THE GOD OF LOVE - LOVE LIFT YOU UP WHERE YOU BELONG
Week Nine: OBEY THE LAW OF LOVE – Jesus Has the Authority of The Law
“3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. 4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. 34 So, now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.” (John 13:3-5, 34)
“Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything”
Friends,
Q: Do you know who else knows that all authority is given to Jesus?
A: Satan.
I believe that the name of Jesus and his gospel message has immense power over the enemies of God. Like a shield, faith blocks the Devil’s darts and arrows (lies), and the Devil cannot tolerate the unbeliever hearing the good news message. He must distract that message from getting through because if he fails, he knows he’s not allowed to penetrate the redeemed mind from that point on. Jesus claims the redeemed soul and protects that born again person throughout his/her sanctification. That saved soul belongs to Jesus then, and Satan can only harass, but never again separate that redeemed person from God’s salvation at that point.
The prince of lies and darkness, The Devil himself, that fallen angel of light, he knows who is boss, and he does whatever he can to distract you from hearing Jesus’ name and his good news message of redemptive love. Satan isn’t trying to prevent you from hearing about crime and punishment, God’s wrath, and condemnation…
2 Corinthians 4:4
“Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.”
…Satan is trying to distract you from hearing about Jesus’ love and redemptive love offering in which Jesus pays the price for your salvation. Satan knows that Jesus gave himself as a love offering, that he lowered himself as a servant in order to pay the price for your disobedience. He cannot have you receiving that.
Q: Why does he need to distract your attention, why blind you from hearing the gospel?
A: Because Satan knows that “the Father had given him (Jesus) authority over everything”
Satan is a distraction god. He’s had thousands of years of practice studying and working distraction on the minds and hearts of human people. He’s a professional muckraker. He works effortlessly in scandalous dirty dealings, and controversaries. Satan hates you and wants to see you suffer. The devil has the supernatural ability to block a person's spiritual vision. If he can blind you to the good news he knows you won’t recognize Jesus. The devil wants you as far away from Jesus Christ as possible. He wants this because he knows that the Father has given Jesus authority over him and all his demonic influencers. And so, if he can keep you from seeing, by keeping you from hearing, he knows the power and authority won’t have it’s opportunity to protect you from the snares and traps The Devil has laid out in your life.
It is said that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). And we intuitively know that the law of the Lord is perfect and his biblical statutes are right and must be obeyed. And it’s important to know the law if we hope to understand the value in the good news about redemptive love through Jesus Christ. Truth is we cannot know about God’s love if we won’t listen to Jesus’ gospel message. Obedience is listening. Hearing brings faith but listening gets you to the place where you can hear and believe. To see things as they are, you must listen. And The Church ministers MUST speak the good news.
Have you ever found yourself turning down the car radio to see better?
How many times have you said, “please quiet down I can’t hear myself think!”?
My convertible top car will automatically turn down the car radio when I engage the power button to open the car roof. It wants me to be able to pay close attention to ensure I don’t mess something up. Distractions are powerful and the enemy of the gospel will employ many distractions to take advantage of our weakness. In the churches the devil (yes Satan goes to church) distracts with controversies, and delusions. He employs religious dogma and fundamentalism to distract the love message from getting past the restrictive asceticism. The satanic church goer muckrakes, and gossips, pumps up the proud and discriminates against the meek. The Devil wants to encourage the faith communities to focus upon the social gospel of “good works” and ignore the redemptive gospel that preaches forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ. The gospel enemy hijacks the good news through counterfeit religion and replaces Jesus with YOU. He makes you into a god.
Q: At this point we know what Satan wants, but what does God want?
A: "God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."
(1 Timothy 2:4)
Q: At this point we know Satan is trying to distract the hearer from the gospel, but what is that gospel?
A: "In Christ we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace." (Ephesians 1:7)
Good works may well keep you out of jail, and keep you on good terms with others, but only the blood of Jesus will keep you out of hell.
That’s it…it’s that simple…that short message is all Satan is trying to block out. It’s so filled with God’s love and peace with God. And Satan cannot stop it or change it, but Satan can try to distract you from knowing it.
Solution: Try the Jesus method for dealing with Satanic distractions. Jesus used the scriptures to give reply to the enemy. He didn’t address the Devil directly; he spoke the power of God’s word at the Devil.
Recognize you’re in a spiritual battle for your eternal life. Read and speak out loud James 4:7 daily to remind yourself about the battle and continue to rearm yourself through all the distractions. Next read and speak out loud daily Revelation 12:11 to remind yourself why you’re fighting this battle. And finally last but by no means least, PRAY for help in the battle and read out loud daily Ephesians 6:17-18 as a reminder to pray in the spirit for help.