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Now, here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Hi, this is Robert Jefferson. I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program. On today's edition, a Pathway to Victory. Satan is the opposite of God.
True or false. Sadly, many people think he is. They see Satan as God's evil twin. They see this conflict we call spiritual warfare as a battle between two equally potent individuals. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I'm calling today's message the purpose-driven strife. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. Most people go through life unaware that they're caught in the middle of an epic spiritual battle. We wonder why we face constant struggles, temptations, and conflicts, never realizing there's an invisible war raging around us.
Today on Pathway to Victory. Dr. Robert Jeffers reveals the true nature of this cosmic conflict between God and Satan. But first, let's take a minute to hear some important ministry updates. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory.
For the next few weeks, I've decided to present a critically important teaching series called Spirit Wars. Look, none of us escaped spiritual warfare, including me. And until we discover how to wear the spiritual armor God has provided, we'll become stuck in an endless cycle of sin and defeat.
So what does it mean to put on the armor of God? I'm answering that important question in this brand new series called Spirit Wars. But that's not all. To help you and your family wage war against the enemy, I've prepared a brand new children's book for you. It's called suit up.
the armor of God for kids. In today's culture, even our children and grandchildren are under attack. Satan wants to pull our children away from God. We can't let him. We must fight back.
My brand new children's book equips you to help your children win their spiritual battles. Again, it's called Suit Up. and you're invited to request a copy when you give a generous gift to Pathway to Victory. It'll arrive at your home with a companion book for adults called Angels and Demons. Fact vs.
Fantasy. We're going to say more about these helpful resources later. But right now, let's get started with today's study. I've titled today's message, The Purpose-Driven Strife. It was the legendary film director Alfred Hitchcock.
Who said, There are no small parts, only small actors. I tried to remind myself of that truth when I was getting ready to make my one and only appearance on the legendary television program Dallas. nearly 40 years ago. I'd seen an ad in the newspaper calling for people who would like to be extras to send their pictures in. And so on a lark, I decided to send my picture in.
I appeared in the restaurant we were filming at and the assistant director explained that me and another extra were going to play businessmen who were pretending to have a conversation at a table deep in the background, while the two main characters, Cliff Barnes and Bobby Ewing, sat at the bar having a few lines of dialogue. In just a brief moment, it was all over. But for that brief moment, I had been part of a legendary conflict between two families, the Barnes family and the Ewing family. It was actually a conflict that had begun many years earlier on the show, and it would continue for many years after my scene. I was just a brief part of it.
And I thought, what a great metaphor for life that is. You know, whether we realize it or not, you and I are part of a conflict between two major but hardly equal forces: the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. It's a conflict that began years before you were born and it will continue on for years after you die. But all of us, as a part of that conflict, are called to appear on stage for a very brief amount of time, 70, maybe 80 years. We play our part.
And then it's gone. But unlike the television series Dallas, this conflict you and I are involved in. is real. not imaginary. It's a conflict that is being played out on the front headlines of every newspaper in the world, and it's being played out in the human recesses of every heart.
Today, we're going to talk about the conflict we're a part of. I'm calling today's message the purpose-driven strife. It's the key to understanding everything else that's going on in your life. It's a conflict between the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of God. And what I want to do this morning is talk about, first of all, the origin of our adversary, the devil.
Secondly, we're going to look at the fall of our adversary. And finally, the revenge of our adversary. If you have your Bibles, turn to Ezekiel. Chapter 28, as we talk about the origin of our adversary. Look at Ezekiel 28, beginning with verse 12.
This prophecy of Ezekiel was written, according to the beginning of the chapter, to a real person on earth, the king of Tyre. He was a godless king who tried to operate his kingdom without any acknowledgement about God. But when we get to verse 12 of Ezekiel 28, it is clear Ezekiel has changed his audience. He's not just riding to the king of Tyre. He's writing to the power behind the king of Tyre.
The one who inspired him to think he could rule without God's assistance. And you see the second audience beginning in verse 12. God said You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Was the king of Tyre a perfect being? No, far from it.
He goes on, you were in Eden, the garden of God. When was the king of Tyre ever in the Garden of Eden? That doesn't apply. Verse 14, you were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there. Cherub, is there any hint that the king of Tyre was an angel?
I don't think so. Verse 15, you were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. The king of Tyre was hardly a blameless person. Verse 17, your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor, and I cast you to the ground.
I put you before kings that. They may see you. No, he's talking about the power behind the king, the king of Tyre. This is a reference to Satan.
Now, the word Satan in Hebrew means adversary.
Sometimes we call him our adversary, Satan.
Sometimes we refer to him as The devil. The devil is Greek for the word slanderer. But at its beginning, he had a much more appealing name. Isaiah 12:14 tells us his name was Lucifer, literally meaning O star of the morning. The important thing to note about Lucifer Is that he was a created being.
And as we read Ezekiel chapter 28, we find actually four characteristics of Satan that help us understand our enemy. First of all, write it down: Satan was a created being. Twice in this passage, God refers to him as being created. Secondly, Satan held an impressive office in God's kingdom. Look at verse 14.
You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there.
Now, what does he mean you were a cherub? He doesn't mean Satan had. Think plump cheeks. That's not what he's talking about. The word cherub refers to a class of angels, the cherubim.
Cherubim is plural of cherub. The cherubim were a class of angels that were tasked with guarding the holiness of God. And Lucifer was the chief of the cherubim. He guarded the access to God. In today's terminology, we would say he was the gatekeeper.
He was the one who decided who was welcomed into God's presence. He had unparalleled access to God. Thirdly, Satan possessed incomparable wisdom and beauty. Look at verse 17. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty.
You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. You know, think about it. He's an enemy who is very appealing. He's very crafty. That is what makes him very dangerous.
Satan possessed incomparable wisdom and beauty. And that leads to the fourth characteristic of Satan. Satan's pride is what led to his downfall. His pride is what led to his downfall. Look at verses 16 and 17.
By the abundance of your trade, you were internally filled with violence, and you sinned. Therefore, I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.
I cast you to the ground. I put you before the kings that they may see you. Here was Satan's major problem. He forgot he was just a creature. He thought he was the creator.
And he allowed his beauty and his wisdom, both gifts from God, to metastasize in his heart and become. pride that led to his rebellion. Satan's pride led to his downfall. That's his origin, the origin of Satan. But when we turn to another passage, Isaiah 14, we find a blow-by-blow description of Satan's rebellion against God.
Now remember, I said Ezekiel 28 was written to a human king, the king of Tyre, but then it's addressed to the power behind the king of Tyre.
So is Isaiah 14. It's written to a different king, but a human king, the king of Babylon, whose ambition was unbridled. He thought he had no need for God whatsoever. And so Isaiah writes this prophecy to him, the king of Babylon. But when we get to verse 12, it's clear that once again, God is addressing not the human king, but the power, the individual behind him who made him think that he could operate without God.
Look at verse 12 of Isaiah 14. How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning. There's the word, Lucifer. O star of the morning, son of the dawn, for you have been cut down to earth, you who have weakened the nations. But you said in your heart, Will you underline that phrase in your heart?
This is a conversation Satan had with himself. For you said in your heart, Now, I want you to underline every time you find the words, I will. Here's what Satan said in his conversation with himself: Self, I will. I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God.
And I will sit on the mount of the assembly in the resources of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. And there it is again. I will make myself. Like the most high.
Did you get that? I will. I will, I will, I will, I will. Perhaps it had been building in his heart for some time. Or maybe Lucifer went to a motivational seminar one afternoon.
And he heard the speaker ask, you know. What is it you really want in life? Whatever your mind can conceive and believe. believe it can achieve. What is it that you really want?
And so Lucifer said to himself, Self, let me think for a moment about what I really want, you know, when I think about it. What I really want Instead of just Temporarily residing in heaven, I'd like a permanent residence there. Instead of just ruling over the cherubim, I'd like to rule over all the angels. Instead of having to bow down and worship that spoiled Son of God, Jesus, I'd like to have him bow down and worship me. You know when I think about it?
What I really want. is I want to be God. That afternoon, Something terrible happened in the universe. Up until that point, for all eternity past, there had only been one will in the universe, one will that governed the universe, God's will. But that afternoon in his heart, One will became two wills.
There was God's will. But now there was Satan's will. We're not told how it is. That in a perfect world and a perfect heaven, sin entered into Satan's heart. We're not told that.
Theologians call it the mystery of iniquity. We don't know the cause of it, but we know the root of it. The root of all sin. Beginning that afternoon, continuing to every sin you and I commit today is the false belief that there's another way that's better than God's way. That's what Satan came to believe.
There is another way than God's way.
Now I know I risk offending Some of you. But you probably know me well enough to know I don't care. But I want you to think about it before you reject this statement. Whenever we ask ourselves the question, What do I really want in my life? We're in danger of committing the same sin that Satan did.
I know we're told all the time, imagine what you would like to. achieve in life. Close your eyes and imagine the income you'd like to earn every year. The kind of house you'd like to live in, the kind of car you'd like to drive, the kind of mate you'd like to have. Whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve.
That's a dangerous question for a child of God. The real question ought to be not what do I desire, but what does God desire in my life?
Now, I realize sometimes, hopefully, those can be the same things. Many times, God gives us direction through the desires He places in our heart. Psalm 37:4 says, Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you what? The desire of your hearts.
Sometimes God's desire. is my desire if I'm walking in fellowship with him. But sometimes there's a difference between what I want and what God wants. And remember, just as the tempter. Whispered into the Ears of the king of Tyre and the king of Babylon, he whispers into our ear.
And that is the lie: there's a better way than God's way. We've talked about the origin of our enemies, Satan. The fall of Satan now, let's look at the revenge of Satan. As a result, Of Satan's misguided visioneering, dreaming about the future. God cast him.
And a group of renegade angels who agreed were tired of living under the tyranny of this God. He cast them out of heaven. What must that have been like? You know, I tried to imagine what that rebellion must have been like. And I thought about the movie Jerry Maguire.
Now, don't write me any letters. I'm not recommending the movie Jerry Maguire. But for those of you who saw the movie, you know it's about a sports agent played by Tom Cruise, who's very successful, works for the biggest sports agency in the country, and he gets the idea one day that he'll start his own rival company. and that he'll do so based on a manifesto that he's written up. And so there's that climactic moment in the movie when he says to all of his fellow workers what his dream is, and he says, now, who will come and join me in starting this new company?
and nobody responds. except one mousy secretary and her pet goldfish. And they walk out of the building together, just the two of them, and she says to Jerry Maguire. You are going to provide health benefits, aren't you? I mean, in an instant, she realized what she had given up.
I think about the scene in heaven. When Satan led the rebellion, he actually did better than Jerry Maguire. He didn't just have one, but he had a multitude of angels who decided to join with him in the rebellion.
Now we don't know how many.
Some of you have said, oh, preacher, don't you know your Bible? It was a third of the angels who followed him. Maybe, maybe not. We'll see in a few weeks. Revelation 12 is the key verse, and it's how you interpret that.
But a large number of angels did choose to follow him. They were cast out of heaven. They landed on earth. And I imagine those angels who now became demons-that's where demons came from-the fallen angels-I imagine they said to Satan, in effect, what's next, Einstein? You got us thrown out of this beautiful heaven, and now we're on this earth.
What's next? And so he had to rally the troops. And so he continued his speech to the demons by saying, we will still overcome. We will build a kingdom better than God's, larger than God's. We will rule the universe.
He said, did Satan really believe that? Never forget, the power of self-delusion is limitless. It really is. I remember watching a documentary on CNN about a famous televangelist. You would know his name immediately if I said it.
At one point, at the zenith of his career, he had a church with 5,000 in attendance every week. He had a television program on hundreds of stations. He had an income to his ministry of $1 million every day of the year. He couldn't have been doing any better. Until he sinned and fell into sin.
sexual immorality. And suddenly he lost his kingdom completely. But he decided not to let a little bit of failures hold him back. He said, I'm going to rebuild what I had. Except now, instead of having thousands in his church every week, he has only a couple of hundred.
Instead of being on hundreds of television stations, he's on a few dozen. Instead of a million dollars a day, he has a few thousand dollars. But he keeps on anyway. I think Satan had that same kind of optimism. You say, well, doesn't he know the Bible?
Oh, yeah, he knows the Bible. He knows it better than you and I do. He's read it more times. He's seen much of it up front and in person. For example, he was there the day Jesus died.
You talk about a backfire in his plan. He had planned to kill the Son of God, thinking that would eliminate him. He didn't realize by moving in Judas' heart to betray Christ, he was actually opening the way for salvation for everyone who would believe. Yeah, he was there at the empty tomb. He heard Jesus say that he was coming back again, but frankly, Satan has his doubts that God's going to be able to carry out what he has promised.
He doesn't really believe God's going to carry out what he's promised to do. In the same way, Many of us don't really believe it. Oh, we say we believe there's a God. We say we believe that the only way to heaven is by faith in Jesus Christ. We say we believe that one day, as Christians, we're going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
and give an evaluation of our life. and experience God's rewards or lack of rewards. We say one day we believe the kingdom of God will prevail forever and ever. We believe it to an extent. But if we really believed it, Wouldn't we live differently than we live right now?
That was Satan. He kind of believed, but he really didn't believe. And Satan's desperation to rebuild his former kingdom. Coupled with his doubt about God's ability to reclaim what was lost through sin. have caused Satan to launch a full-scale attack.
on the kingdom of God. And every one of us who is a part of that kingdom. That kingdom of Satan is built on the lie that life apart from God is both possible and preferable. He believes that one day he's going to be able to overtake the kingdom of God. And so, right now, he is launching an attack.
on God's kingdom and every one of us who is a part of it. It's an assault that's being played out in three distinct rounds. And next week we're going to look at those three rounds of attack. and discover Satan's blueprint. for your distraction.
Christians are well known by the enemy of this world. Satan has placed an X on our backs. For that reason, I'm urging you to make a serious study of Ephesians 6. The unprepared Christian is the constantly defeated Christian. And let me offer a couple of suggestions for taking your next steps.
First, we're prepared to send you a copy of my brand new book for the children in your life. It's called Suit Up. the armor of God for kids. Satan has a plan for deceiving your children into following him. Instead of God, in my book, I describe the weapons and armor God has given us for our protection.
Moms, dads, grandparents, it's our job to help our kids learn how to deploy this arsenal of spiritual weaponry.
So please take advantage of this helpful book. It's yours. when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. In fact, as a bonus, we'll also send you my brand new book for adults called angels and demons. fact.
versus fantasy. As we conclude today's message, I'm grateful for the many individuals who support the Ministry of Pathway to Victory, especially our Pathway Partners. With the help of tremendous friends like you, we're leading people to Jesus. Shining his light into a dark and difficult culture, and equipping believers to become obedient. productive, victorious disciples of Christ.
You're touching real lives with a transforming hope that you're not going to be able to do it that comes from God's Word. Thank you for giving generously and faithfully. Here's David to tell you more. When you give a generous gift to support the Ministry of Pathway to Victory, You're invited to request Suit Up. The Armor of God for Kids.
Additionally, you'll receive Angels and Demons, Fact vs. Fantasy. That's a brand new resource designed especially for adults. Make your gift and request both books by calling 866-999-2965. or visit online at ptv.org.
And when your ministry gift is $100 or more, you'll receive both books plus the Spirit Wars teaching series on audio and video discs, along with Dr. Jefferson's best-selling book, The Divine Defense. Call today, 866-999-2965. You could also contact us by mail, right to P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.
That's P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins. If this really is truly God's world, why does it seem like Satan is winning?
Next time on Pathway to Victory. Dr. Jeffress reveals Satan's desperate two-pronged strategy to assault God's kingdom. and why his days are already numbered. Join us for the message War of the Worlds.
That's Friday on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. Experience the breathtaking majesty of America's last frontier on the 2026 Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska. This seven-day journey combines spiritual growth with unforgettable adventures aboard a five-star luxury cruise ship.
It's a vacation you won't soon forget. Space is limited, so reserve your cabin today. Call 888-280-6747 or go to PTV.org. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. And we're so glad you're here.
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