John 10:9 Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. 10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
The truth of the gospel message is that Jesus Christ through His life on earth, His death on the cross, His conquering of the grave, His ascension back to heaven and His sending of the Holy Spirit came to do for us what we could never do for ourselves.
Analogy:
There was a very wealthy man who owned had a very large estate and owned property all over the world. He had many accounts established in different parts of the world with much wealth in each account. This man had a disease that would eventually take his life. The man had a son in prison that he wanted to leave all of his wealth to, but because the son was in prison, he could never enjoy the wealth that would be left to him, so the rich man decided to replace his son in the prison which would therefore release his son so that he not only owned the rich man’s wealth but he would be free to enjoy it.
This is what happened when you and I accepted Christ into our lives as our personal Lord and savior, he set us free from the prison of sin and death and now we have access to everything that Lord has prepared for us in this life time and in the lifetime to come.
If this is the truth then why is that many of us never experience the fullness of our Christian experience.
Because although we have given our lives to Christ we still have an enemy that’s main purpose is to deceive and manipulate God’s people out of God’s promises.
10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
What avenues or entry points does the enemy have to rob us from experiencing the fulness of Christ within our lives.
First you and I must believe and understand that the enemy is defeated and has no power over us who belong to Christ.
Col 2:13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
The enemy has been stripped of power and authority, so the saying “the devil made me do it” is not a true statement for those who are alive in Christ.
So if the devil has no power how is that he is still able to accomplish his purpose, “to steal, kill & destroy” in the lives of some believers.
He is not able to take authority over us, but he is still able to deceive and manipulate God’s people from experiencing the fulness of Christ in their lives.
Jan 1, 1863 president Abraham Lincoln issue the “Emancipation Proclamation” stating that all slaves that were held against their own free will must be set free. But many of the slave owners never communicated this truth to the people so, although there had been a judgment that legally provided a way for all slaves to live free they never experienced it because of lies and deception.
John 8:44 He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lie.
The enemy cannot force us, but he can play on undisciplined and weak areas of our lives to accomplish his mission of stealing and killing God’s promises and God’s future for our lives.
What are the areas that the enemy is able to use to deceive or manipulate us out of God’s promise.
I John 2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.
Here the bible speak about 3 areas the enemy can use to manipulate God’s people.
- The cravings of sinful man
One of the areas the enemy uses to deceive and manipulate God’s people is the lust of the flesh.
Before Christ our lives were driven and motivated by the sinful nature and our spirit man was dead.
David says in Psalm 51: 5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
But when we gave our lives to Christ the old sinful man died and our spirit man was made alive.
Rom 5:3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
If this is true and when we give our lives to Christ the old man is dead then why is it many of us still struggle with sinful habits?
Because although the old man is dead, he left behind old habits and strongholds that need to be continually renewed day by day.
Rom 12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
The daily discipline of prayer and reading the word position us so that the Holy Spirit can continually work the renewal process of our lives.
- The Lust of his eyes
The other area the enemy uses to deceive and manipulate us out of God’s promises is the lust of the eye.
Matt 6:22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
You and I must practice self discipline and self control when it comes to what we see and what we watch.
Movies, the internet & social media are all areas of temptation that all of us face daily.
Job 31:1 “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl”
An we to being empowered by the precious Holy Spirit must also make a covenant with our eyes that we would not look lustfully and things that pull us in the wrong direction and rob us from experiencing the fulness of everything that God has promised us.
- The boasting of what he has and does
Another avenue the enemy uses to influence our lives in a direction that affects us from experiencing the fulfillment of God’s promises is the pride of life.
They say “pride is like bad breath, everyone else know you have it accept you!”
Pride – a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.
As the Lord prospers us and takes us from glory to glory, we must be very careful that we do not allow the pride of life find access to our hearts.
It was pride that caused the enemy to lose his place in heaven
Ezekiel 28: “ ‘You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl.Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. 14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. 15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. 16Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. 17 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth;
Pride can sometimes be hid behind false humility, so sometimes its hard to be seen, but if you list close enough pride can always be heard.
Isaiah 14: 12How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! 13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.14I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” 15But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.
Pride is spelled with a capital I right in the middle, because that are consumed with pride that always want to be the center of attention.
You and I must guard ourselves from that which caused the enemy to fall, and that which he still uses to cause many to stumble even in todays time.
James 4:6 “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Conclusion:
As you and I journey from this life to the next we will all find ourselves falling short in one of these areas “the cravings of the sinful nature, the lust of the eye or the pride of life” and sometimes we fall short in these areas over and over but the bible gives us the good news That Jesus Christ is able to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
In Rom 7 The Apostle Paul gives us the solution to the battle of temptation that steals, kills and sometimes destroys the promises of God with in our lives.
Rom 7:21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
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