ATONEMENT - 2001

Fred Coulter  - September 27, 2001

And greetings, brethren.  This is for the Day of Atonement, the year 2001.  And of course as we know and we always begin there, we know that on every holy day that we do take up an offering.  And we are to come before God according to the blessing that He has given us.

Now let’s go to Leviticus 23 and let’s read the instruction for the Day of Atonement, beginning in verse 26.  “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD” (Lev. 23:26-27).  Now to afflict your souls means that you are to fast without eating food and drinking water.  And to make an offering unto the Lord made by fire, that is for those who come to the Temple and it is in addition to the regular priestly offering of the Day of Atonement to make atonement for the children of Israel.

Now let’s come down here to verse 37.  “These are the feasts of the LORD…” And of course these are the ones that we keep.  And the world today doesn’t want to keep them.  They will think of every excuse and every reason as to why not to keep them, but God says keep them.  And so when it comes down to everything concerning the word of God we have to ask the question: Do we love God.  Do we believe His word?  Or, are we more concerned about what people in the world think about us.  So, “These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations…” And as we’ve seen many times there in 2 Timothy 4, we are to preach in season and out of season and preach the word.  So these are holy convocations or appointed times.  “…To offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a [meal] meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: besides the sabbaths of the LORD…”  So these are the Sabbaths.  All of them listed here in Leviticus 23, it starts out with the weekly Sabbath and then all the annual Sabbaths.  “…And beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD” (vs. 37-38).  And then it goes on explaining a little more about the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day, which will begin in five days from now by the way, the Feast of Tabernacles.  And we’re looking forward to that, and looking forward to seeing as many of you as we can.

So at this time we’ll go ahead and pause and we’ll take up the offering for the Day of Atonement.

(Pause)

Now let’s continue on with the specific instructions for the Day of Atonement.  The Day of Atonement is a very special day, and there are also some important instructions contained in here that help us understand concerning the rest of the Sabbaths of God.  Now let’s pick it up here in verse 28 of Leviticus 23.  “And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.  For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.”  Now how is it that a person is cut off from among his people?  He is cut off from God, left to his own devices, and the blessing of God is withdrawn from him.  That is worse in most cases than a physical affliction.  You are cut off from the people of God.  And we’ve seen this happen haven’t we?  Yes we have.  And people who forsake the holy days and people who give up on doing what God has said to do, they have been cut off from God and then cut off from the people of God.

Now verse 30.  “And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.”  Now there are many ways to be destroyed.  If you’re cut off, that’s the first step.  And if you go work then the next step is that you are destroyed.  Now, the most destructive thing that can happen to anyone is not the loss of their physical life.  That can happen, but it’s not talking about this.  This is talking about us in a spiritual sense, our spiritual lives are destroyed, and our spiritual standing with God is destroyed.  You see we are totally cut off.  That’s how important this Day of Atonement really is.  You see, it’s vital for salvation.  It’s vital for our relationship with God.  And just like we learned with the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a little leaven leavens the whole lump, and that is a truism.  Absolute living law, that once people start down the road of compromising the word of God, compromising the truth of God, compromising with the world, then the leaven just comes in.  And we’re going to see that Satan is the author of that, and we are going to see exactly how he operates and what we need to do to resist him.  Because this day has great meaning for the world as well as for us.

Verse 31, “Ye shall do no manner of work [in it]:…”  So there we have three times - no work, no manner of work, any work.  “…It shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.  It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath” (vs. 31-32).  Now, the King James does not show what it really means in the Greek.  Now, the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into the Greek, which is called the Septuagint.  And there’s a very interesting thing that is brought out with this concerning this particular day, concerning the Day of Atonement.

Now let’s pick it up here in verse 32.  “It shall be a holy sabbath to you.  You shall humble your soul.  So the ninth day of the month at even, from even to even shall you keep your sabbaths.”  Now in the Greek it is plural, “you shall keep your sabbaths”.  So what it is here, it is now a direct command on how to keep all the Sabbath days, from even to even, or the Hebrew there is barev to barev meaning sunset to sunset.  Now that’s the easiest way for anyone to understand when the Sabbath begins and when the Sabbath ends because all they have to do is see where the sun sets, when it sets, and they know that the Sabbath begins, or the Sabbath ends.  So the tenth day of the month is defined from the ninth day of the month at sunset to the tenth day of the month at sunset, is the tenth day.  And the tenth day of this seventh month, the Day of Atonement is really profoundly important.

Now let’s look at some other things.  Let’s come here to Exodus 31 and let’s see the command that shows what we are to do.  And that these Sabbaths, that these holy days are a sign, and God has never changed that sign.  It’s something that we need to understand.  Exodus 31:12, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily [truly] My sabbaths…” Now that is the correct translation.  That’s the way it was translated in the English from the Hebrew, and in the Greek from the Hebrew - “My sabbaths”.  But it’s very important to understand that all the way through here, when it’s not referring directly to the weekly Sabbath, it is referring to the Sabbaths.  So you have the whole package.  You can’t do like the Seventh Day Adventists, or the Church of God 7^th Day, and take the seventh day and have that and say now, “Oh, we have truth.  We understand the Sabbath day.”  No, you have partial truth because you’re leaving the Sabbaths, because the keeping of the Sabbaths is the sign.  It’s like having half a sign.  Now if you have half a word that’s on a sign you don’t know what it’s in.  Just like one of latest ads that they have.  The company’s abbreviation is “ing”.  So they have it on a park bench and then they have people sit before the “ing”.  So they show the people and then right next to it the “ing” and they ask people to guess what the word is.  And no one can guess it.  And they’re all wrong because there is no word there, it’s just “ing”.  Well that is exactly what happens when people have the Sabbath but not the holy days.  They only have “ing”, they don’t have the rest of it.   And it should probably be “keeping”.  That’s what it does mean here in the scripture.

“Verily [truly] My sabbaths ye shall keep: for it [that is the keeping of the sabbaths] is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.”  And of course we are sanctified through  Christ.  And it is the Lord that sanctifies us.  And we know God.  Now let’s look at it the other way around.  If you don’t keep these days you don’t know God.  Think on that for a minute.  That’s why it’s so important.  And that’s why people who quit keeping these days end up not knowing God.

Now let’s continue on.  “Ye shall keep the sabbath[s] [plural in the Greek and Hebrew] therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people” (vs. 14).  Now they may feel good out shopping.  They may have a good deal in being able to save money.  But the question is: If you save money and you lose your life, what have you gained?  Even Jesus said if you gained the whole world and lose your life, what have you gained?  Nothing.  You’ve lost everything.  To gain the whole world and lose you life is meaningless.  Now you may have a little thrill or a little power, or whatever in between the time that you acquire it and die, but sooner or later you’re going to die and it’s over with, you see.

Now then He talks about the regular Sabbath.  Just exactly as it began there in Leviticus 23.  “Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death” (vs. 15).  Now notice what we have.  The same wording, don’t we.  Number 1, cut off, and then death.

Now let’s apply that spiritually.  When you are cut off from the people of God, when you don’t keep the Sabbath and holy days, you’re walking down the road to spiritual death.  So we can apply New Testament doctrine here.  “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath[s] [plural]…”  That’s what it means in the Hebrew and the Greek, “shall keep them”.  Now who is the Israel of God today?  The Church.  So we are the true spiritual Israel, and we are to keep the Sabbaths of God.  “…To observe the sabbath[s] throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant” (vs. 16).  Now let’s understand something profound and important here that we need to really let sink in deeply, is this: We have the New Covenant with God through Jesus Christ by His sacrifice, by His blood, by His body, by His death, by His resurrection.  That is the New Covenant.  The covenant that God made with Israel was a temporary one to last until the death of Jesus Christ.  But let’s understand something here.  This Sabbath command is a separate perpetual ongoing covenant that stands right along side the New Covenant, stands right along side the Old Covenant when it was in effect.  And as a matter of fact, goes all the way back to the promises given to Abraham.

Now lets continue on here.  “It [the keeping of the Sabbaths] is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever…” Then He emphasizes again the weekly Sabbath.  “…For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed” (vs. 17).  Now let’s notice what happened after this, because this is profound.

Verse 18, “And He gave unto Moses, when He had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.”  Now notice the people’s reaction.  I think it’s profound.  Israel never wanted to keep the Sabbath.  Period.  They always wanted their own way, their own Sunday, their own gods, their own worship.  And the only time that they kept the Sabbath and holy days was when they had a king or they had a judge or they had a ruler such as Ezra and Nehemiah that made them do it.  They never did it from the heart.  So it’s fitting that the very next chapter, what do we have?

Exodus 32:1, “And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods…for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.”  So we’re going to take it into our own hands and we’re going to do it our way, you see.  No faith, no belief in God.  They want their own god so they made them golden calves, and you know the rest of the story.  So I think it’s very profound that right after this command and this instruction is given in Exodus 31 that we have the rebellion of the children of Israel in Exodus 32.  And true today, people do not want to keep the Sabbath.  And if they keep the Sabbath in many cases they don’t keep the holy days.

Now why all of this confusion?  Why all of these disparities and difficulties?  Let’s come back and let’s see the origin of where this day began.  Let’s come to Genesis 3, because this day has an awful lot to do with the author of sin, Satan the devil, the one who inspires and causes people to rebel and go against God, and the one who is our adversary, as we will see, and the one who is exerting all force and pressure and power to seek to destroy the people of God.  Now he does it very subtly just like he did with Adam and Eve.  Now let’s understand something important here concerning Genesis 3.  When the serpent comes on the scene he is already Satan the devil.  And the only four personages that were in the Garden of Eden were: 1) God, 2-3) Adam and Eve, 4) Satan.  And he came bringing an interesting sounding message.  And he came contradicting God, but sounding like he was bringing “new truth”.  And one thing you can always count on, whenever there is a theologian or a minister who preaches against what God has said, or makes light of what God has said, know and understand that person is not from God but from Satan the devil.

Now let’s begin right here in Genesis 3:1.  “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field…  And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”  And I like the way Tyndale translates it.  He says, “Tush.”  In other words, just sarcastically getting rid of any authority of God with the word “tush”.

“And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die” (vs. 2-3).  Now what did God say about the Sabbath?  If you don’t keep it, you’re cut off.  And if you continue not keeping it and work on it, you die.  Same thing.  Exactly the same thing.  Same with the Day of Atonement, correct?

“But…”, verse 3 in answering said, “…the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”  And there’s a strange quirk about human nature and the way human beings think which is this, rarely in a whole lifetime do we really think of death or contemplate death.  Somehow we all feel that we’re all going to continue living the way that we are until all of a sudden we’re confronted with death staring us in the face.  And that’s when we begin to think about death.  So it was very easy for Satan to come to Eve and come to say, “Ye shall not surely die.”  Now here she was just created of God.  Young, beautiful, full mature woman with a full speaking language and able to think and understand, comprehended what God taught them.  Conversed with the serpent.

So then he says, “God knows…” Now he’s accusing God.  “…That you shall not die.”  “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened…” Now notice this.  Satan always calls things the opposite of what they are.    Because their eyes were closed to the truth of God, their eyes, sure enough, were open to sin.  “…And ye shall be as gods, knowing [or that is, determining for yourself what is] good and evil” (vs. 5).  Therefore then they become gods unto themselves and that’s the way the whole world is going today.  Determining for themselves what is good, what is evil, what is right, what is wrong.  And of course Satan is in there giving them all of the wrong data, just like he did here with Eve.

So, “…when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes…” You see there is a pleasure in sin for a season.  And there’s a self-deception that comes about when you knowingly go against the word of God, and the command of God, which Eve did, which Adam did.  It’s called justification.  You justify it in your mind.  Regardless of how bad it is, you justify it in your mind.  Pleasant to the eyes, oh yes this is lovely.  “…And a tree to be desired to make one wise…” And of course that’s the same folly we’re doing today.  “Oh, if we only had more knowledge we’ll be able to solve this problem.”  No, that’s not correct.  If you have God then you can solve the spiritual problem in your life and then the other problems can be taken care of.  Just like they say today, “Well, if we have more knowledge we can get rid of the scourge of AIDS.  No, that won’t get rid of it.  All the knowledge, all the research, all the scientific whatever is not going to get rid of AIDS or any of the other things but obedience to God.  And that’s what’s important.  So Satan doesn’t tell you any of that.  He said, “We’ll find a way.  We’ll get more information.  We’ll create a medicine.  We’ll get a vaccine.”

Now let’s go on here.  She wanted to be wise.  “…She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.  And…”, sure enough, “…the eyes of them both were opened…”, to see evil, to commit sin, to ignore God’s way.  And then from that time on mankind has been cut off from God.  Now he’s had access to God but in general all mankind has been cut off from God because of what Adam and Eve did here.  So the entrance of Satan the devil, who as the covering cherub, who was right over the throne of God, who then was corrupted by his own wisdom and his own beauty and his own trafficking, and all the things that go along with Satan.  Then he said, “I’m going to be like the most High.”

Let’s go to Isaiah 14.  Let’s see that.  That’s important to understand so that we realize what we’re dealing with, with Satan the devil.  And he is cunning, and he is powerful, but Christ is more powerful.  And the One that is in you is greater than the one that is in the world.  Never ever forget that because you don’t have to be afraid of Satan the devil, but you don’t go around standing up and challenging him.  You let God fight you battles for you.  You draw close to God, let Him help you and strengthen you.  And draw close to Him and flee the devil, as we will see a little bit later on.

Isaiah 14:12, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!”  Now Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall as a star from heaven.”  And he fell from heaven.  He was cast down.  And this is where it took place.  “How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!”  And yes, everything that Satan has done, his way, his plan, the way that he has developed all the society of the world has weakened them.  And all the globalization that’s taking on now is weakening them even more.  “For thou hast said in thine heart…” And he hasn’t completed this yet because he’s going to try and do it. He’s going to try and complete this even though he was cast down to the ground.  “…I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God…” Now Satan has a throne.  And the stars of God then are the angels of God or the literal stars that he would rule over the stars of God, whereas God created them and upholds the galaxies by the word of His power.  Satan said that he’s going to take them.  “…I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north [which is where God’s throne is]: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds…”  [“God is not going to restrict me here to the earth and the clouds.  I’m going to get above them.”]  “…I will be like the most High.  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit” (Isaiah 14:12-15).  And that’s what this day pictures, when this is going to take place.

Now let’s understand something concerning Satan the devil.  Let’s look at the book of Revelation and let’s look at this rebellion as it’s brought out here in Revelation 12.  Because as we’re going to see, our greatest battles is fighting against the things of Satan and his demons in this world, and all that they control, and all that it is of the world.

Revelation 12:3, “And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon…” So he’s called the great red dragon.  We’re going to see the many names of Satan and the power that he has, and what we need to be aware of and be alert all the time so that we are not caught by the whiles of Satan.  Number 1, he’s called the great red dragon, “…having seven heads and ten horns, and seven drowns upon his heads.”  Seven heads and ten horns is a counterfeit of God’s way.  That is, you might say, almost identical to what was represented by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

“And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven…” That is, the angels of God.  A third of them rebelled with him and became demons.  “…And did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born” (vs. 4).  So this is a very fast summary of the history of what has gone on from the beginning of creation.  And how that Satan has interfered with it.  And of course he wanted to kill Christ.  And he inspired Herod to go ahead and kill all the children two years and under in Bethlehem, trying to kill the One Who was Jesus Christ, the Son of man, the Savior of mankind, Who is the Son of God.

Now let’s continue on here in Revelation 12.  “And she brought forth a man child, Who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron…” Now that is going to be done during the Millennium.  “…And her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne” (vs. 5).    This is a quick summary of the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ to ascend to the throne of God the Father to be our High Priest at His right hand right now.

Now then there was war in heaven.  Now let’s come down here to verse 7.  “And there was war in heaven [and this war is yet to take place]: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels…” (vs. 7).  “And the great dragon was cast out…” This is the final casting out because Satan, as we will see, has authority yet to come before God.  This will be the final casting down.  When there is that war in heaven and Satan is cast down to the earth, that’s the final casting down.  But notice, “…which deceiveth the whole world…” And I could give a whole series on how Satan is deceiving the whole world.  And the way that he wants to deceive every one of us in the Church of God is this:  False doctrine.  False doctrine that is made to look so good.  Just like he told Eve.  “Why sure enough, you can decide what’s right and wrong.”  Why, we’re told today, aren’t we, the same thing?  “Why sure enough, you can look in the Bible there.  You can determine for yourself.  But let me tell you how to determine it for yourself…” And then you’re given false doctrine.  That’s how false doctrine arises and Satan the devil is the author of false doctrine.  Do you understand that?  Cause if he can get you with that then he can begin to lead you away from God.  And then you will end up not having salvation.  So this is very critical we understand what’s going on here.  Deceiving the whole world.  “…He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (vs. 9).

Now we know in the first chapter of the book of Job the sons of God, who are the angels, come before God and Satan is standing in the midst of them.  And God says to Satan, “Well, where are you going?”

“Oh”, he said, “From going to and fro in the earth.”  And then you know what happened.  God gave Satan permission to afflict Job.  And he didn’t curse God to his face so Satan came back and said, “Yea, skin for skin.  He’ll curse you then.”  And God said, “Ok, you can afflict him but you can’t take his life.”  Then everything, go through the whole book of Job.  God used that to bring out a lot of things and a lot of sin that Job had that he didn’t even know he had.  But you see that’s how Satan starts.  And that’s how he does it, see.

Now, let’s look at what he is called here.  First of all, 2 Corinthians 4:4.  Now we saw first of all he’s called the dragon.  In Genesis he’s called the serpent.  So we have those two things - the serpent and dragon.  Now 2 Corinthians 4:4, just to show you the power of Satan the devil.  That’s why we have to have Christ  fight for us.  That’s why we have to rely on His power and His truth, and His goodness, because we cannot fight Satan on our own.  Even Michael the Archangel said, “The Lord rebuke you.”  He didn’t take it upon himself to challenge Satan.  You need to understand that.

Now notice 2 Corinthians 4:3, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:” Now isn’t it profound that a lot of people have lost the knowledge of the gospel who once had it? And why did they lose it?  And they may lose their spiritual lives.  But why did they lose it?  Verse 4, “In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not.”  Now, not only does that apply to the world but that applies to people that have been in the Church of God who put themselves in the category of unbelievers who no longer believe, who no longer keep the Sabbath, no longer keep the holy days, no longer keep the commandments of God.  Oh, they have Satan’s way of doing it, which sounds wonderful and pleasant, but it’s a lie.  He’s god of this world, he blinds the minds.

2 Corinthians 11.  Now let’s understand something else concerning Satan.  He has his ministers.  Many of them.  Secular and religious.  Do you understand that?  Yes.  2 Corinthians 11:13, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers…” And they know that they are deceitful.  “…Transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” So not only is he the serpent, and the dragon, and the god of this world, he comes as an angel of light.  And Christ said of that light, “Behold how great is the darkness that is in you.”  “Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (2 Cor. 11:13-15).  So look at that.

Let’s look at another one.  Revelation 9:11.  We won’t turn there.  He is called the king of the bottomless pit, or the abyss.  And as we will see by the end of the sermon, that’s where he’s going to be sealed.

Next one.  He is the prince of the world.  John 12:31, “The prince of the world comes”, Jesus said, “And he has nothing in me.”

Now let’s come to Ephesians 2, and let’s also see that he has great power.  And Paul talked about this.  And now he’s got all of the modern tools available to make this work even more.  Radio, television, movies, entertainment, music.  All of those things are there.  Powerful.  In addition to that he’s got the whole educational system.  He’s got all of the governmental systems.  He has all the religions in the world.  So here he is sitting and he is able to keep people enslaved and keep them, how shall we say, blinded, brain controlled, if we could it that way.

Ephesians 2:2, “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air [so that is Satan the devil called the prince of the power of the air], that spirit that now [is inner-working] worketh in the children of disobedience…” You see, it also tells us this:  if you don’t have the Spirit of God inner-working in you then Satan’s going to come and he’s going to come to the point that he will inner-work within that individual by disobedience.

“Among whom also we all had our [conduct] conversation in time past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind [and that’s exactly the tactic he used for deceiving Eve.  He appealed to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and all of these things.  And he got her and Adam too.  “…And were by nature the children of wrath, even as others” (vs. 3).  So he’s the prince of the power of the air.

Now let’s come here to Ephesians 5:8.  “For ye were sometimes darkness…” He is the king of darkness, or the prince of darkness as well.

We also know, let’s come to Matthew 12, very profound.  Not only was he cast down and 1/3^rd of the angels went with him that became demons, but in Matthew 12 we also find that he is the prince of the demons.  And there’s even a name for him called, Beelzebub.  Now let’s pick it up here in Matthew 12:22.  “Then was brought unto Him one possessed with a [demon] devil, blind, and dumb: and He healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.  And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David?  But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out [demons] devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the [demons] devils” (Matt. 12:22-24).  And so he’s called the prince of the demons.

Now verse 25, here’s something we also need to understand about Satan and his kingdom.  It is divided.  “And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: and if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?” (vs. 25-26).  It’s not going to stand.  It is going to be destroyed and it’s going to be brought to desolation.  And that’s why Christ has to return, as we saw concerning the Feast of Trumpets.  So he’s called the prince of the demons.

Now let’s go to 1 Peter 5 and let’s see something very profound that we need to understand.  How is it that we are able to resist Satan the devil.  Let’s pick it up now because this is very important for us to understand and realize.  1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant…” So we have to be on our guard.  “…Because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion…” Now notice, he’s also called a roaring lion.  “…Is walking about, seeking whom he may devour.”  And those who are weak in the faith he devours at will.  And Satan can come, as we have seen in the parable of the sower, he can come and take out of your mind what has already been put in there.  And he can come in and possess people like he did with Judas Iscariot.  So Satan has a great deal of power.  But if we are at one with God, and if we are asking God to fight our battles for us, if we’re asking God to protect us, and the prayer of Jesus then will prevail, which is we are kept from the evil one who is Satan the devil.  But here’s how we must do it.

Now continuing, verse 9.  “Whom resist stedfast in the faith…” We can’t use our own devises.  We can’t use our own thoughts.  We have to use the Spirit of God, and the Word of God in faith.  You resist.  Now notice then there’s a promise given.  “Whom resist in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.”

Now let’s go to James 4 and let’s see what else happens when we resist in the faith.  We are given a promise, but we have to do it exactly as God has said.  Now it’s very interesting here.  Let’s begin in James 4:4.  Ye adulterers and adulteresses [not just physically, but spiritually], know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?”  I want you to think on that.  “Whosoever therefore will be a friend for the world is the enemy of God.”  Now Satan is the enemy of God.  So if you’re a friend of the world you’re a friend of Satan.  Have you ever looked at it that way?  Maybe you need to understand how true that may be.  “Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwells in us lusts to envy?”  That’s the way that human nature is.  “But He giveth more grace.  Wherefore He saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.  Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil [as we have seen, in the faith] and he will flee from you.  Draw [near] nigh to God, and He will draw [near] nigh to you.  Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded” (James 4:4-8).  That’s the way that we fight Satan the devil.  Draw close to God, resist him in the faith.  And God says if we draw close to Him, He will draw close to us and He will fight our battles for us.  And that’s how we fight Satan the devil.