We Won

Transcript

Alright thank you very much, and hello again radio friends. How in the world are you? Yes, this is your friend Dr. Cook. I’m glad to be back with you and we’re looking these days into the book of Colossians.

We’ve come now to verse 13, which of course follows verse 12, that’s a profound statement, isn’t it? Giving thanks, see, the things that Paul is praying about for his friends at Colossae, that they might be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, that they might have a lifestyle that’s worthy of their Lord, pleasing Him always, that they might be fruitful in every good work, that they might increasingly know God, know God better, that they might be strengthened with God’s wonderful, dynamite power, the results of which are patience, long-suffering, joyfulness and thankfulness.

Then the basis for thankfulness that brings us into verse 12, is that we’re partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light, we’ve been delivered from the power of darkness, we’ve been translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son, we have redemption through His shed blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Thankfulness for all these things. The last time we got together we talked about partakers of the inheritance of the Saints. Now, we come into verse 13, “Thankful to the Father who delivered us from the power of darkness”.

Generally speaking, Christians agree that Satan has been allowed to have a sphere of influence in this world, he’s called the Prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now work within the children of disobedience .Satan and his hosts are active in this world system, at this time. Jesus indicated that, the Bible teaches it, and so there is the fact of it. It does no good to deny the reality of the Devil and demons who report to him. They are there and their doom is sure, it was settled at Calvary, and the final demonian of the story will come sooner than many people think, as we come to the end of this age of grace. So, Satan is a reality and he does have certain powers, it’s called the power of darkness, the Prince of the power of the air, the power of darkness.

Now, what is that power? Well, I think it’s the power to deceive. Go back to Genesis in the opening chapters, you’ll find the Tempter saying, “’”Ye hath God said, ‘I can’t believe my ears, is it really true that you’re telling me God won’t let you have everything you want?’”. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it, as though it had been written in the 20th century? Is it really true that you have served a repressing God who won’t let you have what? Why, the most important thing in your life is to get what you want, isn’t it? And so why don’t you disobey Him, because you can better yourself by disobeying God?

That was the great big lie that Satan told in the Garden of Eden and he’s been telling it ever since. It’s taken the form of what we call godless, secular, humanism today, being taught in the schools and colleges and universities of our land, and of the world at large. The belief that you can do better for yourself without God. Humanism started with Satan’s lie in the Garden of Eden. Our Lord Jesus said concerning the Devil that, “He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth… When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it”, John 8:44. That’s one of the verses incidentally that I learned out to the Gospel of John before my seventh birthday.

My sister tells a story which I have completely forgotten, but she seems to remember that one day I was having an altercation with some neighbor boys in Cleveland, Ohio where we lived at 18th and Euclid, in a little basement flat there when my father was janitor of the Spencerian Commercial School. I was playing with some neighbor boys outside and she overheard this argument going on and finally I settled it by quoting John 8:44 to them. I stood up, looked them in the eye and said, “Ye are of the Devil and the works of your father the devil in the works of your father, ye will do you”.

Well, the big lie was told in the Garden of Eden. It’s still being used today. The tempter has not had to alter it at all, still using it effectively, deceiving, “Deceive if it were possible the very elect”, the Bible says, even Christians can be deceived by Satan if they give room to, give him room in their thinking. So, that’s part of his power, power to deceive and then of course he’s the accuser, he’s the accuser of the brethren. Why Almighty God allows Satan to come into his Presence now and again is a mysterious something that you and I will have explained to us when we get to Glory, but it appears that Satan accuses the brethren.

Thank God we have an intercessor, the Lord Jesus Christ who appears for us and in the merits of those shed blood and righteousness we stand, without being condemned. Satan cannot accuse you effectively beloved, unless you allow him room in your thoughts and in your feelings. If somebody I’m speaking with today has been the victim of nagging sense of guilt and you haven’t been able to get rid of it, you’ve confessed it to the Lord and you’ve forsaken your sins and you’re trying your best to serve Him, but you still feel that nagging sense of guilt and shame and failure, look up and claim the merits of the shed blood of Jesus and go on free from the accusation of the great deceiver and the great accuser, Satan. Power of darkness, power to accuse, then it’s power to threaten and, and to produce fear, and so to be vigilant says the apostle Peter, “Because your adversary, the Devil, like a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour”. The roar of a hungry lion is an awesome sound, blood chilling, and this is the figure of speech that Peter uses in describing the threatening’s of Satan. If he can threaten you into not doing the will of God, he has succeeded, so that’s part of his power.

And then his power to oppose. The opposition of Satan comes in many ways. It comes from a misguided brethren, it comes from unbelievers, it comes from the demon forces that crowd in upon you in areas especially of our world where Satan’s power is more freely felt. The opposition of Satan.

Now, what’s the answer to all of this? It’s to plead the merits of the precious blood of Jesus, to proceed in faith in what you know to be the will of God. The Lord Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you always”, all power, He used the word exousia, which means authority, “All authority is given unto Me in Heaven on Earth, go ye therefore and teach all nations”, etc., “and Lo, I am with you always”.

When you are doing the will of God as expressed in the Great Commission, and the various spinoffs one may say of that command, when you are engaged in doing the will of God, you can proceed confidently pleading the merits of the precious shed blood of Jesus, pleading the merits of the shining righteousness which He displays on your behalf in the Presence of the Holy God the Father, and you can be victorious over the opposition, and the threatening’s, and the accusations of Satan.

Do not fall victim to the idea that by trimming a little on your convictions, and on what you know to be the will of God, you can gain an advantage and better yourself. I’m back again to the what we call, the big lie. This is so commonly used in leading God’s people astray, to cheapen your message a little, pastor, by the use of your gimmickry or of some tawdry of procedure or other, calculated to get the attention of the heathen, to cheapen your ministry in the hopes of making it more effective is a mistake and you’re being deceived by the enemy of your souls.

To compromise your morals, young person, in the hope of becoming more popular is a mistake. It’s a tragic and costly one as well, and comes as part of the deception of Satan.

To twist a business situation so that the fine print allows you to make a greater profit, albeit it, illegally. This, when you when you pocket the extra, the extra cash you have also, you have also damaged your testimony and you have harmed the reputation of your blessed Lord. Don’t fall a victim to the temptation that Satan so often uses to trim what you know to be the will of God, in the vain hope of bettering yourself, either socially or financially or businesswise or however. The power of darkness is real and you need and I need to be prepared against it. There is a sense in which when you pray, you can rebuke Satan in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I’m a pretty prosaic and down to earth individual, at least as I see myself, but I have found myself many times in situations where I knew that the enemy of our souls was opposing me. I have found myself rebuking him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is Lord and no demonic power can stand against that authority, and you and I, believers, can take our stand as well then, with our blessed Lord Jesus, and as we stand with Him in the will.

Now, if God is not in you, are fighting God’s will- don’t expect that you’re going to have anything but trouble from Satan, but if you’re in the will of God and you know it, doing the will of God from the heart as Paul says, you can stand in the merits and in the strength and in the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Satan can’t touch you. Halleluiah! Delivered us from the power of darkness.

You don’t have to go around being scared either of evil spirits, demonic powers or Satan himself. He’s a conquered foe. Jesus conquered him at the cross, and you and I are victors in Christ. “Thanks be to the God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”, says Paul in Corinthians.

Now, what’s the a the rest of that verse? We won’t get to it very much because time is getting away from us, but he says, “He’s delivered us and then translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son”. We’ll talk about that the next time we get together.

Dear Father today, oh, may we be victorious over Satan and yielded to Thy will, Amen.

Till l meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!