23:09 - written
23:10 - or not written was created as
23:13 - the creature having dominion over others
23:15 - in the world and so in genesis chapter 2
23:17 - god brings animals to adam and then
23:21 - adam gets to name animals and the names
23:24 - of adam picks stick
23:25 - right so this was man’s initial place in
23:27 - the world and in the garden of eden
23:29 - before there was conflict and sin
23:31 - you know man enjoyed his days sort of
23:33 - being
23:34 - the de facto ruler of this existence but
23:37 - then the fall happened in genesis
23:39 - chapter 3
23:40 - so satan is now somewhat in the place of
23:43 - where man was and of course positionally
23:45 - in an eternal sense we also mention how
23:48 - the person who’s thrown satan really
23:49 - stole was jesus christ
23:51 - and you know jesus christ will come to
23:53 - reclaim it but
23:54 - you know satan is an angel and the other
23:57 - angels along with him
23:58 - don’t have the same physicality that we
24:00 - do as human beings
24:02 - and so in some sense our place in the
24:04 - world as well was usurped by satan you
24:06 - know he destabilized the relationship
24:08 - between man and god
24:10 - and then men then we as man
24:13 - or not we collectively but adam and eve
24:15 - were kicked out of the garden of eden
24:17 - um and this was because of satan’s
24:19 - trickery and deceit
24:20 - so our place our rightful place in the
24:22 - universe which will be restored
24:24 - when god comes back in victory was also
24:27 - taken by satan
24:28 - so to address this question that we’re
24:30 - talking about of did god give satan
24:32 - control
24:33 - is that phrasing appropriate that
24:34 - phrasing really isn’t um and
24:37 - if we were to say things like that it’s
24:39 - just important for us to clarify that
24:41 - god let this happen that’s again
24:43 - different from god
24:44 - making it happen because satan is the
24:46 - one who’s usurping this authority
24:49 - the one who’s taking what is not
24:50 - rightfully his
24:52 - and as we did touch on in the study the
24:54 - reason why god has let this happen is
24:56 - because god’s using satan for his own
24:58 - purposes
24:59 - in fact as in the cross god is letting
25:02 - satan
25:02 - make a fool of himself so to speak just
25:05 - to prove
25:06 - to all people human and and angel kind
25:09 - alike
25:09 - that god is perfectly just and righteous
25:12 - and also perfect in his mercy
25:14 - in that he can save sinful mankind even
25:17 - despite
25:18 - satan’s best efforts to throw a wrench
25:19 - in god’s plan for doing so
25:21 - so satan is completely powerless to stop
25:24 - this
25:24 - but satan nonetheless is the one who’s
25:27 - making all of these decisions in
25:28 - opposition to god
25:29 - god’s not compelling him to do it but
25:31 - god is letting it happen
25:33 - for the purpose of testing our hearts in
25:35 - this world
25:36 - so you may have heard the phrase used of
25:39 - us as christians that life is all about
25:40 - choice
25:41 - it’s all about whether we apply our free
25:44 - will
25:44 - to follow the things that god would have
25:46 - for us or
25:48 - apply our free will to other things you
25:49 - know the things of the world which are
25:51 - all ultimately controlled by satan
25:53 - and that ultimately is why god allows
25:56 - satan
25:56 - to be here in a position of power in
25:58 - this present creation
26:00 - is to test us so we have the ability as
26:03 - humans to choose between good and evil
26:06 - and ultimately that’s why we’re here we
26:09 - have the ability god’s in fact done
26:11 - everything already for us
26:12 - by giving us a chance to be redeemed to
26:16 - accept the sacrifice that jesus made for
26:17 - us on the cross
26:18 - and all we have to do is not say no but
26:21 - this world is set up
26:22 - to force us into that choice that in
26:25 - large part is why god
26:26 - let satan do the things that he does now
26:29 - not because god couldn’t stop him
26:31 - not because god won’t stop him
26:32 - eventually but because
26:35 - in the time we call now the present god
26:38 - is setting things up
26:39 - to give us a choice to follow him or to
26:41 - follow satan who’s the present ruler of
26:43 - this world