From His Heart

Guest (Male): Today on From His Heart, with Pastor Jeff Schreve, the battle begins.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Now the Bible indicates that we have three enemies. We have the world, we have the flesh, and we have the devil. And we are starting a new sermon series called This Is War. And how are we going to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil? It's not a one size fits all. You have to know where the attack is coming from, so you know what to do with the attack. Every Christian is a soldier in the Lord's army. And the war before us is with the world, the flesh, and the devil. Although it is an invisible war, it is a very real conflict.

The stakes are sky high as we strive by God's grace to fight the good fight and walk in the Lord's victory. Now if Michael the Archangel says the Lord rebuke you, if the Lord says to Satan the Lord rebuke you, we need to learn from that and we need to not take the devil lightly like he's the we're playing the little sisters of the poor. He is a formidable foe. And you always just turn him over to the Lord. The Lord rebuke you. The Lord rebuke you. You don't put yourself in there like you're big and bad and tough.

So he is not to be taken lightly. Secondly, he's not to be forgotten carelessly. So Peter says in chapter 5 verse 8 be of sober spirit. Be on the alert. Don't fall asleep at the switch. This is red alert time. Be watchful, be vigilant. Why? Because your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking seeking someone to devour. He is out there, so you need to be on alert. You need to be vigilant. Now many of you remember when the movie came out The Terminator with Arnold Schwarzenegger. I mean we we had not really seen a movie quite like that when it came out way back when.

I don't know when it came out in the '80s or something like I think 1982. And Arnold played a bad guy. He played The Terminator. And there's a scene in there where Reese, who has been sent from the future, comes to to protect Sarah Connor. And he comes to protect her. And she doesn't understand about The Terminator. And he explains to her that this Terminator is not someone that you can reason with, that you can talk to. He's going to keep coming and coming and coming. That's exactly what the devil is. He's the original Terminator.

He prowls around like a roaring lion to gobble you up seeking someone to devour. That word means to gobble up whole. He He's not somebody that we need to dismiss. You have to regard your adversary. Secondly, you must recognize your adversary. Recognize him. So I regard him, I recognize that he's he's not the little sisters of the poor. This is somebody that is greater because angels are greater in might and power than a man. And apart from the Lord, I'm no match for him. We recognize him. We recognize his ways. As the apostle Paul said, we're not ignorant of his schemes.

So we know how he operates. If you don't know how he operates, you're a sitting duck. When teams get ready to play, well what do they do the week before the game? They're They're studying game film. They're looking to see okay what do they do in in this situation, in that situation? What plays do they like to run? If you go in there and you don't have any idea what your opponent does, then you can get blindsided very easily. Well, the Lord tells us about Satan's playbook, so we can know how to prepare. How does he work?

What is it about him? Well, number one, he is a slanderer and a false accuser. The name Satan literally means adversary. Your adversary, the devil. Your adversary, whose name is Satan, which means adversary. Interestingly, the the name Satan is used 18 times in the Old Testament in three Old Testament books. It's used 36 times in the New Testament in 12 New Testament books. Satan is a real being. He's a created being. And he is compared to you and me, he is massively powerful. Compared to God, he is nothing. He's a created being. Don't ever get the idea that there's some kind of dualism in the earth.

There's God over here and there's Satan over here. And they're both big time, you know, two number one and number two going at it for the Super Bowl. No. God could destroy the devil just like that and he will when he comes back at the Battle of Armageddon. What does the Lord do to the Antichrist? He takes him alive and the false prophet and he throws them into the lake of fire. The the dragon, the serpent, the devil of old who is called the the devil and Satan. He He's going to take him at the end of the millennial kingdom.

He's going to take him and put him in the lake of fire and he's going to be tormented forever and ever and ever. Don't get the idea that the devil is is going to be king of hell. He's not. He's going to burn in hell. But right now he's not in hell. We call him an infernal foe. He's from the the fires of hell, but he's not there. He is free to roam about. And he is a slanderer and a false accuser. The word slander means to to speak evil against. In Revelation chapter 12 verse 10 tells us that the devil he never ceases.

He comes before the throne of God day and night to accuse us before God. And we know about that. The devil will accuse you. He accuses me. And you know you say well how do you know when the devil speaks to you? Well, we're going to see the devil's pretty slick. He doesn't speak to you in this this guttural devil voice. He speaks to you in a voice that sounds a lot like your own. And it's hard to tell who is speaking. And it's not to your ears. You just kind of hear it on the inside.

You know, hey you know you want to send, you know you want to go do this, go do this. It's okay. God will forgive you. God will forgive you. And then you do it and he's like I can't believe you did that. God's never going to forgive you. How can you show your face again? How can you ever go back to church again? Look what you did. And he will accuse you and accuse you and accuse you to get you to quit. He is a slanderer. He is a false accuser. Secondly, he's a liar and a deceiver.

Jesus said in John chapter 8 verse 44 you are of your father the devil and the desires of the devil you want to do. He's talking to to those Jewish leaders that didn't believe in him. Said he was a murderer from the beginning. And he was a liar from the beginning. He said whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. And see the devil is a master liar. He's a master deceiver. He's not just a good liar. He is the slickest liar that the world has ever known.

I mean when when the Antichrist comes to power, he is going to tell people things that sound so good and they're so rotten and so bad, but he is going to spin it in such a way that you think that up is down and white is black and and north is south. He just will turn you into a pretzel because he's able to do that. Now here's the thing about the devil being a master liar. See he doesn't normally come with just these outlandish lies. He comes to you and he comes to me with half truths, with with things that have a have a little bit of truth in them, but they're off.

Something's not quite right. Think about what he said to Eve. Now he comes with a blatant lie to Eve in Genesis chapter 3 and the serpent as we read now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. He begins this dialogue with Eve. He says indeed has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden? And she said well from many tree of the garden we may freely eat, but from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God has said you shall not eat from it or touch it lest you die.

And he says you surely shall not die. For God knows in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil. Now he planted into her mind this lie that God's holding out on you. You need to disobey God. You need to eat this fruit of the forbidden fruit so that you can experience what it what it's like to be God. And you eat of this fruit and you will be like God. Now what makes that so insidious is this? God wants you to be like him.

But the devil was trying to get her to not need God. You You'll be like God so you won't need to depend upon God so that you can be God's equal. You and I are never going to be God's equal, but the idea that God doesn't want us to be like him is a lie. He does want us to be like him. First John chapter 3 see how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us because it did not know him.

Now it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. God wants us to be like him. He doesn't want us to be separate and independent from him. So the devil will take things and he turns them and he twists them in just a just a little bit off, just a little bit off. Why? So that you go down a road that's just a little bit off. The longer you go down a road that's just a little bit off after several miles you see hey I'm way off course.

Guest (Male): You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve, who today began his new six message series This Is War, overcoming the world, the flesh, and the devil. With the first lesson beginning today called The Adversary. Why are we airing this series? Because every day people around the world are battling powerful enemies they can't even see. Families are under pressure and the faith of many is weakening. But through your support from His Heart this month, people are learning how to fight and win the very real battles coming against them and their families. In this month's series This Is War, Pastor Jeff exposes the invisible war raging against every believer and shows how we can stand firm and win through the truth of God's word.

For your gift today of any amount we'd like to say thank you by sending you this new series on a USB flash drive, CDs, DVDs, or MP3 digital download. Make your gift today and help us reach someone who may listen to From His Heart and needs to surrender it all to him. Request This Is War when you call 866-4000 866-4000 or go online to fromhishart.org. Together we'll keep fighting to proclaim real truth, real hope, and real love from God's heart. There's much more to be said about this subject called The Adversary on the next broadcast, where after a brief review the pastor will continue his thought with an example from our modern political climate.

Make sure you're with us then. We want to close today with a verse that speaks to our hearts when we struggle, yet have victory in this war we're all enduring. From Romans chapter 8 verse 18 for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. We pray that will bless your heart today and trust you'll join us again next time for part two of The Adversary. That's next time when Pastor Jeff will again open up God's word and share real truth, real love, and real hope from God's heart here on From His Heart.

From His Heart is the listener supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Schreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world. Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Find out more at fromhishart.org.