Your Only Chance to Defeat the Devil
- Message Excerpt by
- Topic: Spiritual Warfare
Audio Transcript
We have a supernatural enemy. I have been moved by this because in my preparations I ran across, again, that old verse near the end of 1 John that says the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. It hit me like it never had before, that the world is absolutely defenseless against the devil. They have zero defenses against the supernatural power of the devil, and he hates them. He hates marriage, he hates people, he hates God, he hates churches, he hates you.
Without the word of God, we have zero defense. None! Do you believe that? None! He’s called “the god of this world” for a reason (2 Corinthians 4:4). He rules absolutely except where God’s providence restrains him, and oh, believe me, God’s providence is restraining him big-time, everywhere. Nobody knows what mercy they are enjoying when the sun comes up, or this land of ours holds together another day.
1 John 5:19, “The whole world lies in the power of the devil.” But listen to this alternative glorious statement from 1 John 2:14, “I write to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one.” Now what’s the connection there? It’s not just men that this applies to — he just happens to be writing to the men.
It works both ways because the issue is the word. Read it again. “I write to you, young men” — I write to you Bethlehem — “because you are strong” — How are you strong? In yourself? Against the devil? No way — “because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.”
That’s how we overcome. When the word of God is abiding in us, it’s the word of God that gives life and defeats the devil. It’s our only hope.
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