His Perfect Love

Guest (Male): Pastor Matt explains where things went wrong for Satan.

Matt VanderVen: You see Satan's biggest, his chief sin was that he wanted to lead God twenty years later. What was Solomon doing too? He went to the high places and he began to worship pagan gods, committing what again? Idolatry. And he was given wisdom from God. It speaks to the choice of what we do with what gifts we've been given. Just because we've been given a gift doesn't always mean we use the gift in the right way.

Guest (Male): The battle of Gettysburg, the Alamo, Normandy, there have been some bloody battles fought over the course of time. And today on His Perfect Love, we'll encounter another great battle to be fought in a most unusual venue, heaven. Welcome once again to the program. As we continue our study through Revelation with Pastor Matt Vanderwaal, we've reached chapter twelve. We're going to learn about one of the great battles of all time, one that's been fought since the beginning of time and one that continues today. It's a total mismatch and Satan is already defeated.

Matt VanderVen: I pray specifically bind the enemy against them, bind the principalities of powers from coming against the bride of Christ here at Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore. Those that are attending in person, whether they're online, whether they've visited, do not let Satan have an inch. I want you to bind them, Jesus Christ, in your blood and power. God, I know that you can command right now that there will be a hedge of protection brought about this church and he will not have any authority, any will, any power in this church and any of your lives individually, personally, wherever you go.

And I pray that with all authority on the blood of Jesus Christ. And I know it, and I know it to be true and I don't know I don't waver in that, okay? I don't waver I waver in me, but I don't waver in that. And it's because of passages like this. It's because of passages where I'm reminded once again that I'm a victor, that Satan's ultimately going to be in hell for all of eternity and that Jesus Christ has authority and that Jesus Christ it's it's a cosmic what? I call it again, a mismatch.

It's a mismatch. And sometimes we put God and Satan as though they're on the same level. They're not. It's the more it's the eternal versus the immortal. It's not even close. And so we need to see these passages. Now, this shouldn't make you fill with so much confidence that you turn around and be like I'm going to kick them in the teeth. No. What that should bring you to a place is humility, just like the Archangel Michael. In humility, I will pray and ask cuz I do my fighting on my knees. See, I'm a prayer warrior.

I do my fighting on my knees. Even those that might think they're getting ahead, okay, you might be winning. No, no, no. I'll spend more time on my knees. I will win the battle. I won't lose. I can't lose. I can't ever lose. Neither can you, ever. Ever. Every one of you should have that same confidence. There's nothing that I can't do if I put my heart and mind behind Christ. I do it. You ask Pastor Matt, there's nothing I ever walk through. I don't know am I little No. It will be so. Why? Because my God my God is the king of kings.

My God is the king of kings. You your God is the king of kings. Your God is not the God that's in the that that's going to be in hell that's turning around that that everybody's going to look at and go, is this the man who the earth made the earth tremble, who shook the kingdoms, who made the world a wilderness and destroyed the cities, who would not open his house to the prisoner? You? Like you're it? That's the moment. I think that's the moment that even all of hell is going to turn around and be like we trembled.

We got into to to mix with you. We got into fellowship with you, Satan. And they're still doing it today. We got into fellowship and you appeared to me in one way, but in reality, look who you really are. You're bankrupt spiritually speaking. You have nothing to threaten me with or do. I it's always been a matter of the mind and I have given so much power over to you. Friends, it's time for Christians to take that power back. We don't need to give it to Satan. We don't need to fear him. We need to be smart about it.

We don't need to be cocky, arrogant. We need to be humble. We need to let Jesus fight that battle. But we do not need to be defeated or fearful. And I'm always reminded verse sixteen and seventeen changed my spiritual warfare life. It changed in Ephesians, obviously. Ephesians six did as well. It should change yours. Let's continue reading. In verse eighteen, all the kings and the nations, all of them sleep in glory, everyone in his own house, but you are cast out of your grave like an abomination branch, like a garment of those who are slain, thrust through with a sword who will go down to the stones of the pit like a corpse trodden under foot.

You will not be joined with them in a barrel because you have destroyed your land and slain your people abroad. Of evil doers shall never be named. Prepare slaughter for his children because the iniquity of their fathers, lest they rise up and possess the land and fills it. Clearly there's a near fulfillment and a far fulfillment. But the idea there is God is saying, Satan, you're already dead. You're already defeated. You don't stand a chance. Now, that's important because that helps us really understand God and Satan, Lucifer, and these demons in the equation of the heavenlies.

The other passage I want us to look at is turn to Ezekiel chapter twenty-eight, please. Ezekiel chapter twenty-eight. I'd like you to look with me at verse twelve. Now, this one this passage is really important again, speaking to the king of Tyre in the near fulfillment certainly, but this is speaking of Lucifer again. And we start to get understanding of what was going on in his proverbial mind, if I say it that way, his mind. We know he's spirit. But if I was to say it angels are spirit. If I was to say it that way, right?

Cuz doesn't scripture say that angels are what? Spirit. So this is exactly what it says in the scriptures. Did you know that? Yes, they can appear as a human, but they're actually spirit, okay? They're they're immortal beings. So Ezekiel chapter twenty-eight, okay? And again, I'd like us to look at verse twelve. I'm going to read this together. Son of man, take up the lamentation for the king of Tyre and say to him again, near fulfillment, you were the seal of perfection. Just let that sink in. That's Lucifer. He's God is saying, you were the seal.

What is a seal? It's the it is the fingerprint. It's the it is the authority. He's his God the Father saying, I made you perfect. Nothing more you could want. You were perfect. You were the seal of perfection. Underline that. Full of wisdom and perfect beauty. So not only was he beautifully aesthetically on the outside, but he was wiser than wise. He was perfectly wise. Verse thirteen makes it very clear. We know this is Lucifer cuz certainly the the king of Tyre wasn't even alive at the time of the Garden of Eden. You were in Eden, the Garden of God.

Who who is in Eden? Remind me that again. There's a few people. There was Adam, there was Eve, there was God the Father, certainly God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. And who else was there? Satan, Lucifer. We know that. So we know who he's talking about. Every precious stone was your covering. Sardis, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your tymbals and your pipes. Now, we gained a little bit more information. Musical instruments. He's going to tell us He says the workmanship and your tymbals and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.

So that's one other reason some people come Well, maybe you're talking about Jesus. Can't be. Was Jesus ever created? No. He's eternal. He's always existed. We know it's not Jesus. We know it's not anybody the triune God. The only other person in the garden would have been Adam and Eve. They're mortal beings. We know it's not them. They weren't perfect. It has to be Lucifer. It makes it very clear by just process of elimination. So not only was Lucifer perfect in his wisdom, in his beauty, in every way, but what else? What was Lucifer's He's a cherubim.

What was his job? What ministry did God primarily give Lucifer? And it was mentioned on the day he was created, he was handed these things. And he said, do what you do. And what was that again? Worship. It's so interesting to me as a pastor, you know, all the years that I've been in under shepherd and even before that in churches in, you know, different roles, other than maybe the pastor to the pulpit, I don't think there's any other ministry that has as much attack against it than the worship ministry. And it's a very trusted ministry because it's a ministry where men and women are brought into the very throne room of God, if it's done right.

If it 's done right, they're brought into the very throne room of God. I can't tell you how many pastors I've talked to, church splits, church divisions. I can't tell you how many Calvary I think every Calvary Chapel I know is a matter of fact, every one of them. And one time or another has had something with worship go wrong, significantly wrong to the point either it created a division, that we they they had to fire up somebody or or they had to let somebody go or why? Well, we're going to read in here a little bit something that's going to embody Satan.

There's certain characters and attributes that are going to be built on that. And he is going to use that to attack the very people that held a very similar to position that he held in the heavenlies. You know, that's why we're so careful about worship here. You know, Andrea leads the team and she prays over every single song along with the rest of the team. Not everybody just gets the ability to come up here and do this very particular on the individuals that are called to come up front, that are going to stand before the congregation, that are going to be leading people into the throne room of God.

You if you're sitting here and you're like I don't know, I just said I wanted to be on the worship team and you're like yeah, I thought it was easy. You have no idea the prayer and the covering that went before you even being accepted onto the worship team. You have no idea, but Andrea did. Other people that led worship did, Jen, and other people that have led worship, Pastor Bill who oversees worship, they cover in prayer all the time. There's a they practice. Pastor Bill comes all the time on Thursdays. And he sits and why?

Does he need to be No, what is he doing? He's praying, he's listening, he's looking at the song selections. He's checking all these things out. Why? Because he knows that the enemy will like to do nothing but bring division within worship ministry. We just got to acknowledge that. And so so many church splits Thank God we've never had that go that far here, but unfortunately other Calvaries I I know pastors that have been brokenhearted. Literally some of them even give a all do we just need to hire somebody to come in because if it's there's too much in in you know and and you know everybody comes at it a different way.

We've not done that, but it has been interesting because there's some things that are going to come out of this that we're going to see that he in that position he was full of pride because he was gifted in so many ways. And nobody can doubt that the men and women that gather up here, they're gifted, right? They have something that many of us don't have. And I know look we all sound great in the shower. I'm not going to lie to you. I got I I should have I should be a recording artist. In that shower with the you know the acoustics, I don't get it yet.

I'm still figuring out why somebody's not calling me and saying you should record a song. But in reality, when I hear somebody that is anointed by God, that is gifted by God, and they open their mouth and they sing, so often I don't even know who they are anymore. I'm up with Jesus in heaven. I'm not even looking at them. I 'm just with Jesus in heaven. I 'm singing to Him. I forget who's even there. And that's the whole point. And then somebody that plays a guitar or different instruments and you you think that that takes a lot of work and practice, but they're gifted.

Now, something that's important, who gave them that gifting? Was that something that they made themselves and they could take pride in that? Or is that something that was given to them and trusted to them by God? It was given to them and trusted to them by God. You see that? And so that's important because that's something Satan couldn't figure out. He was the most wise, but his heart betrayed him. So let's look and see here because he says you were prepared for for being a worship leader on the day you were created, right? Basically you were created for this.

You were the anointed cherub who covers. I established you, verse fourteen. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones. You were given a very special place. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created till iniquity was found in you. In other words, you were created a perfect being. But even the angels have free will. By the abundance of your trading. Okay, what does that mean? They obviously don't have a currency in heaven. What is the idea of trading? You ever heard of the give get?

What do you give me what I get? You're bartering by your trading. You think what did we not read he took a third of the angels with him? May I say it another way? Trading is effectively compromise by your compromise, by your compromise and what you are willing to do and trade because you're trying to make different deals with different angels or whatever you're doing or trying to go to God and barter with Him because you want to be the most high God. You became filled with violence within and you sinned. Have you ever looked at somebody that you can tell they're steeped in pride?

They they really believe they're right and they get that very mad look, that death stare. They'll look at you and they'll just boy they can like their eyes You know, I'm sure probably when I'm upset or something if I look at somebody, boy they can tell Pastor Matt's a little You know, I don't know. I hope I don't I hope I don't do that, but but I probably have a look to me but maybe you guys all have a look to you. Maybe your spouse knows your look, your family, your friend knows that look. Well, Satan was filled in what he because of entitlement.

He so clearly had a look on him and he says, you know what you started being filled with violence. He was created perfect. There was no violence in him. There was no violence in him. There was nothing like that in him. But all of a sudden because he was giving himself because of iniquity, well, how did it begin again? Remind me. Compromise. Because compromise came, sin follows, iniquity follows, right? Willful sin, not accidents. And then what happens from there? Then you start finding you have an anger problem. Why? Because you become entitled. You actually think you're smart.

You actually think wow, I've arrived. I know more than you do. I know more than somebody else does. And all kinds of entitlement. And then when they don't do that, then what does it do? What does it make you feel inside? Come on, every one of us knows that feeling. We get what? You know my when my kids were little, they could You know, you go into the store and you want to get a prize. Um you what do you guys say? Not prize a present. You want to get a present. And you want to get them a present.

And you go into the store that way and oh, can I have a little piece of candy or what? You know, all kids they want little things or whatever the things are. You know, I remember I won't name which one because they're all here at this point in the church now. But I won't name which one, but I can remember boy if they did this once, the other kids learned pretty quick. They they would say oh, I want to get the candy and you No, I No, listen things are tight. We 'm going to just No, we'll get something on the way home and differently.

Maybe mommy will make it. We'll do it. throws themselves back and starts going at it in front of everybody at the store. Well, a real simple way of solving that problem. I took the candy. I gave a little bit of a whack and I reminded them who's in authority and this will not be tolerated. And I don't care if I'm embarrassed. I don't care if you're embarrassed. We'll do this all day. I don't care. I care more about you than what I care about people thinking about me. I care more about you and making you be a godly young man than I care what people are going to think about me and how I do my role because I want to be a child of God.

And so not easy, not easy, but okay? It's the most amazing thing. He stopped. It's crazy. It was it was it was like God is right once again in the word of God, right? Now, I didn't ever you know you can ask my boy. I never harmed them. I never, you know, took it too far. I never did do that. And I also wasn't angry. I just okay, we we we understand each other now. We speak the same language. I get you. Would you like me to put you in the cart? I'll even push you.

How about that? Okay. We're going to put that down. As a matter of fact, I'd like you to do it. Okay. Anything we need to discuss here? No. I get it. Good. And then on the way out, what do we do, parents? Because they did respond in obedience, what do we do? Here you go. You didn't need to carry on and act that way. That's grace. And you start teaching mercy and grace at an early age. Then when you do the right thing in obedience, then you get the right reward. It's beautiful. It's what a beautiful beautiful testimony.

I'm sure some of you did the similar things in raising your children, but the point is I wasn't always perfect, but but what you find is in that moment when you're entitled, when your opinions matter more than God's, when you're when you have all wisdom and when you're boy, you're throwing yourself down, your anger. Let me tell you what I think and all these things. Maybe you're going to your job and you start telling your boss what you know and how the boss is wrong and how everybody's got it wrong and sometimes you know what you need?

You need a spiritual come to Jesus moment. Who do you think you are? Sit down. Every once in a while you need to have a conversation with somebody like that. I don't care if they're eighty or if they're twenty. Sometimes you got to say sit down. We're going to talk about it. Let's reason together. There's no reason for you. Who are you becoming? What spirit are you of? Do you remember when Jesus said that to Peter? Peter, who is walking with the Lord, who just revealed you know Jesus and what he was going to do.

He says, well, my father in heaven gave this to you. He knew it was the Lord. And then a moment later that inner that inner ear, that thought comes into Well, I'm not going to allow that to happen and I know better and Jesus, you're not going to the cross and I'm going to see to it myself and Jesus Jesus had a moment where he looked at him he says, get behind me, Satan. We're not doing this. He didn't go Peter, I don't want to hurt your feelings. Peter, I hope I'm not an offense. He didn't say anything like that.

He said, Peter, get behind me Satan because right now you're walking in a spirit that I do not recognize as yours. That is not my spirit. That is not my father's spirit. I don't know what spirit that's of, but you will now get behind me because you are not going to stand in front of my will, the will of my father. And you see we just learn over and over. Why would Jesus be so familiar with that? Because he saw it in Satan first. Do you see this? This is what I wanted you all to see here, that he saw this in Satan first because Satan doesn't have a new bag of tricks.

Everything you've ever been tempted with, everything you've ever guess where it came from, either your flesh, your own desires, but who do you think initially sold you that? It was Satan. He's oh yeah, there's a good way to do it. Go ahead, act this way, do that way. And next thing you know you thought it was your idea, right? And you're carrying out. So look what he says. And you sinned. Therefore I cast you as a profane thing. God didn't God didn't mess with Lucifer. He didn't flirt with him. He didn't try to reason with He says, you are dismissed.

You are a profane thing. Out of the mountain of God and I destroyed you oh covering cherubim from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. So he starts to tell us what the source of all this is. It's pride. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. There it is. You corrupted wisdom, perfect, godly, holy wisdom because you wanted to do what felt good to you and what was right to you. Does any of that seem familiar to you us as human beings? Every one of us should say yes.

Where do you think it came from? It's not a new trick. It's his bag of tricks. And sometimes they'll put that inner thought in your head. I can do things my way. I'm in control. You see Satan's biggest, his chief sin was that he wanted to lead God and not be a servant of God. By definition, that's idolatry. And not only did we see that once, but we saw that with Solomon. Solomon was given more wisdom than anybody else on this earth ever other than Jesus Christ who walked the earth. And it wasn't twenty years later, what was Solomon doing too?

He went to the high places and he began to worship pagan gods, committing what again? Idolatry. And he was given wisdom from God. It speaks to the choice of what we do with what gifts we've been given. Just because we've been given a gift doesn't always mean we use the gift in the right way. And that's something that God's trying to wake up, right? We need to wake up on these things. He says, I catch you as a profane thing out of the mountain as I destroy and I destroyed you oh covering cherubim cherub from the midst of the fiery stones.

Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I laid you before kings that they might gaze at you. We just read about that in Isaiah. You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading compromise. Therefore I brought fire from your midst and devoured you and I turned you to ashes upon the earth. And in the sight of all who saw you, all who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you. You're a byword.

You have become a horror and shall be no more forever. He's not talking about annihilationism and all Satan's going to be You know, what he means is you're no longer going to be a threat. You're no longer going to be a threat or even a thought. And to Satan who's full of pride, who wants to be God, that is the worst thing that could happen to him because all he ever wanted to do is what? Be worshipped by everybody. And now you turn him send him to hell where people are going to look at him, Isaiah fourteen, and go you're the one.

That was you. And they look at him like he's pathetic cuz he is. And they turn around and they say you? And then we read in Ezekiel where he says and God's behind all this. He says, no, you're going to be there and you're going to see it and you're going to get exactly what you're supposed to get. You're going to see who you really are. You were a created being, not an eternal God. You were created to be a servant of God, not a leader of God. You were turned around and created for a plan and purpose.

You took the gifting I gave you and you used it for your entitlement, for your own will. And you did it to draw other people in through compromise. And you did all of this in hopes that you would be worshipped yourself. That is not selfless. That is the definition of selfish.

Guest (Male): Pastor Matt Vanderwaal on His Perfect Love. Thanks for taking part in today's study of Revelation, a book that comes with a blessing attached to those that read and study it. If you were blessed and encouraged by the Lord, we'd like to know. Email us while it's fresh on your mind. They're at our website, hisperfectlove.org. Be sure to include your prayer requests. Also at our website, you'll find an archive of these studies in Revelation, making it easy to replay a message you enjoy or catch what you miss on the radio. Again, we're at hisperfectlove.org and now at oneplace.com as well.

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