SA Ep66 - Dialogue with the Devil (Part 5)

SA Ep66 - Dialogue with the Devil (Part 5)

 The final episode turns from deception to victory. Revelation 12:11 reveals how believers overcome the enemy: through the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and a life fully surrendered to Christ. Satan’s accusations are defeated through the cleansing power of Christ’s sacrifice. His lies lose their influence when believers boldly confess their faith and stand publicly for the truth. And his threats lose their power when Christians value Christ above comfort or safety. The episode concludes with a clear presentation of the Gospel: God loves humanity, sin separates us from Him, Christ died to provide salvation, and that salvation must be personally received through faith. Through Jesus Christ the lies of the enemy are replaced with the truth that brings freedom and eternal life. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to the Seeking Approval Podcast. I'm Dr. Chris Smelster from Iliad Baptist Church. You know, life moves fast, and faith is not meant to be rushed. I want to take some time and slow down with you and have some honest conversations from the Word of God about daily living. So join me here today on Seeking Approval. There have been some great battles of victory in history. The Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, when Greece was fighting to preserve its independence against a uh a Persian army that was four to five times larger than it, this little band of a few thousand soldiers defeated Persia and maintained their independence that day. There's been others, the American Revolutionary War. Whenever through a long winter, uh George Washington uh had uh took his men, they were boiling their boots just to eat the leather to be able to survive the long winter. And there in uh unexpected places like Trenton and Yorktown, the the battle was turned, the tide was turned in the war, and America uh gained its independence through this uh uh unexpected victory. What about in 1942, the Battle of Midway? Japan had been winning the battle in the Pacific. Uh it was it was not looking good for America, but then the United States Navy intercepted the plans, launched a surprise attack, and that day took down four Japanese aircraft carriers. To this day, most military historians say it was one of the most decisive naval victories in history, and possibly was the one uh one of the few moments that really turned the World War II into the favor of America. What about the Six-Day War? Israel in 1967 was facing one of the one of the greatest oppositions in in modern history, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, overwhelming odds, millions and millions standing against Israel. And yet, through uh unexpected uh ways, Israel was able to intercept some information, was able to destroy uh the areas of runways in Egypt. They had they must they mistook some information, they ended up surrendering, and within six days, Israel achieved one of the most stunning modern military victories that dramatically changed the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East. I mean, there's there's so many others that we could look at in these great victories in history. But can I say this? I think the greatest victory that's ever been won was a victory that was won at Calvary. That day at Calvary, Christ destroyed all the lies that Satan has ever told. He destroyed every false doctrine, every false promise that Satan has ever made. He destroyed every sinful uh thought, lust, and desire that man has ever thought of. That day all sin was laid upon Christ, and he took those ordinances that were written against us according to Colossians. He took those ordinances and he nailed them to the cross and covered them with his own blood so that you and I do not have to face the judgment for our sin. What a victory. Not only was it a victory over sin, it was a victory over death, hell, and the grave. Revelation tells us that that Christ holds the keys to death and hell because he conquered them that day. So in this series, we've been looking at the dialogue with the devil. How do we know if it's Satan talking to us or not? We've looked at the flaws of Satan. We looked at him trying to question God and trying to elevate ourselves, trying to deny God's word, and then trying to cause us to think of ourselves as our own gods. We've looked at all those steps. So, how do we overcome those things? How do we overcome what Satan tries to, and he tells us those lies every single day? There's a great verse that will show us that. And quite possibly, one of my favorite verses in all of Scripture. 31,102 verses. This is in is this has got to be in the top 31,000 at least. Revelation chapter number 12, verse number 11. We studied this not too long ago in our Sunday night series where we're dealing with the book of Revelation. It says, And they overcame him, him being Satan, overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death. Three things that were given in that verse on how we overcome Satan. Three things. And the first one is the most important. And I want to look at this with you on how we overcome Satan and his deception in what God has given us. The first victory comes through the blood of the Lamb, the ultimate answer for all of the accusations of Satan that uh you know tells us that we're not good enough or that we're too good, uh, that we're better than what God has given us. The first thing is we must hold true to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Satan thrives on guilt and and condemnation. He's constantly reminding us of our sin, of our failure, uh, or he's trying to over-inflate our egos. Either way, either way, the cross of Christ silences all of those accusations. It it elevates us from uh from an undeserving, worthless uh uh human, which uh in fact we are, but it's through the blood of Christ that we are made worthy. But it also deflates us when we feel that we are bigger than we are, that Christ was the one who went to the cross, not us. So when we face those things, if we'll place Christ's faith in our place, because faith is given to us by Christ, faith belongs to Christ, he gives to us freely. And that through that through Christ, the penalty of sin is removed and forgiveness is granted. John 1 7, the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses us from all sin. The first way we gain the victory over all this is number one, we've got to claim the blood of Jesus Christ. Again, I know there's a group out there who will lie to you and say that we're not saved through the blood. They will use the verse over in John where it says, not by blood or by will of man. That's meaning not by bloodline. You're not saved because of who you are, who you know, or who your mama or daddy was. You're not saved because it was, you know, you're you're the child of King so-and-so. We are saved through the blood of Jesus Christ. The Bible is very explicit on this. Like everything we've said so far, the Bible is very, very clear. The cleansing power of Jesus, his sacrifice he made for us, the sacrifice of Jesus made for us, breaks through all the authority of sin, breaks through all the lies and the condemnation of Satan. It is through that blood that we gain our victory and our granted forgiveness. We don't have to elevate ourselves above God. We just need to accept Jesus Christ. We don't need to question what God has told us. We just need to believe in Jesus Christ. When Satan comes and tries to uh attack us and tries to uh uh dialogue with us, just claim the blood of Jesus Christ. He can't stand it. Claim the blood of Jesus Christ. They overcame him, number one, by the blood of Jesus Christ. Number two, they overcame him by the word of their testimony. Faith in Jesus in Jesus Christ, and what he's done done for us is not to remain silent or hidden. I don't believe that we are silent observers. I don't believe that we are uh those conscientious objectors to where we're just going to be part of God's secret service. I think we we are called, we are called to confess. Matter of fact, Romans 10 9 says, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and shalt believe in thine heart that God had raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Isaiah was told to cry aloud, spare not, and to sound the trumpet of the gospel. When believers speak the truth, that God raised his son from the dead, that that uh uh that that Christ is has forgiven our sins, Satan cannot stand in those moments. What if Eve would have simply just spoke back to to Satan when when he began to question if she would have just stood firm and said, No, this is what God said. I'm not going to do that. I wonder how much farther that conversation would have gone. Now you and I can answer that question by doing that today. When Satan comes and says, you know, you really don't need to continue in whatever path it is. You don't need to continue, you know, doing that job at the church. You don't need to continue loving that family member like that. You need to be harsh toward them. You need to quit that thing, you need to, or whatever it is. When Satan comes, you say, no, this is what God has told me to do, and I'm going to do it until God tells me to quit doing it. And I'm not going to listen to you, Satan. Because God's not going to tell me just to walk off and to quit. He's going to show me, He's going to show me a way to move to a different area. He's going to bring somebody along who can step in so that I can step out. He's not going to leave a vacancy, uh, uh He's not going to leave a blank space. He's not going to cause a He's not going to cause his church members, uh, the His sheep to go out and to wander without a local congregation just to wander into the streets where the uh the lion is seeking who and may devour because they're just going to go look for a church to be a part of. I don't think God does that. So our testimony then, I'm going to stay, I'm going to remain until God tells me otherwise. The third victory, according to Revelation, is that they love not their lives unto death. This is the hard one. This is the hard one because we all love our life. We all love hearing our own thoughts. We love to uh to set our own path and our own course and um do our own thing. We all we love that. But if we're going to overcome Satan, we have to be able to not love our life, not love ourselves, even if it means dying. Because when we begin to love ourselves, he can use that against us like he did in the garden and say, Well, you know, he's trying to lie to you now. There's he's he's trying to keep good things from you. But if we deny ourselves, it doesn't matter what he tells us like that. True discipleship requires surrender. Jesus said in uh 923, he says, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. And that's hard for some folks to do. That's hard for a lot of folks to do. And all these three things lead us to the heart of the gospel. Satan's lies will destroy, but Christ will save. Satan's lies tear down, Satan's lies split. Satan's lies cause division, cause confusion, cause vacancies. That's what Satan's lies will cause. The truth of Christ brings people together. The Bible, but the people say, but the Bible says that he came to to divide, he came to set family against family, mother against daughter. Because when you choose Christ, you choose him. And if others don't choose him, then you can't go with them. You've got to let them go. So he didn't come to cause them to go the other way. He came that they would all choose him together. But if they don't choose, you can't go with them. Again, let's go back to the garden. How much different things would be when Adam walked up and Eve gave him the fruit? If Adam would have said, Well, wait a minute, we're not supposed to do that. I'm not taking that. How does the story change after that? What happens in in your family when you know the husband or the wife says, Well, I'm not going to church anymore? You say, That's up to you. I'm going to church. Now, if you're the husband, I would say you need to get a hold of your family and tell your family, Sunday morning, get up and get ready. We're going to church. We didn't have a choice growing up. I mean, I don't want to talk so much about myself, but we didn't have a choice growing up. My parents never woke us up and said, Well, do y'all feel like going to church today? What church do I want to go to? Do you want to go where all the kids are at? Do you want to go here? No. Our dad set the example. He was the one following God. He was the one who answered for our family. He got up, he got ready. We were expected to get up and get ready and be at church on Sunday morning. It was not a question. It was never a thought of, I wonder if we're going to church tomorrow. Yet that seems to be the going thing today. You know, the kids, well, the kids didn't really want to go to church today. I'm sorry. When did that become the kids' choice? I missed that part of scripture if that's the case. I read the part where the the the man, the husband, the father, is supposed to be the spiritual guide of the family, not the mother, not the kids, but the husband, the father. So many fathers today, and I can speak to this because I am one, so many fathers today are is leaving the spiritual health up to the wife and up to the children, and they do it in the name of, well, I gotta work on Sundays and provide for my family. Let me give you a quick warning here, men. There's something more important that you need to provide for your family besides a paycheck. We need to deny ourselves every once in a while, maybe deny a few things that that uh that paycheck that we'll go to Sunday work and get. We need to deny a few of those things and start living for God. I understand there's there's folks out there that have jobs that require Sunday work. There's doctors, there's nurses, and things that that you there's sometimes you can't avoid unless you you change your career path. I understand that. I'm I'm speaking to those people who are making a choice. And there are plenty of people out there who are living under the guise of, well, I, you know, I just I have no other choice, you know, the uh the the uh the giant lumber yard, you know, I have to be there because you know we I you know we might be selling lawnmowers or on sale this Sunday, and I've got to be there to help sell lawnmowers. Come on. Is is there not is there not a testimony that we have that's greater than that? Did Christ not do something for us? Did he not give his life? Did the blood of Christ not do anything? Is our testimony not worth something more than that? When are we gonna step up and start using the blood of Christ and our testimony and denying ourselves a little bit and allowing us to destroy Satan's lies by doing that? What began with deception in the garden will lead us to destruction. Or what began with deception in the garden can lead us to redemption in Jesus Christ. It's destruction or it's redemption. But it all will come through Christ. Our destruction will come at the judgment of Jesus Christ. Our redemption comes at the cross of Jesus Christ. So I encourage you listen to God's word, claim the blood, profess and testify, give your testimony, and deny ourselves. In doing that, we can stand firm, we can resist the enemy, we can stop dialoguing with the devil and live in the victory that God has provided through His Son. Thank you for joining us today on Seeking Approval. You know, our faith oftentimes grows in quiet places. I hope today's conversation gave you something worth carrying throughout the rest of this day. And join me, Dr. Chris Smelser, again next time as we continue thinking, learning, and walking together. Until then, grace and peace to you from Seeking Approval at Gilead Baptist Church.