Gospel of John [16:12-15]. The Doctrine of the HS, part 65 - Satan. 1Th 2:18; 2Co 11:14; Joh 8:44.

Title: Gospel of John [16:12-15]. The Doctrine of the HS, part 65 - Satan. 1TH 2:18; 2CO 11:14; JOH 8:44.

 

 

If in any of these areas of satanic attack you find that you have failed you must recognize that if you are still alive then God has a plan for your life that is not yet completed. There is no room for guilt of self-condemnation in the new creature in Christ. The transformed mind doesn't rejoice in his failures or justify them, but he goes forward in tremendous thanksgiving and praise to the love of God who has delivered him from all sin in the person and work of Christ. This is even more vital when you have hurt someone else in your failure. Their ability to forgive and think in the sphere of  God's love is between them and God, apologies, though there is nothing wrong in them, will not produce divine virtue love in the victim. Generally we apologize for our own conscience, and, though a person may find this necessary, it is divine viewpoint and not apologies that make for virtue in another. At times, however, a reconciliation is needed to reform a relationship due to the weaknesses that we all possess. When this is needed, come together and reconcile with words and most of all, love and forgiveness. In this we don't become cold, but rather suppress the guilt and condemnation of the OSN which will thoroughly hinder the spiritual life. A sanctification is inherent in this. A believer who realizes that he has hurt another in his failure and is able to move on in God's perfect peace through Christ's burden of sin, is more ready to forgive and love others who will do the same against him.   

 

Satan can stop the progress of something we think God desires us to do. This is allowed by God for reasons generally inscrutable. We trust the timing of God that is perfect in all things.

 

1TH 2:17 But we, brethren, having been bereft of you for a short while —  in person, not in spirit —  were all the more eager with great desire to see your face.

 

1TH 2:18 For we wanted to come to you —  I, Paul, more than once —  and yet Satan thwarted us.

 

Paul went on to Athens, where he had a fruitful ministry, and he sent Timothy to Thessalonica, who found them to be continuing strong in the faith. Therefore, Paul was needed more necessarily somewhere else and God comforted him with the news from Timothy that they were pressing on in faith. The evil men that Satan used to stop Paul from getting to Thessalonica only served to evangelize the great city of Athens, where Satan had a stronghold of idol worship.

 

So when we are stopped in a spiritual endeavor that we were sure was in the will and plan of God, take courage, God had different plans and He will comfort you in the struggle.

 

1PE 5:10 And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

 

1PE 5:11 To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

 

This is a real spur in Satan's saddle when we trust God's plan when it was not our own and prosper in our souls during the heat and drought of oppression.

 

JER 17:7-8

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord

And whose trust is the Lord.

"For he will be like a tree planted by the water,

That extends its roots by a stream

And will not fear when the heat comes;

But its leaves will be green,

And it will not be anxious in a year of drought

Nor cease to yield fruit.

 

People often become discouraged when their projects fail. There can be many reasons for this, but there is never a reason for not trusting God to do the impossible and to bless and succeed the next endeavor. I think Christ was including this when He told us to become like little children. He wasn't telling us to be simpletons or immature, but to have faith as a child as well as to dream and wonder as a child. Mature in faith doesn't mean cynical or defeatist in future things. Success in the spiritual life may not be so accurately measured in how many of my endeavors, the small and the great, succeeded but in how many I attempted.

 

Satan loves discouragement, yet there is no room for it in a believer who's God does the impossible.

 

The scriptures reveal that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

 

2CO 11:12 But what I am doing, I will continue to do, that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting.

 

2CO 11:13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

 

2CO 11:14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

 

2CO 11:15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their deeds.

 

The constituting of sinners to be righteous through the saving work of Christ is a point of satanic opposition against God. God brings grace and Satan screams, "Unfair!"

 

What else about the gospel could he resist?

 

In blinding the minds of the unbelieving he promotes what he truly believes, that it is unfair, that salvation should be earned, and that righteousness comes from self and cannot be a gift from someone else.

 

2CO 4:1 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart,

 

2CO 4:2 but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

 

2CO 4:3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,

 

2CO 4:4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

 

2CO 4:5 For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake.

 

2CO 4:6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

 

The one who specializes in self-promoted righteousness has always been the least able to comprehend gifted, imputed righteousness and is the great objector to it.

 

Satan attempts to impede our walk by the Spirit by accusing us of true wrongdoing and evil. We by faith claim the forgiveness of all sin through Christ.

 

He will not accuse us of that which is untrue, but of our true sins and our true acts of unrighteousness as a case for not deserving what God has given us through Christ, through redeeming grace. Satan is offended by this whole arrangement. In rejecting Christ's work as inconsequential and not an actual method of atonement he constantly opposes grace and demands that the human race earn whatever they get. He has energized and deceived many in the human race to demand the exact same thing.

 

A perfect example of this is found in the OT when Balak, king of Moab, who, through the prophet Balaam, desired to curse Israel as they camped in the Jordan valley, right on the edge of his own kingdom.

 

NUM 23:21

He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness [labor in wickedness] in Israel: the Lord his God is with him [KJV]

 

Certainly there was sin in Israel. We know their history. In the Jordan valley they are on the verge of entering the Promised Land under the new command of Joshua. Their 40 years in the wilderness was wrought in sin and doubt and through Balak wishes a curse upon them in order to protect his own kingdom, God only sees the redeemed of Israel and the future cross that would remove their sin and Jehovah does not judicially see what the enemy has based his accusations on.

 

There was evil in this people, but, when attacked by the foe of divine grace, Jehovah delighted to declare that He did not see or behold their iniquity or perverseness.

 

God does not assert that these wicked things do not exist; He states that He, having covered them with redeeming blood, does not see or behold what the enemy points out.

 

As Satan moved Balak to curse them, Satan was showing his displeasure of grace. If Israel is to have the Promised Land, which was filled with idol worshippers energized by Satan, then they should earn it and since their track record before Jehovah Elohim has been one of rejecting Him and doubting Him, then why should He give it to them and why should He not take into account the wrongs that the people of Israel have suffered against Jehovah?

 

The evil that was condemned in Cain was not one of immorality at the outset, but rather the satanic ideal of self-worthiness as a basis for divine acceptance. The blood-sacrifice of Abel, looking on to the fruits of redemption, provided a perfect relationship to God to which no fallen being could ever attain by works of personal righteousness.

 

At the Bema Seat of Christ the saints are to be rewarded and there will be no talk or mention of sins already washed away by the blood of the Lamb. This is true because the accuser is cast out. He is not allowed to be at this Seat of evaluation and reward. Blessed is he who knows that all the accusations brought against him are forgiven and cleansed in Christ forever.