Hey friend, welcome back here to the Seminary
Seminary. Here we are another week, another episode
of our Bible study series. We call the Bible
Grunups. Tonight we're going to continue on this
theme of things that sometimes are a little bit
difficult to talk about in church because I think
people have varying crazy opinions about this
stuff because it's left up to our personal experience.
Like we do in this Bible study series, we like
to just focus on what the scripture says. Tonight,
we're going to look at a very famous caricature
in our human experience, the devil. And I'll
see you on the other side. You guys mind if I
begin? Thank you. It's right on time. So, hey,
thanks everybody for being here tonight. So the
last few weeks we've been talking about the Holy
Spirit, both down here in Bible study on Wednesday
nights and in church on Sunday mornings, because
we were celebrating or we were anticipating the
celebration of Pentecost, which we just had in
the Christian calendar this last Sunday. So just
kind of along that same vein. And talking about
things that I think sometimes people in church
can get a little squeamish about. And the Holy
Spirit is one of them. I hope you've, as we've
talked about it, I hope you've seen and maybe
you've been able to recognize in your own experiences
there being that subject being kind of weird
in the church sometimes. Sometimes it is. Sometimes
it's not. And the reason why it's not is because
you're the weird one. No, I don't know. Sorry.
No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. I don't
mean that. I was hoping for a laugh there and
I got it. That was all I was looking for. But
I'd also, so on this idea of controversial topics
or maybe things we don't explore very deeply,
I'd actually like to go ahead and take one more
stab at kind of something we don't talk about
very often. And tonight I'd like to talk about
the devil. The devil. Bum, bum, bum. And tonight's
discussion we're going to call the unseen. So
if you would, in the theater of your minds, just
play along with me. Now let me begin the discussion
by illustrating something we find in the natural
world. And that is in the 1800s, doctors and
scientists believed in something called spontaneous
generation. Okay? Spontaneous generation. The
idea behind spontaneous generation was that living
organisms could suddenly pop up anywhere from
non -living organisms. And this pretty much explained
in the 19th century, in the 1800s, the reality
of disease. That from out of nowhere, disease
could just... And doctors didn't necessarily
assume it was related to anything specifically.
Suddenly, a disease could pop up on the skin
or pop up in a person's body. And in many cases,
diseases would sweep through families and communities,
parts of cities, kill thousands and thousands
of people. Then there was a guy named Louis Pester,
and he came along and said, no. That's actually
not the case at all. But there are actually invisible
organisms that you cannot see, but do actually
carry these diseases. And they can be carried
in the wind. They can be passed on by touching
someone's skin. They can live in and on food.
They can survive on different types of surfaces.
And that these diseases are not just cropping
up randomly, spontaneously from non -living organisms,
but rather they are invisible, real organisms.
And that there is, in fact, an invisible world
that is impacting the visible world. There is
an invisible world we learn through Louis Pasteur
and germs. There is an invisible world that affects
our... visible world. And the invisible world
of germs, as they eventually became called, or
microorganisms, are everywhere. They are all
around you right now. And you can't see them.
And nowadays, that's not even a theory anymore,
right? That's just an assumption of fact today.
In fact, we all believe in germs. Everybody in
this room, everybody listening to me on this
podcast, we believe there is an invisible world
that impacts our visible world. Not only do we
believe in germs, not only do we believe there's
something that impacts what we see, what we can't
see, we believe that it also can be very often
dangerous. We believe sometimes the invisible
world's impact on our very visible world can
be life -threatening. And another thing we know,
we know this to be true, that the invisible world
of germs does not stay invisible because once
it's mixed at the right time, With the right
things, on the right skin, in the right environment,
what's invisible becomes very visible. And it
can become very dangerous. In fact, it can become
life -threatening. And now, especially in the
post -COVID world, we all know that. None of
us any longer dispute that. Now, the Bible says
that there's another invisible world. There's
another invisible world that doesn't just impact
us physically, but it impacts us spiritually
and relationally. It impacts our thinking. It
impacts our worldviews. It impacts our attitudes,
our relationships, our marriages, how we do business,
how we do life, how we interact with others.
It impacts everything about us. And just like
the invisible world of germs, it too can be life
-threatening. It can for sure be emotionally
life -threatening. It can definitely be relationally
life -threatening. And just like germs, it is
an invisible world, and yet it is all around
us, and it impacts everything we do. And yet,
even as we talk about it, some of us might...
Resist it a little bit. We can be like the people
in the late 1800s that said, wait a minute, you're
telling me there's something I can't see that
impacts what I can see? Wait a minute. You're
telling me that there's something I can't see
and yet it's all around me that floats through
the air that can lie, land rather miraculously
wherever it wants to land and suddenly a living
organism crops up because of something that is
invisible. You're trying to tell me that's a
fact. They would say that's difficult to believe.
And when we start talking about. the devil, people
can feel the same way. The same Bible. So I want
to talk about what the Bible says. I really,
especially in these topics, I like to stick to
what the Bible says because what I think about
it or how I feel might be a great conversation,
but not necessarily a good Bible teaching. Right?
I'm going to tell you what the Bible says, and
I'm going to let you pray on it. So, that same
Bible that we're all going to trust in, the Bible
that says, love one another. We love that one.
The same Bible that says, husbands, love your
wives. All the wives love that one. The same
Bible that says, children, obey your parents,
and all parents stand up and cheer. We love that
one. The same Bible that says you can know God
by putting your faith in Him. If you put your
faith in God, you can know God. We love that
part. Many of those same books of the Bible,
right, will also say, no, no, no, it's not just
that stuff. There's more to it. Because that
same Bible that we love so much, Also tells us
of an invisible world. Scripture affirms for
us. An invisible world that impacts our very
visible world every single day. And we do not
need microscopes to discover it. You know what
we need in our lives? Rear view mirrors. Right?
Hear me out. Because all you have to do is look
at me. Maybe you're like me. All we have to do
is look back in our life. I've looked back in
my life. And I would say to myself, how could
I have been so stupid? How could I have been
so confused? How could I have thought that was
a good thing? Looking back, that was clearly
a bad thing. How could I have thought that was
a good idea? Clearly, when it's such a bad idea.
How could I have become so deceived? I mean,
looking back, now it's clear. It's because there
is a deception. There is a way of thinking that
only really makes sense in the moment. And then
we look back after that boneheaded decision and
think, how could I have been so confused? Well,
many of the times our confusion as a culture,
as a people, forts our good thinking, confuses
our thinking. And friends, it is not an over
-exaggeration that this can lead to the death
of people. It's resulted in the annihilation
of relationships. It's resulted in the deaths
sometimes of thousands of people, the persecution
of people, the mistreatment of others. And then
we eventually come to our senses and we think,
what were we doing? How could we have ever supported
that idea? How could we ever thought that was
the right thing to do? The Bible answers it for
us. It's because somewhere along the lines, we
allowed ourselves to become twisted, twisted,
confused, maybe even deceived. It's a distortion
of the truth that distorts itself just enough
to convince us it's the right thing to do, and
yet it gets us. into so much trouble, but it
won't quite scare us away. The interesting thing,
though, and I'm guessing that you, this has probably
been your experience too, maybe you're one of
these people. There are people out there, and
if you're not one, maybe you've met one, that
somehow are able to navigate this minefield.
They navigate the deception. They don't make
the bad decisions. They do marriage differently.
They don't buy into our culture's definition
of how you're supposed to do whatever it is you're
supposed to do and how you handle things like
morality and your money and how you view the
world. They just do that part of life, all of
life, differently. They're different. And in
our moments of clarity, in our moments of sanity,
we think, oh, I want a marriage like that. I
want dating relationships like that. I want to
have that kind of self -esteem. I want to have
that kind of integrity in my life. I would like
to be emotionally healthy. I'd like to have those
same kind of habits that I think are admirable.
I'd like to feel more free. Like I think they
feel free. And there are people that just seem
to know how to navigate that. But let's face
it. Those people are the actual exception. They
are not the rule. Because we live in a culture
that is twisted. Just enough to deceive us, but
not enough to scare us off completely. that are
so evident in a room like this, in conversations
like we have, often the truth is once we step
out of these doors and we go back into our worlds,
those truths that are so self -evident to us
right here and right now don't seem so out there.
They become twisted. We don't lose all of them.
We lose just enough of them to where ultimately
we find ourselves losing our way, our place,
and our perspective. Now, as obvious, maybe,
as some of this seems, Jesus gives us very specific
insights into this unseen world. So, if you'd
like, let me read to you from the Bible. I'm
going to turn to the Gospel account according
to John. And I'll be looking at 8. But we're
going to be looking in John tonight, 8. And I
just want to warn you, I think his, and when
I say his, I'm talking about Jesus here, right?
His explanation of this unseen world can be unsettling.
I think that's the best way, easiest way to say
it at least. John chapter 8. It's a very interesting
chapter of the Bible. One of the most popular,
famous verses in the Bible comes to us from John
chapter 8. And I bet most of you will know it.
And you shall know the truth and the truth shall
make you free. See, you all know that one. Everybody
loves that verse. Right? Even people who don't
know that it came from John. Chapter 8, they
love it. The truth should make you free. I know
that one. Yeah! Right? And that certainly intertwines
with the conversation I think we're going to
have tonight. That verse is there. But the book
of John also has another verse that we've all
grown up hearing. It's not in chapter 8, though.
This one's in chapter 3. And it says this, For
God so loved the world that he gave his only
Son, that whoever believes in him should not
perish but have eternal life. We've heard that
one, right? Okay, that's from the book of John.
Tons and tons and tons of great stuff in the
gospel account according to John. Even if you're
not a Christian, I would argue. As a matter of
fact, often people like the Gideons as well as
the Gideons, but missionary groups that like
to print and hand out Bibles to people make sure
there's access to Scripture all over the world.
often won't print out whole Bibles. Now, you've
also seen them where they'll just kind of print
the New Testament too. But in today's world,
they're not even necessarily printing the whole
New Testament anymore. But when they choose one
book, one book of the Bible to try to put in
front of a non -Christian's face that they might
change their mind, they'll give them a little
small book of the Gospel account according to
John. Right. It's one of the most popular pulled
out and recopied reprinted portions of the Bible
because it's in the book of John where we find
Jesus. And in finding him, we also get Jesus
take on this unseen world. And as I had mentioned,
it can be unsettling. Now, this is not me. I'm
reading the Bible. Right. Here's Jesus is not
Jim's. Here's Jesus' take on the invisible world.
Let me set this up. John chapter 8. John's having
this conversation with some religious leaders.
And at this point, he's far enough into his ministry.
He has done all of these miracles at this point.
He has taught people so many profound things.
People at this point, some people are beginning
to kind of nod their head and think, you know
what? Hey, this might be the Messiah. And then
there would be other people standing along the
periphery and saying, no, I don't think so. And
in the 21st century, we kind of know the context
and look back at the retelling of the story.
We would think that in that situation, it would
be these religious leaders would have been the
easiest ones to convince about the truth of who
Jesus is. Because they should have known exactly.
In fact, they did know exactly what to look for
in a Messiah. But they didn't like Jesus. Because
he didn't fit their mold of what they thought
the Messiah was going to be when he got there.
So Jesus is having these conversations with these
guys who should know that the Son of God is standing
right in front of them. And I believe that some
actually might think that he is, but they don't
want to rock the boat. They'd rather keep the
status quo. Certainly at this time, there were
those religious leaders. And the reason why we
know that is because we know some of these guys
who were really convinced, but they didn't want
to rock the boat. At the resurrection, they switched
parties. They were like, oh, I should have known
it before. I was so scared to break. out of my
caste and where I was at at the temple, and I'm
going to lose my job, you know, if I say that
Jesus is who I know him to be, but I'm not going
to do it. Then Jesus shows back up, and they're
like, nope, don't care. That's the reason why
the night that Jesus is taken to Caiaphas' house
and all of the Sanhedrin and the Pharisees are
there, and that's where they try to have a trial,
and they beat him up all night long. How do you
think, remember the story, all of the disciples
fled. Well, how do you think we know what happened
in that house? I know. It's because some of the
religious leaders there that were there that
night of the beating became Christians later
and told the people what happened. That's how
they were able to add it to their gospel accounts.
That's how we know what happened that night.
Very interesting little nugget there, I think.
Jesus is having a conversation with him. And
here's what he's saying. He's saying, look, after
all you've seen, after all you've heard, do you
still not recognize that I come from God? I mean,
after all you've seen me do, after all you have
heard me say, you still don't recognize that
I have come from God? And their response is,
we don't need you to come from God because we
have Abraham as our father. And Jesus says, look,
if you really were the sons of Abraham, if you
really were devout followers of God and followers
of Moses and followers of Abraham, if you really
were that devout, you would recognize me. Because,
and Jesus can say this and get away with it,
Moses knows who I am. Abraham? Knows me. God
knows who I am. The problem is you guys don't
know who I am because you're really not followers
of God. And Jesus sort of takes the gloves off
in these next verses. And he lets them know why.
They're not able to recognize him. Remember how
I told you the unsettling part. Here's where
we go. Just check this out. Right. Okay. Religious
leaders, you guys are not, you're not going to
like what I have to say, but I have come to say
it. John chapter eight, verse 43. And I'm jumping
into the middle of this conversation I've been
talking about. In verse 43, he says, why is my
language not clear to you? In other words, this
is a summary statement. Why do you still not
get it? Why are you still unable to hear what
I actually have to say? Is it because you're
deaf? No. I'll tell you then why you don't know
who I am. Verse 44 says this. Because you, the
religious leaders, belong to your father, the
devil. And you want to carry out your father's
desire. Guys, I'm going to tell you, Jesus says,
why you don't recognize me. The problem is, is
that you are of, or it could also be translated
as you have been influenced by, or it can also
be translated as you have been deceived by, or
you are under the power of your father. The devil.
Now, offensive, not offensive. What do you guys
think? Serious beef. Right? This would have been
offensive. Because they had just finished saying,
we follow our father Abraham. And Jesus is saying,
Abraham's not your father. The devil is your
father. Right? Try to work that into a conversation
sometimes when someone's not getting what you're
laying down. Verse 44. The rest of the verse,
he, let's talk about the devil, the devil's he
here. He says, he was a murderer from the beginning.
Talking about the Garden of Eden, right? He was
a murderer from the beginning, not holding to
the truth. Now get this. For there is no truth.
When he lies, talking about the devil, when he
lies, he speaks his native language. For he is
a liar and the father of all lies. Now, here's
what Jesus believed. And you don't have to believe
this. I'm just telling you, I'm reminding you,
I'm just telling you what he believed. Jesus
believed that there actually was a personality,
a he, an entity, an individual, the devil. Jesus
believed that. And I don't know, but that might
be hard for some of us to believe. And that's
fine. But I'm telling you, scripture says Jesus
believed it. And I'll come back to that in a
moment. Here's what Jesus believed about it.
Jesus believed that he, the devil's, ultimate
agenda was murder. That his ultimate agenda was
the destruction of human life. And that the means
by which he's able to destroy human life was
through deception. And, Jesus is saying, that
his agenda has never changed from the beginning.
Just like his agenda, his means by which he carries
it out has not changed from the beginning. He
is limited to deception. He's limited to twisting
the truth. He has the ability and the freedom
and this power to deceive people, which results
in the destruction of human life and the destruction
of human interactions. And everything that we
actually find valuable, marriage, father -child,
mother -child, sibling, friendship, community,
all that is sacred in relationships in human
life, that Satan is against all of that. And
his agenda is simple, to destroy it. And he has
one tool. It's through deception. It's through
confusing the human mind to think that what is
wrong is actually right and what's right is actually
wrong. The people do things that make absolutely
no sense to anybody else looking on, but it makes
perfect sense to them. And at the end of the
day, the end is the destruction of our souls,
of the heart, of relationships. Maybe even like
germs, the physical body. Let me give you a few
more glimpses into Jesus' view on this whole
thing. John chapter 14 this time, chapter 30,
same book. He says, and Jesus talked to his close
guys. He says, I'll not speak with you much longer
for the prince of this world is coming and he
has no hold on me. Now, remember I'm not talking
about... There's a lot of this I don't understand.
And I've learned over time, I don't mind going
through things that I don't fully understand.
Right? Because every Sunday, whenever I stand
to that pulpit and lean into that little piece
of plastic and metal, and I talk into it and
you can hear me, I'm leaning into things I do
not completely and always fully, wholly understand.
But just because I can't explain it all doesn't
mean that I can't apply it. And this is one of
those categories. Here's what Jesus believed.
Jesus believed that somehow Satan, the devil,
was the prince of the world. That this world,
this globe, for you flat earthers out there,
this globe that we live on was his domain. The
prince of the world is coming. Let me switch
to Luke chapter 4. This is one of the temptations
of Jesus. He was tempted to do several things.
And this is why this is a great portion of the
Bible. You should go and read it. But listen
to these words. The devil led him, Jesus, up
to a high place. This is in Luke chapter 4, verse
5. The devil led him up to a high place and showed
him in an instant all of the kingdoms of the
world. And he said to him, I'll give you all
of their authority. What? Yeah. Jesus, the devil
says, I will give you all the authority over
all the world and all of the kingdoms of the
world. I will give, verse 6, I will give you
all of their authority and splendor, for it has,
now look at this, this is in the Bible, for it,
that's the authority over the kingdoms of over
the earth, has been given to me, Satan says,
and I can give it to anybody I want. This is
disturbing. I can't fill in all the gaps here,
but this is what scripture teaches us, that you
and I, Do live on a planet that you and I live
on a globe that we live on the earth that has
actually been given to placed under the authority
of a personality that Jesus refers to as the
devil. And that his agenda is the destruction
of human life and the means by which he accomplishes
this. Destruction is through deception. That
was difficult for me to discern there. That's
a little disconcerting, isn't it? But maybe it's
helpful. Maybe it explains some things, maybe
not all. Maybe it's something we need to learn
so that we can better understand our struggles
with temptation. Maybe, as I close, It's something
we need to factor into our struggles at home
because maybe there's something we can't see
that everybody else can see that impacts everything
you do. 30 years after Jesus did and said this,
and John, The Apostle Paul begins writing to
Christians in Christian churches, and he understands
what Jesus taught. And he takes all of this in,
and he writes a letter to the Christians that
were living in Ephesus. And that letter is called
Ephesians. And at the end of the book, he says
this. These are the verses, if you read them
in isolation, it's kind of like, why is this
in the book? By the way, fantastic letter. But
listen, these verses actually... go through this
idea. Ephesians chapter 6, Paul says, I want
you to put on, 6 and 11, I want you to put on
the full armor of God so that you can take your
stand against the devil's, and the next word,
schemes. Put on the full armor of God so that
you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
Paul, who wrote two -thirds of the New Testament,
believed that there's a devil, a personality,
an entity, an individual. Apparently, it's a
him. And he has schemes, a plan. He has some
sort of strategy. And it seems, according to
Paul, that it is a very simple one. It's take
what's true and twist it. Just enough to confuse
and deceive, but not enough to scare them away.
Just enough that they won't be worried about
the harm that is sure to come to them. And when
you begin to factor this into what you see in
the world, maybe what you experience right now
in your own life, for some of you, for some of
us rather, maybe this is an aha moment. Listen
to what else he says. This is so helpful. If
you're in the middle of any type of relational
issue, a parent -child deal kind of thing, roommate
deal, boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever. If you're
in some middle of some sort of relational issue,
listen to these next few verses. For our struggle
is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of
this dark world, and against the spiritual forces
of evil in the heavenly realms. And some of you
might right here be going saying, you know what,
I'm so glad you're talking about this. Because
this stuff, sometimes it confuses me. Sometimes
I'm not sure. Sometimes I just like to have some
affirmation that this is what's going on. And
there's another group, right, that might be,
they also might be saying, man, this is the kind
of stuff I hate. This is why I stopped coming
to church in the first time. Right? So let me
just say something very quickly, very quickly.
If you're skeptical about this whole thing, I
totally understand it because it's invisible.
Besides, you already have your own interpretations
or explanations of why people get addicted to
things and stuff. You don't need a devil to figure
that stuff out. I mean, you have your own explanation.
But let's be honest for just one second. Isn't
it true that every once in a while you see something,
you hear something, you read about something,
you think to yourself, man, that is just pure
evil. In your little world of trying to explain
the world because everybody has a worldview that
seems to make sense at least to them, everybody
needs a system where all of the ends meet. In
your world of trying to sort out the reality
of your human experience. Isn't it true? Even
every once in a while you hear about, see, read
about something that is so purely evil that you
just don't have an explanation for it. Jesus
says, I told you 2 ,000 years ago. He's a murderer.
And he accomplished it through deception. And
he'll not tip his hat to existence because he
doesn't want to overplay his hand. There's an
invisible world that impacts our very visible
world every single day. And it's how I, you,
we, as rational beings, we need to lean hard
into the teachings of Jesus. It's what I pray
for me and my family every single day. To keep
falsehoods and lies from us. Please, God, help
us to see you as you really are. Not through
the lens of culture or deception or my emotions.
I want to see the world, God, like you see it.
Because, friends, there is a deceiver, a twister.
And I don't fear what he'll do to my physical
body. I don't fear that he's going to show up
in some strange, weird Halloween kind of pitchforky
way. Right? That's not my fear, nor is it my
concern. The concern is that our realities get
twisted, that our views of one another become
twisted, that our views of our marriage, of raising
our kids, our money, our world, our politics,
our religion, that somehow they get so twisted
that we end up making decisions that result in
the destruction of relationships and possibly
the destruction of human life. Now, we may not
understand this. but we must acknowledge that
spiritually, friends, just like our friends,
the germs, there is an invisible world that affects
our very visible world every single day. Amen?
Amen. Thank you, guys. You know, with my illustration
of... spontaneous generation, doesn't it? Can't
you kind of sense that feeling of maybe some
things that maybe we used to have superstitions
about and may still have superstitions about?
It actually clouds our view of the reality that
we can recognize. There are things in our environment,
in our world, in our reality that affect us,
even though we can't see them, but they're all
around us. And that in the right environment,
with the right decision, with the right twist,
the invisible can become very visible. And not
only can it become visible, it can become destructive
in our lives. Rather than run from that subject,
because we can't fully explain it all. Just like
somebody in the 21st century today that might
run away from the idea that there is an unseen
world of microbes that might affect my health.
Rather than run from that, doesn't it seem like
even if we don't understand it all, we should?
Embrace it. Try to understand it. At least it's
something to think about. Until next week, friend.
Be blessed.