Participants: Sandy Smith (Host)
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000300
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00:30 Welcome to Faith Chapel, my name is
00:32 Sandy Smith. I am the Founder and Speaking 00:35 Director for Laymen For a Finished Work. 00:38 I'm also the Recreation Director 00:40 for Atlantic Union College in South 00:43 Lancaster, Massachusetts. Have you ever pondered 00:47 while our life has so many decisions and 00:50 choices to make. Why can't life be simple? 00:56 Why do we have all of these decisions to 00:58 make? My sermon today "Satan's Snares" 01:04 may help you with this dilemma. Let us pray. 01:07 Father, we pray that You might manifest 01:10 Yourself here, this day, in Jesus name, Amen. 01:17 Satan cleverly has caused people to think 01:24 that he is a fictitious character make 01:28 believe, he loves it when people picture 01:31 him as a demon with two horns and a pitchfork. 01:37 He relished at the fact that people think that 01:42 he is make believe. Satan knows that it 01:46 will be easier to deceive and defeat unaware, 01:51 unsuspecting and unguarded people if 01:54 they think that he is a figment 01:56 of their imagination. Please turn with me in 02:00 your Bibles to Second Corinthians the 11 02:05 chapter and we will begin reading at verse 13, 02:10 the Bible says, for such are false apostles, 02:15 deceitful workers, transforming 02:18 themselves into the apostles of Christ. 02:21 And no marvel; for Satan himself is 02:24 transformed into an angel of light. 02:28 Therefore it is no great thing if his 02:30 ministers also be transformed as the 02:34 ministers of righteousness whose end shall be 02:37 according to their works. The Bible tells us very 02:42 clearly that Satan himself is transformed 02:45 into an angel of light. Satan comes in many 02:49 forms and disguises. He is the master disguiser. 02:54 People have seen Satan in person. 02:57 I can remember listening to a well 02:59 known Pastor telling a story of some church 03:02 going people who were at a night club 03:04 and knowing that they were in the wrong 03:06 place and they became intoxicated 03:09 with alcohol and as they looked out in that 03:12 nightclub and all the people dancing to 03:16 their horror they saw demons in this 03:21 nightclub that scared them nearly to death 03:24 and that was enough to convinced them to 03:26 stop that lifestyle and to know that Satan is real. 03:30 The Bible says that not only will Satan 03:33 transform himself into an angel of light but 03:37 those whom he works through will also 03:39 appear to be good Christian men and 03:42 women but in disguise they are demons, 03:46 human beings being used and 03:48 manipulated by himself. The Bible offers 03:52 much proof that Satan is real and alive on 03:57 planet earth. Please turn your Bibles 04:01 to Job, the first chapter and the Bible 04:08 says, now there was a day when the sons of 04:11 God came to present themselves before the 04:14 Lord, and Satan came also among them. 04:17 And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? 04:21 Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, 04:24 From going to and fro in the earth, and from 04:26 walking up and down in it. And the Lord said 04:29 unto Satan, Has thou considered my servant 04:32 job, that there is none like him in the earth, 04:35 a perfect and an upright man, one that 04:38 feareth God and escheweth evil? 04:41 Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, 04:44 Doth Job fear God for nought? 04:48 Then we turn again in our Bibles to Isaiah 04:51 the 14th chapter beginning at verse 12 04:55 and the Bible says very clearly, 04:57 How art thou fallen from heaven, 04:59 O Lucifer, son of the morning! 05:02 How art thou cut down to the ground, 05:04 which did weaken the nations. 05:06 For thou has said in thine heart, 05:09 I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt 05:12 my throne above the stars of God: 05:14 I will sit also upon the mount of the 05:16 congregation, in the sides of the north, 05:19 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; 05:22 I will be like the most High. 05:24 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, 05:27 to the sides of the pit. They that see thee 05:31 shall narrowly look upon thee and 05:33 consider thee saying, Is this the man that 05:37 made the earth to tremble, that did 05:40 shake kingdoms; That made the world 05:42 as a wilderness, and destroyed 05:44 the cities thereof; that opened not the 05:49 house his prisoners? And then we turn to 05:53 Ezekiel the 28th chapter and the Bible says, 06:00 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto 06:03 me saying, Son of man, take up a 06:07 lamentation upon the King of Tyrus and say 06:10 unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; 06:14 Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, 06:18 and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in 06:21 Eden the garden of God; every precious stone 06:24 was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, 06:27 and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, 06:30 and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, 06:33 and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship 06:37 of tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in 06:41 thee in the day that thou was created. 06:45 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; 06:49 and I have set thee so, thou wast upon the 06:51 holy mountain of God; thou hast 06:54 walked up and down in the midst of the 06:56 stones of fire. Thou wast perfect 06:59 in thy ways from the day that thou wast 07:02 created, till iniquity was found in thee. 07:05 By the multitude of thy merchandise they 07:08 have filled the midst of thee with violence, 07:12 and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast 07:15 thee as a profane out of the mountain of God: 07:20 and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, 07:23 from the midst of the stones of fire. 07:27 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, 07:30 thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by a reason, 07:32 by a reason of thy brightness, I will cast 07:35 thee to the ground, I will lay thee before 07:38 Kings, that they may behold thee. 07:41 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the 07:44 multitude of thine iniquities, by the 07:47 iniquity of thy traffic; therefore I will bring 07:50 forth a fire from the midst of thee, 07:53 it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee 07:55 to ashes upon the earth in the sight of 07:58 them that behold thee. All they that know 08:02 thee among the people shall be 08:04 astonished at thee. Thou shalt be a terror, 08:08 and never shalt thou be any more. 08:11 Satan is believed to have been the first 08:14 created being in the universe. 08:18 He was created a happy, exalted, 08:22 majestic, intelligent being by God. 08:26 He was the choir director of the angelic host. 08:30 He stood in the very presence of God as 08:33 the covering cherub. He was there before 08:37 the throne of God. The angels adored 08:40 and honored Satan. He was their hero. 08:45 Spiritual beings don't live in time but they 08:49 live in eternity which has no beginning or ending. 08:54 Time unfortunately is an interruption of eternity. 09:00 The time that we have here on earth is an 09:02 interruption of the eternal time of God. 09:06 And when this life shall be ended and 09:08 God shall make all things new, time shall 09:11 be no more, and we will return to eternity. 09:15 Satan's name which means light-bearer, 09:19 the shiny one, the morning star tells the 09:23 exalted about the exalted being he was 09:26 in the beginning. Heaven is a place of 09:29 endless peace, of happiness. 09:33 Sin cannot dwell there because the presence 09:35 of God is there. Sin cannot dwell where 09:40 our Holy God exists, and where he lives. 09:44 A mystery occurred in heaven, Lucifer for 09:50 unknown reasons became jealous of 09:52 Jesus, and began to spread lies concerning 09:55 Jesus that He was unfair, that He was a 09:59 dictator, and as reality Lucifer coveted 10:04 Jesus position. Please turn with me 10:07 in your Bibles to Ephesians the 6th 10:11 chapter and we will begin reading at verse 10, 10:16 and the Bible says, Finally, my brethren, 10:19 be strong in the Lord, and in the power of 10:22 his might. Put on the whole armor of God, 10:25 that ye may be able to stand against the 10:27 wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not 10:31 against flesh and blood, but against 10:33 principalities, against powers, against the 10:36 rulers of the darkness of this world, against 10:38 spiritual wickedness in high places. 10:44 We must realize my brother and sister that 10:47 the devil is real, the devil is all over this 10:51 world with his evil imps creating havoc 10:54 and violence. Often when I go to a funeral 10:59 and I see the widow and the family at 11:03 church and it comes time to row the coffin 11:08 out of the church and you see the wife 11:12 draped over the casket and you see her sobbing. 11:17 This is when I realized that God is 11:20 not responsible for the death of her husband 11:24 or the death of our loved ones but it's Satan, 11:27 Satan is responsible for all deaths because 11:30 he is the originator of sin. 11:32 Satan is responsible for all wars and for violence. 11:36 He's responsible for racism and prejudice. 11:39 He is respect, he is responsible for 11:42 shootings and murders. 11:44 Satan is the originator of sin. 11:49 Satan realizes that his time to trick and 11:54 deceive and to tempt people is almost ended. 11:59 Satan dreads his future because he 12:02 knows what's coming. In fact, the Bible tells 12:05 us what's coming for Satan and his evil 12:07 imps, and unfortunately for all of human beings 12:10 who have decided to take and believe his 12:13 lives and to follow him. In Revelation the 20th 12:17 chapter and beginning at verse 7, 12:22 And the Bible says, And when the 12:25 thousand years are expired, Satan shall 12:28 be loose out of his prison, 12:30 And shall go out to deceive the nations 12:33 which are in the four corners of the earth, 12:35 Gog and Magog, to gather them together 12:39 to battle, the number of whom is as the 12:42 sand of the sea. And they went up on 12:44 the breath of the earth, and compassed 12:46 the camp of the saints about, and the 12:48 beloved city. And fire came down from 12:52 God out of heaven and devoured them. 12:55 And the devil that deceived them was 12:57 cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, 13:01 where the beast and the false prophet are, 13:05 and shall be tormented day 13:07 and night forever and ever. 13:11 My friend, the Bible tells us that the devil 13:14 has a day coming. When God is going to 13:17 give the devil the devil, even though 13:20 right now it appears that Satan is winning 13:22 in this war of good and evil, his time and 13:27 his number is, his days are numbered. 13:30 Satan knows that his time is very short. 13:34 God is going to repay him for all of the 13:36 havoc and the evil and the sinned that he has 13:39 caused in this world. You need to understand 13:42 that Satan walks around with his imps, 13:46 24x7 tempting people to sin and so when 13:51 unaware human begins sin even though 13:54 they're responsible for sinning because we 13:56 have to make a choice but Satan is going to 13:59 have to be punished for these sins that he 14:01 has tempted people to commit, and so 14:05 Satan's day is coming where the Bible says 14:08 that he along with his imps and those who 14:10 have chosen to follow him are going to be 14:13 burnt up in the lake of fire. 14:16 Satan has an organized, detailed 14:19 and strategic plan to defeat God and to 14:23 cause 6 billion people on this earth to miss 14:27 out on eternal life. Just think about it. 14:32 Satan has been in heaven with God, 14:35 he knows what is there, he knows the 14:38 beauty that exists in heaven, he once 14:41 experienced the peace and the tranquility 14:45 and it is his greatest desire to make sure 14:48 that you and I don't get a chance to 14:50 experience what heaven is like. 14:53 And most important he does not want you 14:56 to exist in the presence of a holy and loving 14:59 and kind and merciful God. One who is love and 15:03 so he is working overtime to make sure 15:06 that you do not get a chance 15:08 to experience heaven. And so his strategy is 15:13 to cut off people from communicating with God. 15:20 He wants them to stop trying, stop studying, 15:28 stop witnessing. He wants to keep you 15:31 so busy and that is busy even doing good 15:36 things that you will not have quality time 15:40 to spend with God. You see the devil is a 15:43 shrewd individual. He doesn't care if you 15:47 accept one percent error because he 15:51 knows you're gonna be lost anyway. 15:54 He know that it is a 100 percent truth that 15:56 you must accept, and so God expects all or 16:00 none, the devil says you give me just a 16:02 little bit of you I will accept you, and so he 16:04 tries his best to put the bait out there for 16:07 us to accept it, so that if we bite on it, 16:11 he knows that we're gonna to be lost. 16:13 And so Satan again keeps us busy doing 16:17 good things to take up our time, to keep us 16:21 away from the things that are most important 16:24 and most eternal. He keeps us busy 16:28 with television and there is not a sin in 16:31 watching television, but it can lead to a sin. 16:36 It can distract you, take away your 16:38 valuable time that you could spend doing 16:41 worthwhile things. He has ESPN, whereby 16:46 you can just watch sports all day, not that 16:49 there is anything wrong with ESPN, 16:52 but it becomes as a trap or a snare to you 16:56 when you spend all of his quality time 16:59 watching sports all day. Then he brings in the 17:02 satellite where you can sit all day just 17:05 watch the satellites Direct TV. 17:08 Some having over 900 televisions stations. 17:11 All programs, some of the programs are just 17:16 comedies or westerns or cowboys, some of 17:19 the sports, some are jazz, anything that 17:22 just take up your time. He has the computer, 17:26 the Internet where you can stay on the 17:27 Internet for countless hours watching and 17:32 working on the Internet, then you have video 17:34 games which can take up a lot of your time. 17:38 Cell phones, he has your beepers then 17:41 you have your hobbies, then we can get 17:44 caught up with our jobs, we can fall in 17:46 love with our jobs even more so then 17:48 God where we would become workaholics. 17:50 We will work around the clock and spend 17:54 all of our time, most of our times on our 17:56 jobs rather than spending time, 17:58 valuable time with our families and with 18:00 our family love ones. He helps us to spend 18:04 much of our times unfortunately in the 18:06 malls just shopping and browsing. 18:09 Decorating our homes which is nothing 18:11 wrong with decorating homes but yet it 18:14 becomes a snare to us when we spend a lot 18:17 of time decorating our homes and again, 18:20 no quality time or very little for God, 18:23 and then even with retirement he helps us 18:25 and encourages us and influences us to 18:28 just spend all of our time figuring out our 18:31 retirement and how much we're going to 18:33 receive each month and where we're 18:34 going to visit and where we're going to 18:36 live, anything to distract this and then the 18:40 accumulation of stuff, just stuff we begin to 18:44 hover stuff, stuff that we would never use 18:48 and keeping up with the Jones. 18:50 Well, the Jones just bought a new car so 18:53 I think it's time for me to buy a new car 18:55 or a new home or new clothes anything that 18:59 he can do to distract us. Satan confuses people 19:05 by speaking through, some TV evangelist 19:11 to teach that the love of God has been abolished. 19:15 Now, I would like ask you today, 19:18 from Mount Sinai, God along with 19:21 thousands and ten thousands of 19:23 thousands of angels wrote the Ten Commandments. 19:27 He spoke the Ten commandments with 19:29 fire and lightening and thunder, 19:31 giving all ten of the commandments, 19:34 then it seems logical to me if God had 19:39 changed the Ten Commandments and 19:40 especially the fourth commandment 19:42 which says, remember the Sabbath day to 19:43 keep it Holy. Six days halt thou labor, 19:46 and do all thy work; but the seventh day is 19:49 the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: 19:51 in it thou shalt not do any work, then 19:53 it seems to me that if He went through all 19:55 of trouble if you might use that word to 20:00 pronounce and to give the Ten Commandments 20:02 surely He would have to at least match that 20:06 to say that He changed it, and if God 20:09 did change the fourth commandment or any 20:12 of the commandment for that matter, 20:14 would He not have given it to the 20:16 disciples when He left and they would have 20:18 been able to tell us in scripture that He had 20:21 changed His law, that He has changed the 20:24 fourth commandment from the seventh to 20:27 the fourth but no where in scripture do 20:30 we find that the disciples ever taught 20:34 or promoted the change of the 20:35 Sabbath, and so Satan convinces people to 20:40 put their full trust in men. 20:45 The Bible says, put not your trust in 20:48 princes, nor in the son of man, in which 20:50 there is no help. He wants you to trust 20:56 men and women, counselors. 20:59 It's fine to go to counselors 21:01 and men and women of expertise and their 21:03 feels for counsel but you never put their 21:07 word over the word of God. Even ministers as 21:10 sincere we are, you never put minister's 21:14 words over the word of God. 21:18 Your stranded in your belief, it has to be 21:20 founded from the word of God. 21:22 For if I'm going to be judged by the word of 21:25 God would I receive eternal life or eternal 21:28 damnation. Certainly, I don't want to come 21:31 up in the end and come up short 21:33 because I have taken the word of my Pastor 21:36 or my Rabbi or my priest. I want to be able to 21:39 stand before God and say Lord, it was your 21:42 word that I obeyed, It was your word that 21:45 I tried to carry out, and If I'm lost which 21:49 I won't be if I follow the word of God then 21:51 I am going to be lost or save on the word of 21:54 God, not on the opinion and the 21:56 expertise of men and women. 22:00 Satan works overtime to harden peoples 22:04 compassion towards the poor, 22:06 and the downtrodden, and foreigners and 22:08 immigrants and the homeless and the 22:10 widows and the orphans. I mean we see so 22:14 much on television with the homeless and 22:17 the tornadoes, and Katrina that 22:19 sometimes it's easy for us to harden our 22:22 hearts and not to have compassion. 22:26 Satan blames all of the natural 22:28 catastrophes and disasters on God. 22:32 He calls them an act of God. 22:35 The earthquakes and mud slides and 22:38 volcanoes and hurricanes and 22:40 tsunamis, droughts and forest-fires, 22:44 floodings and wreaked heat and cold and snow 22:47 and hail and rain. He says that these are 22:51 the result of God. Now we know that 22:54 God is a God of love. God does not destroy, 22:58 He creates, He preserves. Satan is responsible 23:03 for all misery and pain and 23:05 suffering in this world. Satan is responsible 23:07 for the post-office killings and the 23:09 school killings by our children and family 23:12 homicides and child abuse and infant kidnapping. 23:16 He is responsible for all terrorism and aids 23:18 and all pain and suffering and all 23:20 deaths, not God. Satan is garnering 23:24 millions of people into his net of 23:26 destruction through licentiousness and 23:28 lasciviousness and gluttony and the 23:31 obsession of pleasure, the love of pleasure. 23:35 Satan plays with people like a tom cat 23:39 does a field mouse, out in an open field. 23:42 Please turn me with me in your Bibles to 23:45 Second Timothy the 2nd chapter and we 23:48 want to read verse 26, and the Bible says, 23:54 And that they may recover themselves 23:56 out of the snare of the devil, who are taken 24:00 captive by him at his will. 24:04 People make resolutions every first of the year. 24:08 I am going to stop smoking and drinking 24:10 and I am going to exercise and I am not 24:12 going to eat this or that. My friends your 24:14 promises are like ropes of sand. 24:17 Satan laughs at you and I because he 24:18 knows you have no power to resist his temptations. 24:22 The only power you have is from Jesus 24:24 Christ and so when we make these 24:26 resolutions, he knows that you can't keep them. 24:30 In the Job the 13th chapter and reading 24:33 verse 15, the Bible says, Though He slay 24:39 me, yet will I trust in him: but I will 24:42 maintain mine own ways before him. 24:46 Job says that even though he's going 24:49 though things that he doesn't quite understand. 24:51 He is going to trust God no matter what comes. 24:54 And then in the Bible Matthew the 27th 24:57 chapter and we want to begin reading at 24:59 verse 1, the Bible says, and when the 25:03 morning was come, all the chief priests 25:07 and elders of the people took counsel 25:10 against Jesus to put him to death: 25:13 And when they had bound him, they led 25:15 him away, and delivered him to 25:18 Pontius Pilate the governor. 25:21 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, 25:23 when he saw that he was condemned, 25:25 repented himself, and brought again the 25:28 thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests 25:31 and elders, saying, I have sinned and 25:34 I have betrayed the innocent blood. 25:37 And they said, What is that to us? 25:40 See thou to that. And he cast down the 25:43 pieces of silver in the temple and departed, 25:46 and went out and hanged himself. 25:49 My friend all of us are going to be tempted 25:53 but it's only those who hold in there and 25:56 hang in and who will be saved. 25:58 Job was going through a difficult 26:00 time but he went and repented and he was saved. 26:05 Judas on the other hand did not repent 26:07 and it is believed he will be lost. 26:10 And our final text is found in Ephesians 26:12 the 6th chapter verse 13, and the Bible 26:17 says, Wherefore take unto you the whole 26:20 armor of God, that ye may be able to 26:22 withstand an evil day, and having done all to stand. 26:26 Stand therefore having your loins 26:28 girded about, girded about with truth, 26:31 and having on the breastplate 26:32 of righteousness; And your feet shod 26:34 with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 26:37 And above all, taking the shield of faith, 26:40 wherefore ye shall be able to quench all the 26:42 fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet 26:45 of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, 26:48 which is the word of God: Praying always with 26:52 all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, 26:55 and watching thereunto with all 26:57 perseverance and supplication 26:59 for all the saints. And so we close out 27:03 this broadcast today my brother, 27:05 my sister saying, trust God, no matter what 27:08 comes, no matter how dismal the situation 27:11 may seem. God loves you. 27:13 He hasn't forgotten you, He is very aware 27:15 of what's going on in your situation, 27:17 and your life. Before God will let you be 27:20 overcome by the devil or his temptations 27:22 or his snares. He will send and empty all 27:25 of heaven, of all of the angels to come to 27:27 your rescue and if that didn't work He would 27:30 come Himself to make sure that you 27:32 would not be overcome by the wily foe Satan. 27:36 The Bible says that we are the apple of 27:38 God's eyes which means that God's 27:41 people occupy symbolic, symbolically a place 27:45 in His eye, his pupils. The devil would have 27:48 to rip his eyes out in order to 27:51 cause you to fall, so trust God no matter 27:53 what my dear saints. God loves you. |
Revised 2014-12-17