Here on the first Sunday of 2020, I have a message that I want to preach that I'm particularly burdened to preach. My message is not totally out of the blue. It's actually a message about a major theme in the Book of Job. And as you know, we've been studying the Book of Job, the Old Testament Book of Job, throughout the fall since mid-September. So it's a major theme in the Book of Job, the one I'm about to address. But it's also been highlighted twice in the last two months in some major ways in which I've been growing, once in November and then once here over the Christmas break. It's the theme of spiritual warfare. My message today is gonna be a little different. I'm going to read and offer brief comment on 10 passages of scripture, the first two of which are from Job. So I'm gonna give two from Job, and eight more from the New Testament, and then I'm gonna give a very brief explanation of my burden. And then we're gonna be done and observe the Lord's Supper. The first scripture I wanna lead us in reading is Job chapter one. Again, this is a passage we read over three months ago for the first time when we embarked on our study of the book. Job 1, 1 through 12, the theme that all of these passages deal with is the theme of spiritual warfare. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright. He was one who feared God, and he turned away from evil. I've commented many times on this subject of fearing God. It's what? Old Testament wisdom is all about fearing God. It doesn't mean being afraid of God simply. It does include that concept. But someone who fears God is someone whose life is shaped by the reality of God's greatness. So it does include a trembling before God. But much more than that, it means that you've not only trembled before God's reality and before his person, but you have taken refuge in God through the sacrifice he's provided. It means that you now trust God, you obey God, you worship God, you lean on God. You don't do that perfectly, but you do it sincerely and increasingly. This is what it means to fear God. Job is then described in verse two, not only as a God-fearer and someone who's turned away from living for things that God hates, There were born to him seven sons, three daughters. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East. His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his birthday, and they would send and invite their three sisters and eat and drink with them. And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of his children. For Job said, it may be that my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts, meaning they've decided to live for the pleasures of this world rather than for God himself. And this is what Job did continually. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan also came among them. The sons of God is a reference to angels. Angelic beings, just like human beings, were created by God to reflect God, to reflect aspects of His glory. But they are superhuman creatures. They are semi-divine beings. They're not God, but they are spiritual Semi-divine beings, superhuman beings, and there is one among them who has rebelled. His name is Satan or the Accuser. He's the one who led the rebellion of God's angels sometime prior to his deception of Adam and Eve in the garden. Revelation seems to indicate that at that point, he led one third of the angelic armies in rebellion against God. And we refer to those thousands of angels, that one third of angels, just with the broad descriptor of demon, they're demons or demonic angels. But all of them are created by God. All of them, including Satan himself, are under God's control and accountable to God. And that's what we see in verse seven. The Lord said to Satan, who has come before him to give an account of what he has been up to, from where have you come? Satan answered the Lord evasively. from going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on it. And the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job, that there's none like him on the earth, a blameless and an upright man who fears me and turns away from evil? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, come on, does Job fear God for no reason? Haven't you put a hedge around him and around his house and all that he has on every side? You've blessed the work of his hands. His possessions have increased in the land." He's implying very strongly, that's why Job loves you, because of all the blessings you've given him. Satan says, but, verse 11, stretch out your hand and touch everything he has and Job will curse you to your face. You'll see what he's made of. The Lord said to Satan, behold, all that he has is in your hand only against him. Do not stretch out your hand. So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. He's accusing Job of selfishness, of loving God for God's blessings. And the Lord allows Satan to test Job in order to prove whether this accusation holds up. We've studied since September the book of Job and the whole book of Job is about loss, about suffering loss. And it all began here in this throne room encounter. Job is going to struggle for months at least. He's going to struggle for months with God. Why is all this happening to me? And if you boil it back down to the beginning, the reason all of the loss has come upon Job is one basic issue. And that is, does Job love God for God? Or to put it even more simply, how awesome is God to Job? Does Job think God is awesome and worth serving even if God gives him nothing? Is God that awesome? Is he that good, that glorious, that much worth loving and serving and being committed to? That's the issue that's at stake. How awesome is God to Job? Of course, Satan, the accuser, is saying Job doesn't think God's all that awesome, and much more directly against God. Satan is saying, God, you're not worth worshiping, you're not worth loving, you're not worth trusting. Job's sufferings have this issue at heart. Satan is accusing God of being unworth our worship. That's why he suffers. Let's jump to the end of the book, to Job 41. At the end of the book, in God's questioning of Job, he brings everything back around to the issue it started with, and that is Satan. Job 41 verse 1 begins with, can you draw out Leviathan, this dragon-like serpent? Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook or press down his tongue with a cord? Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? Verse 5, will you play with him like you play with a bird? Or will you put him on a leash for your little girls to play with? to verse 19, out of this dragon's mouth go flaming torches. Sparks of fire leap forth. Out of his nostrils come forth smoke as from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals and a flame comes forth from his mouth. On earth, verse 33, there is nothing like him, a creature without fear. He sees everything that is high and he's king over all the sons of pride. Just before Christmas, when we were dealing with this passage, I pointed out that this untamable dragon that God describes here is Satan, a supernatural creature made by God under God's control. This is most clearly confirmed in Isaiah 27.1, where Leviathan is described as the serpent, the slithering snake. The point that God is making to Job is that even though Satan is the wildest creature in the universe, whom Job can't come close to controlling, God can control him, and God does control him. Job can't, but God can. The third passage now. We're gonna move from Job now to the New Testament. Luke 22, verses 31 and 32. Luke, of course, is writing about 2,000 years, history 2,000 years away from Job. He's recording the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, which, again, occurs almost 2,000 years after Job. The passage I asked you to turn to in Luke 22 takes place at the Last Supper. It's the Passover meal that Jesus ate with his disciples the night before his crucifixion. At this meal, Jesus's disciples who were still thinking that Jesus was about to overthrow Rome and immediately set up his kingdom in Jerusalem His disciples were arguing about who would have the highest cabinet position in Jesus's kingdom and Jesus teaches them to be humble servants and then he singles Peter out who's been part of the argument thinking he's big stuff and Jesus singles Peter out, and in verse 31 of Luke 22, he says, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat. But I've prayed for you, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. It seems that Something just like what happened to Job happened to Peter. Satan came before God and said, oh, Peter, let's put him to the test. And Satan said, let me at him. And Jesus said, I've prayed for you, Simon. Satan came before God and said, that guy Peter, the only reason he follows Jesus is for what's in it for him. He doesn't really love Jesus. He's in it for the power. He's in it for the prestige. He's in it for the glory. And Satan asked for permission to put Peter through trials to see what he was really made of. God limited how much Satan could do to him. Satan, it says, asked for all of him. Sift him like wheat, let me at him. And God limited how much Satan was allowed to do, but God still allowed Satan to tempt him, and Peter still fell miserably that night in a way he would never forget. Jesus knowing how weak Peter was and that Peter would deny him that very night like a coward prayed for Peter and because Jesus prayed for Peter Peter was going to get back up and There was going to be recovery and there was going to be ministry after failure Acts 5 verses 1 through 3 This is a few months after Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, and after Jesus' ascension. The first church, the first gathering of Jesus' disciples has been born in Jerusalem. And in the early days of this church, many people were selling their property and giving the proceeds to those who were needy in the church. In what we read here, one Christian couple named Ananias and Sapphira sold their property, but they lied about how much they sold it for in order to make themselves look more generous than they actually were. I pick up the reading, Acts 5 verse 1. But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property. And with his wife's knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. That would have been totally fine had they been open about what they were doing. But instead, when they brought the partial amount, To the apostles, they said it was the full amount. They wanted the glory for being more generous than they actually were. But look what Peter says in verse three. Peter, interestingly, who had himself experienced the jaws of the lion, he looks at Ananias and he says, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? Satan filled his heart. Behind Ananias' decision was a temptation of Satan. Satan had suggested to Ananias' mind a deceitful and ambitious course of action. And the thoughts were maybe just like little sips of a drink. And Ananias liked the taste. And he went for the whole thing. What started as little insinuations and thoughts filled him. That's what Peter says. Satan filled his heart to lie. Now, why did Satan do this? Clearly, Satan was wanting to trash the reputation of this congregation. He wanted to hold up Ananias and Sapphira, maybe in the heavenly courtroom before God, and say, you call these people followers of Jesus? Look how hypocritical they are. Look how selfish they are. Look how deceptive they are. They're not the real deal. They're like everybody else. See, followers of Jesus, they're nothing special. Satan is wanting to accuse. That's why he's trying to trash this first congregation. Let's jump ahead. 2 Corinthians 2, verses 8 through 11. This is now about 20 years later, and churches are multiplying throughout the Roman world. The church that Paul planted here in Corinth was about 1,800 miles away from Jerusalem. It's a long way away. And in the church, there was a member who was causing divisions. And he had to be confronted. And Paul counseled the church in a letter to warn and confront this troublemaker. By God's grace, this guy who had been causing a whole lot of trouble in this fledgling church repented. He turned. He said, I'm wrong. Forgive me. But the church wasn't ready to forgive. He had been causing trouble long enough. We're going to hold that guy at arm's length. So look how Paul has to instruct the church. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 8. Paul says, I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. This is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you're obedient in everything, whether you're following apostolic instruction. Anyone who you forgive, I forgive. What I have forgiven, if I've forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ. so that we would not be outwitted by Satan, for we're not ignorant of his designs or of his strategies. It's that last statement I want to focus on. Paul is saying that one of Satan's primary strategies for attacking the church is making people who are actually forgiven not feel like it. I want to say it again. It's possible to say I forgive you and yet not move forward in warm affection. That's why Paul has to command the church. Verse 8, I beg you to reaffirm your love for this man who has turned back. Because the church is saying, whoa, no, he might be forgiven, but we want to keep distance. Next passage is in the exact same letter, but toward the end. 2 Corinthians 12 verses 7 through 9. Here Paul is describing that he's a true apostle. that he had met the resurrected Jesus and that the resurrected Christ had given him incredible visions and revelations that he was sharing throughout the churches. But many people were wrongly assuming that true apostles would be really impressive guys who always had enough money and were never sick and were never in prison. And Paul has to say, no, I am a true apostle, even though everything on the outside makes me look weak and unimpressive. So he explains why he appeared so weak. This is verse seven. So to keep me from being too elated by the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being too elated Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in your weakness. So Paul says, therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Here Paul describes his famous thorn in the flesh. And no one is quite sure what kind of physical problem this was, but we do know that it was chronic. It was painful to the point of being debilitating. Notice verse 7, Paul's thorn in the flesh is a messenger of Satan to harass him. Paul says, verse 7, it humbled him, it kept him humble. Verse 8, he says it led him to much prayer. And verse 9, it says it's going to lead to greater glory for God. Because in my weakness, God's strength is going to be magnified. And doesn't that just follow Job's pattern powerfully? Job's losses were messengers of Satan to harass him. Yet God ultimately used all of Job's losses to draw Job closer to himself, to lead Job to pray, to glorify himself through Job's life, following the same pattern. Our physical trials, according to Paul here in 2 Corinthians 12, our physical trials are often messengers of Satan intended to harass us as we seek to live for Jesus. Next passage, Ephesians 6, 10 through 13. A few years later, Paul's writing to a different congregation, a more stable church that he had planted in Ephesus. And after urging the church in chapters four through six of his letter to the Ephesians, after urging them to pursue unity, chapter four, to resist worldliness in chapter five and in chapters five and six, to live as servants, especially in their homes, Paul concludes like this. Ephesians 6.10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Paul says here that Satan and his demonic forces are the ones seeking to undermine church unity. They're trying to tempt believers to return to their worldliness, to their former ways of life that were marked by greed, by immorality, by anger. And Satan is tempting Christian children and Christian parents and Christian workers to subvert the authority structure. Christian children to be defiant against their parents, or Christian spouses to be self-seeking in this close, loving relationship. Paul urges Christians in all of these matters to come to the concluding point that you realize your war is with things you can't see. Your war is spiritual. And he says you then need to put on spiritual armor. And the armor he's thinking is gospel truth, the truth about Jesus. He's basically saying, put on this armor. He's saying, Christians, you need to consistently and increasingly understand the one true gospel. This is the gospel that saves you. It's the gospel that gives you righteousness. It's the gospel that gives you peace. Truth, salvation, righteousness, peace are all pieces of the armor. And he's saying, you've got to dig into knowing the gospel. That's the spiritual armor that will protect you in this spiritual war. Next passage, 1 Timothy 4, verses one through three. Here in 1 Timothy, Paul's actually writing to Timothy, who's the pastor of the church in Ephesus, the letter we just read from. And notice what he says in chapter four, verse one. Now the Spirit, the Holy Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. In other words, professing Christians are going to be devoted to false teaching that is charged by the demonic world. through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. So one of the ways in this passage that Satan and his demonic forces are trying to destroy Jesus's church is through legalistic teaching. adding rules that seem to make people look more godly but have nothing to do with true heart religion. The two examples that Paul gives are forbidding marriage, verse 3, and requiring abstinence from foods. Can you think of any Christian groups that require celibacy of certain members of the church? Can you think of any Christian groups who insist that you're holier if you refrain from eating certain foods during certain seasons? Today, those two marks describe the largest so-called Christian church on the planet, and they have nothing to do with the gospel, nothing to do with New Testament Christianity. They're teachings of demons, according to this passage. Teaching that is spread. It's shot through the church of the last days. And it has nothing to do with truth. It is energized instead by demons. The ninth is 1 Peter. Ninth passage is 1 Peter 5, verses 8 through 11. Peter wrote this first letter about the same time that Paul was writing his, and he was writing to followers of Jesus who were suffering for their faith. And this is his concluding word. One of the things you might be noting is that many of these passages that we're reading are concluding admonitions, final admonitions. Peter says, 1 Peter 5, verse 8, be sober-minded, be watchful, Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him. Firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you've suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Peter, again, the one who had personally experienced the lion attack, warns Christians about the lion, about Satan. And he urges believers to resist Satan simply, note verse 9, to resist him simply by being strong in your faith. The last passage is in the last book of the Bible. It's Revelation 12, verses 9 through 11. This is the writing of another apostle of Jesus, about 30 years later from the one we just read that Peter wrote. This is by John. Here, John is given a vision of spiritual reality, what's going on in the unseen realm. And he describes what happened when Jesus, after his death and resurrection, ascended into heaven and took his seat on the throne as the conqueror. as the lamb who had given his life and then rose triumphantly from the dead. This is what happened when Jesus stepped into the throne room, Revelation 12, 9. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who's called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, the one who accuses them day and night before our God." That's quite the statement right there. What Satan had been doing to Job and to Peter, he had been doing day and night before God. But verse 11 says, but the saints have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives, even unto death. John sees that Satan has been making accusations against God's people continually. And when Jesus ascended to heaven, Satan was thrown down to the earth That means that he cannot accuse us in God's presence like he did before. But now, the spiritual reality is this. He is roaming the earth as mad as ever. with the same intention as ever. Satan is roaming the earth right now to afflict the lives of God's people as much as God will allow him to, to try to show how little God's people actually love God and how much they actually love themselves and how little worthy of love God actually is. He's going about with the same mission but with an intense ferocity. This is the description that we get from the last book of the Bible. And John sees that the way we resist Satan is simple. We just continually believe the power of the blood. We keep believing the power of Jesus's crucifixion, even if it means dying for it. We keep believing no matter how hard life gets. That's the simple solution. Keep trusting Christ. Keep trusting the lamb and what he did in shedding his blood for us. Okay, why do I read these 10 passages at the outset of the year? It's to make one simple point, and that is Christian, live this year with the awareness that your adversary is on the prowl. Every one of us need to start this year with this realization. Of course, I'm speaking to Christians. Let me take just a minute and speak to those who are not followers of Jesus in here. If you're not a follower of Jesus, you're actually not opposed to Satan, you're actually under his rule. That's the way the scripture describes you. And you need to switch sides. You need to be transferred from the rule of Satan to the rule of Jesus. Jesus is God become man, crucified to bear the punishment for your sins, and then he rose again to show that he has power over sin and death, the consequence of sin. if you have not committed your life to Jesus, scriptures actually say that you're under blindness that is satanically charged. You haven't come to terms with reality yet. Reality is that this world is owned by and ruled by Jesus, and everyone on it lives and breathes with one God-given intention, and that is to magnify Jesus. We exist by Jesus and for Jesus. That's reality. And if you're thinking, 2020, I hope it's about getting a better job, self-improvement, raising the kids better, nothing wrong. It's just that's not what life's ultimately about. And all of those things, if they crowd out that life is about Jesus, all those things are satanically charged blinders. You've made good things, ultimate things, and they are blinding you from ultimate reality. And you need to change sides. You need to become a traitor against Satan. You need to say, I am going to become a fugitive. I'm going to run away from your rule. And I'm going to say, I've been living my whole life for me under a different power, and I need to commit my life to Jesus. And that's actually when this adversarial relationship with the accuser begins. It's not until you've become a follower of Jesus that what I'm about to say applies to you. So if you're not a Christian, I urge you to commit your life to following Jesus. He died for you so that you could be forgiven and you could be given eternal life. You need that. Now I say to every Christian, your primary adversary is the one we've read about in all these passages. Your primary adversary isn't your spouse. It's not your child. Your primary adversary is not a family member. It's not your employer, co-workers, your primary adversary. It's not your neighbor. It's not fellow church members. Your adversary is a demon, Satan, Leviathan. He wants to ruin you. Christian. You've got to realize that your accuser wants to do everything to make you look like a hypocrite so that he can blab it throughout the whole world that you're not the real deal. You don't really love God, you actually love you. Your accuser is prowling around to sift you And to show that you love you more than you love God. Satan is right now prowling around the earth seeking to devour believers just like he sought to devour Peter. You're going to have failure and you're never going to get back up. That's not true. Not if you believe the blood. Not if there's power in the blood. Satan is seeking to devour believers today just like he did with Paul. He's going to give you physical infirmities, chronic pain that beat you down and that harass you and make you feel weak, unimpressive, powerless. And when believers like you feel beat down, Satan is going to look at God and say, see, Jesus, their shepherd, he isn't all that great. You call that shepherding protection? Oh no, look how weak they are. Satan right now is seeking to tempt believers just like he was in Ephesus. You want the garbage of sexual immorality. Why don't you just laugh about all the crude, filthy comedy that's spewing out on every TV channel? And why don't you not care about any of God's marital ethics? And why don't you talk like just all the people around you? I'm quoting basically Ephesians 5. Do you realize that your adversary is trying to get you to return to the world? And he is using tastes of garbage to do it? Satan is seeking to tempt believing children to live in defiance against their parents. or he is trying to tempt spouses to live with cruel selfishness, and he's doing all of this so that he can look at God and say, see, the gospel isn't all that powerful. See, these people, they still love themselves more than they love you. Satan is seeking to destroy entire churches with division because of believers who won't forgive each other just like God's forgiven them. Or divide believers over legalistic teaching. If you're really godly, you'll obey my standards that aren't actually found anywhere in the Bible. And the accuser wants solid churches to split and Christians to leave churches because he wants to look at God and say, Your church is just like the world. They can't get along. They're fickle, they're petty, they're selfish. To them, it's all about comfort. Tri-County, I want us to begin 2020 with an awareness of our adversary. And I want us to renew our commitment to resist him. The way to resist him is not complex. It's not complicated. It's very, very simple. Peter says, be strong in your faith. Paul says, arm yourself with the gospel. John says, keep trusting the Lamb's blood, even if it costs you your life. If you're going to resist the accuser in 2020, you're going to accept that trials are going to be a part of your life. It's a God-intended part of your life, and you don't need to fear the trials that are on you or the trials that are ahead. You don't need to fear them at all. Instead, you just need to endure. You just need to grow strong in faith as you keep trusting God. You're not going to have all your questions answered. You just got to keep trusting God. It means that whether you feel like it or not, you need to keep praying every day, the Lord's Prayer. Use it as your pattern. God, I want your name to be magnified in my life. Jesus, how long until your kingdom comes on earth? You're gonna be praying for physical strength for your day. You're gonna be praying for spiritual strength, for forgiveness, for protection from temptation. This is the Lord's Prayer. You're just every day gonna be saying, God, I need you. That's strong in faith, that's stable in faith, that's remaining steadfast. It means you're going to keep gathering to worship the risen King, whether you feel like it or not. You're going to keep gathering with God's people to study solid Bible doctrine, whether you feel like you need it today or not. It means that we're just going to keep strong, remain steadfast, keep growing. You're going to keep using your spiritual gifts to unselfishly build other people up, and you're not going to choose the direction of the loner, right? This is one of the dangers. There are many blessings to social media, but one of the dangers, and it's being repeated in numerous studies. The more we're on social media, the more isolated we feel. Do you know, I don't know if you've seen this on documentaries, do you know how lions, Pick off gazelles? Just isolate them. The more you get into the habit of saying, oh, it would be too hard going in front of people. You're in danger. The adversary is like a lion prowling around seeking ones to devour. He's going to pick off the isolated ones. I have no idea what awaits us in the year ahead, but I want to just say, let's remain steadfast. That's exactly the words, remain steadfast. That's exactly the words that James used of Job. James, Jesus' half-brother, pastor of the first church there in Jerusalem, he simply says, Job, remain steadfast. This is James 5.11. And that's how Job conquered the lion. That's how he conquered Leviathan. When this ferocious, untamable beast attacked, Job remained steadfast. He just kept praying. He kept humbling himself before God. He kept trusting God even when life didn't make any sense. So, Tri-County, let's begin 2020 with renewed commitment to grow in our faith. You will win the battle against your adversary. We will win the battle against our adversary. And we will give glory to God when we just keep trusting Him. And we keep trusting Him. And we keep awaiting the day when we finally stand before our Redeemer.