[gary antion] happy feast of unleavened bread.we prepare so long for it and it comes and goes so quickly. you buy all this matzo andyou get ready to eat and you can’t possibly finish it all. we still have some. if anybodywants some egg and onion afterwards, we have some for you. do you know that the jews believe that youshould not eat anything afterwards? it’s over, it’s over, you know? so, come sunsettonight, leavening is ok, but right now, it’s bad, so don’t get into it. so we went to olive garden and we said, “nobread sticks, and no bread crumbles or croutons in our salad, and nothing bread.†so wewere good today anyway. we try to stay good
most of the time. with god’s goodness wecan be good. it’s nice to be with you. we were in bloomington,il, for passover, and the first day of unleavened bread, and the sabbath in between, or thesabbath before it began, and we had a nice visit with our daughter. it was the worstsnow storm i think i have ever had, and would you believe i was about 18 years in canada;14 the first time and 4 the last time, and i never had a storm that bad. it was blustery.we were only about 5 miles away, and we almost didn’t go. it was so blustery, and we didn’thave any winter clothes, winter shoes, or anything on, but we thought, “we’re goingto go anyway.†we decided to go, so we went over there. there were about 25 of us. theyhad to cancel the service, the actual live
service over in springfield, il, but theywent ahead and did the telephone hook-up for the service, it was that bad. one of the elderswas supposed to go down there and it was so bad, he didn’t want to travel. they hadlike 5-8 inches in that area, but we were blessed. other areas had 12 inches and 17inches south of the city, so it wasn’t a very nice occasion. but anyway, it was a niceoccasion for the passover, it wasn’t a nice occasion for the blustery snow. it was reallyblowing, and then that evening, it was very, very poor visibility. everybody got home okfrom what we understood. some people came as far as 30-40 miles away to be there, andthey managed to get home alright afterwards. it was really nice being there with our daughters,both of our daughters. our daughter, jan and
mike, who live in this area, and our grandkidscame along, and my other daughter, suzie, lives in the bloomington area, so we wereable to be together for the night to be and it was a very nice occasion. i hope you had a very nice feast of unleavenedbread as well. it seems every year it goes faster and faster. it seems like you do allthis cleaning and then it’s one week and back in again.â “i’m not going to eatin my car anymore. no more leavening! i don’t want to have to clean it out anymore!†justthink, if you don’t bring any leavening in all year long, you don’t have to cleanit next year. if we keep the leavening out of our lives, that would be really good.
exodus chapter 12 verses 15-19, we’re toldto put leaven out of our houses, out of our dwellings. exodus 12:15-19. and sure enough,after sunset tonight, you can bring it back in again. don’t feel sinful if you rushto the store and buy some bread. you know, you don’t have to feel like you’re bad.leavening pictures the kingdom of god, you know, in parables jesus gave. exodus 12:15 – seven days you shall eatunleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoevereats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cutoff from israel. so he tells you, “get rid of it.â€
exodus 12:16 – and in the first day, thereshall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day –which we are- there shall be an holyconvocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them except that which every manmust eat, that only may be done of you. so it’s ok to have food prepared or whatever. exodus 12:17 – and you shall observe thefeast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have i brought your armies out of theland of egypt: therefore you shall observe this day in your generations by an ordinanceforever. exodus 12:18 – in the first month, on thefourteenth day of the month at even, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentiethday of the month at even.
exodus 12:19 – seven days there shall beno leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eats that which is leavened, even that soulshall be cut off from the congregation of israel, whether he be a stranger, or bornin the land. exodus 12:20– you shall eat nothing leavened;in all your habitations shall you eat unleavened bread. it’s interesting, when you look up the word‘matzo’, or ‘matzot’ which is the plural, it does not mean unleavened bread.that’s what they used for unleavened bread. it just means ‘without leaven’. bread,in hebrew is lechem, l-e-c-h-e-m. and it’s interesting, the jews, on passover evening,only had unleavened bread which was very plain.
they called it poor man’s bread. my motherused to make a poor man’s cake with various things, throw everything in it and it tastesgood. but poor man’s unleavened bread just was flour and water, not even any salt init. that’s what they called poor man’s bread. and they did that to picture theirlowliest state in coming out of egypt, that they were slaves in egypt. but after thattime, they could have their egg and onion matzo, and their other type of matzo becausethat was called rich man’s matzo. so now they were rich because they were being freed.so that’s how they looked at it. you know, to this day, the greek orthodoxuse leavened bread in their passover, or their communion service. do you know why? becausewhere it says, “take, eat, this is my body.â€
do you know the bread that it says there,the word for bread there is artos, and the word artos means ‘regular bread’. butwhat kind of bread would jesus have had? because there is a word for unleavened, it’s azumos.azumos is unleavened bread. where it talks about unleavened bread it’s azumos, whichonly means unleavened. but the point is, what kind of bread would they have had on passoverevening? the bible very clearly says, “with the passover you shall eat unleavened bread.â€so they used the general term artos for bread to mean unleavened bread. now, the catholic church uses unleavened wafers,but the orthodox church uses leavened bread, artos, because they read the word artos. christtook bread and broke it. it was, in their
mind, regular bread. but the only bread thatwould have been present at passover was unleavened. but now, after these days are over, what willyou be doing? you’ll go back to leavening. there’s nothing wrong with that. there willbe something very wrong if you go back to being the way you were. exodus 13:3 – and moses said to the people,remember this day, in which you came out of egypt, out of the house of bondage; for bystrength of hand the lord brought you out from this place: there shall no leaven beeaten. so god brought you out with his strength becausehe brought you out from the land of sin. egypt pictured sin. the israelites didn’t takelong to go back, in attitude, to leavening.
what did they do? well, they said, “moses,you brought us out here to die in the wilderness. nobody is going to be able to bury us here.â€like they’re going to give them a wonderful burial as slaves in egypt? but they’re afraid,“we’re just going to die out here in the wilderness!†they said, “we want cleanwater. this bitter water doesn’t taste good. give us clean water!†so moses had to givethem clean water. then they said, “we want food. give us food. (chanting) we want food.we want food. give us food.†so, he had to give them food. “we want more. we wantwater, now. we’re thirsty. give us water!†and then, when they approached the land, lateron in the wilderness, they said, “there are giants there. we’re afraid! let’sgo back.†let us die in the land of egypt…
you know, it’s amazing how your mind cango back and think things were so good, in the good old days. in the good old days, theywere slaves. in the good old days they weren’t given the ability, the ingredients, the variousitems that are necessary for making bricks. they had to go out and get them themselves.then they (the egyptians) told them, “we don’t want your production to go any lower.you go out and get it yourself now.†is this a good time to be, when they couldn’tworship god? when they had to work, whenever they were slave people. is this a good wayto be? but they thought, “this was so good! we’ll just die out here.†so they werealways wanting to turn back. it was better in egypt. it was better that we had it before.
in our own lives, sometimes, when difficultiescome, we too may say, “it will be better if i just turn back. maybe it will be betterif i just go back. maybe if i could just work one sabbath every so often. maybe if i couldjust do this once in a while. maybe if i could just turn…†you know what brethren, goddoes not have any delight in anyone who turns back. god does not want us to turn back. andyet, there will be everything begging you to turn back. there’s nothing wrong withgoing back to leaven. there’s everything wrong with going back to the leaven of thisworld, to the leaven of satan, and to the leaven of yourself. everything wrong. hebrews 10:38. so while we may go back toleaven after seven days without it, we must
never go back to sin, which that leaven pictured. hebrews 10:38 – now the just shall liveby faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. hebrews 10:39 – we are not of them who drawback unto perdition –going back to our old ways-; but of them that believe to the savingof the soul of your life. don’t draw back. don’t go back. and youwill be tempted. you will be tempted to go back. we must not go back. we must be awareof the three tempters, and i’m not telling you anything new that you haven’t heard.i’m trying to package it maybe in a different wrapping, and maybe i’ll explain a few thingsand maybe give you a few scriptures, but i’m
not going to tell you anything new. i’mnot going to read out of the koran. i’m not going to be reading out of the lotus sutra.i’m not going be reading out of any of the other books, the book or mormon or the apocryphaof the catholics. i’m going to be reading out of the bible. but there are three temptersthat are out there tempting you, not just to go back to leaven, leaven is ok after sunset,but to go back to your old ways. let’s take a look at those three tempters. the first one is the world. the world: it’sglitzy, it’s shiny, it’s enticing, and it’s full of sin. it says to you, “let’sget along. can’t we just get along? just join in. throw in with me. things will bebetter for you if you just become like us.â€
you can’t be like the world. you can’tlet yourself become worldly, in attitude or action. as a person thinks, so is he. youcan’t let yourself go back to that world. now, we’re in the world. i don’t hatethe world. there are many lovely people in this world that aren’t converted. they’relovely people, nice people, giving, caring - without god’s spirit, without god’slove in them, but they still have a human kind of love for others. there are nice peoplein the world. we should not walk around condemning, “ugh, this worldâ€. don’t condemn people.paul said, “what do i have to do to judge those that are without?†“it’s noneof my business. they’re not being called by god, so i’m not trying to work with them.â€paul said.
but don’t go back to being part and parcelwith the system. don’t let the attitudes of the world rub off on you. and we are inthe world a lot. now i’m blessed to work at the home office. i’m around a lot ofunworldly people. well, they’re worldly, too, sometimes, like certain people. certainpeople are, somewhat, you know, but most people are spiritual like i am. no, i’m just teasing!i am blessed to work around people where the atmosphere is very good. a lot of you arenot, blessed that way. you have more to resist on a day to day basis than i do. i have toresist complacency. i have to resist taking it for granted the blessings that i have ofworking with wonderful people. you have to be on guard to not let the worldly attitudesrub off on you. and it’s real easy. it’s
real easy to just be better that the world.“i’m just a little better than the world. i’m a little better than them.†it’snot enough. god does not want us to be enticed by the world. 1 john 2:15-17. god does not hate the peopleof the world. jesus christ died for them, didn’t he? for god so loved the church?god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son for them. christ died for them,too, and one day they’ll have an opportunity to be sitting where you are when god decidedto call them. so we’re not here to down and put down the world, but we are here torecognize that we can’t go along with the attitudes, the lusts, and the approaches thatthe world has.
1 john 2:15 – love not the world, neitherthe things that are in the world… the world beckons you to love it. the worldbeckons you to be like it. if you could just fly with the world, think what you could have.if you could just lie a little bit, cheat a little bit, steal a little bit, just thinkhow much you could have. i heard them discussing on tv the other day, “is a little whitelie bad? is it ok?†i think it was on fox news the other day. “well if you lie a littlebit maybe that won’t hurt anybody. maybe just a little white lie. you don’t wantto tell people the truth because you might hurt them.†you can tell the truth withouthurting people. you don’t have to be blunt, in their face, knock them down with it. andyou can still be truthful. you don’t have
to lie. but the world says, “it’s ok,to cheat, it’s ok, a little bit, as long as you get away with it.†don’t fall intothose traps. the world has its way and it’s order, and we’ll see that in a moment. 1 john 2:15 – love not the world, neitherthe things that are in the world. if any man love the world, the love of the father isnot in him. does it say, “love the people� he doesn’tsay hate the people. he says hate the system. cosmos, can mean either the people, or itcan mean the system. 1 john 2:16 – all that is in the world,-here’s what he doesn’t want you to love: the lust of the flesh, and the lust of theeyes, and the pride of life –pride can get
us all in trouble. “i’m so proud, youthink i’m going to go say i’m sorry? i’m not going to say i’m sorry. i’m not goingto lower myself.†ok, don’t. just go on bearing your grudge and see how much it eatsup inside of you, because it will. it will. …the lust of the flesh, and the lust ofthe eyes, and the pride of life is not of the father, but is of the world. 1 john 2:17 – the world passes away, -doyou want to put your stock in the world? do you want to fly with the world? you’ll diewith the world. jesus christ said, this world, this system is going to come to an end. theend of the age. the world passes away and the lust thereof: but he who does the willof god abides forever.
as we leave the days of unleavened bread,we need to make sure we do not go back to the world while we go back to leaven. there’sanother verse, 2 timothy 4:10 interesting about demas, one of paul’s assistants. noticewhat is spoken of him, what happened to him, as he was one of the helpers of paul. he saidin verse 9, just leading up to it, he said –and by the way, 2 timothy is kind of theending of paul’s life. he’s saying: 2 timothy 4:9 – do your diligence to comeshortly to me 2 timothy 4:10 – for demas has forsakenme, now why did demas , why? …having loved this present world. why did he leave paul?why did he leave the truth? why did he leave the teachings of god? why did he leave paul?because he loved this present world.
ephesians 2:12. you can get your head turnedaway real easily. when i went to school at washington and jefferson college in washington,pa, they all said, if you go to the second year philosophy class, by the time you finishthat class you will be an atheist. some of my friends went through it. they were catholicsand they had a really hard time. i never made it to second year, i transferred to ambassadorcollege – not because of that, but because of sabbath. i had to go to school on sabbath,and i wouldn’t do it anymore. but when i, when god called me, i got out of there. buteverybody said, “if you go to the second year class and by the time you are finished,that philosophy teacher will have you so confused that you won’t know which way is up. you’lldeny god.†that’s the system of this world.
ephesians 2:12. this world does not hold outhope for you. this world holds out sorrow. this world holds out the worst time the worldhas ever seen. it’s called: the great tribulation. that’s what this world is going to givethe people that follow it. is that what you want? ephesians 2:12 – that the time you werewithout christ –he’s speaking to the gentiles in ephesus, being aliens from the commonwealthof israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, -you didn’t know about those,you were gentiles. …having no hope, and without god in the world: do you know what the world wants you to believe?that’s secularism, it means ‘of the world’,
they want you to believe: hey, what the greatestminds can think of is right. “that’s what i’m going to follow. the greatest mindsin this world are going to tell me what to follow.†i listened to some of the greatestminds the other night. i was shocked. i’m not putting myself on a par with the greatestminds, but i’m telling you brethren, the least of you here, the youngest –and i don’tmean least in the sense of importance, but the least in the sense of maybe experience-you would see through what some of these people were talking about. it was so weird. the rabbiwas like, “oh, you know, the old testament…
that sins will die. what are you talking about?don’t you know your bible? no, you don’t.†the way of the world. it’s the rationalizeaway from god. it’s make sure you know you’re created by evolution because that way youowe your existence to any other power. it’s just happened. you’re just a fluke;a freak of nature. it just kind of happened. these things jumped out of rocks and kindof bred together and all of the sudden you have this. you. do you really want to believethat? i can sell you the brooklyn bridge many times over if that’s what you believe. icould sell you a snowball in alaska. they may be having warm weather now, i don’tknow. again, without god in this world, and without hope. that’s what the world holdsout for you. is that what you want?
2 peter 2:20. the world offers pollution.the world offers pollution. god offers escape from that pollution. 2 peter 2:20 we readthis: 2 peter 2:20 – for if after they have escapedthe pollutions of the world through the knowledge of our lord and savior jesus christ, theyare again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than thebeginning. but when you come in to god’s church, whenyou come into the knowledge of the truth, you have escaped pollution: mind pollution,body pollution, emotional pollution, physical pollution. you have escaped it! because godhas brought you to the truth and the truth cleanses. his word cleanses us. the worlddoesn’t offer that.
john 17. one final scripture in this area.you see, we were sometimes darkness, many of us. my philosophy: i wasn’t a bad personin the world, but my philosophy was to be as good as i could in life, have as much funas i could, and die. basically that would have been it. i didn’t have a hope. i didn’tknow what was happening, go to heaven or hell. i didn’t know anything about that. haveas much fun as i could without getting into trouble as long as i live. isn’t that agood philosophy? do you know what god says? there’s a way that seems right. it’s away. satan the devil has a way, and i’ll come to that when we get to him in a moment,but john 17. we were sometimes darkness, ephesians tells us that. paul tells us that in the bookof ephesians, chapter 5 in verse 8, but let’s
go to john 17:15. jesus christ said this: john 17:15 – i pray not that you shouldtake them out of the world –see, “i’m not asking you god to rapture them. i’mnot asking them to go up into some high monastery and become hermits and nuns away from societyso they can be pure. i’m not asking you to do that. he said, “i pray not that youshould take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil. or theevil one. john 17:16 – they are not of the world,that’s secular, by the way, if you’re ‘of the world’. they are not of the worldeven as i am not of the world. ‘i am not a product of this world,’ jesuschrist said, “and neither will my disciples
be. they will not fly the way of the world.they will not go the way of the world. they will not try to be like the world.†now,there’s a fine line. god says we shouldn’t try to be oddballs. you shouldn’t cut offall of our hair except for this lock so that when god wants us he can just pull us up toheaven. we shouldn’t do that. we shouldn’t try to make ourselves look weird, but, weshould not be like the world either. a lot of us are like the world. i took a showerthis morning –i was like the world. i combed my hair –i was like the world. i ate breakfast–that was like the world. wow, i’m really worldly. the point being, do not follow theworld into sin. do not be like the world in its attitude toward god. do not be like theworld in its attitude toward god’s law,
god’s way, god’s righteousness. so, jesuschrist said [john 17:15-16], “i pray that you don’t take them out of the world forthey are not of the world even as i am not of the world.†don’t be like the world.stay away from it. recognize what it’s trying to do to you in its pulls, and go back towhat is godly. stay away from the world. let’s go to the second tempter: satan thedevil. satan the devil. several words for satan,by the way, i looked them up. in the old testament there’s satan, means ‘adversary’. inthe new testament there’s satanas, it means ‘satan’, ‘accuser’, or ‘the devil’. always is not good. it’s not a good term.you don’t want to be tempted by satan the
devil. he is subtle, he’s deceptive, he’sdestructive, and he’s rebellious. he’s cunning, he’s subtle, he is crafty, alwaysin a negative way. let’s look at genesis 3:1. right from thebeginning, jesus christ said, “he sinned from the beginning!†but genesis 3:1 weread this: genesis 3:1 – now the serpent –who isthat serpent? go back to revelation 12:9. now the serpent was more subtle than any beastof the field which the lord god had made. and he said to the woman, -see normal serpentsdon’t talk, but satan did, the serpent… and he said to the woman, yes, has god said,you shall not eat of every tree in the garden? notice what it, how it describes him: moresubtle. the word there is arum (pronounced
aw-room in the hebrew), and it’s usuallyin a bad sense: he’s cunning, he’s sly. he knows how to get around the system. heknows how to take things from people without them knowing it. he knows how to deceive.he knows how to mislead. he’s really good at that. that’s not a good trait. open andhonest and upright: great traits. do you know what it said about thaddeus? behold, an israelitein whom there is no guile, same word, guile.he is not deceitful. jesus christ had no guilein him. no guile. he was not deceitful. don’t let yourself go down that path, and it’sreal easy because the world does it easily and does it a lot. slipping and sliding, theycall it. that’s what the world does. don’t go down that path. that’s satan, the devil.
revelation 12:9-10 what are some of the traitsthat you can get into? deceiving people, misleading them purposefully, accusing them. do you findyourself in an accusative spirit? do you find yourself in a rebellious spirit? sometimesyou just say, “no, i don’t want to do that. no!†you find yourself like a twoyear old, you say no to everything. “no. no. no.†you’re like satan. satan is negative.wouldn’t you be if you knew you were going to lose? all these years, he’s known he’sgoing to lose. he knows what’s in revelation. he knows his days are numbered. revelation 12:9 – the great dragon was castout, that old serpent –see, the ‘old’ serpent, called the devil, and satan, (devilis diablos which means an adversary) which
deceives the whole world: he was cast outinto the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. revelation 12:10 – i heard a loud voicesaying in heaven, now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our god, andthe power of his christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused thembefore our god day and night. satan the devil loves to accuse. if you findyourself in an accusative tone, mood, guess who’s probably around there fanning theflames. don’t fall into that. don’t become envious and jealous. what did he want to do?he wanted to take over the throne of god. he wanted to arrogate to himself. he was themost high. i’m going to be like the most
high. well, he’s gotten that way in thisworld, hasn’t he? lots of people have no knowledge of whom they’re worshipping. noknowledge. they say, “well happy easter everybody.†excuse me? you’re a theologian.find easter in the bible for me. not the king james version, i think you can find that inacts, but find easter. does the bible say anything bad about the queen of heaven? hmm,does it say anything about making hot cross buns? hmm, and does it say those are goodthings? no! labels them paganism, heathenism. so, satan the devil has deceived the world.they make obelisks to him. they worship the mother and child which he spawned and spread.he’s happy if people worship any god, or gods, or nobody. he’s happy. he’s happyto have people think god is a liar and he
is true. he’s happy. he’s happy when yourebel, he’s happy when you become disobedient. he’s happy. that’s the way he is. do youwant to follow his footsteps? please don’t. please don’t. let’s go to 2 corinthians 11:3. what doeshe try to do? what is the purpose? verse 3, the apostle paul writes: 2 corinthians 11:3 – but i fear, lest byany means, as the serpent beguiled eve through his subtlety …through his playmaking, throughhis deceitfulness, through his slyness and craftiness, so your minds should be corrupted–that’swhat he loves to do. he loves to corrupt your mind he likes to get you to go down a trackand think down a track that is not godly.
how do you know it’s not godly? match itup with the bible. does it fit with the bible or it is not a fit with the bible? he said,“you be corrupted from the simplicity that is in christ.†god’s way is plain and simple. rememberthe disciples? christ spoke to them in parables because he didn’t want the people to understandlest they have to be judged by what they knew. then one time he spoke to them clearly andthey said, “lo! you speak to us plainly.†you speak plainly. there was never a deceitfulmoment that came out of christ’s mouth. but christ didn’t always get trapped. sometimeshe asked a question back when they asked him a question. sometimes he answered a differentquestion, but he never lied. he was not deceitful.
he did not mislead. he spoke the truth. satanthe devil doesn’t. 1 peter chapter 5, of course, what does heproduce? the fruits of the flesh. that’s what he produces in us. look at 1 peter chapter5. if he can get us to go down that path, we’ll come to those in a moment, in 1 peter5 we read this about satan the devil, he’s always looking to devour, diablos. 1 peter5:8-9. if you ever watched the cisco kid, do you remember what the cisco kid’s horse’sname was? diablo, yeah, the devil. anyway, he was black, and oftentimes that was associatedwith darkness, the world of darkness. 1 peter 5:8 – be sober, be vigilant; that’s the way you do it, you think soberly,you become serious. no, not your whole life
is serious, but you pull yourself back whenyou start to go down a certain path and say, “i better get serious about this. let’ssee, what’s happening here?†start thinking seriously. the sermonette about how you think,so true! you start to get upset about things, you start to get emotional, all you have todo is say, “hmm, what is going on here?†or say, “let me think about this.†themoment you start thinking about it, you take yourself out of the emotional realm and putyourself into the cognitive realm, and then you can start letting god’s spirit workwith your mind to come up with a right answer. if you let yourself dwell in the emotions,get all caught up in the emotions, you say, “hey, what’s going on here?†or “whatdo i think about this?†just ask yourself
that question. you have to start thinking,don’t you? once you start thinking, you calm the emotions and you get into the cognitiverealm. but he says: 1 peter 5:8 – be sober, be vigilant; becauseyour adversary the devil, -diablos- as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour: he can’t devour you unless you let him.god is greater in you as we heard this morning. god is greater in you and with you than satanthe devil can ever be against you, but if you’re not aware, yeah, he can attack. hegoes about looking to see who he can pick off. 1 peter 5:9 – whom resist steadfast…
you can’t just say, “ok i’ll just putmyself out there and see if i can handle myself out there in this lonely field by myself,and see if maybe i can get away with being out here. i kind of like being out here onmy own, and all of a sudden: attack. 1 peter 5:9 – whom resist steadfast in thefaith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are inthe world. you’ve got to resist. resist going downthe path that he would love to lead you because he’s a tempter. he says, “come on, followme. look at all you could have! you could fly with my world. you could fly in my system.you could advance yourself. come fly with me.
ephesians 2:1. stay away from him. stay awayfrom the attitudes that he has. ephesians 2:1 – and you has he quickened,who were dead in trespasses and sins; jesus christ has given you life. ephesians 2:2 – wherein in time past youwalked according to the course of this world, according to the price of the power of theair, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience: satan the devil has a prescribed course foryou to go on. it’s whatever you want to call it, 102 satanism or 102 worldliness.whatever you want to call it. he has a prescribed course. he wants you go to that way. and ifyou go that way, he’ll have blessings, well,
seeming blessings come your way. do you wantsomebody to push you faster when you’re heading over a cliff because now your sledcan go faster? hey, thanks a lot! you’re giving me a push. what a great guy you are.oh, whoops! is that what you want? he’ll be happy to push you faster, farther. butwhat’s the end result? death. satan the devil hates people. he hates allpeople because he knows you have the potential of eternal life in the family of god, whichhe cannot have. he’s an angel. angels, god never said to them, “this day have i begottenyou…†he made them, but he didn’t beget them. he hates you. he would love for youto walk in his path. walk in his course according to the prince of the power of the air.
now, sometimes, we attribute things, thinkingabout this snowstorm, “boy god, we have this really bad snowstorm in bloomington,let it pass us by quickly. cause the wind to blow and dump it on cincinnati.†i mean,there are natural things that happen in the world, and satan doesn’t always do them.i don’t know which ones he does and doesn’t do, but i hear people say, “oh, satan didthat.†don’t be an accuser like he is! i’d say, “well maybe. he is the princeof the power of the air, he can try to cause harm, but maybe it’s just a natural snowstormthat happened at the wrong time of the year and it happens at this time it causes us pain.it didn’t cause people pain in florida. so obviously, does he like the people in floridabetter than the people in bloomington? are
they better christians than the ones in bloomington?maybe. but the point being, be careful. satan the devil is the prince of the powerof the air, and more importantly than causing weather problems, he causes attitudinal problems.he loves you to become like him. he loves you to get into the same frame of mind. andsometimes, you know, you do feel, sometimes you get rebellious. “i’m not going todo that. do you think you can tell me to do that? who do they think they are?†and yousay, “what’s going on here?†you’re getting a rebellious attitude. do you thinksatan loves that? you bet. he says, “hey, way to go, he sounds like me!†god doesn’twant you to be that way. when you become crafty to try to get your own way.
see, i could never sell insurance becausei would never be able to sell you what i know you didn’t need. i’m not saying everyinsurance person does that, but when i was one time interviewed when i thought thingswere going bad in california years ago, they said, “you don’t have the killer instinct.â€you’re right, i don’t. i can’t close a deal and make people buy what they reallydon’t need. you can’t be the way of satan. you can’t go down his path. you can’timbibe in his attitudes. ephesians 2:2 – … the spirit that nowworks in the children of disobedience: he loves you to disobey. he loves you to dothe wrong thing, to make the wrong choice. ephesians 2:3 – among whom also we all hadour conversation in times past –we used
to do that! in the lusts of our flesh, fulfillingthe desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath,- we even got mad easily, even as others. satan the devil loves you to get mad, becausewhen you get mad, you become a little bit uncontrollable, or maybe a lot uncontrollable.satan the devil loves you to get mad, loves you to get angry. anger is ok, in check. it’sok to be angry, you should be angry at times, but don’t sin. but if all you do is blowup and get angry and get wrath, satan the devil loves that in you because that’s theway he is. he hates people, he hates individuals, he hates the church. he hates the gospel goingout. he tries to blind the minds of the people so they don’t see it. he comes snatchesthe word of god away from them, lest they
be converted. that’s satan. don’t throwin with him. he’s wrathful, lustful, disobedient, and he would love for you to become that way.don’t succumb to satan and his influence and his way. don’t walk in his course, don’tsign up for 102 satanism. don’t sign up for it, that’s his course of this world. #3: third tempter is the self. probably the worst enemy is you. i know welike to blame satan the devil. “the devil made me do it.†you did it. admit your ownleaven, right? whose leaven is it? is it the devil’s? well if the devil made you do everythingwrong, then all you have to repent of is satan. “i repent if satan’s around.†do youhave to repent of your sins, or do you have
to repent of satan? or do you have to havesatan repent? the self is probably our worst enemy. romans 8:5. see, when you’re born as a littlechild in the world, god equips you with various senses that say, “i’m hungry, i’m wet,i don’t feel good with you holding me with your elbow in my side and making me feel uncomfortable.so you cry. so you get it when you’re a little kid. that’s ok. little babies crybecause they have needs and that’s the only way they can express their needs. but whenthey get bigger, they shouldn’t, they should stop crying. a lot of people didn’t learnthat. a lot of people are big babies. i’ve counseled many, they’re big babies.
romans 8:5 – for they, that are after theflesh do mind the things of the flesh; - see, your mind is only on fleshly things. but theythat are after the spirit the things of the spirit. romans 8:6 – for to be carnally minded isdeath;- see, self will lead you to death, too. but to be spiritually minded is lifeand peace. romans 8:7 – because the carnal mind… – the mind that we have unchecked, influencedby the world, influenced by our own needs for whatever, fulfillment, and influencedby the world, satan, and our own needs. when you’re a little kid, you can say, “i’mhungry. mom feed me. waah, waah, waah. i’m
hungryâ€, but when you get older you can’tbe crying all the time because you’re hungry. go get yourself something to eat if you’rehungry. or fast for a few minutes until the dinner is ready. don’t get so excited aboutthose things. don’t let your carnal mind cause you to have enmity against god, andman for that matter. romans 8:7 – because the carnal mind isenmity against god: -it hates god! the normal, natural mind, influenced by the world, unchecked,hates god. …for it is not subject to the law of god, -it will not submit itself tothe law of god- neither indeed can be. and i’ll tell you, the world hates the law.most “christian†religions hate the law. well, they like 9 out of 10. that one rightin the middle, really is perplexing. if god
had only left it at 10, we could have droppedit off the list or made it number one we could have started at number two, but he made itnumber four; number three for catholics, number four for us. catholics even count them differently.but he says, romans 8:7 – …is not subject to the lawof god, neither indeed can be. romans 8:8 – so then they that are in theflesh cannot please god. those that are just dwelling in their, goingon their own steam. we heard a wonderful sermon this morning about how we have to have godin us, how we need god’s character in us and how we can have god’s character in usthrough prayer, through study, through conversion, through refilling that tank every day in prayerand study, drawing closer to god, following
his way, walking with him. we can soak upgod’s presence in our lives. we have the strength to be able to live right and controlthe carnal mind that we all have. unless we have not submitted to it or submitted to theway of this world. it’s interesting that in genesis 6:5, nowe’re not going to go there, but i’ll just give you that scripture if you want tocheck it later. how bad can this world get? do you know how bad it was before god destroyedit? he said their thoughts were only evil continually. can you imagine a world whereeverybody’s thoughts are only evil continually? that’s how god said, “i’m going to haveto destroy it.†but do you know what? just wait a while because he says, “as it wasin the days of noah, so will it be at the
time of the end.†“oh let’s see now,let’s have same sex marriage. let’s see now, let’s legalize marijuana. let’s doaway with the family. who needs a family?†heading down a path where the thoughts areonly evil continually. and that’s a pretty dire state, but that’s what happens whenhuman beings go their own way. matthew 15:19. what comes out of a personanyway? matthew 15:19. jesus christ said this when the asked him about, “what are youdoing? why are you eating with unwashed hands?†and so on. and he talked about them and hesaid, matthew 15:17 – don’t you understand,that which enters in at the mouth goes into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
he gets rid of it through the toilet –beingplain. matthew 15:18 – but those things which proceedout of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. and what kind of a heart is it that does notwalk with god? here it is: matthew 15:19 – for out of the heart proceedevil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: matthew 15:20 – these are the things whichdefile a man: but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man. what defiles us is our heart. us! it doesn’tsay, “satan is there defiling your heart.â€
you do it. i do it. we have to guard againstthe self. we gave up that self, remember?, in baptism, that the body of sin might bedestroyed. that’s what we wanted in baptism. paul said, galatians 2:20 – i am crucified with christ:nevertheless i live; yet not i, but christ lives in me i’m alive, but it’s not me anymore. see,he gave up who he was, not all of him, he still had the same personality, he still hadthe same drive, he still had the same desires and likes, but they were tampered and taperedand controlled by jesus christ and by his mind, the mind of christ, we read that in2 corinthians. you can control it. he says,
lives in me: and the life which i now livein the flesh i live by faith of the son of god, who loved me, and gave himself for me. he says, “i have the mind of christâ€,philippians 2:5, i can have the attitude and approach that christ had. i can think likehe thought. i don’t have the same brain power, nor do i have the same intellect, buti can sure have the same attitude. i can look at things the way he does because his spiritis there with me and in me. i can do it. we read in john 3:19-21 what jesus christ saidin this section. john 3:19 – and this is the condemnation,that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, –i cameinto the world to bring them light, but they
loved darkness …because their deeds wereevil. give me some darkness to cover my dirty deeds.and do you know what? god sees through darkness as bright as on a sunny day. you can’t hidefrom god. david said, “where can i go from your spirit? can i go up to heaven? can igo down to the earth? can i go under the earth? can i go in the sea? where can i go and youwill not see me or know where i am?†jonah’s problem? he thought he could escape god. “i’lljust get into a ship and head west. god told me to go east. i’ll get into a ship andgo west and ah, i’ll be away from god.†boy was he wrong! you can’t run away fromgod. john 3:19 – … and men loved darkness ratherthan light, because their deeds were evil.
john 3:20 – for every one that does evilhates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. see what reproves them? what corrects them?god’s word. the light. john 3:21 – he that does truth comes tothe light, -if you’re living god’s way, studying god’s way, practicing god’s way,praying about god’s way, you come to the light- that his deeds may become manifest,that they are worked in god. god will see them. he will know them. they’llbe clear, if you’re doing them for god. we can’t do it on our own. the apostle paulstruggled within himself. he said, “how can i do this? things i want to do, i don’tdo. the things i don’t want to do, that’s
what i end up doing. oh wretched man. whois going to save me?†how can i make it? how can i beat this old self? do you knowwhat he said? “i thank god through jesus christ.†see, christ already paved the way.he’s a high priest in heaven. he knows, he can be touched with the feeling of ourinfirmities. he knows what we go through. he knows what we need. now, he’s the answer, but it’s not justsome empty belief. it’s belief coupled with doing something. he that does the truth, notjust some, “oh well, get in your hammock and believe in christ and you’ll be saved.â€or get on the salvation train, get in your birth, go to sleep and you’ll end up inthe kingdom, end up in heaven. that isn’t
what he said. that isn’t what paul said.he said, “you know what, i believe in christ. i trust in christ. i preach a lot about grace,but hey, i have to work on number 1 because “lest i after preaching good things to othersi should be found a castaway.†1 corinthians 9:27. i’ve got to work on me, he said. youhave something to do. i have something to do, because that’s self will try to misleadyou. don’t throw in with your own ways. proverbs 14:12 – there is a way which seemsright to a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death. you don’t want to do the way that seemsright to you. you want to do the way that is right to god. not the way that seems right,the way that is right. how do you find that?
scriptures. search the scriptures. you’llfind them. so how can you resist? as we bring this toa conclusion. how do we resist? first of all, for the self –i already gaveyou that scripture- romans 7:24-25 come to recognize you can’t of your own self, asjesus said “of my own self†john 5:30, do nothing. i need your help father. i needthe help of your holy spirit. give me your strength to help me change. that’s for theself. next, talking about the world. how can youovercome the world? 1 john 5:4-5 1 john 5:4 – for whatsoever is born of god–or begotten of god- overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes theworld, even our faith.
1 john 5:5 – who is he that overcomes theworld, but he that believes that jesus christ is the son of god? and with that belief, what do you save? philippians 4:13 – i can do all things throughchrist which strengthens me. i don’t have to walk according to the wayof this world. i can walk according to the way of god. and finally, satan. what can we do about battlinghim as we leave these days of unleavened bread? because these three tempters will always bethere, not just unleavened bread 2013. they’ll be there 2014 and 2015 and 2016 and onward.revelation 12:11 how do you overcome satan?
we already read, resist him, he’ll fleefrom you. humble yourself and god will exalt you, but revelation 12:11 we read this: revelation 12:11 – and they overcame himby the blood of the lamb, -do you know how they overcame him? they asked forgivenesswhen they did wrong. their lives were cleansed by jesus christ. …and by the word of theirtestimony; -they knew the word of god. remember, when satan the devil tried to temp jesus christ,jesus christ quoted scripture back. do you know your scriptures? do you study the wordof god? can you defend your faith? boy, there used to be a day, brethren, when people couldgo through any subject with you. god’s people. they studied the word of god.
do you study the word of god? can you takeyour bible, maybe it’s your magical bible like mine. maybe you have it by certain verses,key verses you learn other scriptures to help you through, so you know where to go, howto understand those scriptures. you know, the students were having these scripturesthat give you certain scriptures in topics to help. you can take booklets and go throughthem and mark, if it’s valid, the scriptures that are given that fit in your explanationof things. mark them down in there. the word of their testimony. what you have to say,but also what you have to say about the word of god. your own testimony is not worth anythingif it’s not founded in the word of god. and finally,
revelation 12:11 – they loved not theirlives unto death. they said, “i will be faithful to you. godmy father, i gave up my life to you in baptism. it’s yours. it’s up to you to see me through.â€they loved not their lives unto death. and do you know what jesus christ said? “ifyou try to save your life, you’ll lose it, and if you lose it for my sake, you’ll gainit.†so that’s how they resisted satan. they realized his high priesthood. they realizedhis strength. they realized his mind. and then, by having that key to overcoming ishaving the strength of mind and heart that comes from god. as the apostle paul said,“i can do all things through christ which strengthens me.†and that means, you don’thave to go back to the three tempters though
the days of unleavened bread are just aboutover. you can have jesus christ with you, in you, strengthening you, guiding you, leadingyou. one of his very names was brought out today: yahweh-shammah –the god who dwellswith you. the god who is with you. and remember his promise in matthew? “i will be withyou, even to the end of the world.†as we leave these days of unleavened bread, let’snot succumb to the temptations of the three tempters.
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