this way here we got room and we're going to have our Bible study and a couple questions everybody should have you don't have the pages okay that's because they're in the pulpit all right I forgot about that there we go While we're doing that, I just want to explain some things here. I know we're in summer. People are scattered all around the place serving the Lord and will continue to be that way most of the summer. That's the way summers are around here. We like to make hay while the sun shines. Like I said, we've got people at camp this week in Butler. We've got people out at the fair right now. Kelly's on her way to South Africa. Then when she gets back from South Africa, she's going to Papua New Guinea in September. And we thank the Lord for Kelly Chek, amen, and using her talents. They opened doors that you and I couldn't go through. She's a veterinarian, and she uses what she knows to open doors and preach the gospel. And they have people come, bring their animals to get help, and then there's gospel presentations for everybody that comes for children. adults and we hear about people getting saved is wonderful so it's amazing what God can do for just take what we have and give it to him and that's what she does so praise the Lord for her she's not with us tonight. Did you get him up there? Yeah, well they need him in the balcony. The really brilliant people are up there tonight. For anyone new on Wednesday night we're having questions. Our theme for the year is answers the Bible says be ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear that's our verse this month 1st Peter 3 15 and we want to do that be ready to give an answer now these questions might not come up or they might come up I don't know but it'd be nice to be prepared if they do a couple things I want to mention as summer winds down come September we want to really focus on the church, have a good fall program, try to rebuild some things and build up the Sunday school. We want to, we've been talking about rebuilding some of the care ministry like we had in old days where it was really, I thought, very effectual. And just a change for Wednesday nights Starting September 4th, we're going to try something, see if it works. And I took a survey, which is something I hardly ever do, of people and got about 40 responses from you about Wednesday nights, what would work better for you. And 75% of those that responded said it would help them personally if we started a little earlier on Wednesday nights and got out a little bit earlier. And then others said absolutely not we can't be here till seven o'clock. It's not possible That was the minority, but those people are important to me too, so What we're probably going to do starting in September is we will continue on with What we're doing here at seven o'clock You could just look this way, but for a moment at seven o'clock have Bible study and kids club till 745 which would end Wednesday nights about a half hour earlier and That we know there are those that can't get here till 7 we'll still get Bible study and kids clubs And we're going to start the service though on Wednesday earlier at 630 for our time of praise and prayer like we do and the kids will be up here for that there won't be kids clubs during this time and And I just want to try this beginning in September and do this for a while, maybe the rest of the year, see how that works out so that people that can make it at 6.30 will have praise and prayer time. That's where we're singing and praying. And the kids would be up here. We wouldn't have kids clubs for them, but kids need to praise and prayer too, you know. And it'd be nice if they just kind of knelt around with us and heard us pray. So and then right about 7 o'clock we'd Probably sing another song, have an offering and then Bible study and be out by a half hour earlier which what made me think about this was the number of people who have kids that have to get up like at 5.30 or 6 o'clock these days to get on their buses to go to school. It's crazy. I don't know why that early but we've heard that story more than once. And then others in our church, we have to get up 4.30, some people 5, 6 o'clock to go to work. And so, then there's others that stay for an hour and a half later and fellowship anyways and they'll still be able to do that. I don't care, I'll be here. So that's just something we're trying and I'm going to mention this probably about 10 times between now and September 4th. after summer's over and Labor Day and we're just going to try that and see how that works and maybe, I don't know, maybe it'll bring even some more people out that just say, well, I can't, you know, I've got to get home, I've got to get to work and that type of thing. So turn to Ezekiel 28 because I don't have all the verses on here for question number 29. So we're going to read all the verses here in Ezekiel chapter number 28 and our first question tonight this why did God create Satan well I've heard that a few times and When I first heard it, I didn't even know how to answer it. Well. That's a good question The answer is this God didn't create Satan all right. He created Lucifer and Lucifer was perfect and Lucifer was holy and Lucifer loved God and He really did. He served God. He was the anointed cherub that covered the throne of God. And we don't know how long this went on. But then something bad happened inside called pride. And he turned into the ugly monster he is today. And that's what turns humans into ugly monsters. Who can think of a human in the Bible who started out just amazing, just beautiful in his spiritual nature and then just by the end of his life was just vile. King Saul, okay? King Saul is an excellent example of a guy that was just humble, hidden. He didn't want to be well-known. He didn't want to be king. He was just very, I don't know what the word is, but just humble guy. But then, you know, there's a saying that says absolute power corrupts absolutely. That doesn't have to be true. But in many cases, it is. And pretty soon, his heart was lifted up in pride. And by the end of his life, that guy was a monster, man. Oh, he was horrible. That's what happened to Lucifer Lucifer was dazzling. He was brilliant. He was the most beautiful creature God ever made and If I could say it this way he was like God's right-hand man He was holy perfect He had more wisdom than anybody any angelic creature God made all these angelic creatures the Bible calls them innumerable You can't count them. But there are basically in three different categories. Anybody know what the three different categories are of angelic creatures? Okay, cherubim, seraphims, and angels. All right, those are the three. And the cherubims and the seraphims had very, very special places. They were like above the average angels. And what do we know that's unique about a cherubim? If you saw one physically in person, what would it be? There's two wings. What about a seraphim? Six wings. What about an angel? Zero. Okay, none. Until Clarence. You know Clarence earned his wings but But That they make up a lot of things about angels, so When we get to our text here in Ezekiel chapter number 28 it talks about the king of Tyrus But you're not very far into this description of Some character called the king of Tyrus, but that you realize he's not talking about a human being here He's talking about what we might call a principality or a power or one of the rulers of the darkness of this world that is mentioned in Ephesians 6.12 which we'll look at. And so he's called the King of Tyrus here but as you go through there's no doubt that you can't come up with any other conclusion when you compare all the other scriptures. That this is a description of Lucifer and how he started and then what he became and what fell to all from verses 12 down through verses 19 and it's not all on your sheet there so I'm gonna kinda read it quickly here it says beginning in verse number well let's start at 11 moreover the word of the Lord came unto me saying son of man take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus and say unto him thus saith the Lord now we see the king of Tyrus described by God Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the yanks, the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, the carbuncle, and gold. The workmanship of thy tablets and of thy pipes, that's musical instruments, was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, that speaking about that covers the throne of God and later by the work of Bezalel there would be cherubims on the mercy seat, that piece of furniture in Israel's religion that represented the presence and the voice of God. And I have set thee so. In other words, God did that. Okay, that's what God did. Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God. Thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. And some of that description of heaven can be read in Revelation 18. So it's talking about how This cherub had a special place on the mountain of God and near the presence of God. Then it says this in verse 15, Thou was perfect in Thy ways from the day that Thou was created till iniquity was found in Thee. When God made him, he was absolutely perfect. But then iniquity was found in Thee. And then what did iniquity do? By the multitude of thy merchandise, it is his greed, covetousness, they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned. Therefore, I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God, and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness. I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, and that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic." That traffic means going to and fro. One time when God asked Job 1 and Job 2. Where you been? Satan said from running to and fro. A very restless creature and he's always in traffic. Therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee. Thou shalt be a terror and never shall thou be anymore." Look how he ended up. He became a self-created sinner. God did not make Satan. He did not make the devil. God made Lucifer. Perfect in beauty, full of wisdom, and it says, "...thou sealest up the sum." In other words, in verse 12, he was the crown of all God's creation. "...thou sealest up the sum," means you're it. I've never made anything. I've never created anything more beautiful than you." You say, what about Jesus? He wasn't created. He's the creator. Lucifer was the zenith of God's creation. He never made anything more spectacular than him. But he also gave these angelic creatures a free will. He gave all the cherubim, seraphims, and angels a free will. That's what God does. Just like He gave mankind a free will. And Lucifer exercised his free will. It says his heart was lifted up because of his beauty. Verses 17, he was perfect in beauty. Any of you perfect in beauty? I'm not. It's tough looking in the mirror sometimes, you know. Especially as you get older He was perfect in beauty. I mean that was just But one whenever any other angels or something so in fact he leads And we'll probably learn this Sunday morning in the sermon he leads about one-third of the angels to follow him And fall and rebel against God that's that's how dazzling he was and But he becomes a self-created sinner and destroys himself It describes him in the midst of being full of violence. Do you ever have any violent thoughts inside of you? That's satanic. God says here he would end up becoming a terror to himself. And that's scary, isn't it, when proud people end up becoming a terror to themselves. They wreck everybody else around them. and become a terror to themselves, just like Satan. We see this downfall in so many human beings. And God's going to cremate them. But that talk about ashes there and everything, he's going to be forever in a lake of fire, forever. He's never going to cease to exist. He's going to always be punished. What a horrible downfall. So this is where he came from. And so the King of Tyrus, in the explanation here, is a type or a representation of Satan, a principality and power of spiritual wickedness in high places. All right, so let's have a sword drill right here and let's see what that means because the scripture says you and I battle these principalities and powers. So draw swords and our first sword drill tonight is Ephesians 6 verse 12. Go! Ephesians 6.12. Let's see this quick here. Go ahead. Boy, we sure do, don't we? If you're ever wondering why you're worn out, it's because you've been wrestling spiritually. And it's real stuff. I don't know about you, but I did not like, I like sports, but I didn't like wrestling growing up in high school, man. Three minutes, one minute break, three minutes, one minute break, three minutes, by that time I was exhausted. I usually let the guy pin me somewhere in the first or second round just to get it over with because I could care less if I won or lost in that sport. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. Principalities we were princes from. Read the book of Daniel and all those princes that opposed him, that opposed Michael the archangel. Principalities and powers and the spiritual wickedness in high places. Sometimes we think of government, we think of the deep state. That's just a new phrase for describing spiritual wickedness in high places. And this spiritual warfare is very real. There's the devil, there are demons, And you and I are stuck in the middle of this warfare, and there's no getting out of it. Ecclesiastes 8 and verse 8 says, there is no discharge from this war. Not until you take your last breath and wake up in glory, and then it's all over. But praise the Lord. But what was it that triggered his pride? Verse 17, his heart was lifted up because of his beauty. Man, beauty is a curse. You know that? It really is. Some people say, well, I wish I was beautiful. Why didn't God make me beautiful? And why didn't God make me handsome? Did you ever see the problems those people have in life? Yikes. It doesn't have to be a curse. But the scripture says, favor is deceitful and beauty is vain. But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Be careful about beauty because it often triggers pride. Well, I'm better than people because I'm more Somebody might say, handsome, or more muscular, more athletic, or I'm prettier than the other women, and so on. Boy, that's satanic to think that way. What does the Bible say about this? Well, let's have a sword drill. Draw a sword. Psalm 100, verse 3. Go. Psalm 100, verse 3. Okay, it says it is he that hath made us and not we ourselves it's kind of funny how these guys that are hunks and ripped and You know got all these muscles and everything and they're handsome, and they think they did it God made him that way and women who are beautiful they they think they did it no God made him that way that a humble our us and and give Him the glory. And if the Lord just made you or I just plain people, you know, we ought to thank God for that. I think that gives us a little bit of a spiritual advantage, not to have to overcome vanity as well as all the other things we've got to overcome. Amen? Abraham Lincoln once said, God must love plain-looking people because He's sh***** enough of us. Praise the Lord. If we're plain-looking, so what? Hallelujah. Beauty can be, doesn't have to be, but it can be a stumbling block to a person and it can be a trigger for pride. Now we're going to have Kelly read another text about Lucifer and his fall from heaven. He's going to read the whole thing. You have part of it on your notes. He's going to read Isaiah 14 verses 12 all the way down through 17. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground which did weaken the nations? For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that did make the earth to tremble, that did shake the kingdoms, that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof, that opened not the house of his prisoners? Alright, what a heartless adversary Lucifer became. The word Lucifer here means light-bearer. As we said earlier, he was the most dazzling, brilliant, angelic creature God ever made, but His pride brought Him down to nothing. And His self-will, now there's five I-wills that Kelly wrote. There's only three that are highlighted on your notes because we don't have all the verses there. I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. And then verse 14 says, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. All right? I will be like the Most High. And when he chose that title of God that he wanted to be, it was a dominating title. It doesn't have anything to do with love. When it says the Most High, that means overall. having authority over all, which is fine for God. But Lucifer said, that's what I'm going to be. I'm going to be, I'm going to take that title from God. And he, he does become heartless. He makes, it says he, he makes the earth to tremble, shakes kingdoms, made the world as a wilderness, destroyed the cities thereof. Boy, that sounds familiar, don't it? How are the cities doing these days? And look at this, open not the house of his prisoners. Man, that's heartless. People who are prisoners and taken captive by him. Sometimes believers in Christ can be taken captive by the devil, too. We better watch out. He sets snares for us. Let's draw swords. 2 Timothy 2.26. Go. This verse is going to tell us he can snare, he can trap a believer Sometimes Okay Taken captive by him at his will he's got snares. He's got traps set for you and for me and if you read the whole text There in 2nd Timothy, and we covered this in some sermons this year There are some believers that can't get out of these traps and I mean, he'll trap you with relationships, and he'll trap you with bad financial decisions, and some things that you can't get out of, or sometimes you can't get out of that trap for a long time. You can get into it real fast, but you can't get out of it. He is heartless even to believers. He's after us. We should never think, well, I'm above the devil. I mean, I'm God's child. No. Be careful about that. The last paragraph says, Lucifer, the fallen angel, is called Satan, which means adversary, 49 times in the Bible, and the devil, which means slanderer or false accuser, 29 times in the New Testament. There has been a long war between God and Satan since his fallen rebellion. Satan started this war, and man is in the midst of it. And so everybody on earth is either a child of God or a child of the devil. We don't become a child of God till we're born again and receive Jesus Christ as our Savior. Let's look at a verse that shows that contrast. Draw swords. 1 John 3.10. Go. Better get with it, guys. 1 John 3.10. All right, if you didn't hear that 1st John 3 10 says in this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God neither. He that loveth not his brother So notice there's either children of God or children of the devil And every one of us was a child of the devil at one time until we were saved, born again into God's family, adopted by Christ into his family, and now we are God's children. But he's still after us, and he's still trying to trap us. So I hope that explanation will help you if anyone says, why did God create the devil? And that's only happened to me once or twice, I think. Why did God make the devil? He didn't. God made Lucifer. And it's just like the question we had a few weeks ago, why did God make suffering? No, he didn't. All right, that was a result of Satan, selfishness, and sin, that all the suffering came into the world. When God made everything, it was perfect, and it was very good. But man wrecked it, Satan wrecked it. And the same thing, Satan wrecked himself, just like you and I can wreck ourselves, too, by being proud. Well, we need to go on to the next question here, but I hope you understand that Satan was a self-created sinner. God didn't make him sin. He had a free will. It was his own free will. He got looking at himself, probably hearing the musical ability he had, the dazzling gemstones and the perfection of beauty and said, man, I am better than all these angels. All these seraphims, all these cherims, I'm better than God. People ought to be worshipping me. Why are they worshipping him? They ought to be worshipping me. That sounds silly, but a lot of people, humans think they should be worshipped. That's crazy. Well, here's our next one. We only have a few minutes left. Question 30, what will happen to the severely handicapped or those with Down syndrome, autism, et cetera, in eternity? It's a very difficult question. And, you know, I'll be careful with my answer. I'm not saying mine is etched in concrete or stone or anything. It's just based upon my study of the Scriptures. And the answer is we don't know on a case-by-case basis. But we know God is fair and always does right. Now there's something about the Gospel that is found in three different verses of scripture regarding conversion. There's three verses of scripture that imply that you cannot be converted unless you understand the gospel with your heart. That's very important when it comes to answering this question because there's some people who cannot understand the gospel. They do not have the mental capacity for it. They are in many cases severely handicapped. And I don't see how conversion is possible for them, so therefore I believe that they are safe in the arms of Jesus as we'll see in another case by the end of this month. But here's one of those verses in our explanation Matthew 13 15 and notice what I have highlighted it says for this people's heart is waxed gross and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes are they have closed lest at any time They should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should know understand with their heart and Should be converted and I should heal them Now let's see that in a couple more verses so draw swords John chapter 12 and verse 14 John 12, 40. Go. John chapter 12, verse 40. We're going to hear the same statement. I just want to have the same statement read three times. Okay. Again, in verse 40, it says, nor understand with their heart and be converted. So for the second time here, we see that understanding with the heart is necessary for conversion. Now, of course, that's a work of God's grace, but there has to be in the heart being the core of the mind, there has to be understanding. Draw swords. I think the ladies are winning four to one so far. But the guys are just getting started. Acts 28.27. Go. Acts 28.27. All right, hear with their ears and understand with their heart and should be converted. All right, now seeing Kyle and Malachi tied, we'll give the men two for that one. Now, there are some born so severely that they cannot understand with their heart. Conversion may be impossible. Others, though not so handicapped, have been gloriously saved. Remember Ab Thomas? Any of you remember Ab Thomas? Came and taught us a long time ago, probably 20 years ago, teaching techniques. He brought his Down Syndrome boy with him, Paul, Paulie. And boy, that boy loved the Lord. He loved the Lord so much. And you could really converse with him. It was obvious he had a pretty sound mind, and he just loved the Lord. Helen Keller, who was the one that they wrote in her hand? What was it? No, but was it Helen Keller? She couldn't see, couldn't hear, and they wrote the gospel in her hand, and she accepted Christ as her Savior. Unbelievable conversion. The point I'm gonna make here is that it's our business to try to share the gospel with everybody. We don't know, only God knows these things on a case-by-case level, who can't understand, does not have the mental faculties. Some have severe, in the old days we called it mental retardation, but I don't know what they call it now, everything's politically correct. And in just a moment, I'm going to show you an example of somebody who went to heaven, I believe, without conversion. But, Fred? And were there those at camp that could not understand also? Separated? Based on probably mental faculties? Yeah. Yeah, that was a good Christian camp you went to growing up. Those precious people, whoever did that. But they separated people by, yeah. So again, it's not our business and it's not our domain. That's God's domain to determine. You'd be surprised how they responded, amen. Praise the Lord. Yeah, I know we used to go out to the First Baptist Church in Hammond, Indiana that had a very, very large ministry for the handicapped. Do you remember the name of it? Pathfinders? Was that it? They called their class, Sunday school class, Pathfinders. And they'd have hundreds and hundreds of these. And only God knows. And only God knows. which ones could understand and believe the gospel. So that's God's domain. It is our business to do all we can and try and reach everyone and leave the results to God. Now in the further explanation at the bottom, if a person cannot understand with the heart and be converted, he or she would probably fall into the same category as a baby or a child who dies before the age of accountability. This was the case with David's infant son. Now this boy did not believe, but I want you to notice what David said about it. So let's draw swords here and let's see what David said. I believe by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. 2 Samuel 12, 23. Go. 2 Samuel 12, 23. All right, this is David's seven year seven day old son He's only lived a week Certainly can't believe a Week old week old baby boy dies David's been praying and fasting and hoping God would heal him But God didn't And I'm glad this story's in the Bible because it sure has helped. Many times in the ministry when somebody has a miscarriage or a stillborn child, or I remember one man who fell asleep on the couch with his son, brand new infant son, on his chest and rolled over and crushed the child, woke up the child was dead. That man was so despondent, I don't even know if he heard what I said at the funeral. But I've referred to this story on many occasions for people who've lost babies, had stillborn babies. I think Terri Billis had a stillborn, didn't she? Or is Jessie here? Yeah, she had a stillborn. And you know, David's boy is seven days old, that's it. And David says with confidence, Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." And where was David going when he died? Let's do one more sword drill here, okay? Psalm 23, verse 6. Go. You got it. Mrs. Nelligan was next. Yeah, those are famous words of David. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Forever. He says, I can't go to, I can't, you know, what did he say about the boy? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. And so, there's not a lot in the scripture that deals with this subject, but I think that there are literally adults sometimes who have the minds of infants. They couldn't understand a word you were saying probably, and I would put them in that category. But in the meantime, like Fred said, we should try and reach them, Like he's seen at camp, what he's experienced in these handicapped camps is people that probably you didn't think were going to understand it. And that's the power of the gospel. So again, it's not our domain to judge. It's our responsibility to share the gospel. And you don't know what a person might understand. It's God's domain to make all these judgments on a case-by-case basis. And that's the best answer I can give you tonight. Maybe you got a better one, but I appreciate you coming, and I hope that helped. So let's stay our time. Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you for your word. We do thank you, Lord, that you didn't make the devil. You made Lucifer. And just like everything else you made, it was perfect when you were done. But with his free will, he became proud, rebellious, led a great revolt, and has just consistently degenerated to where he's filled in the midst of violence. He's a terror to himself. He destroys everything. He's a destroyer, a slanderer, accuser, an adversary. He made himself that way. And Lord, help us to forsake pride because of what it'll do to us. Oh, how ugly proud people are. God, may we humble ourselves before you and love you and love others. And Lord, as for these people with Down's and autism and mental handicaps, Lord, they're very precious to us sometimes and we get to know them and we pray for their salvation, help us to share the gospel with them, but Lord, only you know who is capable of understanding that gospel with their heart and being converted. And so, Lord, I hope these answers will bless us and help us and dismiss us now with thy blessing. Give us safety going home. Enable us by the Spirit of God to still maintain a good Christian testimony in these hot days coming up. And use these opportunities surrounding us, Lord, nursing home, fair, camp, Bible School next week to exalt the Lord. And we pray for some fruit for thee, for thou art worthy in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Any of you men that sing, if I can meet with you in about two, three, five minutes up here just to go through a song once. If you're dismissed, thanks for coming tonight.