War II - Lucifer and the Origin of Sin - War: Satan, Demons & the Fourth Dimension

Well, y'all ready to study the word?

Okay, me too.

Turning your Bibles to Psalm 144.

We open with Psalm 144, and I want to open our talk with Psalm 144.

Because this is a good theme passage for the summer as we go through this theme of war.

Satan, demons, the fourth dimension.

Blessed be the Lord my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle, my loving kindness and my fortress, my high tower and my deliverer, my shield and the one in whom I take refuge.

You see, that's what those precious brothers and sisters are doing at Emmanuel Church in Charleston, is they are letting Christ be their refuge.

This is what Pam had to do through her abortion and through her struggles.

She had to have Jesus become her refuge.

And as we look at the battle plan of the enemy, as we look at what's how it all got started with Lucifer tonight, we have got to make Christ our refuge, or you cannot survive.

Because the enemy is cunning, clever.

He's been doing this for tens of thousands of years, as we studied last week, millions of years possibly, with the great war that took place in the heavenlies, and he will outsmart you.

Now, how many of you have been to Garden of the Gods and been to the balanced rock?

You go to the balanced rock at Garden of the Gods, and if you're standing in front of the balanced rock at Garden of the Gods, and you were blindfolded.

And then as you stood there, and they and the person places you one foot away from the balanced rock at Garden of the Gods, and they take off the blindfold and they say, Where are you?

And you can't look any other direction but straight forward, you say, I don't know.

I haven't a clue.

Well, take a step back.

See, take a step back, still don't know.

Take a step back, still don't know.

Some big kind of reddish uh rock.

There's some kind of a formation.

You look down, you go, oh, whoa.

That rock's like balancing.

What's the deal?

And it's just cemented now.

But anyway, you see it balanced there.

So then you go back and you back, and as you keep going back, what happens?

You start having perspective, right?

See, most believers are like standing in front of the balanced rock, and they don't have a clue why they have the issues that they have.

They don't have a clue why they struggle with half-heartedness.

Like, I how many of you guys, especially, because I'm like this, you watch, you watch a movie like Braveheart or Gladiator, and you and you somehow implicitly want to be like that guy, but you never are.

Okay?

You know, you can't even, you can't even take on the bully when you're in third grade, much less when you're 35, you know?

And so, oh, I want to be, I'm gonna be gladiator, you know, oh, braveheart.

You know, and so that's the reason they all the guys go to those kind of movies, is because we have this kind of thing where we like identify with it, but we never do it because we're also half-hearted, but the guy on the screen's wholehearted.

You ever thought, why are we that way?

It's because we don't have perspective.

Because the enemy came along at some point in our lives and and and we took some, we took some arrows to the heart, and we lost part of our heart.

We don't know how to fight it back, we don't know how to get it back.

That's part of what the whole heart advance is.

That's that's what the men's retreat's gonna be in September.

How do we get our hearts back?

Become wholehearted, because most of it are half-hearted.

So anyway, we're looking at the balance rock, we we go back, we go back, and suddenly you can see Garden of the Gods.

Whoa, what is this place?

You know, if you didn't know, you know, oh, it's Garden of the Gods.

So you're looking around, whoa, this is look at these, look at these structures.

And then you guys know when you're balanced rock, and especially when you're looking sort of south or southwest, you see Pikes Peak.

And it's beautiful and it's gorgeous, and you have perspective.

So that's what we're doing this summer as we look at this issue of war and the battle plan of the enemy.

Is I'm gonna give you perspective that I pray maybe you maybe you've never had before.

And if you've had it, then I'm gonna reinforce what you already knew about how the enemy works.

And then we're gonna dial it down and get into, we're gonna start moving into the individual aspects of how the enemy works within our lives.

And so, and so look at, let's look again at Genesis 1, 1 and 2.

We started last week.

I believe it's online now, and you can hear the message from last week.

It's probably pretty important that you listen to that message this week to get perspective for this week and next week as we look at this battle plan of the enemy.

And we started with just verses 1 and 2 last week about how there was a cosmic war in the heavenlies.

And here's how we read it.

Verse 1.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Now I believe it was good.

We have no reference to God anywhere in his history or in biblical perspective, theologically or historically, of God ever creating bad stuff or God creating stuff that's chaotic.

But this is what we find.

Period.

Stop.

Grammar, stop, period, verse one.

Then verse two starts the earth was without form and void, and darkness is on the face of the deep.

And so I shared last week that something happened between verses one and verses two, something cataclysmic.

The New King James Version says, without form and void.

The American translation, I believe, is more accurate to the Greek in the Hebrew, which says the earth was formless and void.

Other translations have it as waste and void, verse 2, and this comes from the Hebrew words tohu bohu.

I'm not gonna go into all this, I explained it all last week, but tohu, bohu can be translated wasteland, wilderness, confusion, a wreck.

That's from the concordance.

So something happened.

God doesn't create wasteland, God doesn't create a wreck.

There was something beautiful that was created in time immemorial, and we don't know how long ago.

It could have been millions of years ago, could have been billions of years ago, but then a war broke out.

The French translation says topsy turvy.

That's the translation.

That sounds kind of French, doesn't it?

Topsy turvy.

That sounds English.

With by genetics, they're totally different tribes, so don't get me wrong.

The Franks, the tribes, J.

Feth, and Anglo-Saxons, so never mind.

Anyway, in the message, Eugene Peterson translates Genesis 1, 1 through 2 this way: God created the heavens and earth, all you see and all you don't see, period, stop.

The earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, and inky blackness.

Now, now this is interesting, and we talked about this last week.

I'm just reviewing to get us ready for tonight because it's really important we understand this.

Isaiah 45, 18.

Jot that down.

So Isaiah 45.18 is super important in understanding this idea of a gap.

This is what it says.

For thus says the Lord who created the heavens, he is the God who formed the earth and made it, he established it, and this is important, and did not create it a wasteplace, but formed it to be inhabited.

That's exactly the same Hebrew as Genesis 1, 2, Tohu, Bohu.

He did not create it a confusion, he did not create it a void.

The revised Standard Version even says he did not create it a chaos.

That's their translation right there.

So something happened, and we talked about last week, a great war happened in the heavenly.

So God created the heavens and the earth, times immemorial.

This is not the Genesis account.

And then something happened between verse 1 and verse 2, and that's Revelation 12.7.

So turn to Revelation 12.7.

Again, I covered all this, but I'm just reviewing because you'll understand at the end of my message tonight why this is important.

And war broke out in heaven.

Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.

So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.

He was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

And so so he was cast out, and then it says this then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come.

For the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down.

And so there was a war in heaven, there was a battle in the heavenlies.

We don't know what it was like, but it must have been to such a degree that the earth, which I believe was created beautiful, majestic, and good, became a void, it became a waste place, it became a desert, it became, it became a it became a wreck.

One uh the concordance says it became a wreck.

So what happened?

What was that war?

What was that kind of spiritual, cosmic, nuclear war?

Well, turn in your Bibles to Ezekiel 28.

Ezekiel 28 gives us an insight as to the background of Lucifer.

And I want to just give a thesis here.

Lucifer became the dragon.

So Lucifer became the dragon, and I'll explain that more.

The beginning of the chapter in Ezekiel 28 is a lamentation.

You don't need to read it right now.

You can look at it later if you want to, or you can quickly read it, but it is a lamentation over a real prince of Tyre.

We historically there was a prince of Tyre.

But then in the 11th verse, there's a profound shift, don't miss this, to a king of Tyre.

Interesting shift.

There's no historical record of a king of Tyre.

There is a record of a prince of Tyre, but not a king of Tyre.

So something changes here.

Now let me just give you a little background here.

We'll talk about this.

Within the next couple weeks, we're gonna cover this.

Probably in the next three weeks we're gonna cover this.

Because we're gonna talk about the strategies, the schemes of the dragon.

That there's actually a serpent of old that has schemes and strategies that are actually pretty predictable.

And here in Ezekiel 28, we see a prince of Tyre, a lamentation of the prince of Tyre, but that the 11th verse onward, there's a king of Tyre, and he begins to talk about this king of Tyre.

And I want you to lodge this in your memory as we move forward to the next few months, that I believe that there are demonic territorial spirits over nations.

Okay, that that's found in Daniel chapter 10.

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

Don't you have to turn there, but just lodge this in and remember.

Daniel chapter 10 talks about a territorial spirit, the prince of Persia, um, that the that the archangel had to do battle with to get to Daniel.

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

So so there is, listen, there is a there is a king of Tyre working behind the scenes with a prince of Tyre.

And and we shouldn't be surprised by that.

Because the enemy is always looking for a mouthpiece.

And I believe that there are angels assigned to each of your life.

I really believe that.

I really believe there's angels assigned to your life.

I believe there's also demons assigned to your life.

Now I think it has something to do with your calling.

So in that calling on your life, let's say God's called you to be a doctor, a medical doctor.

God's called you to do that.

Well, you you have a mouthpiece in the medical realm that blesses people, heals people, uh, changes people's lives through medicine.

And as a Jesus follower, you have the opportunity to kind of preach the gospel by being the best doctor that you can be.

Well, there's an enemy also tempting you in those arenas that wouldn't be a temptation to me.

As a pastor, they're a temptation to you.

And so there's this battle that goes on.

Well, especially in the political realm.

So especially in the political realm where actually a leader has control over a nation of people.

There is a strategic calling on that man or woman to be a leader in that arena.

There's also a strategic scheme work being worked out by the enemy if that person gives him the opportunity to.

So we see that.

And so it's amazing in scripture who we see.

I mean, we see a serpent.

We literally see a serpent in Genesis chapter 3 that speaks, a mouthpiece for the enemy, and it's cursed by God.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

And it's interesting, this serpent is probably not on the ground in Genesis 3.

We'll cover this later.

But it says he's cursed to slither on the ground after that.

Remember that?

So that's part of the cursing on the serpent.

There's a cursing on the serpent, there's a cursing on Eve, and there's a cursing on Adam after that, after that fall from grace by Adam and Eve.

But then he's cursed.

But the mouthpiece is some serpent, and it sounds and it would appear wasn't on the ground at that time when he comes.

It may be a very beautiful object at that time.

We see Peter in the Gospels, the most devoted of all the disciples, Jesus finally has to say, get behind me, Satan.

Get behind me, Satan, to Peter.

And so he's using Peter as a mouthpiece.

He uses Judas as a mouthpiece with the Romans.

He uses Judas to come and deceive the eleven apostles, not the disciples, not apostles, yet, but the 11 disciples.

Ananias and Sapphira to come and become a mouthpiece of deception in the early church.

We see a magician that comes along and wants the power of the Holy Spirit in a deceptive way.

So here we see a prince of Tyre and a king of Tyre behind us.

So let's pick it up at verse 12.

Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre and say to him, thus says the Lord God, you were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

You were in Eden, the garden of God.

So this is this is Lucifer in his unfallen state.

Every commentator believes that.

That this is a this king of Tyre is actually Lucifer.

Lucifer means light bearer, it means morning star.

I was always curious.

There's a ministry called Morning Star Ministries.

I'm like, well, what are you thinking?

You know.

But created by God with not perfect, seal of perfection.

Doesn't say that Lucifer's perfect.

It says that he has the seal of perfection.

The highest, I believe, of all created beings.

Remember, Jesus is not created.

Jesus has always been.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have always been.

So a created being, that's really important, you guys, Satan is created.

Lucifer's created.

Lucifer is not like God.

Now, Lucifer has power.

We're going to talk about that a little bit tonight.

We're going to really start opening it up as the summer goes along, what kind of power he does have.

But in this unfallen state, he's full of God's wisdom, beauty in a garden of God.

This is not the Garden of Eden.

The Garden of Eden has not been created yet.

So this is before, this is between Genesis 1.1 and Genesis 1.2.

You understand?

So some some some some Eden in the fourth dimension, some beautiful place created by God, full of beauty, every precious stone was your covering.

The Sardis, the topaz, and diamond, briel, or beryl, ox, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold.

This is important.

I've got this underlined in my Bible.

The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day, listen, you were created.

Created by God, create a creation.

This beautiful place in the heavenlies.

Listen, not unlike the new Jerusalem coming down in Revelation 21.

So I believe there's actually, there is actually a reflection of the beauty being formed by God in the heavenly realm that's going to come down in the latter days.

We're going to see the new Jerusalem.

Okay, it's getting formed up there.

It may already be formed.

I mean, we don't know.

But based on what John saw on Patmos, and we're going to get into Revelation the fall, I believe it's already formed.

I believe there's already this beautiful city.

I think it's already there.

And those that maybe, maybe, maybe, those who predate us in death are already there and they're already experiencing.

They're like, wow, this is great.

I mean, why did I spend$400,000 on that house?

I mean, it's a piece of junk compared to this.

You know, what am I, nut?

Um I could, I could have given that to the road, you know, whatever.

But but here's what it says in Revelation chapter 21.

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

So you don't have to turn there, but let me read it to you.

Revelation 21 says this the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones.

I'm wondering if what we're gonna see in the latter days is exactly where Lucifer uh was a worship leader.

The Jasper, the second was sapphire.

Listen, I mean, it's it's incredible how close in look and in style that the right that the writer John writes compared to Ezekiel, thousands of years between these two guys, okay?

Kinds of precious stones.

The first foundation was Jasper, the second sapphire, the third Chalcedoni, the fourth, Emerald, the fifth, Sardunx, the sixth Sardis, the seventh chrysalite, the eighth berial or barrel, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysopraz, and the eleventh, Jacinth, and the twelfth Amethyst.

So these beautiful stones, I mean, is it real?

I mean, is it literally those stones?

I mean, I actually believe it is.

Some would say it's symbolic of something, but this sounds so familiar with the New Jerusalem that I believe up in the heavenlies there was this beautiful place.

And there in this workmanship, where it said, the workmanship of your timbrels and pipes, is that we believe that Lucifer was a worship leader.

That Lucifer was a was one who received the worship of the cherubim and the seraphim and the angels in heaven, and in some in some mystical way, and it's hard to nail this down, that he received this worship and gave it to God.

And so he's at the highest place of created beings, the scriptures say.

And one particular author said, Lucifer was the first prophet, priest, and king.

Lucifer was the first prophet, priest, and king.

Now, why is that important?

That's important because that's who we're tangling with.

Okay, that's who we're tangling with.

That's the enemy.

He had listen, he has not lost, and this is important, he has not lost any of his power on the earth.

He's been cast to the earth, but he hasn't lost his authority and power on the earth.

And so these stones are very interesting because listen, all you guys that are the nerds, all the nerds here.

By the way, the road has an inordinate amount of nerds.

Um they follow me around even when I quit churches and start new ones.

I get all the nerds, okay?

So the smartest people around, you guys are smart, most of you are smart.

We got so many engineers and retired colonels and lieutenants, I mean all the guys who really think, okay.

Um praise God, they lead our nation too.

Um but if you do a study on this, which all you nerds will do this, because I did it and I'm kind of like you a little, um, and that is that the that the stones that are mentioned here in our passage in Ezekiel 28 are so similar, listen, to the stones on the breastplate of the priest in the temple.

Those twelve stones representing the tribes of Israel.

Again, reinforcing our thesis that Lucifer was a worship leader.

Okay.

He was one who is in the rim of being a worship leader.

Now listen, I want to just emphasize this again.

He's a created being.

That means what?

If you're created, you have a beginning and you have a guess where he's gonna end up?

Oh, lake of fire.

That's good news.

All right, verse 14.

And you are the anointed cherub who covers.

You are the anointed cherub who covers.

Again, reinforcing this worship.

That's what cherubim and seraphim do.

They worship the Lord.

We know that from Revelation.

Revelation chapter 3, Revelation chapter 4, the cherubim, the seraphim, all uh before the throne, saying, singing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who is and was and is to come.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention Revelation 4 · chapter mention

I establish you, you are on the holy mountain of God.

Another crucial phrase here, worth underlining or highlighting, holy mountain.

Mountain of God, you walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones.

One commentator, Pimber, writes this: quote, the mountain of God is the place of his presence in visible glory, where his high priest would stand before God to minister.

We know that the cherubim of God are stationed just below the footstool of the throne of God.

And you can rock mark that with Ezekiel 1.26.

This also explains when Moses took Aaron, Nadab, and Abehu and the seven elders up to Mount Sinai.

I'll let you study that if you have an interest in that.

The holy mountain of God is the idea of the government of God.

And so Lucifer was over the mountain of God in times immemorial.

Before he fell, he was worshiped leader, like a prime minister over the holy mountain of God, probably an elevated archangel.

And we'll, again, we'll cover this later, but in Ephesians 6, where it talks about principalities and powers, there are hierarchies in the heavenly realm.

There's hierarchies in the demonic realm.

And so at the elevated, most elevated point of an archangel, that's where Lucifer resided.

The French translator, Segonde, translates the anointed cherub who covers, quote, thou wast the protecting cherub with spread out wings.

So he led in worship.

It's funny, Greg and I were talking about different issues with sound here in this room and how we try to gauge sound and problems we have with sound here.

And he said that how did you say that, Greg?

I this is hilarious.

Okay.

When Satan got kicked out of heaven, he fell into church sound systems.

That's great.

Karl Marx said this.

Take notice.

Karl Marx said this.

If you give me the poetry, art, and music of a nation, I will control them.

So Lucifer, who when he fell, becomes Satan or the dragon, knows the power of poetry, art, and worship.

Verse 15.

You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created till iniquity was found in you.

By the abundance of your trading, you became filled with violence within, and you sinned.

They were the first humans that sinned.

They brought it to the human race.

But Lucifer, i.e.

the dragon, was the first who sinned.

And I like what Donald Gray Barnhouse calls it in his book, The Invisible War.

He calls it spontaneous generation.

We don't know exactly what happened, but some kind of there was a spontaneous generation in the heart of Lucifer.

And note that it says, you became filled with violence within.

So we have had violence upon the earth ever since.

There was literally violence that occurred right after Adam and Eve, as we see Cain and Abel and the first murder on the earth.

There's violence.

Every one of us are violent at times, right?

I mean, I mean, I know Liz and I are.

Good grief.

We like to say that we should have had some, there's probably some line of Italians somewhere in our bloodline.

Because we we fight like Italians and we make love like a fellow.

We're passionate, okay?

And uh sorry for all you, that's embarrassing and everything, but it's true.

So I hope you do too.

You know, better to fight than hold it in.

I can tell you that, you'll get depressed.

Um but what happens here is that the universe had one will.

And by the way, heaven still has one will.

Heaven has one will, but at this point there became two wills.

There can't be two wills in heaven.

Do you know that?

So at that point, he gets booted out.

He get there, some kind of a war takes place, and he is cast out because he sinned, because now there's two wills.

And I'd like to say, well, there's only two wills on the earth.

Are you kidding me?

What's the population right now on the earth?

Seven billion something?

Is that what it is?

Huh?

Let's say seven billion.

It's over seven billion.

There's seven billion wills on the earth.

And so Satan would like to think he comes in, he can, you know, tempt us and guide us to do his kind of work.

He has one problem.

You have a will.

Even as a non-believer, you can resist the works of the enemy.

Even if you don't have the Holy Spirit, you can resist the enemy.

It's really frustrating to the enemy.

I mean, Luther must be really frustrated because he got Eve so quick.

And then he got Adam really quick.

And then it's been a real problem ever since.

Because he hates you.

I mean, he hates you, hates you as much as he hates God because you're created in the image of God.

So Satan hates you.

And guess what?

You hate him.

You actually hate Satan because you want to be on the throne of your life.

You don't even want Lucifer to be on the throne.

You want to be on the throne of life, right?

And if you don't understand that, then, you know, we need to take, you know, Christianity 101 because we're all sinners, and so we all have our own way.

So sin began in the heart of Satan.

A spontaneous generation within the heart of Lucifer, and he lost his place in heaven.

And we believe it was pride.

And we'll see, understand that in a minute with Isaiah 14.

Pride was the beginning of the point of Satan's fall.

It's what Satan comes to through the serpent with Eve.

You can be like God.

You can be like God.

And it's always the same starting point for all sin is not thy will be done, but I will be done, or my will be done.

My will be done, not thy will be done.

Right?

It's the beginning of a hardening, a hardening of the heart, is saying, My will be done instead of thy will be done.

Therefore, I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God.

And I destroyed you, O covering Jacob, from the midst of the fiery stones.

Therefore I cast you out as a profane thing, out of the mountain of God, the government of God, over the cherubim, the server, and the angels in the heavenly realm, and I destroyed you.

Now listen, take the whole sentence.

He didn't destroy Lucifer, now the dragon.

I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones.

So he's cast out, there's a war in the heavenlies between verses one and two.

Pride found in the heart of Lucifer, a created being, and he becomes a dragon.

And so Satan, standing between God and creation as the highest of created cherubs, wells up with pride.

So what is it that happened in the heart of Satan?

So turn to Isaiah 14.

Isaiah 14.

It's interesting.

I find it super interesting, Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, how similar they are.

Because in in Ezekiel 28, there is a prince of Tyre that then becomes, that is, that is the mouthpiece for a king of Tyre, i.e.

Lucifer.

In Isaiah 14, we have a king over Babylon, who it appears would be some kind of a mouthpiece for Lucifer.

Starting at verse 12.

You'll have to study that on your own, the first 11 verses, but verse 12 starts off this way.

How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning.

So that's his meaning, son of the morning, star of the morning, morning star.

How you are cut down to the ground, you who have weakened the nations.

For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.

I will also sit on the mount of the congregation, on the furtherest side to the north.

Verse 14.

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.

So five I wills representing pride and arrogance and rebellion in the heart of Lucifer, son of the morning, cut down, driven out of heaven to the earth.

This is the first great war.

This is Wolf War I.

This is cosmic war one.

This spontaneous generation in Lucifer, the morning star, becomes dragon and the great deceiver.

And so, church, the root of all evil, and it's important that we start here, that as we look at how how demons work, we're gonna keep going back to this, that the temptation for all of us is my will be done.

I will, I will, I will.

Rather than thy will be done, thy kingdom come.

We're gonna actually look in our in our next, we're gonna do stuff about America on the 4th of July, but after that we're gonna look at this idea of um the very, was it verse 13 of Matthew 6, which is the Lord's Prayer, or some have called it the disciples' prayer, it ends with, Thine is the kingdom of the power and the glory, right?

Right, you know that?

Okay, thine is the kingdom of the power and the glory.

We're gonna see that the temptation in Luke chapter 4 and Matthew 4, in which in which Satan comes to Jesus, basically follows the same line that mine is the kingdom and the power and the glory.

Luke 4 · chapter mention

And I'll show you exactly.

It's it's it's it's clear as a bell that um that Satan says, I have the kingdom, the power, and the glory.

And so it's the great temptation for all of us is it my will that you can be like God, that you can have control of your life.

Folks, you do not have control of your life.

If you did, you wouldn't be taking medical insurance out.

You wouldn't be taking out life insurance.

I mean, yeah, it's obvious.

It's like, oh, you're an idiot, you know.

Of course you don't, but you think you do, because you've been told that that's really how you make a man.

That's how you that's how you're a uh a woman who arises.

I will take control of my life.

And it's a big lie from the enemy.

Actually, we surrender.

Salvation comes through surrender.

That's what Pam had to do.

She had to surrender to the Lord.

That's what you and I that have have been born again, have a personal relationship with Christ, you had to surrender to the King of Kings, Lord of Lord.

And then we have to do it every day.

I mean, wouldn't it be great if we could just like get filled with the Holy Spirit, you know?

If some of you have really dramatic feelings of fall down, you know, speak in tongues, something really dramatic happens.

I think it's great.

I've experienced all that.

But but so then what we do is we make the spirit-filled life a title.

I'm spirit-filled.

I go to a spirit-filled church.

Pastor Steve is pastoring a spirit-filled church.

And then they come and say, Are you a spirit-filled church?

I say, Well, which day are we talking about?

What are you talking about?

I said, Well, Monday we weren't very spirit-filled.

You should have seen all the emails that were going back and forth.

But Tuesday we were because we worked it all out on Monday.

What?

You know, no, and it's like, are you spirit-filled?

Folks, there's no such thing as a spirit-filled church.

Because a spirit-filled life, according to Ephesians 5, 18 and 19, is not a title, it's a function.

You're spirit-filled by the choices you make every day.

I mean, I have been around and I have been this person where, you know, I have a great time with the Lord.

I worship the Lord.

Oh, Lord, love you, bless you.

I surrender all.

I surrender all to Jesus.

I surrender.

And then I just go and I just backbite my wife for the next three hours.

But I'm spirit-filled, right?

No, I'm not spirit-filled.

I'm Steve Holt's spirit-filled.

I'm Steve's, I'm Steve-filled, not spirit-filled.

Right?

You all do it.

If you deny that, you're living in la la land.

I mean, it's just the way it is.

What do we do?

So the spirit-filled life, guys, is putting Christ on the throne of our life.

Making a choice every day.

And so what happened, and what happens to us is we get tempted because we struggle with jealousy, we dragged, we struggle with envy, we struggle with gossip, we struggle with lust.

And so Christ has set us free.

Yes, technically that's true.

But in the aftermath of being set free, we have this world we live in, which is ruled by the prince of the power of the air, who's always tempting us.

And so this prince of this prince of the power of the air ruling over the earth is what we battle with.

So turn in your Bible as I conclude to Colossians chapter 2.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

And I think this is a just conclusion tonight, Colossians chapter 2, and we'll pick all this up next time.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

Colossians 2.6, and we're going to read this passage, Colossians 2.6.

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, that's a great start.

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.

Rooted, listen, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

Now he wouldn't be saying this if it wasn't a struggle.

If everybody just naturally did that, then he wouldn't have to say it.

But he's saying it because even though we've received Christ Jesus our Lord, we don't let ourselves get rooted and built up in him.

We don't let ourselves get established in the faith.

We don't allow the teachings we've heard to permeate the deep parts of our heart, and we don't have Thanksgiving, right?

And so part of the discipleship here at the road, and the reason we're in the Word together, is because each time we come together, we're being, I pray, rooted and built up in Him.

I pray at least a couple times a year when I think about the teaching and the establishing of the road in Mountain Springs before that, and the ministry in Japan before that, all this stuff.

I want a people rooted and built up in Christ.

Not rooted and built up in me, or not rooted and built up in tradition, but rooted and built up in Christ and established in the faith.

Verse 8, beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit.

This is why colleges are so dangerous.

I love college.

My kids all go to college.

My kids have gone to secular colleges and Christian colleges.

I like both.

But if you don't have an awareness, young people, about the philosophies and the world views you're going to be hearing in college, they will still trample and take away and rip you off of your faith.

88% of evangelical young people who go to secular colleges lose their faith.

Now, fortunately, that statistic doesn't go far enough because what happens is when they get married and they start having kids, they come back to the faith, which is awesome.

But there's this interim where they make a lot of stupid decisions.

And I'll just tell you, man, be careful, you guys.

Be careful of the philosophies you buy into.

He calls it here empty deceit.

And who's the great deceiver?

So Satan's behind it.

According to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of this world, the basic principles of this world, and not according to Christ.

For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him.

You have everything you need in Christ.

Isn't that exciting?

I know a young man who was at a college years ago, and it was, I think if I recall, it had to do with something with evolution.

This guy was just pontificating about evolution.

It was a freshman, it was a freshman class, you know, and when I was at Georgia, I had two or three of these where it's like an arena.

Like everybody has to take it, you know.

And so there's like 300 in the class.

And I remember it's like an arena.

And at least mine was.

And I heard the same gobbledygoop that I got, that he was getting too, but I didn't have the courage.

I wasn't even hardly a believer.

I was barely in, I mean, I was in salvation, but I didn't know anything.

And so I was like, okay, whatever.

But anyway, this guy was intelligent.

He had been taught worldview, he understood some things, and uh, and he just stands up in his classes at Vanderbilt.

And um, and he says, I totally disagree with you, prof.

I'm sorry, but uh I believe that God created all, and that through Christ we can we can have uh wisdom from God and it's and it's supernatural, and I believe you're created by God from the beginning, and I mean all hell broke loose.

And I don't think he did well that semester in that class.

For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him who is the head of all.

Listen, principality in power.

Ooh.

And so don't forget that the created one, Lucifer, was cast out, and Christ is over all principalities in power.

Verse 11.

In him you also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands.

So he's not talking about physical circumcision.

By putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, every one of you that know Christ, your Lord and Savior, you've been circumcised with Christ.

Buried with him in baptism.

I hope you've been baptized, you haven't been baptized, you need to get baptized.

If you know Jesus, your Lord and Savior, you haven't been baptized a believer, you need to get baptized a believer.

It's a good thing.

There's power on it.

When Peter preached the gospel at Pentecost, and then subsequent to that, he said, he said, you know, come to Christ, repent of your sin, get baptized.

So baptism is important.

Bury with him in baptism, which you also are raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

And you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive, together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.

Verse 14, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us, he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross, having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them in it.

So, men and women, you are complete in Christ.

Men and women, you have been made alive in Christ.

That's why we study this stuff.

That's why we're here.

Is we're gonna learn to walk in complete wholeheartedness in Christ, all in, through the power of the Spirit, dealing with shame, through giving that to the Lord and letting him take it, because if we don't, we're gonna we're gonna struggle with stuff our whole life.

And so, and so you can walk in wholeheartedness.

I believe that.

By the spirit-filled life.

And what Christ did at the cross covered it all.

It's all covered at Calvary.

And so we're gonna talk about how do you put that on.

I mean, how do you live that out?

And we'll cover that the next time.

So let's stand.

Have the worship team come up.

As the worship team's coming up, are there any questions over the these first two weeks about what we've talked about?

And if I can answer them, I will.

If I can't, we can talk later.

Um, any questions on any of this stuff?

It's kind of, I mean, I think we lost about a third of our people here tonight.

Um, I saw tons of people leaving.

I don't know if their kids were giving him trouble or something or what he's freaked out.

Um, I don't know.

I'm used to that.

Um so any questions on anything?

Any questions?

Yes.

Little girl in the back.

And y'all help me if I can't hear her good.

Mom.

Okay.

Well, first of all, the devil doesn't take you over a lot because you don't allow him to.

I mean, even as even as unbelievers, we have a will.

And so don't get the impression that there's a demon behind every bush or that every time you look at a magazine, it's a bad magazine or something, that the devil's doing that.

I'm not saying that.

So that's the first thing.

The second thing is because he loves us.

He loves you so much that he wants you to have a free will.

And you know, um, in our lives, as parents, and we have seven kids, um, we we try to give our kids a lot of freedom with some boundaries.

So, I mean, it what what we give as far as boundaries at eight years old is different than when they're 18 years old.

But we believe that the best way for them to find their place and to discover God's work in their life and their talents and their skills is to have the freedom to make choices and not us dictating to them.

And that comes from God.

That whole line of thinking comes from the Lord because he gave us that free will.

So it's is it risky?

I mean, is that radical or what?

I mean, wouldn't I mean God would be easier for God to just make a bunch of robots, you know, Stepford wives or something.

But he doesn't do that because he loves us and he gives us the free will to choose.

Anybody else?

Okay, Father, we just settle our hearts now.

Thank you, God, for your word.

God, I want to just thank you for the your your church, your people.

God, may we be a church that is aware of the schemes of the enemy, but never fearing the enemy, but walking with fearless faith.

God, as we worship you, I want to just say thank you, God.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you for going to Calvary and breaking the power of every principality and power.

Thank you, Lord, that you took the handwriting that's been written, the accusations, the scripting that's been written against every one of us here, and you nailed it.

You nailed it to the cross.

It is done.

You nailed shame at the cross.

You nailed infidelity at the cross.

You nailed lust at the cross.

You nailed addictions at the cross.

You nailed those areas of our life that nobody knows about but you and us, and it is done, and it's washed with the blood of the Lamb.

And so, Father, we worship you and we bless you and we thank you.

Because only you could do that.

And we want you to know how much we love you now as we worship and praise you and thank you.

In the name of the blood of Jesus.

Let's worship.