Rules of Engagement - 250110

SPEAKER A Hello, I'm Rod Butler. Welcome to Let God Speak. Whether we like it or not, whether we believe it or not, we are all participants in a spiritual war. There's no middle ground. There is no fence to sit on. Disengaging or believing it's all nonsense still puts us on one side. Join us today as we look into the rules of engagement in this great spiritual. On our panel today we have Rosemary Malkiewycz and Harold Harker. Welcome, Rosemary. Welcome, Harold. SPEAKER B Thanks. SPEAKER A Before we start our discussion now, let's bow for prayer. Gracious Father, we thank you for the Bible and that the Bible speaks to us. And as we discuss this topic today, we ask for the Holy Spirit to lead and guide. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. SPEAKER B Amen. SPEAKER A Well, in our last programme we discussed the origin of the cosmic conflict, the great controversy between Christ and Satan. This conflict started in heaven and spilled over onto the earth. It's still in progress. For every conflict there are rules. When to fight, where to fight, how to fight and who to fight. These rules of engagement apply to both sides in the great controversy. Today, we're going to examine what the Bible tells us about these rules for revision. Rosemary, just from the last programme, what is this great controversy all about? SPEAKER C It's about the dispute between God and Satan where Satan has made certain slanderous claims against God's character. And in this, God is allowing Satan to prove through what is happening in this world whether or not God is as Satan says. And so God is allowing himself to be on trial. And it can only be sorted out by allowing certain actions to happen. You can't fight against allegations on your character. Just let circumstances show. SPEAKER A It's got to play out. Okay. Yes. So, Harold, who are the participants involved? SPEAKER B Well, on one side there's Christ and on the other side is Satan. And then Peter, there are all the created beings who have the freedom to morally choose. You know, Revelation 12 and verse 4 tells us that 2/3 of the angels chose Christ and one third chose Satan. Then there are humans. That's us. We can accept Christ as their Saviour or those who do not accept Christ as their saviour. The battle today is a spiritual battle. It's for our minds and for our moral choices. SPEAKER A Yeah. And it's interesting. It started in heaven. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER A And the angels were involved. Yes. Now, most spiritual, non Christian people today would consider themselves to be good people. So according to the rules here of two sides, which side are they on? SPEAKER C Rosemary, despite how good we might think we are, we can't sit on the fence as you said before, and just watch. We are actually all participants in this war that is going on. And if we follow any God, anything in our lives that is more important to us than Jesus, we actually are not on the good side. We are actually on the losing side and yielding ourselves to Satan. So let's look at some scripture. Deuteronomy 32, verse 17 is the first one. It says they sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they did not know. To new gods, new arrivals that your fathers did not fear. And then down to First Corinthians, chapter 10 and verse 20 down the other side. In the New Testament it says rather that the things which the Gentiles sacrificed, they sacrificed to demons and not to God. And I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. So demons are fallen angels. And if we are not following God, we're following Satan. Who is in control of the demons? The fallen angels. SPEAKER A Now that's interesting. Harold Roseby is talking about demons being fallen angels. And by default people who are spiritual would follow maybe other gods. SPEAKER B Right? SPEAKER A What about the millions of people that don't even want to know about religion? They don't follow any God. Where do they stand in all this? SPEAKER B Well, let's see what the Bible says over. In first John, chapter three and verse eight I read, he who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Sinning puts us on Satan's side and all of us by default are therefore on his side. We stay there until we deliberately choose to follow Jesus. He takes away our confessed sins, following anything else, believing anything else, whether it's materialistic, whether it's spiritual, it puts us automatically on Satan's side. SPEAKER A Yeah, it's quite interesting, isn't it, how the default is? We're all on Satan's side, we have to choose to be rescued from. SPEAKER B Now let me read another couple of verses from Acts. It says, let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead by him. This man stands here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. That's pretty clear. It's only in Christ. SPEAKER A There's no ambiguity on that. That's absolutely clear. That's right. Well God has allowed Satan to exercise his power. Rosemary, what's the jurisdiction of Satan's territory? What is the extent of his control? SPEAKER C Well, because Satan had taken ownership of the earth or he had taken dominion of this earth away from Adam to whom God gave it, he has become the ruler of this earth and the inhabitants of earth are under his power and we are his subjects. So let's look at John 12:31. And Jesus said, now is the judgement of this world. Now is the ruler of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And then Also in John 14:30 it gives us the same indication. Jesus says that Satan is the ruler of this world back prior to his death. Jesus death. And no humans can escape the power of Satan. He is too strong for us. We can only be rescued by Jesus. We need a power that is greater than Satan to help us. Jesus is God and he's the only one with that greater power. SPEAKER A Praise God. Yes. Well, as God is all powerful and he sets the rules of engagement, those rules that he sets would be framed through the lens of his character. What do we know about his character to see how he's framed his rules? SPEAKER B Well, he's told us very clearly first John chapter 4 and verse 16 it says, and we have known and believe the love of God has for us. God is love. And he who abides in love, abides in God and God in him. You know, God's character is not just love. He is love. That's who he is. Everything that he does, it's done through this prism of love. You know, he created all of humanity with the freedom to love God or not. He doesn't force people. God does not coerce. He allows us to play out so that his created beings can see the evidence of his love, of his character and the actions of Satan. Let me read another verse from the last book in the Bible, Revelation chapter three. And I'm reading verse 20. Here we go. And it says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. This is Jesus talking. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him and he with me. Here is the rule of engagement. Jesus will come in when we invite him. So we have to ask him. SPEAKER A And he comes and you can see there, there is no force. SPEAKER B Correct. SPEAKER A We have to invite him into our life and then he'll come in. But he will not force his way in. SPEAKER B Our choice. SPEAKER A It's our choice. Free will. Very, very important. Well Rosemary, that's how Jesus operates by contrast, how does the other side operate? SPEAKER C Okay, this is very, very interesting. Let's look at John 8:44. Jesus said, you are of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. These are strong words. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a lie, a liar, and the father of it. So Jesus said, satan is a murderer and a liar. He cannot speak the truth. And if we look at 1 Peter, chapter 5 and verse 8, it says here, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And so the devil is like a roaring lion wanting to devour us. And so when a lion is preying on people, he doesn't play games, he doesn't give a chance. He's. There's no freedom of choice for his victims. SPEAKER A Lions run out. SPEAKER C He's going to get you. No, he's. They don't. They. And Satan is the same. He doesn't wait for an invitation like Jesus does. He just grabs you. He. He deceives you. He does all manner of things to take hold of you without you even noticing he's doing it, but he forces people to do what he wants them to do and he keeps them captive. So he's very, very opposite to God. And if left unrestrained by God's power, Satan would kill us all. SPEAKER A That's very sobering when you think about it. SPEAKER C He's a lion. Yeah, a roaring lion. Actually, a roaring lion is making a. SPEAKER A Lot of noise, but yeah, Satan's rules are formed and framed by his character, which is murder. SPEAKER C Lies, lies. SPEAKER A So, Harold, is the intensity of the conflict heating up? SPEAKER B Absolutely. Revelation 12 and verse 12 says, Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you having great wrath, because he knows he has a short time. You know, if you have a race, whether it's a foot race, a car race, the last bit is the fastest. And he knows his time is short. SPEAKER A So we have this intensified activity. SPEAKER B So his work of deception is going faster and more strongly. It's intensifying. SPEAKER A And he's had a lot of years, centuries, thousands of years to practise deception. Rosemary. What methods then does Satan use to control us? How is he able to operate? SPEAKER C Okay, let's look at Revelation, chapter 13 and verse 2. This is an Incredible chapter. And it says in verse two. Now, the beast which I saw was like a leopard. His feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave his power, his throne, or gave him his power, his throne and great authority. Now in Revelation, chapter 12 and verse 9, it tells us that the dragon is Satan, the devil. It's very, very clear about that. The serpent of old, which takes us back to the Garden of Eden. And so the dragon gives his power to this beast. And that shows us that Satan is behind many of the rulers and powers of this world. Those who are evil, especially God, is in. Satan is in direct control of them and working through them especially to persecute, as you read further in this chapter, persecute the people of God. So that's what he's about. So the rule of engagement is that Satan can use worldly powers and governments to persecute the people of God. SPEAKER A And the interesting thing there is when he's using a worldly power, he can disguise himself. And again, deception comes through. Well, the Bible reveals rules which apply to both sides. We're going to look at an account now in the book of Daniel. And this is a very interesting account because it draws the veil back what's happening in the spiritual realm. I'm going to read Daniel chapter 10. And I'm going to read verses 10 to 14. And it starts off, and behold, an hand touched me which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved. Understand the words that I speak unto thee and stand upright, for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Then he said unto me, fear not, Daniel. Now this is an angel talking to Daniel. Fear not, Daniel. For from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard. And I'm comforted. Thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of persia withstood me one and 20 days. But lo, Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me. And I remained there with the king of Persia. Now I'm come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days. For yet the vision is of many days. So, Harold, what's all this about? What's going on here? SPEAKER B Here we have a glimpse of the great struggle between the forces of good and the force of evil. And we have two mighty angels here, Gabriel, who comes from God. And we have the prince of Persia, this world following the devil. And here they're trying to influence the mind of Cyrus the King as to how he'll care for the Jewish people, the Hebrew people there. And There was the 70 year prophecy given by Jeremiah and they were struggling with the Samaritan who's going to win. And it shows that Gabriel is fighting for us against the devil and the Prince of Persia. And so this is an insight, shows you that this struggle is not just what we're seeing, but there's a mighty struggle going on and God's people are going to be helped by his angels. SPEAKER A So we have a situation where you've got God as a ruler. Yeah, sorry, Cyrus as a ruler. SPEAKER B Yep. SPEAKER A And you got powerful angels influencing his mind to make certain decisions. SPEAKER C Exactly. SPEAKER A Rosemary, why is God's powerful angel Gabriel able to be held back for that amount of time? Three weeks. SPEAKER C There's a very important rule here that God has. Gabriel could have defeated Satan through God's power by God's command right away. But he didn't do that. After three weeks of contending, God showed how important his gift of freedom of choice is that Satan was contending for the control of the mind of King Cyrus because God had predicted that he would allow the Jews to go home from Babylon through the hand of Cyrus after 70 years. And Satan was trying to stop this prophecy of God from coming to pass. And so he was fighting against God. But God had to give Cyrus freedom of choice. So we have the good and the bad, we have Gabriel and Satan fighting for control. But one of the wonderful things about it, at the exact same time Daniel is fasting and praying for God's people. And so because of his influence of his prayers, Gabriel was, was able to come out triumphant over the mind of King Cyrus. And so it just goes to show how important it is that we are praying for others. And we'll get to that later. But if people want to check it, it's Daniel 10 verses 1 to 3. And verse 12 shows us how Daniel was fasting and praying. SPEAKER A Yeah, very good, very good. Well let's, let's move on to another account in the Bible where the veil is pulled aside. Turn with me to the book of Job and I'm going to read from verse, from chapter one, verses six down to 11. And then I've got a question for you, Harold. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, whence comest thou? Then Satan Answered the Lord and said, from going to and from the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him in the earth, A perfect and upright man, one that feareth God and doeth evil. Then Satan answered the Lord and said, doth Job fear God for naught Hast thou not made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he has on every side. Thou has blessed the work of his hands and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. Now this is a heavenly council scene. Satan had been cast out of heaven, but for some reason he's allowed to attend Dominion. He's claiming to be the ruler of Earth. This is not a private thing. Other heavenly beings would have heard all this. What does God mean when he says, have you considered my servant Job? What's that mean, Harold? SPEAKER B Well, this only makes sense in the context of this large, ongoing dispute. And God says, job's blameless. He's following me. He's upright, He's God fearing. And Satan says, job only serves you because you've put a hedge around him. You're protecting him, and that's unfair. And he said if you took that away, he would just curse you to his face. You know, it shows some of the rules that can be done or can't be done. And God puts some protection around his people. But Satan says, hey, that's why they serve you, not because they love you. And here's the test with Job. Was he really loving God or was it because of the hedge? SPEAKER A And God believed that he loved absolutely and that he would stand faithful. So after this accusation by Satan, what does God do? Rosemary? SPEAKER C Okay, let me just say that the hedge around Job was actually his freedom of choice to obey God. SPEAKER B Correct. SPEAKER C And Satan couldn't go against his freedom of choice. It's not that God was protecting him to stop Satan from reaching him, but he wanted to obey God at all times. And so to show that Satan was a liar and he wasn't speaking the truth about Job. And that to test in front of Satan, Job's faithfulness to God and Job's sincerity in following God, God allowed Satan to have limited access to him. Look at verse chapter one, verse 12. And the Lord said to Satan, behold, all that he has is in your power only do not lay your hand on his person. So God put a restriction there on what Satan could do. So Within a very short time, all of his flocks were killed. All of his servants, except for those who escaped to tell him and his 10 adult children. They were all killed by Satan. By amazing things. And it's interesting that we call them acts of God, but they're acts of Satan, these disasters. But despite all of this, Job stayed faithful to God. SPEAKER B Amen. SPEAKER A So how did this play out in the heavenly council, Harold? SPEAKER B Well, chapter two of Job tells you there was not the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. Satan comes again. And there God says, have you considered Job? And the devil says, hey, what can he say? God said, you can have a go. But the Lord said to Satan, have you under considered my servant Job? There is none like him in the earth. A blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil. And still he holds fast to his integrity. Although you've incited me against him to destroy him without cause. Even though you've had your worst, he still loves me and serves me. SPEAKER A What a story. Yeah, it's powerful. Just jumping down. So, Harold, what can we learn from this story? What's the. It goes on and it's. But just from what we've read there, what can we learn from this story? SPEAKER B Well, Satan tries to get to us, I guess. We have a look over in the New Testament in James and it tells us that if we are faithful to God, he can help us. In James 1:3, it says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. If you stay with God, it's on the winning side. Their trials will come, but the testing of your faith hold on and it's strong. And so we have. Satan's accusations are there, but God's. I want you and just choose me. It's moral choice every time. Who do we choose? SPEAKER C And we have the choice. SPEAKER B That's right. SPEAKER A So God has put rules in place which control the heavenly beings. I want to talk now about what can we do to impact on that. So what are the things that we can do which impact this engagement? Rosemary, what do you think? SPEAKER C Okay, let's look at first Thessalonians 5:17, very short. It says pray without ceasing. I talked before about Daniel praying. When we pray and intercede in situations and for other people, we are calling the rules of engagement for God to be able to become part of that situation by praying for it, then. Then God can come. Then the holy angels can come and participate to help in that situation, to bring out. Good. SPEAKER A Mark 9:29, that incident where there's the demoniac and. And Jesus said, only by prayer and fasting will this one come out. So this is what you're saying, prayer and fasting. What are your thoughts, Harold? SPEAKER B Well, faith, our faith has a big determinant in what happens when Satan comes to the the rules of engagement. God says, if you have faith in me, you're on God's side. Let me look at this one. It says in Mark6.5. Now, he could do no mighty work except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. You know, faith. If they have faith, it answers. And if you look a bit further, James says that your faith does wonderful things. James 5:15. The prayer of faith will save the sick. If you have faith, God can do wonders with you. SPEAKER A Fantastic. Amen. Well, that's all we've got time for. Thanks, Harold, and thanks, Rosemary. Look, we're all caught up in this great controversy and yet God, in his love, allows Satan to demonstrate his rule so that we can make our own informed choice on who to serve. Thus we see continued evil and suffering which can indeed cause many people to question either God's existence or his goodness. However, God has placed limitations on Satan. Satan and has rules of engagement for how he will deal with evil. While we do not know all the details, we do have better understanding why things are as they are. At least until the final triumph of God over evil, when Jesus returns. We're glad you joined us today on Let God Speak. And remember, all past programmes plus Teacher's Notes are available on our website, 3abnaustralia.org.au. email us on [email protected]. join us again next time and God bless. SPEAKER B You have been listening to let God speak, a production of 3ABN Australia television. To catch up on past programmes, please visit 3abnaustralia.org.au. Call us in Australia on 02 4973 3456. Or email [email protected]. we'd love to hear from you.