ACKNOWLEDGE
THE TRUTH
February
15, 1998 pm
MF Blume
2Tim 2:24-26 And the servant of the
Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all [men], apt to teach, patient,
In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure
will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And [that] they
may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive
by him at his will.
1Pet 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour:
Revelation 12:1-5 And there appeared a
great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her
feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child
cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared
another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads
and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third
part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon
stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her
child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was
to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto
God, and [to] his throne.
All these references speak of the enemy trying to catch believers.
- The enemy uses various means
to entrap souls
- He is a hunter.
- He walks about, seeking
whom he may devour.
- So we are warned to be sober
- sharp with our wits about us - be vigilant.
- The enemy of our soul would
tempt us.
- Persecute us.
- Threaten us.
- Scandalize us.
- Use people to backbite
us.
- Use people to criticize
us.
- ...all in order to ultimately
devour us.
- Make us give up.
Trophies are a hunter's hardest
catch.
- You do not see heads of
squirrels mounted on walls of the hunter's trophy room.
- You see bucks with large
sets of antlers, indicating their age and wisdom and avoidance of many hunters
before.
- Trophies are game that
have been hard to hunt and capture.
- The christian is a trophy
to the devil if he can catch one.
- We aren't helpless animals.
- We are more than conquerors.
The faithful children of God
know how to resist.
- "Through it all, I've learned
to trust in Jesus".
- Jesus told the disciples
in the Garden to "watch and pray".
- God told Adam to "dress
and keep" the garden.
- Same thing.
- "Guard the garden".
- This is not a game.
Eccl 8:8 [There is] no man that
hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither [hath he] power in
the day of death: and [there is] no discharge in [that] war; neither shall
wickedness deliver those that are given to it.
- Satan is the type of hunter
that sets traps.
- He cannot be everywhere
at all times - he is not omnipresent.
- He sets traps throughout
the world.
- Like a spider who cannot
catch all the insects, so has to build a trap we call a web, and go about
his business, to return and snatch those in his traps.
- No discharge in battle
against death.
- Trap is set and if you
get caught it will hold you until the devourer comes, and he comes at the
end.
So Paul told Timothy that a christian
must acknowledge the truth when they are ensnared by the devil at his will.
- He said acknowledgeing the
truth will recover a soul from the snare of the devil.
- ACKNOWLEDGE THE TRUTH.
- TO CONFESS AND ADMIT IT.
- Jesus said you will know
the truth and the truth will set you free.
- Acknowledge: The origin
of the word is obscure, but we can think of the term meaning "act" upon "knowledge".
- AC-KNOWLEDGE.
- When in a trap there is
only one way out.
- USE THAT TRUTH.
- You hear about Israel applying
the blood to their doorways.
- What has that got to do
with living for Jesus in the dawn of the 21st century?
- It means act upon the fact
that Jesus blood is there for your protection against hell.
- Put it on YOUR address.
- Sad is the testimony of
so many believer: "My lifestyle is no different than before I heard the truth.
I still do not rebuke the devil when in a trial. I do exactly what I always
did. STAND SCARED AND DO NOTHING."
- APPLY THE BLOOD!!!
- Realize that Jesus blood
gave you power and that YOU can use it by simply commanding Satan to
let go.
- If he stands there still,
rebuke him again and do not relent, for you will overcome him by the blood
of the lamb and the word of your testimony.
- You must put two and two
together and realize that power in the blood is for you to use.
- RECOVER YOURSELF!!
- I cannot recover you.
I wish I could. But you must recover yourself. All that I can do is instruct
you as Paul told Timothy to do with his saints.
- "Recover yourself" in the
Greek implies -- "come to your senses".
- ACT UPON KNOWLEDGE.
- If you are defeated tonmight
you likely never learned to fight back when the enemy strikes.
- Teach the devil a lesson
that you are not about to stand and take his trash.
- Say, "I command you to
stop lying to my mind, in the name of Jesus Christ!" when he tempts your
mind with thoughts of sin or thoughts of doing wrong.
- You must realize that such
thoughts are not ultimately your own, but are from Satan and disguised as
your own.
- When you feel God, even
in church services, trying to draw you to worship or to come to the altar,
and the enemy is putting it into your mind that you cannot do it, recognize
the liar and begin rebuking him in Jesus' name.
- Realize the blood is for
you!
- Use it for yourself and
YOUR situation!
- Realize that YOUR TESTIMONY,
in Rev. 12:11, refers to the fact that you are saved by the blood of
the lamb, and that therefore you have the power of the name of Jesus.
So, don't just stand there, APPLY THAT TRUTH TO YOU! SPEAK THE WORD of
your testimony and defeat the devil! Claim the fact that the blood is for
YOU and therefore Satan cannot resist you!
- That is what putting the
blood on the doorway stands for.
- Putting the truth TO YOUR
situation -- using that knowledge that He died FOR YOU by way of a WORD from
you to the enemy..
It is amazing how we have more
power than all of hell put together in one believer, and believers are so
easily trapped.
- Had victory one day but
lost it.
- Cannot move, like they're
in a spider's web.
- The enemy is soon to check
his trap out and find who is there.
- And he will devour that
one.
The traps are LIES.
- If we acknowledge the
truth in order to recover ourselves from the sanre of the devil, then
the snare must be a lie.
- If truth frees us, then
the only things truth defeats is a lie.
- God shows you truths in
the Word for you to apply to your life.
- And you must use these
truths when the time comes.
The manchild in Rev. 12 was confronted
by a dragon who wanted to devour Him with his mouth.
- LIES.
- The devil is the ACCUSER
and he LIES.
- He accuses us to ourselves
and lies to us to try and make us give up.
- Do not believe those lies!
Counterattack them with truth.
- But the manchild would
not accept the lies.
- After he ascended to the
throne in Rev. 12:5, we read that THEY overcame the dragon by the blood
of the lamb and the word of their testimony.
- Who are this mysterious
THEY?
- When they overcame, the
KINGDOM CAME.
Revelation 12:10 And I heard a loud voice
saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom
of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren
is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
When you apply the blood to
yourself, and make it part of YOUR experience, then speak it forth, the KINGDOM
COMES -- strength comes -- and the accusing liar is cast down.
3 Hebrew children not devoured by flames.
Daniel 3:28-29 [Then] Nebuchadnezzar
spake, and said, Blessed [be] the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and
have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not
serve nor worship any god, except their own God. Therefore I make a decree,
That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against
the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their
houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver
after this sort.
When Daniel in the lions' den,
he was not devoured.
Daniel 6:25-27 Then king Darius wrote
unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace
be multiplied unto you. I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom
men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he [is] the living God,
and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom [that] which shall not be destroyed,
and his dominion [shall be even] unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth,
and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered
Daniel from the power of the lions.
We are to pray...THY KINGDOM
COME!!!
- PRAY IT!!
- What do you do in trouble?
- Worry?
- PRAY!!!! REBUKE THE ENEMY.
- COMMAND HIM TO LEAVE.
TRUTH created a world to be governed
by God - WORD.
- LIES enslaved the first
people.
- Lies are growing in this
world.
- Even in some saints!!
"I'm powerless. I cannot fight
the devil when I am trapped."
- They accepted the trash
of a lie!
Jesus couold not do miracles
in some places because of unbelief IN HIM.
- HE IS THE TRUTH.
- Truth does you no good
until you ACKNOWLEDGE IT.
- ACT UPON KNOWLEDGE.
Acknowledge truth and here comes
liberty!
Television spray out traps.
- Lies.
- Filthy soap operas.
- Messes of webs are in every
tavern and bar.
2Tim 2:25-26 In meekness instructing
those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth; And [that] they may recover themselves
out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
- I am taking Paul's instructions
and instructing you who oppose yourself.
- The real enemy is not the
devil.
- It is YOURSELF.
- It is your lack of understanding.
- It is your refusal to ACT
UPON WHAT YOU KNOW.
Revelation 2:20-27 Notwithstanding I have
a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which
calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit
fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space
to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her
into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation,
except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death;
and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and
hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. But
unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine,
and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon
you none other burden. But that which ye have [already] hold fast till I come.
And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I
give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as
the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received
of my Father.
You oppose yourself by neglecting
the Word.
- Oppose yourself by not doing
it.
- ACKNOWLEDGE THE TRUTH!!
... and you'll never lose the battle!