The Ruler of this World

Summary

• The sermon emphasizes the spiritual battle that Christians face in a world dominated by evil forces, particularly Satan, who is characterized as the ruler of this world’s systems.
• The preacher draws attention to the deception and blindness that Satan can cause, even among believers, and stresses the necessity of relying on Jesus Christ, the Lord of Heaven’s armies, to achieve victory and freedom from demonic influences.
• The sermon also highlights the importance of wearing the spiritual armor of God and engaging in spiritual warfare with Jesus at the forefront.
• The preacher concludes by calling for repentance for believing lies over God’s truth and encourages personal prayers for deliverance.

I’d like to welcome all of you again, and also those who are joining online. We like to open it up for anybody who has a word of encouragement, something from scripture that blessed you this week, any answer to prayer, a praise of Thanksgiving, anything that you’d like to share to edify the Body, anybody? Okay, well that’s okay.

Please turn with me then to Isaiah 59:14 to the end.

¹⁴ Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. ¹⁵ Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. ¹⁶ He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him. ¹⁷ He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. ¹⁸ According to their deeds, so will he repay, wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render repayment. ¹⁹ So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of the Lord drives. ²⁰ “And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord . (Isaiah 59:14-20, ESV)

Okay, let’s pray.

Father, thank you that we are given the privilege and so much love has been lavished upon us to be called children of God.

Holy Spirit, we pray that you open up eyes and ears and soften hearts so that we can receive the Word of God. Not only would it be planted, but it’d be watered during this time and it would increase and bear much fruit for your glory. We pray, Lord, you would teach us how to do spiritual battle. Jesus, we pray that you yourself would come and fight for every single one of us.

No matter where we are in our journey, no matter what bondage, blindness that is bogging us down, we pray that you would come and set captives free. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.

We’re gonna be talking more about Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of Heaven’s armies. Last week, we talked about possible spiritual blindness, blockages, in our spiritual life, including our own sin that blocks us and even Satan and unclean spirits that come against us that bind us and blind us.

And so, I just want to give a worldview for the Christian, and I was starting to make my case last week, but I want to convince you about the nature of the Christian life and what we face day in and day out. If you were to fill in the blank, “the world is _______. What would you say?” A word or a phrase? Does anybody have something that they would fill? “Evil.” Yes, yes. You definitely grew up in a Christian home to answer that way. Yeah, people would answer in a lot of ways.

The world is my oyster. The world is a place where I can fulfill my dreams. I have all these bucket lists I need to fulfill, to be satisfied. I need to find my purpose, my lane in this world.

There’s all kinds of answers, but I like that answer from Daniel. The world is evil. And why is it evil? It’s very obvious if you just pay attention to the scripture.

I feel like I am very discerning about many things when it comes to this world, because I believe one thing: that Satan is the ruler of this world, this world system. Many Christians actually don’t believe that, and so they get deceived. They think, “Wow, this school is great. This professor is great. This job is great, and I have so much to learn.”

And parents send off their kids to college, and then four years later, they’ve lost their faith. And parents wonder, how did this happen? It’s by design. From day one, Satan is after the children.

He’s been brainwashing the children, and then he puts them in a snare, and he takes hold of them in college, many of them, unfortunately, for all eternity. Satan is the ruler of this world. Don’t take my word for it.

Let’s look at two apostles first, 2 Corinthians 4:3.

³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. (2 Corinthians 4:3, ESV)

⁴ In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4, ESV)

And this is the state of anybody who does not know Jesus. Somebody who thinks Jesus is just a religious leader. He is just equal with Buddha, with Muhammad. He’s just an enlightened figure of history. Nothing special. He had his portion of wisdom and truth. Other people have their truth.

Anybody who thinks this way about Jesus, they are utterly blind.

We have nothing to learn from such people. Absolutely nothing. In terms of spirituality, we have nothing to learn. And if they start teaching you things, likely if you start listening to them, you might get deceived. Even spiritually.

And so, the question I want to ask all of us today is, is it only the unbeliever who can be blinded by Satan? Or can even believers be blinded in certain areas? I think the answer will become clear by the end.

So, Apostle Paul says clearly, “Satan, the god of this world, has blinded the minds of the unbelievers,” which is the majority of this world.

⁴ In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4, ESV)

The majority of this world is spiritually blind. They look at Jesus, and he is a nobody to them. He is somebody that just comes out in a curse word. You don’t even believe him, but in times when you’re angry, you will call upon his name.

And that shows the spiritual dimension of this world. Not just Apostle Paul, even Apostle John says the same thing in 1 John 5:19.

¹⁹ We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. (1 John 5:19, ESV)

That means all of the media, social media, the news, technology, universities, everything is under the power of the evil one. Am I saying that everything is evil? No, it’s just influenced by the evil one.

And so, technology, if you think about it, is neutral. You can use it to preach the gospel. We will have this on YouTube. So, somebody in another country, Kenya, can listen to this message, possibly be saved.

So, technology is neutral in that sense. God can use it. And I think he will use it in the end to save many people. So, maybe we can’t go to certain countries because we are banned from entering, or we have no way of entering that country. But through the internet, through YouTube, we have avenues into places that before the internet was available, we had no way of reaching. The Middle East in certain countries, we had no way of going to North Korea.

But now, through the internet, there is a possibility of the gospel being preached to the ends of this earth. And I think God will use it in that way.

At the same time, Satan has a huge sway over all the institutions of this world. He is in charge of the systems of this world. And the goal of these systems is to deceive all of us.

Even the believer could be deceived for a season and lose our way. And if we end our life in that way, maybe Satan will have won the victory over that person and snatched that person from possible salvation. Apostle Paul said this about this world. Apostle John said this about this world.

You might say, well, that’s just them. What about God himself? What does God himself say about this world?

Jesus gives an answer in John 12:31.

³¹ Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. (John 12:31, ESV)

So, without a shadow of a doubt, Jesus makes it clear who is in charge of this world. Of course, God is sovereign. Of course, God has allowed certain things, like in Job’s life. Satan couldn’t do anything he wanted to Job. But God says, “Yes, Satan, you are allowed to touch his life, to steal things from his life, but you can’t take away his life.”

So, God put a boundary on what Satan could do in Job’s life. But Job’s life is an example of somebody who was attacked by Satan. God allowed it.

For a purpose, to vindicate righteous Job in the end. So, God is sovereign. But, Satan is the ruler of the world’s systems. And he will use it to deceive and to blind as many people as he can.

It says in Ephesians 2:1, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the Spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh.”

¹ And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh… (Ephesians 2:1-3, ESV)

And so again, Paul is saying in Ephesians, we were once following the power of the air, Satan himself, who controls the airwaves. Everything under heaven is under his jurisdiction in some sense.

And we, as unbelievers, we were once, we thought it was normal. Normal to live for yourself and to indulge in the passions of the flesh. And we thought this is just normal, this is just hormones, this is just me growing up and we should be true to ourselves, we should explore ourselves, we should be authentic.

And so now, we have even more just distortion, people going deeper into defilements of the passions of the flesh that is now becoming normalized in our society. This is how it was before we knew Christ.

But it says, Ephesians 2:4, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved.”

⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved (Ephesians 2:4-5, ESV)

But God. Whatever state you’re in, but God, he can meet you, whatever state you’re in.

Because remember how you once were, you met Jesus at one point, but God happened in your life. And so, if you’re again in a difficult situation, but God, he has a last word. He can meet you even today and set you free. Colossians 1:13.

¹³ He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, (Colossians 1:13, ESV)

This world is in darkness. There is nothing light, bright, great about this world apart from Jesus Christ. Jesus is what makes it great.

Jesus is the one who brings us into the light. Everything changes. We are a new creation. This is talking about what we once were. It is saying the state we were once in, total darkness, but God, Jesus met us and he moved us into the light. Praise God for that.

2 Timothy 2:24.

²⁴ And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, ²⁵ correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, ²⁶ and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:24-26, ESV)

And so, is it true that we were in bondage and ensnared and enslaved only before we knew Christ, or even after we knew Christ? Is it possible that Satan, he does not leave us alone, he accuses us day and night, he comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

Is it possible that even in the life of a believer, we can become ensnared again, blinded in some areas again, even demonized? This is the question that we’re wrestling with today. What is Satan’s end game?

John 10:10.

¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10, ESV)

Before you knew Christ, your life was utterly destroyed. And the longer you lived in that state, the more you got darkened, the more you got ruined, the more Satan stole things from you, your destiny, your future, all the blessings that God had in store for you, all of it was just utterly taken away. That was the state. And then we met Jesus. Jesus gave us life. And after we have life and eternal life that is secured for us in the future, there is a promise that even now we can have abundant life.

And so, if as a believer, we are not having abundant life, what’s the reason for it? Because we met Jesus, we have life, we have eternal life. What happened to us, that the abundant life that we read about in Scripture that Jesus Himself promised us, if we’re not experiencing it on a daily basis? What’s the reason? The reason is the thief is not leaving us alone. He’s still coming to steal, kill, and destroy. He might not be able to take away your soul 100%.

He might not be able to take you out of heaven, although he’s trying. But at the very least, what he’s doing is trying to steal away the abundant life that is promised in Christ Jesus. And that gets into, I think, the answer. Could it be that even as believers we can be demonized, attacked by this thief who’s stealing things from us, who is killing things in us, whose goal is to destroy us? And if we let go of Jesus, He will have succeeded in finally destroying us and leading us to hell. That is Satan’s goal.

God’s goal is life, eternal life, yes, but even in this life, abundant life. If it’s not happening, it’s because the thief, the Satan, has come to attack. Satan is highly, highly organized. God is a God of order. Satan is a counterfeit. He was an angel of light. He was perhaps, I think he was the highest ranking archangel. And so, if God is organized, Satan, before he fell, saw everything that God did and he stole all of it. And so, when he fell, he adopted all of the things that he saw.

He created a counterfeit version of it. And if God is highly organized with archangels and angels, angels, and four living creatures, and humanity, everything is just so ordered. Satan also, in his attack against us and exerting power over this world, is highly organized. Ephesians 1 speaks of rulers or principalities, speaks of authorities, speaks of dominion and power.

The ruler and authority, like this, could be angelic beings, but I think in context, I think God is making, Paul is making the point that he’s speaking about demonic powers, and we’ll see that clearly not in Ephesians 1, but by the time we get to Ephesians 6. But just keep that in mind.

So, ruler and principality is the top dog in Satan’s army. This is, I think, equivalent to a four-star general in Satan’s army, a principality, somebody who’s in charge of all of the armies over a country or a large plot of land.

There is a principality over this country. It’s a different principality in Japan. I lived in Japan. It’s an oppressive country, spiritually just dark. It doesn’t matter how many missionaries have been sent there. The principality over that country is powerful.

This country, depending on where you live, like if you travel in different places, even in America, there’s a certain principality in Los Angeles and Southern California. It’s different, but equally powerful in Northern California, Silicon Valley. It’s different if you travel to other parts of the country. It feels different.

Like I traveled to North Carolina. It felt lighter. Whenever I’m here, it’s like the traffic and just the spiritual atmosphere. It’s just heavy. The battle here feels very fierce, because what happens in California is being exported all over the world.

So if Satan wants to topple America, if he wants to influence the world in a negative way, he will take control of Hollywood, he will take control of Silicon Valley. That’s how he exerts power over this world.

And so, if we are here in LA, we need to know who we’re fighting against. We need to be equipped and start fighting a spiritual battle.

And so, the first thing that Apostle Paul mentions is the four-star general, the ruler or principality, then he goes into authorities. The authorities are like the angels, the demons. It’s the power that rests upon the armies themselves.

So, you have the ruler of the army, now you have the armies themselves that invaded a particular country or region. And then, you have dominion.

And dominion is just exactly what the word suggests. It is somebody who dominates over another. It can be in a certain jurisdiction, a certain city, it can also be over an individual, where that person is dominated by an evil spirit.

We know this scripture, Mark 16: Mary Magdalene, before she met Jesus, it said she had seven demons in her. We think that’s a lot. That’s actually not that many compared to Mark 5, the demonized man in the garrisons. He had a legion of demons in him.

That is 5000 demons plus in one man. Ephesians 6:12.

¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12, ESV)

So, Ephesians 1, we connect that to Ephesians 6. He’s talking about demonic principalities, armies, generals all the way down to individual demons and Satan himself. Satan uses people to accomplish his will. He influences people.

He even infiltrates God’s church through false teachers. And he is using people, in many cases, to accomplish his will.

It says in 2 Peter 2:9.

⁹ then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, ¹¹ whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. (2 Peter 2:9-11, ESV)

And then, I just want to connect that to Jude 1:8.

⁸ Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. ⁹ But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” (Jude 1:8-9, ESV)

These false teachers are very presumptuous with their mouth. They will pronounce judgment upon anybody and anything. They just speak very loosely and freely.

And the Archangel Michael, when he’s talking to Satan himself, like who’s right? In that debate, who’s right? The Archangel is right. But because of some spiritual principle, he doesn’t engage Satan in this debate about Moses’s body.

Because if you have certain conversations with people, you know it’s a losing battle, right? Like you already know that other person is not going to be convinced by your argument. But you get pulled into that argument.

And what happens when you get pulled into an argument, you cannot win. Because that person is not changing their mind.

You are not changing your mind. You engage in that kind of a conversation. What happens is that your emotions get stirred. You get angry. And maybe you won the argument on certain bullet points. But if you get darkened because you got angry, did you win? Or did you become closer to Satan?

And so, the Archangel Michael knows Satan is never going to repent. So it’s a futile argument about Moses’s body, although the Archangel knows where Moses is and where his body lays. But these false teachers, they just blaspheme other people. They judge other people.

They are so loose with their judgments. And even against these glorious ones, which are demons and Satan, we should take our cue from the Archangel Michael. We should not engage them. Instead, we should silence them. We should bind them. We should rebuke them. We should cast them out.

We don’t debate and find out about them. And like ChatGPT: Satan, what are you feeling today? No, we don’t engage in that kind of a conversation with evil. No, we just recognize evil. They’re not going to be convinced by your argument. And we just bind, rebuke, we cast them out.

Peter goes on, Apostle Peter, in 2 Peter 2:14, about these false teachers. He says in verse 14, they have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed, accursed children, forsaking the right way.

¹⁴ They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! ¹⁵ Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing… (2 Peter 2:14-15, ESV)

So we see what is binding these false teachers. They love sexual immorality.

And they love money. It could be said of many, many people who seem good on the outside. If you see how they act at home, if you saw them when they are alone, and what really drives that preacher teacher, could it be that they are saying a lot of the right things, but inwardly, they love sexual immorality? They love money.

And then Peter says, in verse 18, “For speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.”

¹⁸ For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. (2 Peter 2:18, ESV)

¹⁹ They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. (2 Peter 2:19, ESV)

And I think that is an important verse that I read. Whatever overcomes you, that is the very thing that enslaves you. And so, even as a believer, are there areas in which we are not quite free yet? I did it again, I’m going to repent, I did it again.

Could it be that if you keep repenting over the same thing over and over, there is a spiritual force at work that is attacking you in this area to keep you bound? Because no matter how much Bible you listen to, no matter how many times and years you go to church, you’re not overcoming this area. And if you’re not overcoming it, then you are enslaved to that. Should it be said of a Christian that we have any area of our life that is still in bondage?

I think, in many cases, we still have areas that are still bound, that we’re still bound in certain areas. And that doesn’t say we’re demon possessed. That doesn’t mean that we don’t know Jesus. That just means in this percent of you, like 10% of your personality in this one area, the truth has not set you free.

And there’s an area where you’re still bound. And in the case of these false teachers, they are 100% bound. They’re just acting. They’re just hypocrites. They don’t care about freedom.

They preach about freedom, but they themselves are bound and they don’t have any intention of being free because they love their sin. They’re false.

But if you’re a genuine and a sincere Christian, and you’ve been repenting over and over about a particular area and you’ve just lived with it, you just think, “Well, I’m just going to be bound for the rest of my life.” Could it be that the reason why you’re bound or I’m bound is because in this area Satan has bound you and has deceived you and lets you believe it’s okay to stay bound in this area when Jesus promises absolute and total freedom?

So these false teachers, they talk the talk, but they can’t walk the walk.

As much as we can, we want to be a people whom Jesus sets free, and we talk the talk and we walk the walk. And the longer you know Him, the more free you are, the more changed you are, the more fruit that is born in your life and mine.

2 Peter 2:20.

²⁰ For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. ²¹ For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. (2 Peter 2:20-21, ESV)

And here is the spiritual principle that all believers need to heed and take in. When you met Jesus, at that moment, you were free.

And if you held on to Jesus from that moment, you never let go of Jesus, and you called upon the name of Jesus every time you were tempted, every time you were under attack. If you did that consistently, then you would go from lighter, lighter, brighter, brighter, freer, freer, eyes that can see better and better.

That would be our testimony. But because of a lot of bad theology, we talk about Jesus a lot in the beginning, or we tack on Jesus at the end of a sermon. But Jesus is not the main person who is elevated at the church. Programs are elevated, or the name of the pastor is elevated, the name of the church is elevated, and fame and impact is elevated. And the Jesus that you once held on to, he becomes a smaller and smaller part of your life.

You start getting bound and bound again, and you wonder, “I thought I was saved, I thought I knew Jesus.” Yes, you knew him, but you didn’t hold on to him. You didn’t call upon the name of Jesus. You didn’t ask Jesus to fight for you whenever you were under attack, and as a result, Satan started stealing more, killing more of you, destroying you again, and the last state is worse than the first.

It’s not because Jesus is not powerful enough, it’s not because the word of God is not true, it’s because you let go of Jesus, and I let go of Jesus. And the moment you do that, you’re vulnerable to Satan again.

And so, even a believer, once saved, can be demonized again, as it says in this text, and the last state could be worse, because now you have a target on your back. Satan left you, left you alone for a season. You let go of Jesus.

Satan sees you’re vulnerable, now he’s bringing all the unclean spirits, and you’re worse off years later. It’s because of the principle, you let go of Jesus. How do we know if we are demonized? And demonized simply means you’re bound in some area of your life, or you’re blinded by a demon in some area of your life.

How can, how do we know? John 8:32.

³² and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32, ESV)

Jesus promises absolute freedom. Are you free? In every area of your life, in finances, do you feel free?

In terms of your job, do you feel free? In terms of your identity in Christ, do you feel free? In terms of what people say to you, does it stick, does it bother you, or does it just roll off because in this area you’re free?

If we’re not free totally, then why not? And Jesus says, “I will never leave nor forsake you.” Do you live in the freedom that this is true? I believe it. It’s a daily reality for me. I know I’m not abandoned.

If you don’t, if you don’t live in it daily, could it be that in that verse, although you see the words in the Bible, spiritually, it says if you don’t see it, you’re blind to this verse. If you feel like you’re an orphan, if you feel like God has abandoned you, it’s just simply not true.

The truth – I will never leave nor forsake you.

It’s in the Old Testament, it’s in the New Testament. This truth has never changed.

And yet, why do I feel alone? Why do I feel God is not with me? Could it be that there’s a blinder over that verse spiritually? You cannot receive it in your heart. It’s in your head, it’s not in your heart.

The Father knows the number of hair on my head. He’s going to provide no matter what your bank account says. Do you believe it? Do you live in the freedom that this truth is true? I believe it. And so, I’m not going to be anxious. I’m not going to worry.

Everybody else is freaking out. The stock market might crash. I’m not freaking out because I believe this verse. If you say you believe this verse, but every time the bank account dips below a certain number, you’re anxious, that verse is hidden from your eyes.

Could it be that a demon is hiding that verse from your eyes? And you’re still bound by this sense of burden that it’s up to me. I got to make money. I got to provide for my family. The burden is on me. As a husband and a father, it’s all on me.

Could it be that we’re believing a lie? You either believe God, who is true, or Jesus, who is the truth. He said this. Either we believe it, or if we don’t believe it, that means we’re believing the other side. We’ve believed a lie.

Not God. Everything is up to me. The burden is on me. God has left me. It’s up to me. That means we’re believing a demonic ideology.

John 8. This is a crowd consisting of scribes and Pharisees and Jews. And Jesus is engaging them.

He says in John 8:39.

³⁹ They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, ⁴⁰ but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. ⁴¹ You are doing the works your father did.” (John 8:39-41, ESV)

And then he goes on in John 8:44.

⁴⁴ You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵ But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. (John 8:44-45, ESV)

These are the religious leaders of Jesus’s day, the respected people in society, and they’re the very ones who crucified Jesus on a cross.

If anyone should have recognized the Messiah because they knew the Old Testament backward and forwards, it should have been the scribes and the Pharisees. But why couldn’t they see it? Why couldn’t they see him? They were blinded by Satan himself. Jesus says it. They were reading scripture, but the true meaning of scripture, the fulfillment of scripture, is standing in front of them. Why can’t they see him? It’s because the demon, the devil himself, was their father. They were still in bondage in darkness.

The truth sets us free. Satan keeps us in bondage through lies. So, one of the biggest repentance for us today is, rather than taking God at his word and believing it and letting the truth set us free, we should say sorry to God that we believe lies of the devil more than what God himself says.

And I just want to end with the conclusion and the encouragement that all of the Old Testament is a metaphor for the New Covenant, New Testament believer, and us for today.

In the Old Testament, you had Moses and Joshua, and they have armies, and they’re attacking armies, and they are victorious over these armies. Why? Is it because they’re such great military strategists? Is that why they’re victorious? Or is it the fact that the Lord is with them, and the Lord goes before them? That’s why the victory is guaranteed. Of course, they do their part. They get the shield, they put on the armor, they get the sword, they get the spear, and they actually go march out into the battle.

But why did they win every single time when the Lord says, “Fight!” It’s because the Lord is fighting for them. You take all of that Old Testament metaphor.

Now we go into the New Testament believer, New Covenant believer. Our battle is no longer against Russia, China, communists. Of course, it can happen that we might have World War III. It can happen. But that’s not really where the attention for the believer goes.

Like we’re not really looking at current events that way. We’re looking even behind these world actors and these dictators and presidents and prime ministers.

Under them are these principalities, powers, authorities, and armies. God is the Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of Heaven’s armies. Satan, highly organized, has his armies of darkness. It is like Lord of the Rings. We’re about to clash. We’re always clashing. And that means, for the believer, our battle is not flesh and blood. We’re not angry at certain world figures and what they’re doing to us.

We’re really angry at the forces that are influencing them and has power and sway over them, and exerting them to act a certain way out of their greed and out of their immorality, and because of compromise. They’re stuck, and they’re compromised.

So that’s all on the surface. But the believer, we’re fighting a spiritual battle. And how can we win? Like we’ve learned, probably if you’ve been at church, we’ve learned Ephesians chapter 6. Be strong in the Lord. Put on the spiritual armor of God, and then fight.

And we dissect what each armor piece means, what the sword means. And with that knowledge on our own, we go out to fight. That is so wrong. That’s the same as Israel. God says, don’t fight today. But out of their own presumption, they say, well, God is, he must still be with me, and so I’m going to fight. And they utterly get destroyed. We can only fight if God is with us, when he goes before us.

And so, Sabbaoth, going with us and before us, without Jesus fighting for us, it is presumptuous to think that we can be victorious without Jesus. That’s what the Lord has been showing me. With our Bible study knowledge of Ephesians 6, going out into a world filled with darkness, principalities, of darkness, authorities, generals, Lord, the hosts of armies of darkness.

We think with our little Bible study knowledge that we can fight and fend off these things on our own. It is presumptuous. Satan will just mock us and laugh at us. Like, ‘you’re nothing. you’re nothing.’

We can’t do it. Even the archangel Michael doesn’t engage Satan. He knows the danger of engaging Satan. And so he says, the Lord rebuke you. I don’t want to even go into this debate with you. Satan is far craftier, far more powerful than any of us. But, but God, but with Jesus fighting for us, he is Jehovah Sabaoth himself. He is the Lord of heaven’s armies. If he goes before you and you go out into the fight, then you’ll win. Then you’ll be protected.

And Moses says this to Joshua and to all of the Israelites as he’s passing the baton in Deuteronomy 31:6.

⁶ Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” ⁷ Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. ⁸ It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31:6-8, ESV)

And Joshua, the Hebrew Yeshua, means “The Lord is salvation. The Lord delivers. The Lord saves.” Joshua is a prototype for Jesus.

And Jesus is the one who fights for you. Jesus is the one who fends off, shields, and protects you from the evil one. Without him, we will all lose. Without him, we will all be deceived.

And so, my encouragement to you, and that’s why I read Isaiah 59. Did you notice when it’s talking about the future Redeemer, it says in Isaiah 59:17, “He, Jesus, put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head.”

He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. So even before Ephesians 6, where we put on the armor of God, Jesus himself put on the armor to fight.

And how do we fight? By being in Christ, by staying close to Jesus, by calling upon the name of Jesus.

Every time you’re tempted and attacked, that is the guarantee that you and I will be victorious over the ruler of this world, whose main goal is to steal, kill, destroy, and to drag you and me to hell, if he can. But if you hold on to Jesus, not only will you have heaven waiting for you, even in this life, there is an abundant life. Meaning, all the verses that you read about and you’re still struggling with, because you don’t quite believe it.

You actually believe the opposite, a demonic deception, because there’s a blindness over that verse. Even in these areas of being bound, we call upon the name of Jesus to cast out those unclean spirits that have bound us over these areas, so that not 90% free, 10% struggling. No, 100% free, abundant life, now and forever.

OK, let’s pray.

Father, forgive us. While we say we believe in Jesus, while we say we have faith in Jesus, in many cases, we have more faith in demonic deception, ideas that were not biblical, not from you.

But we believe these lies, these ideas, coming from Satan himself, the father of lies. We believe lies more than we believe the truth. And Satan claims more and more of us so that over time, we become bound again, entrapped again, ensnared again, enslaved again.

Thank you for teaching us a spiritual principle that Jesus, you are Jehovah Sabaoth. You are the Lord of heaven’s armies. On our own, we are utterly, utterly weak and unable to fend off Satan.

But in Christ, when you are with us, because you never leave nor forsake us, when you go before us, when we follow you, wherever you lead us, there’s a promise of absolute victory in Christ, because you shield and protect us. You lead us out of temptation. You deliver us from the evil one. You are the Lord. The Lord saves. Jehovah. We come in the power and authority of Jesus Christ that you’ve granted to your church.

We bind and rebuke any unclean spirit, any demon that has bound an area of our life, that has blinded us to certain truth that we see in scripture, that we’ve read about but cannot live out. We identify you now. We bind and rebuke all of you and cast you into the abyss in Jesus’ name. All sexual immorality, we bind and rebuke the spirits behind it. All spirits of pharmakia and drugs, we bind and rebuke you. All spirits of greed and the love of money, we bind and rebuke you.

We cast all of you unclean spirits into the abyss in Jesus’ name. We bind and rebuke the Spirit of rebellion and judgment and blasphemy. We bind and rebuke you, cast you into the abyss in Jesus’ name. Jesus, you are the truth and the truth sets us free. Jesus, you are the only one who can set us free. As we wrap up this service, Holy Spirit, we pray that you identify more areas in which each of us may still be bound.

One, identify the possibility that there’s an unclean spirit behind that bondage that’s still blinding us in our eyes, our ears, our mouth, our heart, our thinking, our perspective. Holy Spirit, we pray that you help identify that we may come in the power and authority of Jesus Christ, wield the sword of the spirit, and cast these spirits into the abyss in Jesus’ name.

We pray, Lord Jesus, as we close out this service and we remember your body that was broken and your blood that was shed.

This is the moment when Satan realized that he lost, when there was a train of captives. Satan knew that the war is over, and he’s been released for a short while to wreak havoc on the church and to deceive as many as he can.

But Lord, we declare the final victory in Jesus. So, we thank you that that victory is ours in Christ by us putting our faith in Jesus in this time. We thank you for the body that was broken and the blood that was shed.

We pray that you meet us and deliver us, set us free before we leave this place. Thank you, Lord. Be with us in our time of prayer. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.