Bro Whitney Belbin
Zechariah 3:1
And he shewed me Joshua the high
priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his
right hand to resist him.
Zechariah 3:2
And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
Zechariah 3:3
Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
Zechariah 3:4
And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.
Zechariah 3:5
And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by.
Zechariah 3:1
And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
I started out with the idea that I would preach on Zechariah 3:1- 5. The Holy Spirit had an another idea. He had kept pointing out verses to lead me to preach on just the above verse.
I believe that would be the wise thing to do. Maybe sometime God willing I can finish the rest of the verses.
"...and Satan standing at his right
hand to resist him."
Satan my friend is real. Satan is always standing near to the person that is trying to do the will of God.
Have you ever started out strong for the Lord only to be approached by temptations that were not present before?
Have you ever started out in a new ministry, or witnessing when all of a sudden something comes to mind that you have said or done a long while ago and you no longer are content with the present situation?
That my friend, is of Satan. He will not bother with a dead witness. He does not care one way or the other if you believe in God if your belief does not produce Christian character or fruit.
If you are not working for God you are of NO threat to him.
Lets look over in the book of Job for a short time
Job 1:8
And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
In the book of Job we see a man of God one that was described by the Lord Himself as being a perfect and an upright man. Satan came before the Lord and asks Him to allow a trial of hardships to befall him.
Why do you think he choose Job?
Have you ever stopped to consider that?
I believe he was chosen for the very fact of his testimony.
Yes Satan is real. And he will attack those doing Gods will.
We see in that same book of Job, twice, in chapters one and two almost the identical verse:
Job 1:7
And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
Job 2:2
And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
Look at the following verse for a moment if you would
Job 2:1
Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.
The preceding verse tells us that Satan had excess to heaven. Satan still has excess to this day in heaven as will be shown later in this study. He uses this excess to accuse the brethren before God.
Thank God we have a perfect mediator through Jesus Christ.
That is in the Old Testament you may say. Jesus would not let that happen to His chosen. Those under His blood. Well lets look over in the new.
1 Peter 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
The Holy Spirit through Peter is referring to the believer when he speaks of your adversary. This can be seen in the following verse 1 Peter 5:9 where he speaks about the brethren.
Why would Satan bother his own people? The unsaved know no better. They are already his.
John 8:42
Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
John 8:44
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
The unbelieving: "Ye are of your
father the devil" not my words friend.
That same devil that was permitted to walk the earth is still walking today. That same Satan that tried to destroy Jobs walk with God is still trying to do the same with you and I.
That same Satan that presented himself before the Lord as our accuser is to this day still doing so.
Thank God we, like Joshua, have been plucked out of the fire but we must remain true to God and be in His will and in His word in order to be able to resist the wiles of Satan. He is real, anyone saved for any amount of time should know that.
Satan knows he will never be able to claim you. Those that are saved are in the hands of God through His Son Jesus Christ and will be for this life and eternity.
John 10:29
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
John 10:28
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Praise God!
But if your witness be damaged, if your testimony be made of no effect, you are no longer a threat to him.
Lets look over at Matthew 5:13
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
Who or what is the salt of the earth, what does He mean?
Matthew 5:1
And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
Matthew 5:2
And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,
Jesus said in the above verse, Ye are the salt of the earth. The saved are the salt of the earth. He is not referring to the unsaved or unbelievers but to His people, His disciples.
Salt is a preservative. We are to preserve His word and his witness. If our witness be damaged, if our testimony be made void then indeed Satan has done his job.
1 Timothy 3:7
Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
The above verse does not state that the unbeliever will fall into the snare but the believer. By having an unfit testimony that the unbeliever CAN use against us we are falling into a snare that Satan WILL use against us.
We must maintain a good report, a good testimony. The above verse is referring to those appointed to the office of an elder that's true but without a good report that man can never be considered. A good report is something we all should have.
How is your witness? How is your testimony before the unsaved?
My friends we are in a battle daily. But we are going up against a foe that is already defeated. Amen.
He knows what his end will be. We must resist his temptations. We must not give him any occasion that will hinder the unsaved to come to Christ. He was defeated by the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, His shed blood that cleansed us from all unrighteousness.
Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14 states Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Satan has no power over us.
Unless we give it to him.
Satan will battle us if we are doing the will of God
Satan will try to attack us in the weak areas of our lives.
In the book of Ephesians chapter 6 verse11 we are told to Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Ephesians tells us not only what the armor consist of but why the armor is needed.
Ephesians Chapter 6 verse 12
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
We are told to take the whole armour of God. There are 7 parts to this armour but tonight I am going to mention only two. If you don't know these parts I would recommend highly that you take the Word and read Ephesians Chapter 6.
Ephesians Chapter 6 verse 16
reads as follows Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
If you want to defeat Satan you are going to need the shield of faith. The verse states "above all", I personally take that read, most importantly, we must have the shield of faith.
We are told in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Do you want to have power over the fiery darts? Well what are you going to use if you have no faith? Has your faith weakened, have you been letting the wicked one get his way?
Lets look over at the second part of the armour I wanted to point out.
Ephesians 6:18
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,
What is your prayer life like? Have you been asking God for help in the areas of you life that Satan is trying to take hold of?
Remember
He has no power over us, unless we give it to him.
He will still battle us if we are doing the will of God
He will still try to attack us in the weak areas of our lives, Put on the whole armour of God but above all take the shield of faith to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
He knows he is defeated, he knows there will come a time when he will no longer stand in the presence of God as our accuser. Read the below verses and take heed. The saved will not be in this world during the time these verses take place. We, his church,will already have been raptured. Taken out to be with out Lord for eternity.
Revelation 12:7
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his
angels,
Revelation 12:8
And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
If you are unsaved, If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your personal saviour Ye are of your father the devil. You are doing his bidding. You have no hope of escape from this present evil time or the time to come other then the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is going to be a battle unlike any other seen on this earth. If you are not in Christ and alive when this battle takes place you will go through it, and the chances are great that you will end up in the lake of fire that is reserved for your father.
Satan doesn't care why should he?
If you should die before the battle with out Christ there is still no hope, you will just get to hell before the evil one there is no hope out side of Jesus Christ
You may say I am not a bad sinner or I am not a murderer that just doesn't seem fair. Is it fair that you reject the perfect gift of God. Is it fair that God sent His Son to lie down his life on the cross for your sins, to provide a means of escape from the coming judgement and you just don't want to bother accepting this gift?
My friend you have free will to either accept or reject His sacrifice. I pray that you would choose wisely.
Don't let Satan deceive you any longer, come to Christ. He is calling you right at this moment.
If you are not sure of your salvation, or have never heard of or accepted the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ and would like to know for sure that your sins can be forgiven please read "Gods Simple Plan Of Salvation" through the link on the home page or e-mail me. I would be glad to help.
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