Angelic Conflict 414: The CREATOR'S Will Permits You to Be Deceived

WELCOME TO BARAH MINISTRIES

 

Good Morning!

Let’s Make a Mental Shift

 

In preparation for the study of the Word of God, your first shift is a mental shift.  The Word of God equips you. Studying the Word of God prepares your mentality for the spiritual battles that you face every day.  The Word of God keeps you on the alert, preparing you to detect any recommendation from the cosmic system that would make you deviate from the Plan of God for your life.  God wants you to…

 

2TI 2:15

Study to show yourself approved unto God as a workman who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

 

Welcome to bible study.  Now is the time to relax…to renew your mind…to give your cares and worries into the hands of the Savior of the universe, the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the One who has all the answers and all the power, even the power to calm the seas.  He is especially good at calming the turbulent seas that wash within the boundaries of your soul.

 

INVITATION TO RESTORATION

Make a Spiritual Shift

 

The second shift, before you study the Word of God, is a spiritual shift.  If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are dead to the sovereignty of the sin nature, and Christ has paid for your personal sins at the Cross.  Your spiritual shift simply is a moment of remembrance for you to thank the Lord Jesus Christ for handling the sin problem, once and for all time at the Cross.

 

ROM 6:18

…and having been freed from (the sovereignty of the) sin (nature at the Cross), you (believers in Christ) became slaves (servants) of (the absolute) righteousness (imputed to you at the moment of salvation).

 

Rather than recalling our personal sins as if we should somehow obsess over them, we simply get ready to have our minds renewed so we can have the chance to live the Zoe Life to the fullest.

SILENT REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

 

Please take a few moments to reflect in silence, letting the Lord Jesus Christ occupy your mind, as our God gets you ready to know His exact thinking.

 

OPENING SONG

Fear Not

 

OPENING PRAYER

 

Let us pray...(0:30)

 

We’re grateful Heavenly Father for the privilege of studying the absolute truth...the Word of God...

 

We ask that you grant us strength from the power of God the Holy Spirit richly indwelling our human spirits, so that we may be able to comprehend all the dimensions of what you are revealing to us today…and help us to know the depths of the unconditional love that the Savior, your Son, has for us, so that we can be filled up to all the fullness of God as we continue in the study of the Word of God…

 

We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit...in Christ’s name...

Amen.

 

WELCOME TO BARAH MINISTRIES

Pastor Rory Clark

 

My name is Pastor Rory Clark.  You’re listening to lesson four hundred and fourteen of the Angelic Conflict series.  Welcome to a ministry designed for serious students of the Word of God.

 

TODAY’S STUDY

The CREATOR’S Will Permits You to be Deceived

 

We continue our study of the second of the twenty-one categories of doctrine that are part of the Angelic Conflict. 

 

All twenty-one categories of doctrine begin with the letter C.  We’re learning about the character and nature of our CREATOR at the second of the twenty-one C’s.

 

In fact, if you reflect on what we have been learning here at Barah Ministries over the last five years, most of our learning has been centered on the CREATOR.  We are learning about the depths of God’s Person, and we’re using an encoding device called the CREATOR CLOCK to introduce us to the various aspects of God’s character.  Tick tock.  What time is it on the CREATOR CLOCK?  It’s seven o’clock.

 
 
 

God is WILLING.  We’re studying God’s Will.  The Creator’s will permits you to be deceived.  The Creator’s permissive will is letting the Angelic Conflict play out.  You are part of it.

 

What is the Angelic Conflict?

The Angelic Conflict is a formal trial of all angelic creatures in which they are given a finite time period to make a decision for or against the reconciliation offer of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

COL 1:22

…yet He (the Lord Jesus Christ) has now reconciled you (all creatures) in His fleshly body through (His substitutionary spiritual) death, in order to present you (believers in Christ) before Him (God the Father) holy and blameless and beyond reproach

 

What is the Angelic Conflict?

Both Satan and at least one third of the angelic creatures, called fallen angels, refused the reconciliation offer.

 

REV 12:4

“And his (Satan’s) tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.”

 

These angels are called fallen, because after their rebellion, they chose to

remain fallen by refusing God’s reconciliation offer. 

 

What is the Angelic Conflict?

The Angelic Conflict also includes human history, which is the appeal trial of Satan and the fallen angels.  Human history is an exact duplication of angelic history.  All humans are given a finite time period to make a decision for or against the reconciliation offer of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

HEB 9:27

“And inasmuch as it is appointed (it is destiny) for men to die once (physically because of the possession of sin nature) and after this comes judgment (evaluation of the evidence about your life…a fair hearing from God)”

 

What is the Angelic Conflict?

The angelic conflict continues throughout human history until the appeal trial is complete at the end of the Lord Jesus Christ’s millennial reign on the earth.  Then comes the evaluation. 

 

What is the Angelic Conflict?

 

For unbelievers, The Great White Throne Judgment…

 

REV 20:15

And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

 

What is the Angelic Conflict?

 

For believers, The Judgment Seat of Christ…

 

2CO 5:10

For we (believers in Christ) must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed (compensated) for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether (divine) good or bad (dead works).

 

The Angelic Conflict is a courtroom trial, and there is a creature in the courtroom who seeks to deceive the whole world into thinking that the Lord

Jesus Christ is unfair and unloving.

 

Satan is the deceiver, and he is allowed by God to deceive you.

 

REV 12:9

And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

 

Nothing in this world happens without God’s permission.  Who is Satan?  He is an angelic creature, who is the enemy of God and who is appointed by God as the ruler of this world.

 

JOH 12:31

“Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.”

 

JOH 16:11

“…and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”

 

As the ruler of the world, Satan has a system of thought called the kosmos in the Koine Greek of the bible, the cosmic system of thought.

 

JAM 4:4

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world (the kosmos) is hostility (hatred) toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

 

There is nothing in the cosmic system of thought that honors or respects God because Satan does not honor or respect God.  In fact, Satan’s full time job is to use the cosmic system of thought to deceive us.  Satan is the Father of all lies.

 

JOH 8:44

“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Satan is the father of all deceivers and the father of all deception.

 

REV 13:14

And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.

 

REV 13:15

And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

 

Satan is the sponsor of false teachers and false teaching.

 

MAT 24:24-25

“For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect (believers in Christ).Behold, I have told you in advance.”

 

1TI 4:1

But (God) the (Holy) Spirit explicitly says that in later times (every generation) some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons…

 

Satan has deceived some of the best of them.

 

Peter was deceived, and the Lord Jesus Christ warned him that he would be in Luke, Chapter 22, Verse 31…

 

LUK 22:31

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift (all of) you like wheat…”

 

LUK 22:32

“…but I (the Lord Jesus Christ) have prayed for you (specifically Peter), that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

 

I like the Wuest translation of these verses…

 

LUK 22:31-32 Wuest Translation

Simon, Simon, behold, Satan by asking obtained you and your fellow disciples for himself and from my power to his, in order that he may shake you in a sieve as grain is sifted, by an inward agitation, trying your faith to the verge of overthrow. But as for myself, I made petition concerning you that your faith should not be totally eclipsed. And as for you, when you have returned to your original position with respect to your faith, stabilize your brethren.

 

Satan does nothing to us without God’s permission.  Back to the New American Standard translation, Luke, Chapter 22, Verse 33…

 

LUK 22:33

But he (Simon Peter) said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!”

 

LUK 22:34

And He (the Lord Jesus Christ) said, “I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”

 

Peter was deceiving himself by overestimating his strength and by underestimation the deceiving ability of Satan and the kingdom of darkness.  Take a five minute break and we’ll see what happens next.

 

BREAK

Better is One Day

When I Think About Home

 

Welcome back!

 

Peter says, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!”  In other words, “I won’t turn on you!”  Here’s what happens…turn in your bibles to Mark, Chapter 14, beginning at verse 66…

 

MAR 14:66

As Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant-girls of the high priest came…

MAR 14:67

…and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Nazarene.”

 

Denial One

 

MAR 14:68

But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.” And he went out onto the porch.

 

MAR 14:69

The servant-girl saw him, and began once more to say to the bystanders, “This is one of them!”

 

Denial Two

 

MAR 14:70a

But again he (Simon Peter) denied it.

 

MAR 14:70b

And after a little while the bystanders were again saying to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean, too.”

 

Denial Three

 

MAR 14:71

But he (Simon Peter) began to curse and swear, “I do not know this man you are talking about!”

 

The cursing and swearing part…now you know why I like Peter so much…

 

MAR 14:72

Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, “Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And he began to weep.

 

Allowing yourself to be deceived by someone always stings a little more when it comes from trusted sources.

 

Your Pastor can be deceived.  You can be deceived.  And why not?  Why not me?  Who am I to think that I can’t be deceived?  Why not you?  Who are you to think that you can’t be deceived?  If I can be deceived, and you can be deceived, and if Satan deceives the whole world, then it must follow logically that anyone you have ever studied the bible with can be deceived.  Perhaps that is why this insight from Acts, Chapter 17, Verse 11…

 

ACT 17:11

Now these (the believers at Berea) were…noble-minded…for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

 

You and me, like Peter, and like all of the great angelic and human creatures of all time, can be deceived…are deceived…will be deceived in the future.

 

Perhaps the worst deception is self-deception.

 

You’re still in the book of Mark…let’s look at Peter’s self-deception from Mark’s point of view…

 

MAR 14:27

And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, because it is written, ‘I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP SHALL BE SCATTERED.’”

 

MAR 14:28

“But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”

 

MAR 14:29

But Peter said to Him, “Even though all may fall away, yet I will not.”

 

Peter was announcing his self-sufficiency, which is really self-deception.  God doesn’t need us to be self-sufficient.

 

MAR 14:30

And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, that this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times.”

 

 

MAR 14:31

But Peter kept saying insistently, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And they all were saying the same thing also.

 

Peter was deceiving himself.  It’s the worst deception of all.  I think we deceive ourselves when we have “blind faith.”

 

ACT 17:11

Now these (the believers at Berea) were…noble-minded…for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

 

I had blind faith as a Roman Catholic.  I was deceived by this religion for over two decades.  When people would present questions to me about the religion, I would recite the company line.  I would tell them my “beliefs.”  Our beliefs are valuable to the degree that they are absolutely 100% consistent with the Word of God.  As you investigate the coat hangers of doctrines in your spiritual closet, are you operating from blind faith, or are you following the lead of the Bereans?

 

Because when I began studying the Word of God, I continued to operate in blind faith with my teachers.  Do you?  If you do, I want you to be clear…I don’t want you to do that.  Look…there’s nothing wrong with my teachers.  I had fine teachers.  There is something wrong with ME, if I let my teachers become my gods by reciting the “company line” of doctrines instead of combing the Scripture to let the Holy Spirit teach me bible doctrines.  What is good for the goose, your Pastor, is also good for you as a congregation member. 

 

When I suggested that we may want to investigate some of the coat hangers of doctrines in your spiritual closet, and I specifically invite you to question the doctrine of rebound to see if it is so, all hell broke loose in your souls.  By the way, not all of the hell that has broken loose is negative.

 

I guess I am inviting you to consider a very important thing…

 

Studying the truth, like life, is not something we can puton auto-pilot.

 

I want you to investigate the Scriptures so you can determine if what I am saying and what our past teachers are saying is so.  Ultimately, our loyalty must not waver from God and His Word.  Here’s what is sad…

 

A woman was following her doctor’s and nurse’s orders diligently… following every rule and every meal plan that had been set for her.  Yet there she sat, thirty pounds heavier than before her kidney transplant…and her blood sugar was still in the 300’s, dangerously high.

 

I am challenging myself to remember to grow in biblical knowledge without the interference of my prejudices and biases…consider yourselves challenged to do the same.  There is a great line from the movie The Shawshank  Redemption.  It’s a story of a man who was falsely accused of killing his wife and her lover.  Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman are the main characters…Morgan Freeman’s character is nicknamed “Red.”  Tim Robbins says this line in the movie…

 

Shawshank Redemption Movie Quote

 

“Life comes down to a simple choice Red…you either get busy living or you get busy dying.”

 

God did not create us to be mental slaves who simply limp through life on autopilot.

 

If Hebrews, Chapter 4, Verse 12 is true…and…

 

HEB 4:12

The Word of God is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit, of the joints and marrow, and is a critic of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

 

…is it God’s will…does God consider it “alive and powerful…” for us to obsess about the sins He already paid for at the Cross, when even He will not mention our sins again, either at the Great White Throne Judgment for unbelievers or at the Judgment Seat of Christ?  I don’t know about you, but I consider it worth investigating even if it is a sacred cow…even if it does make us admit that our human teachers are not deity…even if it does make us realize in our souls how easily we can be deceived.

 

 

CLOSING SONG

Take My Hand

 

CLOSING VERSES

 

PRO 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

 

DEU 31:8

The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed

 

ISA 30:18

Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him.

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

          THANKS

INTERCESSION

PETITION

 

And we pray that you continue to shape the messages from this pulpit that are an accurate reflection of your person, your thinking, your work, your reputation and your essence...we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit, in Christ’s name, Amen.

 

Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

 

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