Christ Wins, What Side are We On

We know that Christ wins the war with Satan. It is a certainty. But what about in the meantime. What about until He comes again.

Let’s start with a look into a few of the battles. First, there is the Adam in the garden. Satan won. He successfully enticed Adam to sin. Adam had it all, food, protection, shelter, relationship with God, yet he fell at the temptation of the one thing God asked him not to do. That was where Satan attacked, in the one thing.

Next battle, Jesus in the wilderness. Satan tried to get Him to bow down to him. But, Jesus resisted and won this battle. Jesus overcame the temptation and kept Satan at bay.

Another battle, and a big one, Christ dies. Well, it would seem that Satan has gotten the ultimate victory. He was successful in assassinating Jesus, not by his own hand but through others as he knew he could not on his own. But, just as he was celebrating his victory, Christ rose from the dead and at that point, Satan knew the war was over.

Now, Satan knows the war is not his to win. He knows that he only has this time, before Christ comes again, to continue his work in this world. Satan knows that God will renew and restore Heaven and Earth to New and once done, He is cast into the lake of fire and only has that world forevermore.

“¹⁰and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” – Revelation 20:10 (ESV)

The war’s ending is certain, but until then there are still many battles. Satan is still in this world and as he knows that he will be defeated, he is working overtime to win as many battles as possible to take from Christ all that he can. He is out here tempting all of us, every day.

“⁸Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” – 1 John 3:8 (ESV)

Jesus came to destroy all that the devil has done. The question is, are we going to be on the side of that destruction or on the side of Christ and the victory. Will we practice sinning and be of the devil or will we join Christ and practice glorifying Him to be on the winning side.

What side are you on? Are you on the side of continuing to sin, thinking that you have nothing to lose and there is a chance? What if you were on the side of Christ, knowing that you have everything to gain, as the ending is certain?

The Wicked Will Not Be There

Will not be where? In heaven. I know there is a lot to unpack with regard to who will be in heaven and who are the wicked that will not be there. There are a lot of items to discuss and a lot of questions to answer. Where I do believe that the answers are found in God’s Word, I am going to only address the wicked, and will only scratch the surface for those with lots of questions.

“⁵Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

⁶for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.”

— Psalm 1:5-6 (ESV)

First thing here is that we find the wicked, well they will not be in heaven. They will be somewhere, but their time has come and they reap what they sow, wickedness. They are not granted life everlasting in heaven with Christ. So, just who are the wicked. That is a great question.

“Wicked – 1: morally very bad: EVIL” – Merriam-Webster Online

So, they are the very bad, or evil individuals. But what does that mean. Well, again, there is a lot to it, but what I believe to be the thing is that there is a conscious effort of them to inflict harm, whether physical or emotional or social or cultural or in any other sense to others. In short, as the definition above notes, morally very bad people. These are those who are only “happy” when others are experiencing hardship and likely that hardship is the doing of the wicked person.

But what about the second part of verse 5 above you ask. “Sinners” will not be there either. Aren’t we all sinners all the time? Well, yes we are sinners and do not deserve the gift of eternal life in heaven. But, we have been saved by grace through our acceptance of the gift of salvation. We are sinners, Just that we are working to not be active. Think of alcoholics. They are always alcoholics, but when they have gotten “on the wagon” they are not active are are identified as a recovering alcoholic, but an alcoholic none the less. We are recovering sinners but sinners none the less. The sinners that are referenced in verse 5 above are not recovering and have not accepted the gift of salvation through Christ Jesus.

All wicked are sinners, but not all sinners are wicked. The thing is that sinners are still separated from God and will be dealt with in the same fashion as the wicked. Both will be eternally separated from God as they will not be in heaven with those who have accepted the gift of salvation through Christ Jesus.

What is your view of the wicked and sinners? Are your thoughts that they will just go through a different more harshly regulated gate to heaven? What if you were to reconcile that they had every opportunity to accept the gift of salvation through Christ Jesus and will not be there at all?

Evil Will Deceive

This seems like a pretty simple concept to grasp, “evil will deceive”, and it is. But read that again and really take it in.

“⁴But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. ⁵For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” – Genesis 3:4-5 (ESV)

In some respects, did the serpent lie to the woman? The serpent used literal connotations to deceive. The woman was thinking of literal death and death from the life that she knew. The serpent used words to distort meaning, knowing that the woman would be deceived.

There are many other examples of this deception that I thought of this morning. Such as, is it really wrong to drive fast, other than the rules say don’t? What is so wrong about eating a few grapes at the grocery store without buying any, we need to taste them for ripeness, right? What is the big deal with shooting fireworks during a burn ban in the area, you have a water hose right there with you?

All of the above seem as though they might be innocent enough, yet they are being restricted by too many rules and/or regulations. If doing any of them, is anyone really hurt in the moment, are the really that bad? Yes, they are. Not because they will cause harm to anyone in the moment, but because they go against that which we know to be the rules.

When the woman was deceived into eating of the tree of good and evil, she knew the rules and they were not even that restrictive. The rule was two trees being forbidden, all others were acceptable to partake from and encouraged for sustenance. God had give instructions to abstain from these two trees only and that should have been enough. But the serpent was there to get her to do that one thing she was not to do.

This happens in my life all the time. I am deceived into doing the one thing that I am not to do. Whether it is diving into social media for an extended time, waiting to accomplish tasks until it is almost too late, or simply avoiding something with excuses as to why I am not able to do them (like exercising).

There is nothing that I can do to stop the deception that comes from evil. The serpent is going to be there working to separate me from God at every step of the way. But what I can do is know. I can know that the serpent is there. I can know that I will be deceived. I can know that defeating evil is possible. I can know that light overcomes darkness. I can know that when I have the Light of the LORD in me, I will overcome the deception and ultimately evil.

What deception are you experiencing in your life? Are you giving in to that deception? What if you were to recognize that you will be deceived and that there is a way to avoid it, and that way is through the Light of the LORD?

Overcome Evil with Good

This morning as I continue my study of the word “overcome” I come again to the overcoming of evil as I did once before. I found that the darkness (evil) does not overcome the light of the LORD. And this morning I am reminded that we overcome evil (darkness) with good and that good is the LORD.

“²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” and “²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” – Romans 12:21 & 2 (ESV)

I know, again I quote verses in reverse order of their writings. Verse 21 tells of how to overcome but, without the context of verse 2 there is some lacking in what is good. I learned a lot of years ago that in the study of God’s Word, it is important to read before and after the verse of focus to fully understand the context so as to apply our lives to God’s Word as opposed to fitting Him into our lives.

I need good in my life to overcome evil. Where does that good come from except from the LORD. I have to be in His Word daily to understand just where He would have me go and what He would have me do. When I am focused on the will of God for and in my life, I am able to find the good in all things. With that good I will be able to shine bright for the LORD and the darkness will be cast away. Evil has no chance against the good that is Jesus Christ. And it is up to me to bring that good to the world always.

Now, I know that I will be beaten down from time to time. I have in my past felt as though I am not getting anywhere and that the whole world was/is against me. Lori and I have been in the situation where we feel as though God may not be with us. We felt as though the evil one was winning. But we keep with Christ, looking to Him for guidance and comfort and over time, He brings us through to the other side. We have overcome the evil as we have stayed with God and the good that He is. We have found ourselves better for coming through and overcoming.

“⁵I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” – John 15:5 (ESV)

God is good and good overcomes evil. For me I have to remain in Him and He will remain in me so that I can do all things.

How are you overcoming evil? Are you looking for the physical to break you free? What if you remained in God who is good and allowed Him to overcome evil?

The LORD is Fixed on the Righteous

It is again not surprising, but amazing that the LORD leads me to passages again and again to learn. Where this morning I was brought to 1 Peter and a passage I have studied a number of times, the LORD has a different learning for me today. Even the verse I was lead to is a citation from Psalm that I have studied before with my exploring of the word “righteous”.

“¹²For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,

and his ears are open to their prayer.

But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

— 1 Peter 3:12 (ESV)

This morning I was struck, not by the eyes or ears of the LORD being on the righteous and their prayer, but by the intense focus He has in doing so. The LORD is fixed on the righteous. He is fully devoted to His people. His eyes and ears are fully engaged with all that we are doing and saying. He is so fixed on us that all others He has turned away from. Those who do evil are not in His sight or earshot. The LORD is with us always looking and listening for our needs and work completion for Him.

I know, this seems pretty ominous for those who are evil. How is it they will be found by the LORD if/when His eyes and ears are not focused on them. This is where the world gets the wrong idea of the LORD. The world seems to think that if the LORD does not bless everyone, then the LORD is not good. How could this loving god (lower case “g” intentional) not be loving to everyone and keep all from evil?

Well here is my visualization of it all. Imagine that the righteous are seen under a spotlight and that spotlight allows for audio (like the optical audio cable for your media). The LORD sees and hears that which is in the spotlight. All that is outside the spotlight is there yes, but not seen or heard by God. It is the work of those in the spotlight to bring others in through evangelism and love and the carrying of the gospel to them. Once those outside the spotlight step in, they are now seen and heard by the LORD.

This may be a bit of a simplification of what I read and study this morning. It is not that the LORD is not loving to those who are evil, it is that they are not the focus of His attention. It is those who are focused on and devoted to Him who get His immediate attention. To get the LORD’s immediate attention and be the focus of His eyes and ears, one has to turn to Him and devote to Him and the carry of His Word forward to the rest of the world.

As I write and study this morning, the world is in darkness. There is evil throughout. Yet, there are those who are in the light and that is where the LORD is fixed. He is looking to and listening for the righteous to bless them and guide them. The LORD is looking for the righteous to carry His Word and Grace forward to the world to bring more into the light. You see, the LORD loves all and wants all to experience salvation, and He will fix on all once they have turned to Him. Until then, He will remain fixed on the righteous and lead them to their reward in heaven.

What is your view of where God should be focused? Are you one that believes that God should give all the same regardless of standing with Him? What if you realized that the LORD loves all, and is fixed on the righteous and waiting for you to join them in the light?