All right, Satan is the God of this world. It says, In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Satan is the God of this world. That scripture is very clear. But it's not the only scripture. that talks about Satan being in charge or the God of this world. And I think what we do sometimes is we say, well, that's, it must, you know, is it that important that we understand this? I've heard people say, oh, you know, you shouldn't talk about Satan and you shouldn't talk about the spirit world and satanic things. That's like witchcraft. That's like, that's wrong. You shouldn't really do that. Well, those people are very ignorant when they say that. I'll go on record. I know people hear this online. And they're going to probably get mad at that. But let me say it again. You're very ignorant. All right. Because the Bible says that we are not to be ignorant of Satan's devices. We are to study to show ourselves approved unto God. We are to look at the Word of God. We are to search these matters out. We are to allow the Holy Ghost of God to work through us and to teach us the lessons that he has. And you need to understand what does that mean when Satan is the God of this world? What authority does that give him? Yes, he has authority. Some of you think that Satan is in a little metal box in hell somewhere with his tail hanging out and a pitchfork breathing fire and is mad. No, that's not where Satan is. Satan is going to and fro in the earth and walking up and down in it. Satan is going, he's trafficking in heaven, he's trafficking on earth. He is everywhere. He is the God of this world. That's what he is. Now, what does that mean exactly? First of all, I want you to understand his authority. And the first place that we can look, I want you to turn to Matthew, chapter four, Matthew, chapter four. This is the account of Jesus being taken up. Now, I want you to watch this, OK? I want you to read this closely. Take a look at this while we're reading. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward a hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city. Did you notice that? Wait a minute. It says that the devil took Jesus up. It doesn't say Jesus took the devil up. It says that the devil took Jesus up. Hmm. Well, do you know any being that could take Jesus anywhere and do anything with Jesus? No. Only him. Amen. And then the devil takes him up into the holy city and sets him on a pinnacle of the temple. So he took him up there and he sat him right on the pinnacle, the top of the temple. Just put him right up there. What was he doing? He was tempting him. I mean, you have to understand how... See, I don't want to get too far into this tonight because I'll keep you here too long. I know what's going to happen because that's the way this teaching goes. If he takes him up to the top of the pinnacle of the temple, he is tempting him, and it says what he's tempting him for, but if he did that to a normal man, when you get up into a high place like that, devils always put thoughts into you of jumping. Fear, but also, hey, wouldn't you like to just jump off of this? See, we're going to get into that on Sunday. That's the prince of the power of the air. Tonight, what I'm going to show you is the devil's authority. Sunday, I'm going to show you, Lord willing, Sunday, I'm going to show you how the devil executes his power into this world. How he executes his power. And I'm going to tell you, I've never heard anybody preach on either one of those ever in my life. Never. It's a shame. You know, You'd be wise if you'd break the remote control and stop worrying about science fiction and get into the truth that is stranger than fiction and learn what's in this book. Wouldn't that be a blessing? Wouldn't it be something if you actually opened the Word of God up and learned what's going on in here? Because I promise you, truth is stranger than fiction. It's definitely stranger than fiction. But you won't know that until you get into God's book. So tonight what we're going to do is not look at how he has that power or how he executes that power. We'll do that on Sunday. But we're going to look at his power or his authority that he has. So then the devil takes him up into the holy city and sets him on a pinnacle of the temple. And saith unto him, If thou be the son of God, cast thyself down for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. So you say, why don't you just go ahead and jump off there? You're the son of God, just jump off there! And the angels, they'll come, they won't let you dash your foot against a stone. Now, he didn't read the rest of that verse, and we don't have time to go into that tonight, but the rest of that verse says that Christ, it says that Christ will crush the head of that serpent, and he'll bruise him, he'll take care of him, but anyway, that's not in this portion of the scripture, because the devil left that out for a purpose. He didn't want to quote that to Jesus, because he was quoting his end then. Anyway, Jesus said unto him, It is written, again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain. Do you understand? This is the devil taking Christ up. He is grabbing him and he is taking him up wherever he wants to in this world. Why? Because Satan is the god of this world. That's why. You and I don't understand when Jesus made himself a man lower than the angels, He allowed himself to be subjected to the God of this world. Why? Because it was the only way to make things right. It was the only way to bring redemption. It was the only way to fix what was wrong. There was no other way. Again, the devil takes them up into exceeding high mountain and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world in the glory of them. And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. You stop right there and think about this. The audacity of the devil. He is coming to God in the flesh and he's looking at the Lord Jesus Christ, God, and he's saying to him, you know, you should fall down and worship me. Do you understand how deluded he was at that point? How power hungry he is when he looks at God and he knows he's God and he says, you know, I want you to fall down and worship me. Let me try to give it to you. Let's go back to the scene in heaven first, okay? Go back, all right? Lucifer is the anointed cherub that covereth, right? There is no other created being more powerful than him in heaven. in all the universe, in all of God's creation. Nothing more powerful than Him. Okay? Then you have Jesus Christ, who is God. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost. All right? And He knows that, and that's who He sees is the Son in Heaven. He knows it. He already knows it. And up there, Jesus said, well, you know, you know, you're done. You're not going to be able to do this anymore, what you did. And Satan gets angry, obviously. And Satan tries to take the throne. Well, he hasn't done that yet, but he's going to make an attempt to do that in the future. But he fell. He fell. And he knew Christ was up there. But then Christ comes then, as a man, makes himself a man. And now he has the opportunity to say, all these kingdoms of the world will I give you if you will fall down and worship me. Think about that. Go back and look at the scene in heaven and now on earth. And now he's looking at him and he's saying, you worship me. I am the God of this world. You need to worship me. But then Jesus said unto him, Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered. unto him. Why do you think the angels came and ministered unto him? Because he was beaten down. He had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. And he went through the greatest temptation. And he was weak. And the Bible says that angels came and ministered unto him. Because it was a war. That was a battle right there. There was a lot that was going on there. But notice, I want you to notice something. Christ did not say, you don't have the authority to give me these kingdoms, Satan. He didn't look at him and say, you don't have that kind of authority. It's my father's world. And no, he didn't say that, did he? No, he never. Christ never denied that Satan was the god of this world. He never denied his authority or his power in this world, never. Not one time. In fact, Jesus is the best record that we have. He left us the best messages of understanding of who Satan really is as the God of this world. John 12, verse 31. Now is the judgment of this world. Now. Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out. The Prince of this world. Notice the title that prince he is the he's he's the prince of the world Remember the other angels the fallen angels the Prince of Persia that battled with Gabriel and Michael your your prince He called him and the Prince of Persia was coming and the Prince of Grecia was there and there was a battle there Well, they were they were princes over providences over certain districts in the angelic realm and We'll talk about that a little bit on Sunday. But in this case, Satan is the prince of the world. It's all his. It's all his. John 16 11 of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. You see Christ coming to the coming and getting ready to go to the cross and then dying on the cross and then defeating death. Well, that That was the judgment of the devil right there. That was his judgment. Now, the judgment is not executed yet. It hasn't taken place yet, but he's already been he's already been found guilty. He's already been judged, but he's already been sentenced. But the day of his the day will come when he will be put down for good. But it's not yet. Jesus Christ never denied the authority or power of Satan in this world. Turn to Matthew chapter 12 and verse number 25. Christ still saying again, Satan, the God of this world. Listen, you don't need just one Bible verse and run with that when you can study through the Scriptures and see the truth that is in there. Amen? It's all over the Bible. You just got to look. Matthew chapter 12 and verse number 25. And Jesus knew their thoughts. And said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself. How shall then his kingdom stand? Christ is telling you that Satan is a king and he has a kingdom. He's not denying the devil's kingdom. You have some theologians out there today that are telling people that, oh, Satan, he's bound. He's bound in hell. He's not out doing anything right now. He's off taking a nap. He's not doing anything right now. Oh, no. He's doing a whole lot right now. He's doing a whole lot right now. 1 John 5.18. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness." The whole world lies in wickedness. Why? Because the God of this world I mean, please, don't ever, don't get confused and be sober, be serious and understand the devil's in charge of this world. It's very plain to see that he is. And some people say, well, how is he then? Well, you just wait and hang on until Sunday and we'll go through how he executes it. The prince of the power of the air executes his power throughout the air because he does that and that's why he's called the prince of the power of the air. Consider also the testimony of Michael, the archangel, who didn't deny the power of Satan either, and his authority in his kingdom. Jude, in the book of Jude, verse number 8, Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Despise dominion. Well, dominion is authority, it's power. Some of it has the dominion or the rule over a certain area. That's interesting. What's the next verse? Yet Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses. Dost not bring against him a railing accusation, but say the Lord rebuketh thee. But these speak evil of those things which they know not, but what they know naturally is brute beast, and in those things they corrupt themselves. What is he saying here? He is saying that Michael, Michael came from heaven. He was sent down to earth. What is earth? Where was he sent down to? The world. What was he sent down to do? The body of Moses. But wait a minute. There was a problem. What happened? Satan came. And what did he say to him? What are you doing here? Why are you? I'm the God of this world. What are you doing here? You're not allowed to come here and take this body. I have the power over death. You're not allowed to come here and take this body. You're not allowed to do that. Why are you here? And then Michael didn't just look at him and say, look, you dirty serpent. He didn't start railing on him. He didn't start calling them names. He didn't start despising his authority. That's what it means here. Do you understand that? What he's saying is, what Jude is saying is that Michael, the archangel, did not despise Satan's authority. He didn't say, Oh, you don't have the power to do that. I can do whatever I want to do. No, he didn't say that. What did he do? All he said was, the Lord rebuked thee. That's all he said. And what did that say to Satan? Oh, I'm done. Why? Because he knew that once that decree went out from God, that he couldn't do anything. He couldn't fight God. Satan knows that he can't fight God. He knew that God, he knows that he has authority over this world and he's the God of this world, but he's not God. He's not Lord over all. He still has to answer to God. He can't just do whatever he wants to do, although he has a lot of liberty. Then we see others of Michael, your prince, which was called in the book of Daniel, had to come and dispute over... Michael was disputing over that body, but he's very careful how he did that. Then we see other stories of that taking place. There's another one here. Let's turn to Zechariah chapter 3 and verse number 1. Zechariah chapter number 3. Zechariah chapter 3 there. This is an account of Satan. I'm doing this to show you his power, his authority that he had, where he was at and just what he had. In verse number one, I think it's verse one through eight. And he showed me Joshua, the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. So you've got the angel of the Lord on one side and you've got Satan on the other side and you've got the high priest standing there like, oh, So you know that old thing where they used to show you where there'd be like a little angel on one side and a little devil on the other side? Well, that actually happened to him, only they were real. There was a real angel of the Lord standing there, and then there was the real devil standing right there. And they were standing there right next to him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuketh thee. Now that's going to be an interesting phrase. You're going to have to understand that not for tonight, but for Sunday, because the Lord rebuked thee means that he is dealing directly with Satan when he says that. He is dealing with him. So when you see God do some healing and some other things, when you see Jesus do that in the New Testament, you're going to see sometimes when he heals somebody, he says, the Lord rebuked thee or the Lord rebuked it. When you see that, you're going to understand he's rebuking the prince of the power of the air that has caused whatever illness or whatever problem is there. He's rebuked that. Anyway, the Lord rebuked thee, O Satan. Even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuked thee. Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? What was he saying? He said, yeah, this whole world lieth in the hand of the wicked one, and we understand that. But God looks at Satan, he says, yeah, but I plucked this brand out of the fire. This one's mine. This one right here is mine. So, what is Satan going to say? Now, it appears here, and the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee. Now, this was directly from God. This decree was directly from God. There was an angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord was there. Satan was there. But God directly spoke to Satan and said, The Lord rebuke thee. Why? Why did God do that? Because Satan has the authority there. So the only one that could override his authority is God. I hope you understand, this doesn't glorify the devil. What it does is it makes you understand how powerful he really is. It helps you to understand his scope of authority. And it also helps you to understand that you need to wake up out of your stupor and get a hold of this thing of Ephesians chapter 6 and put your armor on and stop putting your Bible away and start reading it and studying it and learn from God. Because you're in a war. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with the change of Raman. And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with the garments. And the angel of the Lord stood by, and the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, If thou wilt walk in my ways, and wilt and thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee, for they are men wandered at. For behold, I will bring forth my servant the branch." Christ. Amen. Is not this a bran plucked out of the fire, that is God was exerting his authority over Satan, saying, no, you're not going to get this. Not this one. So what does it mean when it says Satan is the God of this world? What is his authority? What is the authority that he has in this world? First of all, you have to understand that Satan's goal is to create a world that is void of worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. His goal is to create for this world to erase God as being worshipped as God. Erase Jehovah God. Erase Jesus Christ from the minds and hearts of people. He does not want that. He does not. That's why he's the God of this world. When Adam decided that he would follow Eve and take of the fruit, then man fell and transferred that power and authority over to Satan, the God of this world. Because they worshipped Him and not the Lord. Because they believed Him and listened to Him and hearkened unto His voice and not the voice of the Lord. The world means this world system. It is the devil, he is the God of this world system, the way the world works. The way things are done, the inhabited part of the world. is what is considered the world. Satan was given the authority at the fall when Adam and Eve worshipped him. Satan wants a system that rivals God's kingdom but leaves God completely out of it. See, he is mounting up a war against God. That is what this is all about. Everything is about. That's why you have to understand. Don't you get it? That's why he says you're in the army of the Lord when you get saved? Because you are battling this world and the God of this world. By the way, he's very engaged in this battle, even if you're not. He is very engaged and he is ready to fight. And he's always fighting. Whether you are or not, he is fighting and warring against you. Whether you want to fight or not. Hence all the laws leading to erase the Bible from society. Have you not seen all the laws that want to erase the Bible, erase Jesus? They don't want separation of church and state. They want separation of Jesus and state. They don't want anything to do with Jesus. They don't want Jesus being around anywhere. They don't want his name being mentioned. They don't want him being talked about. Why? because Satan is the God of this world. And we are steamrolling to that point to where it's going to be that battle, that end battle that takes place. In 1 John 2, 16, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. and the world passeth away, and the lusts thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." What does that mean? He says it's not of the Father. All that is in the world is not of the Father. That's why you are called out of the world, because all that is of the world is not of the Father. That was not God's design. God never had a design for wickedness and sin to reign in His world. God never wanted that. God created Adam and Eve perfect. Amen. Created them to be perfect and to live forever. God never wanted disease and death and he never wanted any of that. But the God of this world wants that. All that is in the world is not of the Father. It's of the God of this world. Satan's slogan, so to speak, do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. Same thing as Alistair Crowley, all he was doing was just spitting satanic lingo. Isn't that what Satan said to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? Don't do what you want to do. You'll be gods. You're not going to die. Do what thou wilt. Thou shalt be the whole of the law. It's fine. Just do what you want to do. You'll be fine. Everything will be fine if you do that. You'll be as gods. You won't die. No one can tell you what to do. Rebellion is the religion of the world. It is the religion of the world, rebellion. Satan is the god of this world and his religion is rebellion. He wants you to rebel against God. In his world, he pushes live for the now. You ain't gonna live forever. It's your life, so do whatever you want with it now. The goal of this world system is self. Follow your heart. is what the world says. And do what you want to do. Just follow your heart. How many songs say that over and over again? How many foolish Christians say that? I'm going to follow my heart. What do you want to follow that dirty thing for? Wicked, disgusting, fallen thing. Amen. What are you going to follow that for? That'll just get you in trouble. Don't follow that. Follow God's Word. What did Eve do? Eve followed her heart, didn't she? And Adam followed his. Because she was in his heart and she just followed him. Or he just followed her. Amen. He followed his heart. Isn't that great? You hear people say that? Oh, I'm going to follow my heart. Yeah, what's your heart tell you to do? My heart tells me to do a lot of stinking, rotten, wicked things, so I'm not going to follow it. It tells me to do some awful, awful, awful things! Amen! Because the Bible says your heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Now, why is your heart deceitful above all things and desperately wicked? Well, we're going to get into this on Sunday, but I'll give you a sneak peek. It's because of the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. He has access to your heart. So that's why your heart is deceitful, because it not only deceives you, but he works on deceiving it. Deceived and being deceived. deceiving and being deceived. Eternity matters not to the God of this world. The goal of this world system is self. Self. What did that verse say? And the world passeth away in the lust thereof. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, all about self. The lust of the eyes, all about self. The pride of life, all about self. Is not of the Father, but is of the world. What did Satan do? Five I wills. Remember that on Sunday? Five I wills. Same thing that he pushes in this world. Just concentrate on yourself. And what is that sign of the end times? And men shall be lovers of their own selves. Satanic. Perilous times. Satanic times. Dangerous times. I'm going to preach a message on that. I've preached on perilous times, but I've got a little spin on it that I want to do sometime. Anyway, the goal of this world system is self. If we live according to this world, then we will not lay up treasures for ourselves in heaven. Where moth and rust doth not corrupt. And when thieves don't break through and steal. Materialism is the aim of this world. Get what you want. It's all about money and self and making you happy. Why is that the message? Because the God of this world has that message. Because that's what He did. Hey, He's the anointed cherub that covereth. And God had set Him so that He was the anointed cherub that covereth. And God had set Him so. So, what happened? He decided He wanted to be God. He wants to be God. Right. He didn't want to cover. He coveted the throne. He wanted it. He wanted God to cover him. That's why he went to Jesus and took him up to the highest point and said, hey, fall down and worship me and I'll give you all these kingdoms. You can have them all right now. Just be self-sufficient, don't rely on God. Does it not make sense why this world's religion is evolution because it detracts from a god and then you become a beast? So you evolved from a beast? That's interesting. All the world will wonder after a beast. Huh. Isn't that something? Think there might be a link there to that? Maybe the missing link? That the devil as the beast got a bunch of scientific idiots I love saying that. Got a bunch of scientific idiots with degrees to believe that they came from a beast. And in the end times, all the world will wonder after the beast. Pretty easy to understand, isn't it? They wanted to serve the creature more than the Creator. The beast. Makes sense. Evolution is from Satan. Pretty simple. This world appeals to the flesh because the God of this world is a master at appealing to the flesh. You have to understand, He is a master. When we talk about this on Sunday, we are so duped and fooled and we don't even know when we're being demonically oppressed by the devil. We don't even realize when we are. When we have these crazy satanic thoughts that come through our head or perverted thoughts that we weren't even thinking about in our head and they just pop in there. We think that all that just happens by chance. No, that must have been in my heart somewhere. Well, I mean, it could have been, but more than likely, it probably wasn't. More than likely, the prince of the power of the air and his little friends came in and went, hey, guess what? Oh, come on, that can't happen. I know. We shouldn't really believe that all these miraculous things really happen, and the devil has all this power. He's the god of this world, but, you know, it's kind of like he just sits there and he doesn't really do anything. He just twiddles his thumbs and throws spiritual baseballs back and forth to his other angels that are up there that are flying around, and he just sits on his throne and he doesn't do anything. Nothing's going on. He's not working. I mean, he doesn't have a legions and legions and legions of demons that work for him. I mean, they're not out doing anything. They're not out whispering into man. They're not out leading the children of disobedience. No, he has a strong kingdom and he's working constantly. And you know what the strength of the devil's kingdom has been thus far for the last 100 years? The fact that nobody knows about it. The fact that preachers have not talked about it. That they don't preach about it. Why? Why don't they preach about it? Well, because the devil invented something called the charismatic movement. And when he invented the charismatic movement, it was on the spirit world. But it was a perversion of that, like the devil does all the time, because he's good at it. So biblical preachers didn't preach against the spirit world anymore. They stopped preaching it. They stopped informing people, letting Christians know about it. So you just think you're fighting the Republican Party against abortion. And you just got to give money to the Republican Party and go soul winning, go knock doors, go hand out tracts, and God will take care of the rest. You don't have to know anything. You don't have to study your Bible. My people are destroyed all the day long for lack of knowledge. And I'm going to tell you something, Christian. The devil is chewing us up and spitting us out because we don't know about his kingdom. And we don't understand that he is the God of this world. And he's not on vacation. He never sleeps. He's always at work. Always. Understand that He has great power and authority, and the only one that will put Him down one day is going to be Christ. So, if Satan is the God of this world, what does that mean to me? What does that mean to the Christian's relationship? Well, the Bible is very clear. Turn to 2 Corinthians 6. The Bible is very clear what it means to you. First of all, let me say this, that God has not given us a spirit of fear. but of power and of love and of a sound mind. If you have a spirit of fear, the Bible says you're not made perfect in love. What does that mean? That means you better get to that book and start reading it and studying it. You better get to know the God of heaven and you better start praying. See, you're trying to go out there and live a normal life of a lost person and come to church a few times, but never open up your Bible, never study it, never read. Your life is dead. and hidden Christ. Do you understand that's where you're supposed to be? So what am I supposed to do with my life if I don't watch TV? I don't know. Learn something about the book. Instead of filling your head with demons, start filling it with God's Word. That'd be a good idea. And by the way, let me say this. Quit making excuses, too, because they get old. Excuses aren't going to help you when you fall for temptations. And you fall for temptations because you're not standing, and you're not resisting, and you're not knowing your sword, and you're not doing anything. This seeks to inform you, that's what this does. This is information for you for a battle that's ahead. I guarantee you, when soldiers were lined up, if they didn't listen to their instructions, and they went out there and did whatever they wanted to, chances are most of them died. They died not following orders. When God gives you orders and explains things to you, it's important that you follow them. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 17, Wherefore, come out from among them and be ye separate, thus saith the Lord God, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. We are to come out of this world. We are to come out of this world system, the Satan's cosmos, what he controls. We're not to be a part of that. Yes, we're in it, but we're not to be consumed by its philosophies. We're not to follow its ways. We're not to live our lives like that. Peter says it when he says, Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. strangers and pilgrims why because you are I just because well let me ask let me try to put it in these words have you ever met somebody that tried to flatter you but you didn't trust them because you knew what they were up to you met people like that haven't you where they're trying to they're flattering you because they're gonna take advantage of you I mean I'm sure you've been around people like that haven't you Well, I was a lost guy, so I understand. Anyway, listen, yeah, okay? So, some of you know what I'm talking about, okay? They flatter you so that they can take advantage of you, right? And you did that, some of you did that yourselves, right? Alright, so you understand that. Well, that's what the devil does to you. See, the devil flatters the Christian. He entices him with little things to make him think that it's not so bad. This world's not so bad. This world system and the way that things are done. It's not so bad. What is he doing? He's just flattering you. That's why we're to be sober. Because that's what he does. He uses. Oh, he uses a lot of things and we'll get to it on Sunday. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. You are strangers and pilgrims here. When you get saved, you're a stranger here. Why? Because Satan's the God of this world. Is he your God? No. Not if you're saved. So, if you're a child of God, then what are you doing? You are walking in Satan's world. His system. Through his world system. You are walking through it. And everything is Antichrist in it. Amen. It is. Everything's Antichrist in it. Churches are anti-Christ in it. There's some of those. There's a big one over in Rome. There's billions of them. They're anti-Christ. Our governments are anti-Christ. They hate Christ. Remember that sermon I preached you, the world hates Christ? They really do. Why? Because Satan is the god of this world, that's why. He has blinded their eyes. That's right, that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned, the Bible says. Now, he says, love, not the world, love, not the world. That's it, that that's what that means to you and I, why shouldn't we love the world? Because Satan is the God of this world and we shouldn't love this world system. We shouldn't love the way the world does things. We should cleave to that which is right. We should cleave to the Word of God because we're not to love the world. Neither the things that are in the world. Let me ask you, are you too attached to things in this world? Are you too attached to them? Are they too important to you? I'm not talking about taking care of things. We all should be good stewards. I'm not talking about that, but are you too attached to things? Do they mean too much to you? That's a snare of the devil. Amen. It's a snare of the devil that you're too attached to something. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. You know, I've met people that... By the way, this is not saying that if you're seduced by the world, the love of the Father is not in you. It doesn't say that, does it? Let's say if you fall, the love of the Father is not in you. If you sin, the love of the Father is not in you. No, no. It says if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. The Christian, the born again believer, will commit sin in this world. And after they do it, they will hate, they will hate the flesh for doing it. After they wake up out of their stupor, They will hate and abhor for the rest of their life what they've done. They'll hate it. It'll bother them. Why? Because when the love of the Father is in you, you don't love the world. You may get seduced by it, but you don't love it. Do you love the way the God of this world does things? Do you love the fornication, the wickedness? Yeah, your flesh loves it, but God is talking about your soul. God is talking about that new man. The new man doesn't love it, doesn't crave it, or doesn't desire it to live in it and to walk in it. No. He may stumble into it. He may fall into it, but he doesn't love it. He doesn't love his sin. Think about the difference. I don't love the fact that I sin. I hate it. I hate the fact that I do. And when I fail God, I hate it. I don't love it. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Why? Because it's the God of this world. That's why. It's his world. It's not God's. In that sense, it's not God's design. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." What is he saying? You're not of this world. You're a stranger. You're a pilgrim. Yeah, they're supposed to not like it when you do things differently. They're not supposed to like it. It's just like, again, man, I keep getting this call from these cable guys, man. They call me like every week, it seems like now. One guy called me today and he's got me on the phone and he's, again, he's saying to me, you know, like, well, hey, listen, we've got a great package. I said, I don't... Hello? I don't... That was him calling. I'm just kidding. Oh, he phoned me. But he said, we got a great package for you. What do you like to watch on TV? I said, I don't watch TV. He goes, well, I hear some kids in the background. What do they like to watch on TV? I don't let them watch TV. He goes, oh, you don't? I said, no, I'm a Christian. We don't watch it. And he stopped for a second, and he said something, and then he tried to go on in a different way and say something else. I said, nah, I'm not interested. We don't want anything like that. And anyway, he didn't know what to say, though. He was just trying to get something else to say, trying to find a different angle. What is that? Trying to find a way to appeal to my flesh. Some way he could appeal to my flesh. He said, no, I don't want it. No, don't need it. Don't want it. Next time he calls, he'll be like, hey, I shot all my movies with AK-47s. Click. Exactly. We are told to set our affections on things above. Why? Because Satan is the god of this world. We are not to be in love with this world because it's under his influence and control. Do you understand that? That it is all under his influence and control. who wishes to erase God out of our lives, just like He has tried to erect worship to Himself. He would like us to do the same. His goal is to steal the glory of the one true God. The Bible says this, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness. See, when you're lost, you are under the power of darkness. You are under the God of this world. But when you are saved, when you get saved, you are delivered. From the power of darkness. and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son." Don't you understand that when you're on this world, you are walking through, and this is the devil's world, he is the god of this world, and you get saved, you are plucked from one kingdom to the other. And now all the forces of hell and Satan himself knows that you've been plucked out of the fire. So, now what? So he hates you. So his devils hate you. So this world hates you. This world system hates you. Hates what you stand for, if you'll stand. Hates you. Why? Because Satan is the god of this world. That's why. And you are trafficking in his world. When you go try to win people to Christ, you are doing it on his turf. This is his world. That's what he believes. It is. He has the authority over it. Satan seeks to make the world attractive and to allure you to seduce you into the world. Even as a Christian, he would desire to seduce you into the world, to distract you from all that is holy. And we are to separate from the world and we're not to be of the world. You know, before Lucifer fell, there was only one will in the universe. God's will. That was it. Everybody followed and obeyed God. And then Satan and then Lucifer fell. He wants the same thing now in this evil world. He wants you to do what he did. Do what thou wilt. Out of chaos comes order. That's what he wants. Live independent of God. That's his message. God's order in the garden was husband leading the wife and he sought to teach rebellion and rebellion is the religion of this world. The message of the God of this world. Is rebellion against authority. Rebel against authority, why do you think when Christ comes back, turn to Psalm chapter two, please. Psalm chapter two. Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, Let us break their bands of thunder and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak out of them in his wrath and vex them in his sword, his pleasure. Yet if I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion, I will declare the decree. The Lord has said unto me, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. The heathens and the kings, they warred against his anointed. Why? Because the God of this world, Satan rules this world. And he hasn't lost his authority yet. He still hasn't. Jesus recognized the fact that he had that authority. The angels recognized and feared the fact that he had that authority. And we should recognize and understand that he has that authority. And that we are walking in this world and the devil hates us. Because he is the God of this world. He is in control of this cosmos. Now, there's another part of this that we'll explain on Sunday that'll make a little more sense to you. Once you put the two together, the God of this world and the Prince of the Power of the Air. Because the Prince of the Power of the Air is how he rules the world. It is how he executes his will. It's how he executes his power into this world. There's two parts of that, and that's the second part that you have to understand. If you get that, then it'll make a lot more sense. But the one thing that you must understand tonight is that Satan is the god of this world. He rules it. He has the authority to do it. His authority goes unquestioned unless God intervenes. The only way that God will intervene is through prayer and through fasting and through things of that nature. for us. But we'll talk about his power on Sunday and what he can do. And I think you'll be surprised at what you see and his influence that he has on people. We underestimate the God of this world. I'm not bringing any glory to him. I'm bringing the glory to God. He was a glorious, created being and he fell. But he never lost his power, his authority. He still has it. And He is the God of this world, and He does rule this cosmos, and He rules from the air as the Prince of the power of the air. So, understand that until Christ comes back, Satan is the ruler of this world. He is the Prince of this world. He is the Prince of darkness. And the only way that anyone can escape the God of this world, the only way they can escape His power, that is, is to be translated from darkness into light. through Jesus Christ. That's the only way that you and I can be out from underneath His control. Now, He may still afflict us. He may still try to hurt us. He may even still kill us. He may. But we do understand that He can't take the soul once you're saved. Amen? But He is the God of this world and He does have that power. And He does execute it.