POWER STUDY - C36

[Albert Finch]

Satan’s Domain - 3 - The Realm of Darkness
(Read 1John 1 & Hebrews 5)

Genesis 3:14-19 14The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life;15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”16To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.” 17Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.18“Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; 19By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

(The judgment of God against the devil is that “he will eat dust”. God also said of man “dust thou art”. The essence of our carnal nature – of all that is carnal in nature – is dust. Satan feeds upon the earthy carnal nature of “dust”.)

Galatians 6:7 7Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.

(To war effectively we must separate what is of the flesh and what is of the devil. We must make sure that the real enemy is not our own carnal nature. We ask ourselves “is the thing that is oppressing me today the harvest of what I planted yesterday”.)

Matthew 5:25-26 25“Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26“Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent."

Isaiah 64:6 6For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away."

(Satan, as our adversary, stands as the accuser of the brethren, before God, the judge of all. The truth Christ wants us to see is that when we approach God on the basis of our own righteousness, the adversary will always have legal grounds to “cast us into prison” for our righteousness is as “filthy rags”. When Jesus says “agree with thine adversary quickly” He does not mean obey the devil. He is saying when Satan accuses you of some sin or flaw, if the devil is even minutely right, it is to your advantage to agree with him about your unrighteousness. The key is to not argue with the devil about your own unrighteousness because, before God, your righteousness is unacceptable.)

Romans 5:1 1Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Hebrews 4:16 16Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

(When Satan comes against you and tries to deceive you by focusing your attention on your own righteousness, the more that we recognize that Jesus alone is our righteousness, the less the adversary can assault us in the areas of our failings. Eg.: When the accuser comes to condemn you for not having enough love your response should be “that is true, I do not have enough love. But the Son of God died for all my sins, even the sin of imperfect love.” Step out from the shadow of satanic assault and stand out in the brightness of your Father’s love. Submit yourself to God and ask for Christ’s love and forgiveness to replace your weak imperfect love.)

Ephesians 4:24 24and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

(A vital key, therefore, to overcome the devil is humility. To humble yourself is to refuse to defend your image: You are corrupt and full of sin in your old un-renewed selfish nature. Yet, we have a new nature which has been created in the likeness of Christ – so we can agree with the adversary about the condition of our flesh.)