sin

God the Holy Spirit | Part 2

Faithful Stewardship 6 Comments

doveWelcome back to part 2! Today, I want to take a good look at the Promise of God the Holy Spirit as we make our way through the book of Luke. I’d like to reiterate that I am not following any denominational quick-guide on the Holy Spirit. I shall endeavor to simply share what I’ve read in the Scriptures. I maintain 2 fundamental statements of faith as the basis for this discussion:

  • The inerrancy of the Bible as the Word of God. In it we find that which God has revealed of Himself, His Nature, His Will, and His Love for us. While we cannot claim (nor should we) to know and explain everything about God (for we are only created beings) we can (and must) aim to know what He has given to us to know about Him, that which He has chosen to reveal about Himself by giving us His Word and His Spirit.
  • The Trinity. There is only One God. He exists eternally as 3 distinct persons, God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit.

For starters, let us continue our discussion of John the Baptist by picking up in Luke chapter 3.

Luke 3:1-22 (ESV)
1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
5 Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall become straight,
and the rough places shall become level ways,
6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 9 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

10 And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” 11 And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” 12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, 16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

18 So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. 19 But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, 20 added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.

21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

That last part (v21-22), I just wanted to take a moment to highlight that we see here plainly the doctrine of the Trinity. Three distinct persons, interacting at the same time, all One God. Also notice, that while John is filled with the Holy Spirit (from the womb) he makes it clear that Jesus will be the one baptizing with the Holy Spirit and fire. Absolutely wonderful, but I want to keep my commentary to a minimum. I highly encourage each of you to read through the book of Luke with a highlighter to pick up on these, otherwise for the sake of context I’ll end up filling this entire post with Scripture (though, not a bad way to make sure I don’t detract from God’s Word, eh?)

Luke 4 (ESV) | The Temptation of Jesus
1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.

14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. 16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

31 And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, 32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.

Luke 10:17-24 (ESV) 17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” 21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” 23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

Luke 11:11-13 (ESV)11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Interesting how He closed out the lesson here in Luke. Here, we have the Holy Spirit being clearly established as a Gift from God the Father. A gift, to those who ask Him. Luke (under the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit) is building the case already for the wonderful Gift of the Holy Spirit that will be given to the Church later in Acts.  Prophecy, Direction, Guidance, Authority, Worship, Praise, Miracles, and Ministry are clearly tied to the Holy Spirit. Let’s take a look at one more passage in Luke before closing out today’s post with the Great Commission.

Luke 12:1-12 (ESV) 1 In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. 4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. 8 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, 9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

Now verse 10 gets people worked up often. I once heard Alistair Begg discuss this in one of his sermons, and he said that if you were a Believer in Jesus Christ who was worried about committing the unforgivable sin, that you were the least likely to commit the sin. I think that for the most part, the concern stems from having the verse ripped from its context and taught as some undefined unforgivable sin that could be committed by anyone at any time and doom them. I know that I struggled a great deal with fear on this topic when I was a young boy in a Holiness Pentecostal Church.  Let’s look at the Mark account of Jesus explaining the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit.

Mark 3:22-30 (ESV) 22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” 23 And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. 28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Okay, so what is going on here? There is a special problem that arises with this sort of blasphemy of God the Holy Spirit. If you reject the Holy Spirit as an unclean spirit, then you’ve rejected God the Holy Spirit’s testimony of Jesus Christ. There can be no forgiveness for a sin that prevents you from accepting the Way, the Truth, and the Life, Jesus Christ, our atoning sacrifice. That is an eternal sin. Notice that every other sin (including blasphemies against God the Father and God the Son) are forgivable. Even blasphemy against God the Son, Jesus Christ. But how does that make sense? Because without the Holy Spirit opening our hearts to the Truth of the Word of God made flesh, we just see the man, Jesus, claiming to be God. Therefore, if the Holy Spirit who is working in Jesus (for we see clearly that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit in Luke 4) is declared by an unbeliever to be an unclean spirit, then that person has closed off his heart from the One who testifies of the Son, and doomed himself to remaining eternally dead in his sins and trespasses. Notice the what Jesus said to Peter after he rightly confessed Jesus as the Messiah in Matthew 16:17 (ESV), “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you is the key phrase here. God the Son, Jesus, is standing before His disciples in flesh and blood. Yet, Jesus makes it clear that the revelation of His identity came not as a result of flesh and blood, but from God the Father who is in heaven. Matthew is citing the source of the revelation, God the Father. But Peter’s revelation from God the Father came through the work of God the Holy Spirit. For whatever reason… Judas Iscariot failed to recognize the working of the Holy Spirit, and listened instead to Satan, and betrayed Jesus.

The Great Commission

Matthew 28:18-20 (ESV) 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Mark 16:15-16 (ESV) 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

We are going to discuss this at length in the next post, but I want to point out that this is a singular baptism. In John the Baptist’s statement about Jesus, notice the tone in the wording, the baptism of John is with water, but Jesus (Who is mightier than John) would baptize in the Holy Spirit and with Fire. The baptism that Jesus brings, is superior to that of John. We will see this revealed further in the Book of Acts. Notice also that the making of disciples of all nations, means that we Gentiles are to become disciples and to be taught to observe the commandments of Jesus Christ, Praise the Lord! Also notice that Mark includes the reminder of the condemnation that follows a rejection of the Gospel. The one sin that cannot be forgiven. You can reject the notion of God philosophically, you can reject the personal claims made by Jesus, but if you listen to the Holy Spirit, He will open your heart to the testimony of Jesus Christ, who will then make you right with God the Father by His atoning sacrifice. However, if you reject all including the work of God the Holy Spirit… you will be condemned by your unbelief and hardened heart. Much like Adam in the Garden… there is but one sin that leads to death… eternal death. Praise the Lord for His Grace and Mercy and unfailing Love for us that He would send His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross as payment for our sinful nature!

If it be the Lord’s Will, in the next post, we are going to dive right into the Book of Acts and 1 Corinthians. This 3-part study is in no way exhaustive, but I’m excited about it, and I hope you find as much blessing in this study as I have.

May the Lord bless and keep you,
In Him,
Jorge

Delegation of Authority: Adam

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We’ve been spending a great deal of time looking into the Authority of God and His Word, particularly at the Authority of Bible. The Bible declares God as the Sovereign ruler and creator of everything… by His Word. We’ve established that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh, and that He was with God in the beginning, and apart from Him nothing that has come into being has come into being (John 1, NASB), I love that wording! So, in the beginning there was God, His Word, and His Spirit… and all things were created by Him. As Creator, He is undoubtedly Sovereign in His dominion.

the Hands by Michelangelo

the Hands by Michelangelo

Genesis 1:26-31 (NASB) 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. 31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Here we have the first instance of delegated authority. Man, having been formed from the very dust of the Earth, was now delegated authority over the Earth. Man is set to “rule over” everything on earth and in the sky above the earth and in the sea. In the next chapter, we get some specifics on that authority and how that played out for mankind.

Genesis 2:15-17 (NASB) 15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

I have always been fascinated with the garden of Eden. Particularly with the way it is introduced and how the Adam gets placed into it after he is created… and then booted out of it later on as a result of the fall of man. But for now, let us look at the authority and responsibility (the two concepts are inextricably linked, by the way) given to Adam. He was placed into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. Adam was given a task, and the authority to perform the task was delegated to him. How interesting to see that in the very next verse, we have the first instance of something in all of creation being “not good”. Continue on with me

Genesis 2:18-24(NASB) 18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” 19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22 The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 The man said,

 “This is now bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”

24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

It was not good for the man to be alone. He needed a helper. However, nothing that was formed from the ground was a suitable helper for Adam (sorry, guys… the notion of “man’s best friend” being a dog…simply isn’t biblical 😉 ).  All joking aside, there are some key points I believe being made here.

The first one being that man was already created, and delegated authority and rule over all created things AND he’s been put to work while he was still alone. In his solitude, God saw that it was not good for him to be alone, so He decided man needed a helper. God had a plan the entire time, so the trotting out of all of the created beings before Adam was NOT an exercise of trial-and-error for God. It was for Adam’s benefit that God wanted to demonstrate to him that none of the other created beings were worthy of serving as helper to man. Why is that? Because man was of a different kind from the rest of creation, and man was to be set as ruler over all created beings in the sea, on the earth, and in the sky. For man to fulfill his charge, and execute his authority in ruling over the earth and filling the earth, he needed a helper of his own kind. Therefore, The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. Adam recognized the significance of what the Lord God had done here, which is why God saw fit that we maintain the quote from Adam. Now Adam was no longer alone, and in being joined with his wife, they shall become one flesh, and now they were given the ability to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, after their own kind (mankind).

The second point I’d like to make, is that there is no realignment of authority once the woman is created. Adam was already placed in charge, and given the task and its singular parameter (not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good an evil, v17) to obey. The authority and responsibility to keep the law was placed upon Adam, before woman was created. Once Adam was given his helper, his wife, the order is not re-given to them. Adam is responsible and it will be Adam who will ultimately be held responsible. That is the nature of authority. So, mankind was created equal, male and female both equal because no other alternative was suitable for Adam. However, within that equality, there is still authority. Woman was created as a helper for man, enabling him to fulfill God’s commandment to man. Woman is equal to man, having been pulled out of his rib and formed to be joined with him. But it is Adam that was given authority.

Even was tempted by the serpent (Gen 3), and was apparently not properly instructed (v3) in the commandment of the Lord God, given to Adam (which was Adam’s responsibility) and she ate the fruit. She then handed it to Adam, and he joined her in her sin. So now what? Who’s in charge now? Remember that we serve an all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever-present God. So God knows exactly what happened, and who was at fault for each act. So, again, the investigation that takes place after the sin is not for God’s sake, but ours. God questions the Adam first, because it was to Adam that He gave the instruction, authority, and responsibility. Having failed to do what is right in the sight of God, Adam sought to escape judgement by assigning blame, interestingly he goes about it cleverly (though foolishly) in trying to get the Lord God to accept blame for having given the woman to Adam. Following the example set before her, she blames the serpent. Notice, none of them lied about what happened, but they both tried to avoid blame. This doesn’t go their way, and we have judgement issued from the bottom up, first the serpent, then the woman, and finally Adam.

Genesis 3:14-15 (NASB) 14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat All the days of your life;
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

The Lord God has a plan. God was not caught off-guard, nor was He caught unaware. He knows everything, and here, we see the Lord God declaring that the seed of woman would bruise (or crush) satan’s head, though satan will bruise him on the heel. Why her seed? because it has to be a human, but cannot come from Adam’s seed because it is now dead to sin. This is why the virgin birth is absolutely essential to the Gospel. The broken authority of mankind rests in man, not woman. It was by Adam’s sin that all of mankind fell into darkness, why we are born dead in sin (Romans 5:12-14) in need of a Savior,  Jesus Christ.

Genesis 3:16-18 (NASB) 16 To the woman He said,
“I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth,
In pain you will bring forth children;
Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.”

I do not wish to spend a great deal of time on this point, but here we have God’s judgment on woman for her sin. My wife and I are strong believers in natural childbirth, and we believe that God has a plan for every aspect of our lives, including childbirth. Throughout the scriptures, God uses birth pains as an illustration of what is taking place on Earth. We’ve been blessed with 2 beautiful children by natural means. God is good, and He provides,  Hallelujah! Notice the last portion… God is reiterating the roles of authority. Adam and Eve are still equal and when they are joined they are one flesh. But it is the husband who has authority over her. This is important to understanding much of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the fullness of what He came to redeem, and for what He said He will return.

Genesis 3:17-19 (NASB) 17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;
Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life.
18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the plants of the field;
19 By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.”

As Paul wrote in Romans 5, and really as the entirety of the Scriptures points out, the state of man is now complete separation from God. But our God is merciful and continually works to redeem His people and to gather all nations unto Him. But you see here that the very ground was cursed by Adam’s sin. What was Adam’s task in the Garden? To cultivate the garden and keep it. Now that very task is marred.  This leads to another issue, that when you are given authority and responsibility over something, you are held accountable for it… and your failures/successes don’t just affect you, but to that over which you are responsible.

God will redeem His creation, but He cannot do it through Adam’s seed, it must be through the seed of the woman, where the Word of God will be made flesh, so that He can redeem His people.  Jesus came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. Jesus, having lived, died on the cross, and resurrected…has secured all authority in Heaven and Earth. Having paid the ultimate penalty for the sin of mankind, bearing within Himself the death that was required by Adam’s sin, He now is the authority over Heaven and Earth, at the Right Hand of God the Father. Jesus has perfected the relationship between man and Creator and through Him is made the only Way to God.

A common error in modern-day Christianity is to forget that Jesus is still fully man in addition to being fully God. He didn’t lose his perfected body when ascended into Heaven, He still has his perfected body… and He will return for His bride, the Church. I make this point to set up the next: Paul makes it very clear that Jesus Christ maintains absolute authority over the His people. The declaration takes various forms in the New Testament, so let’s look at some of them:

Colossians 1:18 (NASB) 18 [Jesus Christ] is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

1 Corinthians 11:3 (NASB) 3 But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.

Hebrews 4:14-16 (NASB) 14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Revelation 19:11-16 (NASB) 11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine-press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

I urge you, not to get caught so up modern feminism or misogyny that you miss out on the great picture of Jesus Christ, and the profound depth of God’s love and perfect planning in making for us a way of escape from our own sin. Jesus now fulfills every role of authority that man has messed up: man (second Adam), husband (to His bride, the church), judge, priest, and King. All authority. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is about so much more than just granting you a “get out of hell free” card… It’s about the Greatness of our Lord God. Praise be to God and His son, Jesus.

In Him,
FS

If the devil is riding your back…

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There is a church near my home that has one of those marquee signs out front where they like to put up different clever sayings from time to time. I don’t have any strong feelings either way on these signs, other than I think that most of the clever sayings I see are only understandable by the saints. Especially those that look like they are targeting the lost… they just sound odd. Perhaps the worst example of being too clever to be useful was, “Stop, Drop, and Roll won’t work in Hell”. However, this morning I noticed the sign say something that immediately brought to mind Scriptural truth.

If the devil is riding your back
Take off the saddle

Now, since I am already of the mindset that these signs are mostly for Christians, my mind went to Ephesians 4:26-27 (okay, I know I quote Eph 4 quite a bit, but hey, this is a blog about Christian living and faithful stewardship 😉 ):

Ephesians 4:26-27 (NASB, emphasis mine)
26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not give the devil an opportunity.

Here is the saddle. As Christians, we have been bought by a price and redeemed out of the dominion of darkness and into the Kingdom of Jesus, the Son of God, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin (Colossians 1:13-14). However, as humans we are still susceptible to influence when we yield to the enemy. Allowing ourselves to be overcome with strong emotions (like anger, anxiety, fear, doubt, etc.) can lead to sin (notice, clearly there is room to have an emotion without yielding to sin)… by giving the devil an opportunity, or by allowing a saddle to be placed on your back.

So how do we remove the saddle? By the Truth of God’s word, particularly His promises about who we are in Him and who we have in the Holy Spirit.

2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV) 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Philippians 4:6-7 (NASB) 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 5:23-24 (NASB) 23 Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

Matthew 5:33-37 (NASB) 33 “Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, “You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ 34 But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.

James 4:6b-8 (NASB) 6b Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (emphasis mine; I recommend studying all of Chapter 4)

As for the sinner, the lost, they are born wearing a saddle. In fact, we were all born broken horses in captivity. Saddled by the world, bridled by sin, corralled by darkness, and destined for death and eternal separation from God. But for His Son, Jesus, we’d still be in that broken and controlled state. Through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we can be set free from our bonds, released from captivity, and inherited into the Kingdom of God to forever be with Him! Amen.

As long as we walk on in this world, we will have to contend with the accuser of the brethren (Rev 12:10) who is constantly looking for  someone to devour (1 Pet 5:8) or to put on a saddle and ride into the ground. The devil cannot steal you away from God, but he can cause you to stumble and fall, especially if he can get you saddled and bridled (James 3). That’s why we must  keep ourselves in God’s Word, praying and seeking guidance from the Holy Spirit daily as we are encouraged in Romans 12.

So yeah… today’s clever message blessed me. I hope some of you were equally blessed. Have a wonderful weekend!

In Him,
FS

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