Hawaii 2 – Star Wars

that I gave you guys a little bit offreedom because we started our healthsegment while we were still finishing upour dinner, but it looks like 90% of youguys are done. So, I'd like to encourageall of the peripheral families that areoff to the tables to kind of take up theseats in the middle. Uh, I know PastorConrad is going to be able to look youguys all in the eye much easier if youguys are all right here in the frontrow. So, he promises that he doesn'tbite often. So, please come and take upthe front the the middle section if youwill.

That'd be really awesome. Thankyou very much.Uh, good evening everybody.>> What a beautiful night here in Kihei.Yes.>> [clears throat]>> So, I'm just recovering from that termhealth shot I just took. I'm assuredit's good for my health. We'll see inthe next hour or so whether it reallywas, but I I'm trusting that it's goingto be a blessing for me. You know, I'vebeen trying to keep cool all day andI've got this heat rising inside of me.So, um anyway, I'm not sure the air conis going to cool me down on the inside.So, uh it's going to I'm going to sharewith you tonight my topic is called StarWars.

And I'm going to talk tonightabout the origin of evil and why isthere suffering in our world today.And so uh can you just make sure is ourmicrophone on?I hope it is. Can you all hear me backthere?>> Yes. Yeah. Okay. So I'm going to talktonight about why there is suffering inour world.

I've entitled the talk StarWars. And this is going to be ourjourney tonight. We look at first of allwe read that there was war in heaven.Then there was war in the Garden ofEden. And then there is now war onearth.And soyeah, I just need to cut out the sourceof interference here. So um this isgoing to be our journey tonight.

And letme ask you a question. Uh does anybodyhere live a life where you've neverexperienced any suffering?No.You know, they they say that um youknow, I maybe I shouldn't make thisjoke, but maybe I will. Why is it thatmen never remember their weddinganniversaries?Because the joy of receiving a wife isoffset by the pain of receiving amother-in-law on the same day. So, itkind of equalizes itself out. But thepain and suffering is a universal humancondition.

You cannot go anywhere onplanet earth today and find a placewhere there is no pain and suffering.Today I went with my w my wife along uma boardwalk. Is it the wia beach? Isthat what you call it? And it's it'sabsolutely stunningly beautiful.Stunningly beautiful. And but I knowfrom years being a pastor that behindevery front door, whether there is aFerrari or a Ford, there is always astory to tell.

There's always some kindof suffering going on. It may bedivorce. It may be depression. It may bedeath. It may be disease.

It may bedrugs. Um, but everybody's got a storyto tell. Everybody's fighting their ownbattles. And so tonight, we're going toask ourselves, why does this happen? Anddoes this happen purely at random or isthere something we can do about this?And so, we're going to start out bylooking at war in heaven.

And the Bibleactually tells us in Revelation 12:7,it says, "And war broke out in heaven."I don't know how you feel about that,but that's kind of a shocking statement,isn't it? Like most people want to getto heaven. And the idea that you'regoing to go to a war zone is like, man,I'm not sure I want to get to heaven.And so, the Bible says war broke out inheaven. Now, the good news is this is inthe past. It's not in the future, butthere was war in heaven at some time inthe past.

And this idea of the war inheaven, it gives us an idea of theorigins of evil and the origins of allhuman suffering. And so Jesus spokeabout Satan um in this way in Johnchapter 8 and verse 44. Jesus said this.Now you are he's speaking to the Jewishleaders. He said, "You are from yourfather the devil and you choose to doyour father's desires. He was a murdererfrom the beginning and does not stand inthe truth because there is no truth inhim.

So according to Jesus, Satan was amurderer from the beginning and there isno truth in him. So let's go back towhat the Bible says happened in heavenduring that war um that caused so muchsuffering throughout our world. And thefirst text we're going to look at is atext famous to many Adventists. It'sEzekiel 2812-15. And this describes um Satan umbefore his fall in heaven when his namewas Lucifer.

Satan has a variety ofnames in the Bible. But in heaven beforethe fall, he was called Lucifer, whichmeans the bearer of light. And this iswhat the text says. It says, "Thussayaith the Lord God, you are thesignance of perfection, full of wisdomand perfect in beauty. You were in Eden,the garden of God.

Every precious stonewas your covering. Carnelon, chryselite,and moonstone, barrel, onyx, and jasper,sapphire, turquoise, and emerald, andworked in gold were your settings andyour engravings. On the day that youwere created, they were prepared. Withan anointed cherub's guardian, I placedyou. You were on the holy mountain ofGod.

You walked among the stones offire. You were blameless in your waysfrom the day you were created. And thenyou have that fatal sentence in theBible. It says, "Until iniquity wasfound in you." So before Satan fell inheaven, before he was a fallen angel, hewas what we call a covering angel. Hestood in the presence of God.

He was oneof the guardian angels or the cherubimin heaven. He walked among the stones offire. His covering was of the mostbeautiful, precious stones that you canimagine. But then something happened inSatan. It says until iniquity was foundin you.

And the text goes on to say whythis iniquity or sin was found in Satan.It says later in the same chapter, itsays your heart was proud because ofyour beauty. You corrupted your wisdomfor the sake of your splendor.I don't know how you feel, but sometimesI look at these movie stars walking downthe red red carpet at Hollywood and thefirst thought that comes to my mind iswhat a bunch of humble people.They normally strut their stuff. Yes.They they they show their stuff. Theythey they say they walk with a certainself-confidence. Um those movie starscertainly strut their stuff,particularly those who know they're verygood-looking.

And so it's no surprise tofind out that Satan, his heart was proudbecause of his beauty. And he corruptedhis wisdom, a gift from God for the sakeof his splendor. The book of Isaiahdescribes in a bit more detail what wasgoing on in the mind of Satan thatcaused him to sin and lead to the war inheaven. And so the prophet Isaiah saysthis, "How you are fallen from heaven, Oday star." And some versions sayLucifer. Um, some translations say daystar, but Lucifer was the name of Satanbefore he fell in heaven.

Says, "How youare fallen from heaven, oh Lucifer, sonof the dawn. How you are cut down to theground, you who met laid the nationslow. For you said in your heart, andnotice the next section, there are fiveI wills." I' I put them up in red on thescreen there. It gives you an idea ofwhat Satan was thinking about. It saysSatan is thinking in his heart, numberone, I will ascend to heaven.

Numbertwo, I will raise my throne above thestars of God. Number three, I will siton the mount of assembly on the heightsof Zafon. Number four, I will ascend tothe tops of the clouds. And fifthly, Iwill make myself like the most high. Doyou notice a pattern of thinking inSatan's behavior here?There's one consistent theme is I willfive times I will ascend.

I will raise,I will sit, I will ascend, and I willmake myself like the most high God. Andso in Satan in the fall in heaven, um hewas a beautiful angel. He was mostbeautiful of the angels, but his heartwas corrupted because of his splendor.His heart was filled with pride becauseof his beauty. And he thought, well, I'mnot happy just to be a covering angel.essentially he wants to take the throneof God himself. He wants to be the rulerof the universe.

He doesn't see why Godis on the throne of the universe. Uh hewants to be on the throne of theuniverse himself. And so we go back tothat opening text that we look at. Itsaid and that war broke out in heaven.And I've put there in the Greek the wordthe word is polymos. We'll come back tothat in a minute.

It says war broke outin heaven. Michael and his angels foughtagainst the dragon. Michael is anothername for Christ. We see when Jesusappeared to Joshua in the book of Joshuachapter 5, he appeared as the commanderof the armies of the Lord. And so, uh,Christ and his angels fought against thedragon, that is Satan.

It says, "Thedragon and his angels fought back, butthey were defeated and there was nolonger any place for them in heaven. Thegreat dragon was thrown down, thatancient serpent, who is called the deviland Satan, the deceiver of the wholeworld. He was thrown down to the earthand his angels were thrown down withhim.Say, "Wow."So there was war in heaven and Christand his angels fought against Satan andhis fallen angels and Satan lost thatbattle and his ang and his angels werecast out of heaven and they were castdown to planet earth. Satan togetherwith his fallen angels. Some people callthem demons.

We find them called demonsin the New Testament. But Satan and hisangels have been cast down to thisplanet earth. And therein lies thesource of all human suffering. Now thatword war, it's not the normal word forwar that you find in the New Testament.The word there is pmos. We get the wordEnglish word palemic from that.

What isa palemic? A pmic is a piece ofpropaganda that's pushing you to to umaccept a certain idea as being true. Ifsomething is pmical, it means it's it'sarguing a certain perspective in adiscussion. So the war in heaven, itwasn't so much physical fighting betweenangels and swords or like lightsaberslike in the Star Wars movies. The war inheaven was a battle about truth.It was a battle about truth.

And God istruth and his throne is based on truth.So if there's a war about truth, it's awar about the nature of God, hischaracter, and his government. Andessentially, can God's government betrusted?And that question, can you trust God?Which happened in the Garden of Eden.The book of Revelation goes on to say inthe same chapter, "But woe to the earthand the sea, for the devil has come downto you with great wrath because he knowsthat his time is short."So, Satan is angryand he knows that his time is short. Heknows that when Christ comes again,Satan is going to be destroyed. So,Satan is angry. He's been cast out ofheaven.

And while he's down here onplanet Earth, he wants to take as manyhumans beings down with him as hepossibly can. And so, Satan is thesource of the suffering that weexperience in our world today. The bookof Jude written by the brother of Christsays this in verse 6. It says, "And theangels who did not keep their ownposition, but left their properdwelling, he has kept in uh he has keptin eternal chains in deepest darknessfor the judgment of the great day." Thisverse tells us that those fallen angelsare confined to the moral darkness ofplanet earth, cut off from all access toGod. It also tells us their actions arerestrained by God because if thosefallen angels could they would destroyevery human being in their war againstGod.

And so the warning is given from ifby the apostle Peter because of thisconflict that we are born into thisgreat controversy between Christ andSatan. The apostle Peter says there hesays discipline yourselves. Stay alert.Like a roaring lion, your adversary, thedevil, prowls around looking for someoneto devour.So, Satan is like a roaring lionprowling around seeking whom he maydevour.And uhif you're a regular human being,you know what suffering feels like. Yes.Sometimes evil comes knocking on yourfront door.And you wonder, "How did that happen?How did this happen to me? How whathappened to our marriage?

How did thingsgo wrong with our kids? How did thesethings happen?" Well, the Bible tells usthat Satan is like a roaring lionseeking whom he may devour. Many yearsago, my wife and I went to the MasaiMara in Kenya. I was working in SouthSudan at the time. We took a break.

Wewent to uh to Kenya into the Masai Mara,the very famous game reserve there. Andwe we drove in. We drove all day with aguide and we booked to stay at a at anencampment in the middle of the MasaiMara. Now, the Masai Mara is bigger thanMaui, okay? It's huge.

And it's filledwith lions and leopards and hippos andcrocodiles. And right now there's themigration going on right now as we sithere and millions of wilderbeasts arecrossing the Masai the Mara River thereand the crocodiles are all waiting forthem. You've probably seen the clips onthe internet. Well, we went to this campin the middle of the Masai Mara and inthe middle of the Masai Mara there wasabout five or six white canvas tentseach with two cot beds in them. And Iwent up I got out of my car and I saidto the guy, "Well, you know, are westaying in these tents?" He said, "Yes."I said, "Well, what's to stop the lions?We've been photographing 20 minutes downthe road.

What's to stop them coming into get us at night?" And the guide says,"Well, don't worry. We have an electricfence." I said, "Well, where is thiselectric fence?" He said, "You see thatlittle wire that run around your tent is18 18 in above the ground, a singlewire." He says, "That's an electricfence." He said, "The lions won't comeanywhere near your tent because it's anelectric fence." I said, "There'selectricity in that fence." He said,"Well, I'm not sure." I said, "Let'sjust try it." So, do this. No, no,there's no electricity in this fence.And the guy says, "Well, don't worry."He said, "The lions don't know there'sno electricity." I can tell you thatthat was the worst night of our marriedlife. Every time I heard a mousescratching outside that white canvastent, I had visions of the Tanzaniamaneaters that the that terrorized whenthey're making the railroads up the eastcoast of Africa. Um, there was onefamous camp where they lost dozens ofmen to man-eing lions.

They would burstthrough the tents and snatch the workersat night. And I was thinking, "Oh Lord,if that if that lion comes through thattent right now, what am I going to do?"And uh so anyway, I didn't get muchsleep that night and I was reallygrateful to get in the car the nextmorning and drive away from that uh fromthat tent where there was no any nopower in the electrical fence. But Irealized in that night when this versesays that Satan is like a roaring lionseeking whom he may devourand you're living in a canvas tent atnight and there's lions around you andthey're hungry. I realize, man, I shouldbe taking this spiritual battle reallyseriouslybecause this is no joke.All of us carry in our bodies, in ourminds, in our homes the scars of theattacks of this roaring lion.We see it all across our society. We seeum uh people are um medicatingthemselves with alcohol and with drugsand with endless sport.

They'remedicating with porn. They're medicatingwith um with music. People are trying toescape the pain of daily living. And somany of our fellow neighbors and ourcitizens and our nation um are justliving under this crushing burden ofpain and suffering. Some physical, someof it's mental and some of it'semotional.

But wherever we see in oursociety, we see the impact of thisroaring lion seeking whom he may devour.Satan's goal is not just to cause youpain, but it's to destroy you.And so there was war in heavenand Satan was cast downand now he's an angry lion seeking whomhe may devour in Maui in 2026.And it may well be that in your life yousee the effect of Satan's attacks evensitting here tonight.It may be a wayward child,maybe a cancer diagnosis.It may be a marriage that's hanging onby a by a by a thin thread. It may be afinancial crisis you're going through.It may be those nightmares from thepast. Uh maybe something happened to youas a child. Something did something toyou. Almost everybody living in Mauitoday has got a story to tell of howSatan has been trying to destroy them.So the war then moves down to the Gardenof Eden.

[clears throat]And many of us are familiar with thestory of the garden of Eden.But the book of the new the book of thethe new books of the new testamentdescribe Satan and his angels in verystark terms. The apostle Paul inEphesians 6 calls Satan and his ruangels the cosmic powers of this presentdarkness. Colossians 1:13 says thatSatan his angels are the powers ofdarkness. And when Judas who was filledby Satan literally in John chapter 19when when in John 13 when when Judascame to betray Jesus in the garden ofGethsemane Jesus says to Judas he saysthis is your hour and the power ofdarkness.So let's come to this idea of whathappened in the garden of Eden. We startout with the commands that God gave toAdam in Genesis chapter 2.

And it saysthere, "The Lord God commanded the man,you may freely eat of every tree of thegarden, but of the tree of the knowledgeof good and evil, you shall not eat. Forin the day that you eat of it, you shalldie." And so God said to Adam, "You canhave all eat of all the fruit of thegarden of of Eden, but there is one treethat you cannot eat." And God didn'twant Adam to eat because he wanted torestrict Adam's freedom or Adam'shappiness. Now, this was a test ofAdam's loyalty and obedience to God. IfGod said, "Don't eat of this tree." Thequestion was, would Adam accept God'sjudgment and God's um God's guidance andGod's revealed morality, or would Adamdecide that he was going to be the rulerof the Garden of Eden and he was goingto eat from whatever tree he wanted? Andso, uh, in Genesis chapter 2, Adam doesnot eat of the fruits of the tree ofgood and evil.

Now the phrase aknowledge of good and evil, it's aHebrew idiom, it means um it means thatyou know everything that is good andeverything that is evil and everythingin between.It's like saying um I've traveled ACI've traveled across America from Hawaiito Maine.That means you've gone from west to eastas far as you can possibly go. And sothis expression, the knowledge of thetree of good and evil, and God waswarning Adam that if you eat of thistree, you're not just going to know allthat is good in this world, then you andyour descendants are going to know allthat is evil in this world as well.And you think carefully before you takeof that tree, Adam. Well,[clears throat] Genesis chapter 3, theserpent who's been cast down to planetEarth and he wants to rule on planetEarth because he wanted to rule inheaven, but he was cast out. The serpentappears to Eve and the story says this.It says, "Now the serpent was morecrafty than any other wild animal thatthe Lord God had made. He said to thewoman, "Did God say, you shall not eatfrom any tree in the garden?" The womansaid to the serpent, "We may eat of thefruit of the trees in the garden." ButGod said, "You shall not eat of thefruit of the tree that is in the middleof the garden, nor shall you touch it,or you shall die." But the serpent saidto the woman, "You will not die.

For Godknows that when you eat of it, your eyeswill be opened, and you'll be like God,knowing good and evil." So, the firstthing that Satan did in the Garden ofEden, I've underlined it there. It saysuh the serpent said did God sayif you want to destroy your relationshipyou don't need to have a full frontalattack you just need to plant a seed ofdoubtand so when Satan said did God say ordid God really say he was starting toplant doubt in Eve's mindyou may think you have a perfectrelationship with say your spouse untila work colleague says Who did I see yourspouse with at that hotel yesterday?And that one simple questionstarts eating away like cancer on theinside and just adding one 1% of doubtto that otherwise perfect relationship.It will destroy that relationship beforeyou realize it. And so when youintroduce doubt, you start to destroythe relationship. So we see in thispassage that Satan was the firsttheologian in human history. He wasdiscussing the word of God.

Did Godreally say this? And having introduceddoubt into the mind of Eve, then thenext underlined p verse there, it says,"You will not die." So, first of all,Satan casts doubt on the word of God.Did God really say this? And when Evehas doubt in her heart whether God'sword can be trusted, then Satan says,"You will not die." Which was a directthe opposite of what God had said toAdam, which is in the day that you eatof the fruit of this tree, you shalldie. And so Satan moves from castingdoubt on the word of God to flatlycontradicting the word of God. And soEve yielded to the doubt.

She believedthe lie and rather than accepting God onthe throne of her heart, she chose toput self on the throne of her heart andshe took of that fruit and she ate asdid Adam. And that's what theologianscall the fall. And so Romans chapter 5describes this tragic experience. Itsays, "Therefore, just as sin came intothe world through one man, that isthrough Adam and death came through sin,and so death spread to all because allhave sinned." And so when Adam and Eveaccepted the lies of Satan and said thatthey were going to be the gods of theirown lives, they were going to sit on thethrone of their own hearts.Sin entered this world and along withsin comes death because the wages of sinis death. and his death spread to all ofus because we're all the sons anddaughters of Adam.

We bear theconsequences of what Adam did, but wedon't bear his guilt.The Bible does not say that we areguilty of Adam's sin, but we live withthe consequences of Adam's sin. Let megive you an example. A father who goesout and drinksand comes home and beats the kids andbeats his wife. Those kids all and thewife all suffer the consequences of thefather's sin. But they're not guilty forhis drinking.And so we all bear the consequences.

Welive with the consequences of what Adamand Eve did back then in what we callthe fall.But we're not guilty of what Adam did.And if you look at a Bible,here's my Bible here.Every story has three components.There's every movie has threecomponents. Every novel has threecomponents. Our brains are wired forthis. Every movie that you've ever seenhas three components that you start outwith a situation, then you have acomplication and the rest of the movieis the resolution of that problem. Everymovie has that basic structure.

And theBible is no different. You have Genesischapter 1 and two is the situation, theperfect creation. Genesis chapter 3 isthe complication. That is the fall. AndGenesis 4 through Revelation 22, whichis pretty much all of the Bible otherthan the first three pages, is God'splan for our salvation.

Is God resolvingthe sin problem on our behalf? And sosin came to the whole world and so diddeath and so did suffering because ofwhat Adam and Eve did in that garden ofEden. And so, not only did they sin, butSatan became the ruler of this world.Jesus called Satan in John 12:31, theruler of this world. The Apostle Paulrefers to Satan as the god of thisworld. And because sin enters into ourworld, we are now, as Romans 5:10 says,we are enemies of God.

And Ephesians 2:3calls us children of wrath or childrenof God's anger. We are in a planet inrebellion, estranged from God. And sowhen the warf in heaven came down to theGarden of Eden, our parents failed thatfirst test and sin and suffering enteredour world. But praise God, God did notleave us in this fallen condition. Hedid not leave us on our own.

He didn'tleave us to kind of wallow in in in thisthis world of sin with no hope of ofpossible redemption. uh becauseimmediately after uh the fall happenedin the garden of Eden, God confrontedthe serpent and this is what God says tothe serpent in the garden of Eden. Itsays, "I will put enmity between you andthe woman, between your offspring andhers. He will strike your head and youwill strike his heel."How do you kill a serpent?You [clears throat] strike the head.And so what this passage tells us isthat God will place enmitybetween the serpent and the seed of thewoman. That is human beings are going tohave a natural horror at evil.That we're going to be repulsed by evil.That we don't want any part of evil.Even though evil is part of our world,most of us don't want evil to comeknocking on our front door.

And so thereis enmity between us and evil. But thegood news of the gospel, the firstexpression of the gospel in the Bible,it says he will strike your head. Thatis the seed of the woman, the Messiah,the promised one of God, that is JesusChrist. He's going to strike the head ofthat serpent. And if you strike the headof that serpent, what happens to thatserpent?He dies.And so, right in the Garden of Eden,immediately after the fall, God gives usthis first expression of the gospel, thegood news of a Messiah of God who'sgoing to deal with our sin problem onceand for all.

And because of what thatMessiah came to do, that is JesusChrist. The Apostle Paul goes on todescribe the consequences or the impactof what Jesus did. He says, "Therefore,just as one man's trespass led tocondemnation for all, that's the sin ofAdam. We're all fallen human beings. Welive in a world of suffering." So, thetext goes on to say, "One man's act ofrighteousness, that is Christ's life,leads to justification and life for all.For just as by the one man'sdisobedience, the many were madesinners, so by the one man's obedience,the many will be made righteous."I want to tell you this.

I I meet with alot of people who are dying.And many people who are dying, they say,"Pastor,I don't think I can be saved." And whywould you say that? Well, God canforgive my neighbor, but my life,I've committed too many sins.I don't think God could forgive me. Theysay things like, "Pastor, I've reallymessed up in this world. I live withregret. I live with could ofves andwould ofs and shoulds and I'm facingdeath now with no assurance ofsalvation.Now, how do I respond to them?

Well, Isay something that most people don'tlike. I say, "It's true you're a rottensinner.It's true that in and of your own self,you have no hope of salvation. It's truethat you cannot earn your salvation, andit's too late for you to try and earn itnow. It's true that left to your owndevices, you are a lost sinner. And whenyou close your eyes, that's it.

But theBible says in this verse here, by theone man's obedience, that is theobedience and the perfection of Christ,the many will be made righteous.You have the assurance of salvation notbecause you have lived a sinless life.You have the assurance of salvationbecause one man, that is the Messiah ofGod, Jesus Christ, he led the perfectlife. And we can ask for God to applythat righteousness to our own lives.And so we have the assurance ofsalvation not because we are sinless butbecause Jesus lived the sinless life. Sothen we come to war on earth. And uhwhat am I what do I want to describehere? I want to describe here thereality that when Jesus came the Messiahof God was promised in Genesis 3 in thegarden of Eden immediately after thefall.

Jesus did not come just to be agood teacher. Jesus had much greaterpurposes in mind when he came to thisearth because God promised in Genesis 3that a redeemer would come. And afterCain murdered Abel, a new boy was bornto Adam and Eve called Seth. And throughSeth comes the line of the patriarchsand the line of the Messiah. Godintroduced a sacrificial system justafter the fall to keep alive the promiseof Messiah in the lives of thoseinhabitants of planet Earth.

And thosesacrifices provide the symbolic means bywhich our sins can be forgiven on thebasis of our faith in God. When Noahalone was the righteous person left onearth and the line of the redeemer wasunder threat because it says Genesis 6,Noah alone was righteous on the earth.God brought about the flood um to makesure that Satan could not extinguish theline of the Messiah. God then calledAbraham out of earth the Caldes and hepromised him that in you shall all thefamilies of the earth be blessed throughwhich God meant every family on Mauitoday has the promise of blessing fromGod through what what Abraham did in theline of Abraham because the Messiah wasto come through the line of Abraham. TheMessiah was to be a son of David and hewas also to be of the line of Abrahamwhich is what we read in Matthew chapter1, the genealogy of Jesus. And so fromAbraham to Isaac to Jacob down to KingDavid and through Solomon and his lineall the way through the Old Testament,there are prophecies after propheciesabout the coming of the Messiah.Literally, it tells us in the book ofMicah, 500 years before he was born,where Jesus was going to be born,Bethlehem of Judea.

The book of Danieltells us in Daniel 9, we'll look at thislater, maybe later this week, exactlythe year that Jesus was going to beborn. And that prophecy was given almost700 years before the birth of theMessiah. We have we have the uh we havethe exact dating of the of the birth ofthe Messiah. The Old Testamentprophecies tell us what the Messiah wasgoing to do. They speak about hisministry.

They speak about the fact hewas going to be betrayed for 30 piecesof silver. They speak about the factthat he was going to be handed over andexecuted, but that one day he would riseagain. Isaiah 53 is the most famous ofthose prophecies. It says, "But he waswounded for our transgressions, crushedfor our iniquities. Upon him was thepunishment that made us whole, and byhis bruises we are healed." And so theMessiah came to pay the penalty for mysins and for your sins.

He came to umtake our place to die the death that wedeserve as sinners that we might havehis eternal life. And first John 3:8says about the Messiah. It says the sonof God was revealed for this purpose todestroy the works of the devil. And Isay amen to that. That Jesus came todestroy the works of the devil.

Uh Jesuscame so that one day there be there beno more cancer, no more stroke, no moreheart disease, no more family breakup,no more divorce, no more depression, nomore disease, no more despair, no morebroken families or estranged children.Jesus came to destroy everything thatSatan has done in our lives here onMaui. Jesus came to set that right oneday. And I say praise God for thatbecause the problems we face in ourlives today are are beyond our abilityto fix them on our own. If we could fixour own problems and our in our ownbodies, our own minds, our own families,we wouldn't have so much self-medicationgoing on in our society.But we have a society that's basicallyself-medicating everywhere you lookbecause people are trying to navigatethe pain of living with what Satan hasdone to this world. When Jesus came, weread in the gospels that Herod tried tokill the baby all to tried to kill theMessiah.

And because he wasn't quitesure which baby was the Messiah, hekilled all the babes of Bethlehem. InRevelation 12 3-4, describe whathappened. It says, "Then another portantappeared in heaven, a great red dragon,that is Satan, with seven heads and 10horns and seven diadems on his heads.His tail swept down a third of the starsof heaven and threw them to earth. Thattells us that a third of the angels arenow fallen angels or demons. And yes,let me tell you, those demons are herein Maui as well.

I've been drivingaround Maui for 3 days. I've seen enoughevidence of the occult, of new age, ofpeople who are the practitioners of thedark arts to know that Satan has hisstrongholds here in Maui as well. Andbecause he has his strongholds, peoplein Maui are paying a terrible price forthat because of the curse of Satan.Says, "Then the dragon stood before thewoman who was about to hear bear a childso that she might he might devour herchild as soon as it was born. And shegave birth to a son, a male child, whowas to rule the nations with a rod ofiron. But her child was snatched awayand taken to God and to his throne." Andso this passage here talks about thefact that Satan was thrown down toearth.

He took a third of the angelswith him and he tried to kill Jesus atbirth when Herod killed all the babyboys of Bethlehem in order to kill theMessiah in the process. But when Jesusstarted his ministry, he gave a veryfamous sermon. It's found in Lukechapter 4. It's called the Nazarethmanifesto. Now these days, um, how doyou know when a politician is lying?just as a general question.Okay.

You can tell they're lying becausethe lips are moving. It's a goodindicator. All right. Are politicians umadept at making promises? Yes.

I've beenseeing on my social media feed umthere's elections coming up for the MauiCouncil from what I can see. And thereare people making promises saying, "Ihelped out in the after the fires on thenorthwest of the island. So, you cantrust me today to be on the city counciland I promise to do this that or theother. I'm gonna bring jobs. I'm goingto protect the environment.

I'm going toraise everybody's standard of living.And you kind of know, you want tobelieve it, but you know in your heartof hearts that it's probably not true.But when Jesus gave his first sermon inLuke chapter 4, he gave a number ofpromises. He was coming to bind up thebrokenhearted, for instance. But the oneI want to focus on tonight is this.Jesus came to proclaim release to thecaptives.What is Jesus talking about?What Jesus is talking about is the factthat Satan has got many people in hisgrip.Many people experience demonizationtoday. They experience the reality ofdemons in their homes, in their hearts,in their families. And Jesus came to setpeople free from the grip of Satan evenin 2026.And what I do as a pastor amongpreaching and other things is I getinvolved in deliverance ministry.

And Isee that it doesn't matter whetheryou're in West Africa or West Michiganor or the West Indies. It doesn'tmatter. People around our world arestruggling under the oppression ofdemons. And there is only one name thatcan set them free in this war and thatis the name of Jesus Christ. It is notthe name of any pastor.

It's not thename of any church. It's not the name ofany religious leader. What you discoveris that the demons fear nothing andnobody other than the name of JesusChrist. And when Jesus started hisministry, he there was a showdown in thewilderness with with Satan in inMatthew's gospel and Mark's gospel. AndSatan tried to deceive Jesus.

And Jesusresisted those temptations. And becauseJesus resisted the temptations of Satanin the wilderness, from that moment on,Jesus could go throughout his ministryand he could set Satan's captives free.When the Pharisees said that it's onlyby the power of Satan that he casts outdemons, Jesus says, "No, you cannotenter a strong man's house and plunderhis goods unless first you've tied upthe strong man." By that, Jesus meantthat I bound up Satan in the wilderness.I conquered him in that showdown in thewilderness. And because I've conqueredSatan, I can now freely go around andset his captives free. And so this warin heaven that came down to Eden issomething that we live with in our worldtoday. We read in the gospels that whenJesus had confrontations with demons,such as here in Matthew's gospel chapter8, this is what we read.

It says,"Suddenly they," that is the demonshouted, "What have you to do with us,son of God? Have you come here totorment us before the time?" That is thedemons know that their ultimatedestruction is assured. and they wereupset that Jesus was casting them out oftheir human victims before theirappointed hour of judgment. The book ofActs verse 10:38 describes the ministryof Jesus. It says, "God anointed Jesusof Nazareth with the Holy Spirit andwith power.

How he went about doing goodand healing all who were oppressed bythe devil for God was with him." And Isay, "Praise God for the ministry ofJesus Christ." You know, Jesus neverlost a battle with a demon.He never lost a battle with Satan.[clears throat]And if we're living under satanic attacktoday, we can ask Jesus to fight thosebattles for us as well because he's theonly one in our universe who's neverlost a battle with Satan. So when itcame to Calvary [clears throat] thatthat turning point of human history andlater we're going to speak about whatactually happened on the cross ofCalvary in another one of our talks inthis series but just in brief here thefirst thing that happened at Calvary wasthat judgment was secured against Satan.Jesus spoke of it thus he says now isthe judgments of this world. Now theruler of this world will be driven outand I when I'm lifted up from the earthwill draw all people to myself.So judgment was secured against Satan.You know I I w went for a walk along thebeach today and I saw a lot of peoplewith a lot of jewelry on and one thing Inoticed more than anything else is a lotof people have got crosses around theirnecks.It's the most common item of jewelry yousee. It's a cross around somebody'sneck. And um the cross was designed asan instrument of torture.

It was aninstrument of humiliation. You couldspend two or three days dying ofcrucifixion back in those days in theancient Roman Empire. Um but the crosshas become a symbol of victory of God'svictory over the forces of evil. And thecross is always empty. When you look atthe the jewelry on people's necks, thecross never has Christ on the cross.

Thecross is always empty. Why is the crossempty? Because Jesus is no longer on thecross. He's no longer in the grave, buthe rose from the grave on the third dayand he's conquered death itself. And sowhen you when I see these crosses onpeople's necks, I don't know whetherthey're practicing Christians or not.

Idon't know whether they understand thetheology behind this, but the the theempty cross is a powerful sign thatJesus Christ has conquered death andhe's conquered Satan and he's alive andhe lives forever more.And so when when on Calvary judgment wassecured against Satan. Secondly, we seeon Calvary that the promise of salvationfor fallen humanity, including us todayin Maui in 2026, was fulfilled.Revelation 12 says this. Then I heard aloud voice in heaven proclaiming, thisis speaking about the victory onCalvary. Says, now have come thesalvation and the power and the kingdomof our God and the authority of hisMessiah. For the accuser of ourcomrades, that is Satan, has been castdown, thrown down, who accuses them dayand night before our God.

Rejoice then,you heavens and those who dwell in them.And so what happened on Calvary was notjust that judgment was secured againstSatan, but the promise of salvation forus as fallen human beings met itsfulfillment.That's a beautiful promise.The idea that Jesus fought my battlesfor me. He died my death for me. Hegained victory over Satan for me. Hepaid the penalty for my sins for me.What happened at Calvary was a beautifuland a profound thing. We also read thatat Calvary, in this battle between goodand evil that's been going on formillennia, that atonement was made forhuman sin.

1 John 4:10 says this, "Inthis is love, not that we loved God, butthat he loved us and sent us his son tobe the atoning sacrifice for our sins."That word atoning means reconciliationor to be at one with somebody else. Andso God sent his son to be the sacrificeof reconciliation between us and ourheavenly father. This is the definitionof love. Um, you know, when I was ateenage boy, um, we we learned aboutsweet nothings. You have sweet nothingshere in in Hawaii.

When a teenage boywhispers something to a girl like, "Iwill love you till the day I die." Ifshe's wise, she knows that this ismeaningless.Because if she says, "No, I'm notinterested." Tomorrow he's going to bewhispering to another girl, "I will loveyou till the day I die."And if she doesn't reciprocate, then thenext day he's going to find anotheryoung girl and say, "I will always loveyou till the day I die." We call thesesweet nothings.Um, I once studied with some IranianMuslimsand we were going through the gospelstogether. We came to the book of Romansand Romans chapter 5 has a beautifulverse. Romans 5 and verse 8. It saysthis, "But God proves his love for usthat while we were yet sinners, Christdied for us." So God doesn't just say tohumanity, I love you. But he proved hislove for us by sending his son to diefor us on the cross of Calvary.

That isnot a sweet nothing. That is aprofoundly beautiful truth that we cantrust God because he already died for uswhile we were yet a planet in rebellion.While we were yet sinners, while we yetestranged from God, while we yet knewnothing about God, while we thinking welive our lives according to our ownvalues and our own goals and our ownobjectives, even so, God sent his son todie for us to be a sacrifice ofreconciliation. And this is love thatGod sent his son to die for me and todie for you. So when Jesus died, it wasa sacrifice of atonement. And then theuh final thing he did there was whenChrist died on Calvary, God upheld themoral law that is the ten commandmentsand revealed God's true character.

ThatGod didn't just leave us to to stew inthis world of sin. But God tookresponsibility for fixing the sinproblem himself. In the book of Genesischapter 2, it says, "And the Lord Godformed man from the dust of the ground.Then he breathed into his nostrils thebreath of life.We know that Christ was that agent ofcreation, Jesus.And when Jesus, imagine Jesus createsAdam and that that body is lying there,that wonderfully intricate body, we arefearfully and wonderfully made, says theword of God. And when Jesus before Jesusbends down and he breathes into Adam'snostrils the breath of life, he looks atthose hands which are created to do goodworks and one day those hands will benailing nails through his own hands. Andhe looks at th that lip those lips whichare designed to sing praises to God thatone day those lips will shout crucify.And Jesus takes a look at those feetwhich are designed to walk to distancesto do good deeds for others.

And one daythose feet will men on walking will draghim up a hill a hill called Calvary inthe notsodistant future. And so whenJesus bent down then he breathed intoAdam's nostrils the breath of life hebasically gave himself the kiss ofdeath.But having created usand seen the fall take place Jesusdidn't just walk away from his fallencreation. He took personalresponsibility for fixing the problem.And he didn't just leave us in thisworld of sin. He came again to save usfrom the consequences of our ownactions.The scriptures teach us that JesusChrist has never lost an encounter withSatan or any of his demons. And I sayamen to that.

When there was war inheaven, but war between Christ and hisangels and Satan and his angels, Satanlost and Satan was cast out of heaven.Christ triumphed over Satan at his birthwhen Herod tried to kill him. And in theshowdown in the wilderness when Satantried to tempt Christ in Matthew 4,Jesus triumphed over Satan in thewilderness once again. And all throughhis three and a half years of earthlyministry, wherever Jesus went, he neverfailed to cast out demons who from thosewho were under satanic control. Therewas nobody beyond the reach of the powerof Jesus Christ. And whenever anybodyasked Jesus for help, Jesus inevitablycast out those demons.

Christ triumphsover Satan's fallen angels while onearth the demons were cast out. Christtriumphs over Satan's temptations in theGarden of Gethsemane. Christ triumphsover Satan at Calvary. And in the finalcrisis that is coming upon our world,Christ is going to triumph once again.And when Jesus comes again in the cloudsof glory, there's a promise in 1Corinthians 15 that Satan and his angelswill face their ultimate destruction.And I say, praise God for that. that thesource of all evil and suffering andpain will be gone forever more and itwill no longer trouble the human raceand it will no longer trouble um planetearth.

You know, people say, "Well, isthat is God going to really kill Satanand so forth?" I say, "Well, if you havea cancer and you go to the doctor andthe doctor says, I can do um surgery andI can cut out the tumor, then you'regoing to live a good life." Do you feelsorry for the cancer? No. What do youwant the doctor? You want the surgeon tocut out that cancer and you don't wantthat cancer to be preserved on a petridish. You want it to be incinerated inthe hospital incinerator.

Yes. You wantthat cancer to be gone forever. It'snever going to come back and troublehumanity and certainly yourself. And soRevelation 20 10 says that in the finaljudgment, Satan and his fallen angelswill be cast into the lake of fire andface eternal destruction. And I sayburn, baby, burn.

Because of all thesuffering he's caused on planet Earth,because of all the suffering we've livedthrough just in this room alone, we wereborn into a sinful world through nofault of our own. And Christ has takenresponsibility to win the battle oversin and to defeat Satan for us so thatwe might be restored to God. Was what dowe say in conclusion tonight? Thescriptures teach the good news thatJesus Christ is the savior of mankind.Jesus was perhaps the greatest teacherof humanity in human history. But Jesusdidn't come just to teach.

He came tosave. Our greatest problem today is notpoverty. And our greatest need is noteconomic development.Our greatest need is not homelessnessand our greatest problem is nothomelessness. Our greatest need is notfor the government to build affordablehousing. Our greatest problem this daythese days is not racism and ourgreatest need is not racialreconciliation.

Our greatest need thesedays is not having our problems not haveis having an iPhone 13. Our greatestneed is not needing an iPhone 15.Our greatest problemis the reality of a personal malevolentevil being called Satan whose sole goalis to destroy us.And our greatest needto fight off that personal malevolentevil being called Satan. Our greatestneed is a personal loving savior who hasnever lost a battle with Satan, who willfight those battles for us, who's neverlost a battle with Satan, and who'spromised us, I will never leave you norforsake you. And that savior is JesusChrist.And his promise to us tonight, our lastslide on the screen. I think our time isup here.His promise to us tonight is a beautifulpromise.

It's found in John 6:37.Jesus says this, "And anyone who comesto me, I will never drive away."That's a beautiful promise.God knows our past. He knows our wouldofs, our couldavs, our shoulds. He knowsour regrets. He knows the things that wewish we could just we could turn backtime and have a redo on those things. Heknows all of those things.

He knows thethings we're proud about. He knows thethings we're ashamed about. He knows thethings we're happy to talk to otherpeople about. He knows the things wedon't even want to admit to ourselves.And yet the promise of the Messiah ofGod is still this. If anyone comes tome, I will never drive him away.

Thereis no record anywhere in the Gospels ofJesus firing a disciple. Thosedisciples made all kinds of problems.They kept fighting among themselves whowas going to be the greatest in thekingdom of God. Um they betrayed him.They denied him. They fled when he wascrucified. And Peter denied him uh thenight of his of his trial.But there is no record that Jesus everfired somebody who came to him in faith.I want to appeal to you tonight.

Last[clears throat] night,last night we spoke about the fact thatthere is a God in heaven who whocontrols the flow of history and he'sbringing history to a climax which isthe second coming of Jesus Christ. Wesaw in the prophecy of Daniel 2 that Godis the Lord of history and God hasrevealed from times um from 600 BC allthe way down to today how history isgoing to unfold. And today we're livingin the toes of that statue of Daniel 2.we are living um in and the next thingthat's going to hit planet earth is thesecond coming of Jesus Christ.And last night I invited you to say,"Lord, I'm going to trust you for myfuture."And tonight,I just [clears throat] want to make anappeal to you. This this appeal that weall know we're in a struggle betweengood and evil.We see that good and evil all around us.It's why we have law enforcement. It'swhy we have the military.

It's why weput bars on our windows. We put locks onour doors.We all know there is a struggle betweengood and evil. And we're caught up init.There is a struggle between good andevil. It's between Christ and Satan.And tonight, I want to encourage you tochoose which side of that struggleyou're going to be on.Are you going to be on the Satan's side,which case it's a pathway to predition?Are you going to say tonight, I'm goingto be on Christ's side of the greatcontroversy? I'm going to stand withhim.

I want him to be my champion. Iwant him to fight my battles for me. Iwant him to fight the battles I cannotsee, but know are there nonetheless. Iknow I'm under attack, but I'm askingJesus tonight to fight those battles forme.I will never leave you nor forsake youis his promise to those who choose himtonight. His other promise is, "Anyonewho comes to me, I will never driveaway." Praise God.

Praise God. What asavior we have. And so tonight, if youum maybe last night, you say, "Lord, Iwant you to be the Lord of my life.I want you to guide my historyultimately to eternal life." Maybetonight you're saying, "Lord, I want tobe on the side of Christ in this greatcontroversy. I want him to be mychampion. I want him to fight thebattles I cannot see.

I want him tofight the battles I cannot fight. I wanthim to rebuke the attacks of Satan on mybody, on my marriage, on my home, on myfinances, upon my children, and all whomI love and hold dear. We can ask Jesustonight to play that role in our lives.Anyone who comes to me, says Christ, Iwill never drive them away.He came in the Nazareth manifesto, Luke4, to set the captives free, to setpeople free whose lives are lived underthe control and the attacks of Satan. Igave my life to Jesus when I was 13years of age.And he's done me no harm.I want to appeal to you tonight. Maybeyou've already given your life toChrist.

Maybe you've yet to give yourlife to Christ. But we all know we'reliving in a broken world, in a messed upworld.And there is only one person who canhelp us in this messed up world againstthe forces of evil that are arrayedagainst us. And it is the Lord JesusChrist. I want to appeal to you tonightto ask Jesus to be the captain of yourlife to fight the battles for you thatyou cannot see so you gain victory inthis world and the promise of eternallife tomorrow. I'm not sure what time itis.

I think our time is probably uphere. But there was a very famous martyrin about he was his name was Polycarp.He lived in western Turkey modern cityof Smyrna near Ismir. He was arrested atthe age of 86. He was hauled before theRoman authorities. This was about 160AD.

And the Roman authorities said offersome incense to Caesar and we'll let yougo. And you have to say Kaiser curiosCaesar is Lord. And Polycarp said no. Hesaid yes curios Jesus is Lord. I willnot say that Caesar is Lord.

And forthat um act of rebellion against theRoman Empire, he was condemned to bethrown to the lions, but there was somebureaucrat in the in the um office thatday who said, "Actually, it's after 3:00in the afternoon and the lions can't befed after that day." Literally, this isthe story. And so, it's we might as welljust chop his head off because the lionscan't be fed after 3:00. Maybe they'reon intermittent fasting. Who knows? So,they chopped his head off.[clears throat] But before he had hishead chopped off, Polycarp said to theRoman governor, he said this, "Fourscore in six years, that is 86 years, Ihave served my king and he has done meno wrong.

Why now would I deny my king?"And I'm 54 and I will say, "Two scoreand 14 years I have served my king andhe has done me no wrong. Why would Ideny my king today?" And so I won'tbecause he can do for me and with me andthrough me and despite me far more thanI can begin to imagine or hope I coulddo on my own. So tonight I'm going tobow our heads for a word of prayer in amoment. I want to invite you as I prayto say Jesus I want to be on your sideof the great controversy. I want you tofight these battles against Satan that Icannot fight for myself.

I want you torebuke the attacks of Satan and set mefree from those attacks so I can be thekind of person you've created me to be.Let's bow our heads and we'll close witha word of prayer. Our heavenly father,I thank you that in this strugglebetween good and evil that we see allaround us, you've not left us to fend onfor ourselves,but you sent your Messiah, the man fromNazareth, who's never lost a battle withSatan, who's never failed to drive awaya demon,who promised that he would never leaveus nor forsake us,who's promised if anyone comes to me,I'll never drive them away.Tonight, Father, we choose to take ourstand with Christ in this greatcontroversy.We're asking you, Jesus, that you willfight the battles we cannot see for us.That you'll rebuke the attacks of Satanon our homes, our hearts, our bodies,our marriages, our children, ourbusinesses.I pray that we will see your power andyour beauty in our lives in a powerfuland a profound way from this dayforward.Jesus, we're asking you to be ourchampion. We're asking you to be oursavior. We're asking you to defeat theforces of evil. And when you come againin the clouds of glory, we're asking youto come looking for each one of us.

Inyour holy name we pray. Amen. Amen.So,we know we don't have no meetingstomorrow or Wednesday night. Is thatright? We're going to be back here onThursday night.