{"id":18417,"date":"2017-11-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-19T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/daniel-042-the-invisible-war-part-3\/"},"modified":"2017-11-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-11-19T06:00:00","slug":"daniel-042-the-invisible-war-part-3","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/daniel-042-the-invisible-war-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel 042 – The Invisible War (Part 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[72],"series_event":[467],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18417","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-daniel","series_event-daniel","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Daniel 042 - The Invisible War (Part 3)","sermon_date":"20171119","sermon_month":"11","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":5163,"sermon_slides":5162,"sermon_mp3":5178,"sermon_id":"111917944160","series_or_event":467,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":72,"chapter_and_verse":"10:12-13","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Invisible War (Part 3)\n\n11-19-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Daniel 12:12-13\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 42\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 If we could take our Bibles and open them to the Book of Daniel, chapter 10 and verse 12.\u00a0 Daniel 10:12, continuing to move through the Book of Daniel and the title of our message this morning is The Invisible War, Part 3.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve been tracking with us in Daniel you\u2019re familiar with this outline.\u00a0 This outline will give you the last three chapters of Daniel, the one that we\u2019re talking about today as well as chapter 11 and on into chapter 12.\u00a0 Chapters 1-3, you remember, is historical; it gives you the setting.\u00a0 Cyrus, of Medo Persia, as we have studied, is in power when Daniel received this vision.\n\nThe year would be the third year of Cyrus and Daniel would be in his mid-80\u2019s.\u00a0 And I think that\u2019s important to understand his age because what he is going through here, as we\u2019re going to study very clearly this morning beginning in verse 12 is a time in his life of what we would call extreme spiritual warfare.\u00a0 And I bring up his age because a lot of people have a view that you can retire from Christianity.\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of like people think you reach a certain age and life is supposed to get easier, I\u2019ve already had my warfare, now it\u2019s time to just enjoy the golden years.\n\nThe reality of the situation is Daniel faced warfare as a teenager (as we have studied), he\u2019s facing warfare of his most significant dimensions as an 80 year old.\u00a0 And one of the things I know about the devil is he never takes a holiday.\u00a0 He never takes a weekend off, a week off, never goes on vacation.\u00a0 And this is the kind of thing we have to understand about Satan is as long as you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and you\u2019re walking with Christ by way of faith warfare is just what is normal regardless of your age, young or old, in the Christian life.\n\nIf course, as we have studied the return from Babylon, the Seventy year captivity is already happened, \u00a0the return is already underway, Daniel of course is staying behind in Babylon, which was conquered by Persia.\u00a0 And as he is doing this he begins to seek the Lord; he begins to humble himself and pray, for about 21 days with no answer.\u00a0 He is seeking the future for the nation of Israel now that it looks like the seventy year captivity had ended; most of the prophecies up to this point in time, the near prophecies anyway, revealed the future for the nation up to the time of the captivity.\n\nBut what about the rest of the story?\u00a0 Now that the captivity has ended what is the future for Israel?\u00a0 Daniel is seeking insight; God wants to give him this insight.\u00a0 The devil, as we\u2019ll see today, is working overtime preventing him from getting this insight.\n\nSo that is sort of a paradigm if you will for the life of the Christian.\u00a0 You hopefully in God want to have insight; God wants to give you that insight and Satan is at work in your life with all sorts of issues and distractions and worries to prevent you from receiving from God what God wants you to have.\u00a0 You see, every time you move to a new level in your growth in Christ the devil ups his game; \u201cnew level, new devil,\u201d as I\u2019ve heard it said before.\n\nAnd you would think Daniel would get sort of a relief from this and it doesn\u2019t work that way.\u00a0 He\u2019s in his 80\u2019s, God has done great things through him and for him as we\u2019ve studied in the Book of Daniel and yet here\u2019s the adversary continuing to wreak as much turmoil and havoc as can be done.\n\nBut the heavenly messenger finally does break through (we\u2019ve explained a little bit about that last time) to provide Daniel insight.\u00a0 And then what follows beginning in verse 10, really all the way into the first verse of chapter 11, which to my mind the end of chapter 10 it\u2019s a terrible chapter break.\u00a0 You all know the Holy Spirit didn\u2019t put these chapter breaks in here\u2026 Stephen Langton put those in, I think around the 1600\u2019s if I\u2019m remembering right.\u00a0 But the chapter break really ought to go after verse 1 of chapter 11.\u00a0 And chapter 11 verse 1, I believe to be included with chapter 10.\n\nBut it is an explanation that spans those verses where the heavenly messenger is explaining to Daniel a lot of things.\u00a0 One of the things that the heavenly messenger starts to reveal is why it took him so long to break through to Daniel in Persia to answer his prayer request.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve studied verse 10 last time, verse 11 last time.\u00a0 [Daniel 10:10, \u201cThen behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.\u00a0 [11] He said to me, \u201cO Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.\u201d And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling.\u201d]\n\nAnd now we pick it up with verse 12; chapter ten and verse 12. \u00a0Notice this explanation of the heavenly messenger, notice the first part of verse 12, \u201cThen he said to me, \u2018Do not be afraid, Daniel,\u2019\u201d\u00a0 I think that exhortation is some of the strongest words that we need to have today in the body of Christ.\u00a0 So many people in Christianity operate on the basis of fear and you know that you\u2019re operating on the basis of fear because your mind is filled with anxieties and worries.\u00a0 It took me many, many years as a Christian to discover this but anxiety and worry, I believe, is one of the greatest sins the Christian can commit against God.\n\nPhilippians 4:6, by way of commands, says, \u201cBe anxious for\u201d what? \u201cnothing,\u201d it doesn\u2019t say everything except the house payment; be anxious for everything except maybe that guy that happened a couple of weeks ago that broke into that church as you saw on the news, and shot people.\u00a0 The Lord doesn\u2019t say \u201cBe anxious for nothing\u201d except that situation, as horrible as that type of situation is.\u00a0 I mean, the Bible is very clear that we ought to \u201cbe anxious for nothing\u201d but what\u2019s the answer, \u00a0\u201cbut in everything by prayer\u2026\u201d if you\u2019re nervous about something pray about it.\u00a0 That\u2019s the best source of anxiety relief you can have.\u00a0 \u201cBut in everything by prayer and supplication,\u201d supplication means supply, \u201cwith\u201d we\u2019re getting ready to celebrate this holiday this week, aren\u2019t we, \u201cwith thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.\u201d\n\nAnd what does God promise to do in return?\u00a0 [Philippians 4:7] \u201cAnd the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard\u201d it\u2019s a military term, stand guard over \u201cyour hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 And we ask well why isn\u2019t God doing what He\u2019s promised to do in Philippians 4:7?\u00a0 Well, the answer is we haven\u2019t done what God has told us to do by way of command in verse 6.\u00a0 We are letting constantly anxieties into our minds, we live in fear.\u00a0 And yet the command here to Daniel is so clear as he is receiving this vision which no doubt caused him a great deal of anxiety, thinking about the future for Israel and the suffering that she would go through, the angelic visitors are very clear in verse 12, \u201cand he said to me do not be afraid.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s what Jesus said to John on the island of Patmos in the Book of Revelation, in the first century, when Jesus appeared in His glorified state.\u00a0 In the Book of Revelation, chapter 1 and verse 17 it says basically the same thing, \u201cDo not be afraid.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 1:17, \u201cWhen I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, \"Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 And you go through the Bible and you know what you discover with Christ as He is interacting with the disciples; He says over and over again, \u201cFear not.\u201d\u00a0 I used to have the number in my head how many times He said that; I don\u2019t remember the number but it\u2019s a lot.\u00a0 Look it up in\u00a0 your concordance, over and over again, \u201cfear not, fear not, fear not.\u201d\u00a0 And so when I, as a Christian, am afraid I am rebelling against the command of God.\n\nAnd you know that when you begin to operate in fear or anxiety you\u2019re stepping outside of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, \u201cFor God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.\u201d\u00a0 You start operating in fear and anxiety and you automatically know where those thoughts are coming from.\u00a0 They\u2019re either coming from the fallen nature or perhaps from the adversary himself.\n\nProverbs 29:25 says, \u201cThe fear of man brings a snare,\u201d a trap, \u201cBut he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted.\u201d\u00a0 Notice that, that trust is the opposite of fear.\u00a0 That\u2019s why fear or anxiety is a sin, because when I\u2019m in anxiety, an anxious state or worry I\u2019m obviously not trusting.\u00a0 You can\u2019t trust and worry simultaneously; those are two different mental habits.\u00a0 When we\u2019re in fear we\u2019re not trusting; when we\u2019re trusting we\u2019re not in fear.\n\nAnd I just love the simplicity of this command.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be afraid!\u00a0 Be courageous!\u00a0 And as this explanation is given the angelic being, who as I tried to explain last week I personally think is Gabriel, Gabriel unfolds one of the greatest truths on the doctrine of angels anywhere in the Bible.\u00a0 The doctrine of angels is the subject of angelology\u2014what does the Bible say about angels?\u00a0 You\u2019ll be shocked when you study this how frequently the Bible mentions angels.\n\nIn fact, Billy Graham, the great evangelist, wrote a book that I think is perhaps his greatest, Angels: God\u2019s Secret Agents.\u00a0 <\/em>But you go through his book and he mentions in this book every reference to angels in the Bible; it\u2019s astonishing how frequently they are mentioned in the Biblical text.\u00a0 And so we have a whole area of systematic theology on this called angelology, the doctrine of angels. Now angelology would also concern ourselves with good angels and the fallen angels, Satan and those that fell with Satan.\n\nDid\u00a0 you know a third of the angels fell with Satan.\u00a0\u00a0 You say well where is that in the Bible?\u00a0 It\u2019s in Revelation 12:3-4 and verses 7-8.\u00a0 [Revelation 12:3-4, \u201cThen another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were<\/em> seven diadems. [4] And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.\u00a0 Revelation 12:7-8, \u201cAnd there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, [8]and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.\u201d]\n\nAnd those fallen angels fight against the good angels.\u00a0 And what you have here in verses 12-13 is probably one of the key pieces of information that tells us about the reality of the angelic conflict.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting, the Bible never tells us, never tries to prove this reality; it doesn\u2019t try to prove the existence of angels and fallen angels and spiritual warfare.\u00a0 It just tells us it\u2019s a reality.\u00a0 It\u2019s as much a reality as the law of gravity or anything taking place in the physical world that we can observe.\u00a0 In the hidden spiritual realm, in the hidden spiritual world this is an ongoing reality, hence I\u2019ve entitled the sermon The Invisible War<\/em>.\n\nNotice the last part of verse 12 as this angel is explaining what has happened and why there has been this delay for twenty-one days or three weeks.\u00a0 The angel says, \u201cfor from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this<\/em> and on humbling yourself\u201d now stop for a minute, how did Daniel humble himself?\u00a0 If you go back to verses 2-3 you\u2019ll see that he was fasting.\u00a0 You\u2019re not going to bring up fasting are you, Pastor, on Thanksgiving weekend.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 So I guess I won\u2019t, maybe we\u2019ll make reference to it after you\u2019re all five pounds heavier next week when I can really heap some guilt on you (and myself by way of extension).\n\nBack to verse 12, \u201cfor from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before God your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.\u201d\n\nLook at that!\u00a0 Prayer changes things. Prayer changes things in the heavenly realm.\u00a0 Prayer changes things in the angelic realm. The angel came through because of Daniel\u2019s words and because of his prayers.\u00a0 The greatest lie that Satan wants you to believe is your prayers don\u2019t matter, your prayers don\u2019t count, you\u2019re wasting your time with prayer.\u00a0\u00a0 And yet the Bible says \u201cthe prayer of a righteous man,\u201d James 5, is powerful and effective!\u00a0\u00a0 [James 5:16, \u201c\u2026The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.\u201d]\n\n[12] \u201cfor from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before God your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.\u201d\u00a0 Well what took You so long?\u00a0 That\u2019s not in the text.\u00a0 [13] \u201cBut the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstand\u00ading me for twenty-one days\u2026;\u201d\u00a0 \u201cyour words were heard, \u201c in fact, they were heard when you first uttered them, \u201cDaniel, O man of esteem,\u201d \u00a0by way of prayer.\u00a0 \u00a0[Daniel 10:11, \u201cHe said to me, \u2018O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.\u2019 And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling.\u201d]\n\nAnd yet there was a twenty-one day, \u00a0a three week delay in you receiving the answer.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because I, as the angel, could not get through to answer your prayer request and give you the insight that you requested because I was being resisted by an entity called the king of Persia, or the prince of Persia, \u201cthe prince of Persia withstood me, as the angel, for twenty-one days.\u201d\u00a0 Now who is the \u201cprince of Persia\u201d?\u00a0 Simply put he is one of the fallen angels; maybe it\u2019s a reference to the fallen angel, Lucifer; we can\u2019t know for sure.\u00a0 We know that Satan is not omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent; he has to move just like we do. That\u2019s why in the Book of Job when God asks the angels, including Satan, where have you come from, Satan says, from going to and fro over the earth.\u00a0 [Job 1:7, \u201cThe LORD said to Satan, \u2018From where do you come?\u2019 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, \u2018From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.\u2019\u00a0 Job 2:2, KJV, \u201cThe LORD said to Satan, \u2018From where do you come?\u2019 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, \u2018From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.]\n\nWell why would he have to go \u201cto and fro over the earth\u201d?\u00a0 Because Satan is a created being.\u00a0 In fact, in the Book of Ezekiel, chapter 28, verses 12-17 it talks about the fact that he was the model of perfection in the day of his creation.\n\n[Ezekiel 28:12-17, \u201cSon of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, \u2018Thus says the Lord GOD, \u201cYou had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.\u00a0 [13] \u201cYou were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond;\u00a0 The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you.\u00a0 On the day that you were created they were prepared.\u00a0 [14] \u201cYou were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there. <\/em>\u00a0You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked in the midst of the stones of fire.\u00a0 [15] You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you.\u00a0 [16] By the abundance of your trade you were internally filled with violence, and you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God. \u00a0And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.\u00a0 [17] \u201cYour heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.\u00a0 I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, that they may see you.\u201d]\n\nI think a lot of people get their theology from the movie Rocky<\/em> and they believe in what\u2019s called dualism.\u00a0 Dualism is the idea that you\u2019ve got two equals plugging this thing out and you don\u2019t know who\u2019s going to win until the end.\u00a0 That\u2019s why in the movie theaters everybody is chanting Rocky, Rocky, Rocky, because here he\u2019s matched, probably under matched against Apollo Creed and we\u2019re sitting on the edge of our seats because we don\u2019t really know who\u2019s going to win until the end.\u00a0 And a lot of people take that concept and import it into the Bible.\u00a0 A lot of people think the battle between God and Satan is some kind of Apollo versus Rocky.\n\nBut let me tell you something about this: this is NO contest.\u00a0 I mean, really what\u2019s interesting is the fact that God even allows the contest. Satan is completely mismatched against God because he is a created being. God, by virtue of the fact that He is God has the\u201d Omni\u2019s\u201d going for Him, not the hotel.\u00a0 Omniscience, all knowing; Omnipotence, all power, Omnipresence, there is no created being that shares that with God or else God couldn\u2019t be what?\u00a0 God !\u00a0 Man does not have those capacities.\u00a0 Satan does not have those capacities.\u00a0 And even though Satan is a created being and we know that there\u2019s no contest here the Bible makes us aware of this ongoing reality of spiritual warfare, which apparently went on for 21 days.\u00a0 Satan himself or perhaps demons over Persia stopped and did everything within their power to stop the answer to prayer from getting through.\n\nBecause Satan is not omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent he has to orchestrate his world system through a complex array of fallen angels that fell with him.\u00a0 Now some of those fallen angels did something really bad in Noah\u2019s day, which we don\u2019t have time to go into, Genesis 6 talks about it, and so they are in a place of incarceration.\u00a0 2 Peter 2:4-5, 1 Peter 3:20; Jude, verses 6-7.\n\n[Ephesians 6:12, \u201cFor our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.\u201d\u00a0 2 Peter 2:4-5, \u201cFor if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; [5] and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;\u201d\u00a0 1 Peter 3:20, \u201cwho once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.\u201d\u00a0 Jude 6, \u201cAnd angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,\u00a0 [7] just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.\u201d]\n\nI don\u2019t know how many of them are incarcerated but many of them are free because \u201cwe wrestle not against\u201d what? \u201cflesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and rulers of this dark world.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Satan has to orchestrate the world system through these fallen angels that aren\u2019t incarcerated because he can\u2019t be everywhere at once.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it\u2019s interesting, you listen to a lot of Christians and they say man, I was just having a hard time getting up this morning to read my Bible, the devil was doing this and the devil was doing that and I don\u2019t mean to burst your bubble but it probably wasn\u2019t the devil.\u00a0 I think Satan has more important people to pick on than yourself, not to insult anybody.\u00a0 He\u2019s probably picking on Billy Graham or somebody like that; or maybe it was the devil, I don\u2019t know.\n\nEven Paul himself, there are times in his life where Paul was opposed, not by Satan, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, but a messenger of Satan. \u00a0\u00a0[2 Corinthians 12:7-10, \u201cBecause of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me\u2014to keep me from exalting myself! [8] Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. [9] And He has said to me, \u2018My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. [10] Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ\u2019s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.\u201d]\n\nSee that.\u00a0 So I believe that this fallen power over Persia could be Satan but it could be one of his demons that he uses to orchestrate the world system.\u00a0 And this would explain, would it not, the turning of Persia against Israel.\u00a0 See, it was Persia, under Cyrus as we saw earlier through the three returns that the Babylonian deportation was ending.\u00a0 But there would come a time when Persia herself would turn against the nation of Israel and that happened just a few decades later, about 483-374 B.C. through a man named Haman, who developed a plot to exterminate the nation of Israel, which is always not a smart thing to do.\u00a0 Every time something like that happens not only does the nation of Israel survive but they get a holiday out of the whole thing.\u00a0 In this case they got a holiday out of it called Purim, or the Feast of Lots.\n\nBut Persia would turn against Israel.\u00a0 Now question: what modern day nation is represented by Persia today?\u00a0 Iran!\u00a0 The history of Persia is very easy to document.\u00a0 Persia goes all the way through world history starting in Bible times.\u00a0 And Persia was changed to the name Iran in 1935 and in 1979 she became Islamized.\u00a0 That\u2019s the whole significance of the toppling of the Shah in 1979. \u00a0\u00a0You might remember that, with the long gas lines and Jimmy Carter and that whole era.\u00a0 But he was replaced by the Shah with the Ayatollah and ever since that point in time Persia has become Islamized.\n\nWhy did that happen?\u00a0 Maybe this demon is still there; have you ever thought about that, still causing trouble.\u00a0 It is interesting that the biggest problem on planet earth today, other than the Soviet Union, people tell me is Iran which biblically is known as Persia.\u00a0 The same part of the world where Haman developed a plot to exterminate the Jews is the same part of the world where the former leader of Iran says we are going to wipe Israel off the map.\u00a0 Now how can you\u00a0 understand a statement like that absent a knowledge of the angelic conflict.\u00a0 But as you move into the angelic conflict and start to understand it statements like that fit the pattern, do they not?\n\nSo a demon or Satan, or one of his representatives was opposing godly forces in Persia and this demon aimed warfare at the angel dispatched from heaven to answer Daniel\u2019s prayer request.\u00a0 And this war took place in heaven for three weeks or twenty-one days.\u00a0 Why is Satan doing that?\u00a0 You\u2019ll find the answer in the Book of Genesis, chapter 12 and verse 3, where God has promised to bless the world through the nation of Israel.\u00a0 God said when He formed Israel, with the calling of the patriarch Abram, \u201cI will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you I will curse.\u201d\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Because\u00a0 \u201cin you all the families of the earth will be blessed.\u201d\u00a0 God has purposed to bless the entire world through the nation of Israel.\u00a0 God blessed Israel, not for Israel\u2019s sake alone but that she might be a channel, a vehicle, a mediator if you will, of divine blessings to all of planet earth.\u00a0 God made a sovereign choice to do this.\n\nYou say well why didn\u2019t God use another country?\u00a0 You have to ask God about that.\u00a0 God, as God, makes sovereign choices.\u00a0 This is one of the things He sovereignly decreed to do.\u00a0 And this is interesting how literally that prophecy has come to pass.\u00a0 The Scripture itself comes to us from the pen, the writers of the Hebrew race.\u00a0 There\u2019s only two books that people think are Gentile and those two books might not even be Gentile when you start to look at the data.\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s Luke and Acts.\u00a0 Every other writer, it\u2019s indisputable that they are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t have a Jewish race, beloved, you don\u2019t have a Bible.\u00a0 The Savior Himself was not a Presbyterian, nor a Methodist, nor a member of a Bible church.\u00a0 He was Jewish.\u00a0 His genealogy is clearly documented in Matthew 1:1-18 and that\u2019s why He said to the Samaritan woman at the well, \u201csalvation is of the Jews,\u201d [John 4:22, \u201cYou worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.\u201d]\n\nAnd then the coming kingdom itself will not be headquartered in Washington D.C.\u00a0 and that\u2019s something to be thankful for on Thanksgiving.\u00a0 It will be headquartered in the city of Jerusalem.\u00a0 Isaiah 2:2-3.\u00a0 [Isaiah 2:2-3, \u201cNow it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it.\u00a0 [3] And many peoples will come and say, \"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways And that we may walk in His paths.\" For the law will go forth from Zion And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.\u201d]\n\nAnd here\u2019s the deal; the moment God puts His hand of blessing on a person\u2019s life, as was the case with Abraham and his descendants, is the moment the angelic conflict kicks in and Satan himself begins to oppose what God is doing.\u00a0 New level, new devil.\u00a0 And we always say Lord, use me, Lord, bless me, and we ought to count the cost because the moment you step into the position of usability is the moment you\u2019ve got a target on your back.\u00a0 And this is what is happening.\n\nI don\u2019t know why Satan thinks the way he does; many people ask me that.\u00a0 He seems to do things that are illogical and I think it has to do with the fact that his intellect, as brilliant as it is, has become corrupted.\u00a0 Fear of the Lord, Proverbs 1:7, is the beginning of what?\u00a0 actually it says \u201cknowledge,\u201d it does say wisdom later.\u00a0 But it says, Proverbs 1:7, \u201cThe fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge\u2026;\u201d\u00a0 your brain works correctly when it\u2019s submitted to the authority of God.\u00a0 \u00a0You remove yourself from the authority of God, Paul indicates, Romans 1, that we become foolish, the mind doesn\u2019t think right.\u00a0 And this is what happened with Satan. Ezekiel 28:17, \u201cYour heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 His mind is not logical, it isn\u2019t rational.\u00a0 In his mind he thinks he can be God.\u00a0\u00a0 Now how logical is that, to try to overthrow God.\u00a0 Does that make any logical sense?\n\nDid you know that Adolf Hitler, towards the end of World War II started wars with countries that his advisors tried to talk him out of?\u00a0 What are you doing, you can\u2019t win this; it doesn\u2019t make any logical sense.\u00a0 Well, who\u2019s to say his mind was thinking logically, particularly at that point in his life.\u00a0 This is how Lucifer is, this is your enemy, the devil.\u00a0 And he has worked in history to stop these three blessings from coming to the earth; he hasn\u2019t done very well with that because two of the three are here, we\u2019re just waiting for the third.\u00a0 The Scripture is here, the Savior has come, we\u2019re just waiting for the Kingdom.\u00a0 But Satan in history is trying to stop these blessings from transpiring.\n\nAnd one of the things that Satan is trying to do, watch this very carefully, is he is trying to keep Daniel ignorant of spiritual realities.\u00a0 The greatest weapon that Satan is using today is Scriptural, biblical ignorance.\u00a0 If a person is biblically and Scripturally ignorant\u2026 now ignorant is not a putdown, it\u2019s not the same thing as saying someone is dumb or someone is stupid, if you say someone is dumb or stupid that\u2019s a putdown because you\u2019re saying they don\u2019t have the ability to get the truth.\u00a0 Ignorance means they have the ability to have truth, they just don\u2019t have it; it\u2019s absent.\n\nAnd what Satan was seeking to do with Daniel, what he\u2019s seeking to do right now as I speak, is keep people scripturally ignorant, scripturally illiterate.\u00a0 And there is a whole war that goes on here for twenty-one days to prevent Daniel from having this insight that God wanted him to have.\u00a0 Daniel wanted to have, Satan wanted his eyes shut.\u00a0 This is why Paul, in the Book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 4 and verse 4 says, \u201cThe god of this age has blinded the mind,\u201d he is trying to shut people\u2019s eyes so they can\u2019t see reality.\u00a0 And I\u2019ll tell you one thing; America\u2019s Founding Fathers understood this; they passed in 1642 in the State of Massachusetts the old Satan Deluder Law and the legislation, which is in Supreme Court cases quoted, this is a real law.\u00a0 It says, \u201cIt being the one chief project\u201d not side project, \u201cchief project of that old Deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of Scriptures, as in former times,\u201d what former time?\u00a0 The dark ages, before the Protestant Reformation occurred in Europe, people that founded America, as you know, came from Europe.\u00a0 They came out of a nightmare where the Scripture was inaccessible.\n\nAnd so the first order of business is we\u2019re not going to let that happen again, we\u2019re going to pass a law where we\u2019re going to establish grammar schools where everybody can learn to read, to get a better job and pick the right stocks?\u00a0 No, so we don\u2019t have a recurrence of the dark ages.\u00a0 The whole reason the dark ages were the dark ages is people were intellectually dark because they did not have a knowledge of the Scripture.\u00a0 So they said this: \u201cIt is therefore ordered\u2026 that after the Lord hath increased the settlement\u2026 they shall\u2026 appoint one within their town, to teach such children to read\u2026they shall set up a grammar school to instruct youths\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0That is the beginning of American public education, to teach the Bible.\n\nAnd here today, and I don\u2019t mean to get too far off into this but we have an election coming up in December where a judge, in the state of Alabama is being [can't understand word, sounds like pillard] over and over again.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because his crime was setting up the Ten Commandments in his courthouse; how could he do such a thing like that?\u00a0\u00a0 Now I realize there\u2019s a lot of issues in that and I don\u2019t mean to go too far into that but that, in my humble opinion, is really what\u2019s happening here because he had the audacity to bring the Ten Commandments into public life, not once as a lower court judge, but once again as the chief justice of the Alabama State Supreme Court.\u00a0 He did it twice.\u00a0 How could you do such a thing like that, bring God into public life?\n\nSee how far removed we\u2019ve gotten.\u00a0 The whole point of public schools is to teach the Ten Commandments and to teach the Bible; that\u2019s the whole logic of a grammar school.\u00a0 So those that started the country understood the primary strategy of the devil is to keep people ignorant and that is exactly what\u2019s happening here in this passage.\u00a0 That\u2019s why there\u2019s this warfare for twenty-one days, to keep Daniel from\u00a0 understanding and to keep Daniel\u2019s people from understanding.\n\nWhat is the very first lie Satan told?\u00a0 Genesis 3:1, \u201cIndeed, has God said\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s his opening conversation to the human race.\u00a0 Don\u2019t believe what He has revealed up to this point in time, doubt it and stay ignorant of it.\u00a0 In Matthew 13:19 is says, \u201cWhen anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one\u201d that would be the devil, \u201ccomes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.\u201d\u00a0 The last thing Satan wants is for the Word of God to enter a mind and take fruit.\u00a0 That\u2019s why he works overtime to ban the Bible, throw the Bible out.\u00a0 Even churches today, sadly, are not teaching the Bible line by line, verse by verse.\u00a0 That\u2019s the reason why when\u00a0 you\u2019re sitting and listening to a sermon like this your mind goes off track so quickly.\u00a0 Gee, I\u2019ve got to talk to so and so today, let me pull out my day timer.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve got to eat lunch somewhere, where am I going to eat lunch?\u00a0 And the mind so easily gets distracted from truth.\u00a0 And you see this as a preacher and a teacher;\u00a0 you see this war going on constantly, the distractions that come up that would not come up any other time, take place when the Word of God is being taught.\n\nWhat is the explanation for this?\u00a0 It\u2019s spiritual warfare.\u00a0 Sugar Land Bible Church, I believe, is being raised up by God strategically to help eliminate this knowledge gap that exists, not only in this church but around the world.\u00a0 I believe this, that God wants to use this church to teach the Word of God, not just to its flock but to anybody that wants to hear it.\u00a0 We\u2019re not moving, we\u2019re not budging, we\u2019re not changing, we\u2019re going to teach the Word of God every single time these doors open and we know that this is not an easy road because Satan hates that.\u00a0 The testimony of the Scripture from cover to cover reveals this truth.\n\nAnd what\u2019s happening here in Daniel 10 is just the same stuff, different day.\u00a0 So a twenty-one day war takes place, waged by Satan and his emissaries against the angel dispatched from heaven to keep the nation of Israel spiritually uniformed, because if a person is uninformed spiritually they are a sitting prey, a sitting duck if you will, to the deceptions of the devil.\u00a0 This is why the Book of Ephesians, chapter 6, tells us to put on the what? \u201cfull armor of God,\u201d we\u2019ve done studies on those pieces of armor; one of them is the belt of truth, the first piece of armor you put on, the belt of truth.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t have the belt of truth on you\u2019re susceptible to Christ\u2019s description of Satan as the father of lies.\u00a0 As you walk with Christ every single second of your life, whether it be through media, social media, books, conversations, even from your own carnal imagination will arise lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie and there is no defense against a propaganda war of that magnitude\u2026 without the belt of truth.\n\nAs we continue on with the doctrine of angelology, the second part of verse 13, \u201cthen behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the king of Persia.\u201d Now we get reference to another angel that gets into the fight.\u00a0 Angel 1, probably Gabriel; Angel 2, fallen angel, the prince over Persia, and the war was so severe that now a third angel, Michael, this, by the way, is our first reference to Michael in the Book of Daniel, at least by name, you\u2019ll find his story being picked up, Michael\u2019s anyway, in Daniel 12:1.\u00a0 [Daniel 12:1, \u201cNow at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.\u201d]\n\nBut Michael as to assist Gabriel to fight this demon, or maybe it\u2019s Satan himself, so that Gabriel can get through this conflict and answer Daniel\u2019s prayer request.\u00a0 And this whole war goes on for three weeks or twenty-one days.\u00a0 That, Daniel, is the explanation why your prayer wasn\u2019t answered immediately.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that God doesn\u2019t love you.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that God doesn\u2019t care.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that God didn\u2019t hear you.\u00a0 There\u2019s a war going on.\u00a0\u00a0 You know, we face, a lot of times as Christians, unanswered prayers.\n\nAnd there\u2019s a lot of explanations, I think, why prayers go unanswered.\u00a0 And one of them that hardly gets covered is this issue of spiritual warfare.\u00a0 We pray, we don\u2019t get an answer, we immediately think God didn\u2019t hear us.\u00a0 We think God is unconcerned, God doesn\u2019t love us.\u00a0 Did you know it could be a completely different explanation?\u00a0 Maybe it could do with an angelic war that\u2019s going on, that you can\u2019t see through human eyes but the Bible tells you that it\u2019s there.\u00a0 Let me tell you something about the invisible war, the invisible world\u2014it is REAL!\u00a0 It is a reality!\n\nHere are some of the verses that I just thought of this week depicting he invisible war.\u00a0 They pull back the veil, they pull back the curtain, and they give us as mere mortals, as mere human beings, vision into the spiritual world.\u00a0 One of them is the Book of Job, chapter 1 and verse 12 where Job had a whole bunch of problems.\u00a0 Amen.\u00a0 And everybody thought they knew why Job was having his problems.\u00a0 Job himself thought he knew.\u00a0 The reality of the situation is nobody knew; Job didn\u2019t know, Elihu didn\u2019t know, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, his so-called counselors didn\u2019t know.\u00a0 But we know.\u00a0 Why do we know?\u00a0 Because we read the first chapter.\u00a0 It has to do with a conversation that took place between God and Satan in heaven that Job knew nothing of. \u00a0[Job 1:12, \u201cThen the LORD said to Satan, \u2018Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.\u2019 So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD.\u201d\u2019]\n\nIt\u2019s kind of an interesting thing to think of, isn\u2019t it.\u00a0 Did you know that as I speak there are possibly conversations in the spiritual world happening about you and me?\u00a0 Jesus said that one time to Peter, didn\u2019t He?\u00a0 Luke 22, around verse 31 if I remember right, \u201cSimon, Simon, behold, Satan has requested permission to sift you like wheat;\u201d wow!\u00a0 How would you like the Lord to say that to you some time.\u00a0 I would just as soon the Lord kept that to Himself.\u00a0 Requested who?\u00a0 God, in heaven, a conversation about Simon Peter that Simon Peter didn\u2019t know anything about.\n\nOne of my favorite spiritual warfare passages is in 2 Kings 6:15-17 where Elisha and the servant are talking and the servant is troubled because the enemy is closing in.\u00a0 It says, \u201cNow when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, \u2018Alas, my master! What shall we do?\u2019\u00a0 [16] So he answered, \u2018Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Now that\u2019s comforting; we\u2019ve got two-thirds on our side.\u00a0 [17] \u201cThen Elisha prayed and said, \u2018O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 I pray that this servant would see what I just talked about.\u00a0 \u201cAnd the LORD opened the servant's eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.\u201d\u00a0 For an instant he could see into this spiritual world and he saw an angelic army protecting them, Elisha and the servant, and therefore there was no need of fear.\n\nOr take 1 Chronicles 21:1, David had a thought one day,\u00a0 I think I\u2019ll number the troops of Israel today.\u00a0 And we know from 1 Chronicles 21:1 that the devil is the one who put that thought into David\u2019s mind.\u00a0 [1 Chronicles 21:1, \u201cThen Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel.\u201d]\u00a0 Daniel 10, we\u2019re talking about it here.\n\nHow about Peter?\u00a0 Matthew 16:21-23, Jesus says I\u2019ve got to go to the cross and die.\u00a0 Peter takes Christ aside and rebukes Him.\u00a0 This is not going to happen to you.\u00a0 I believe Peter probably spoke out of good intentions but a lack of understanding.\u00a0 [Matthew 16:21, \u201cFrom that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. [22] Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, \u2018God forbid it,<\/em> Lord! This shall never happen to You.\u2019\u00a0 [23] But He turned and said to Peter, \u2018Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God\u2019s interests, but man\u2019s.\u201d\u2019]\u00a0 And Jesus just skips to the root of the problem and who put that wicked thought into Peter\u2019s mind, and He said \u201cGet behind Me,\u201d who? \u201cSatan!\u201d\n\nEphesians 6:12, you know, \u201cFor we wrestle not against flesh and blood,\u201d but against principalities and powers and rulers of this dark world, what does that word \u201cwrestle\u201d mean? It means conflict, protracted conflict in the life of the child of God because of the reality of spiritual warfare.\u00a0 And if you want a great chapter on spiritual warfare I\u2019d recommend to you the Book of Revelation, chapter 12.\u00a0 Other than Daniel 10 I can\u2019t think of another chapter of the Bible which pulls back the veil, pulls back the curtain and discloses the reality of spiritual warfare.\n\nNow cheer up, it\u2019s about to get worse because as a Christian, listen to me very carefully, you don\u2019t have one enemy; you\u2019ve got three.\u00a0 What are those?\u00a0 The world, the flesh and the devil.\u00a0 All three of them tag team on you all the time.\u00a0 And if you\u2019re not in the Word you\u2019re just not aware of it.\u00a0 First of all, the enemy, Satan himself, we\u2019re seeing evidence of that, aren\u2019t we, in these passages that we\u2019ve commented on this morning.\u00a0 What about enemy number two, the world, the flesh, and the devil.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go to enemy number 1, the world; what is that?\u00a0 The word translated \u201cworld\u201d is the Greek word kosmos<\/em>, where we get the word in English cosmopolitan, it\u2019s the system of the air or the atmosphere or philosophies of the day which seek to alienate the child of God from God.\n\nThe primary characteristics of the world system are 1 John 2 around verse 16, \u201clust of the flesh and lust of the eyes\u201d and\u00a0 the \u201cpride of life,\u201d that\u2019s the world system.\u00a0 \u00a0[1 John 2:16, \u201cthe For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.\u201d]\u00a0 It\u2019s going to be that way until the second coming.\u00a0 We\u2019re not living in God\u2019s kingdom right now, as many are falsely teaching.\u00a0 We are living behind enemy lines in the devil\u2019s world.\u00a0\u00a0 And in the devil\u2019s world the devil\u2019s world functions according to rules, \u201clust of the flesh,\u201d \u201clust of the eyes\u201d\u00a0 and the \u201cpride of life.\u201d\u00a0 And let me tell you something; those three things will alienate your affection from God very, very quickly.\n\nPaul, in his final letter, says in 2 Timothy 4:10, \u201cDemas, having loved this present world, has deserted me.\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Now all of the Reformed theologians and all the Calvinist interpreters trip over themselves trying to explain why Demas was not saved.\u00a0 Let me tell you something; Demas was saved.\u00a0 How do I know that?\u00a0 Because Paul mentions Demas as a companion with him in his ministry in other passages of Scripture.\u00a0 I mean, is the Apostle Paul going to let into his ministry group an unsaved person.\u00a0 That\u2019s ridiculous.\u00a0 So what happened to Demas?\u00a0 He had the Holy Spirit, he had everything that Paul had in terms of blessings and yet the world system worked in his mind so severely and aggressively that over the course of time he departed, not from the faith but from fruitful service in God.\u00a0 That is the world system.\n\nAnd then we have \u201clust of the flesh,\u201d what is that?\u00a0 That\u2019s the sin nature which you inherited at the point of physical conception.\u00a0 And then you heard the gospel and you received the new nature and\u00a0 you know what happened to that old sin nature?\u00a0 It\u2019s still there!\u00a0 Anybody notice that?\u00a0 In fact now you\u2019re probably more aware of it than ever because the Holy Spirit is inside of you and the flesh, Galatians 5:17, lusts against the Spirt and the Spirit lusts against the flesh.\u00a0 [Galatians 5:17, \u201cFor the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.\u201d KJV]\n\nAnd yet God has given us provisions that we can access by way of faith where we can turn down the yearnings of the sin nature.\u00a0 Reformed theology destroys this idea, destroys it!\u00a0 It teaches the doctrine of one naturism, that the child of God no longer has a sin nature.\u00a0 That is not what we teach here; that is not what we believe.\u00a0 We believe in the dual natured view of the Christian.\u00a0 We should live according to the desires of the new nature but that old nature, which has been rendered inoperative and defeated is not eradicated nor is it annihilated.\u00a0 And that old nature will be there until your dying day or the rapture of the church, whichever comes first, to draw you back into sin.\n\nDr. Jim McGowan and myself, on our Facebook live feeds have done several shows just on this subject.\u00a0 You can find those archives at the SLBC Facebook page if you\u2019re interested in that, or my You Tube channel, Andy Woods, just type in Pastor\u2019s point of view, you\u2019ll find it.\u00a0 We\u2019ve done in depth teaching on this.\u00a0 The reason we think this is significant is because how do you fight a war against an enemy that you don\u2019t even know is there?\u00a0 Or no one has ever taught you about it?\n\nIt\u2019s like today, the full struggle with what I would call consistent Islam; nobody wants to use the word \u201cIslamic terror\u201d they want to use the words drive by shooting, workplace violence, yet anybody with a few brain cells can rub them together and see what\u2019s going on, this poisonous\u2026 I\u2019m not against Muslims, I\u2019m against the ideology of Islam.\u00a0 And\u00a0 yet we have, as policy in the United States of America this idea that we cannot attribute acts of terror to a poisonous ideology\u00a0 called Islamic Fundamentalism.\u00a0 Well, you start thinking that way you can\u2019t win any war because you can\u2019t win a war where\u00a0 you are told that your hands are tied and you can\u2019t define the enemy.\n\nSee, and this one natured idea of the believer, that the believer really doesn\u2019t have a sin nature as many, many people teach, the only thing that does is it destroys the spiritual life because you can\u2019t overcome an enemy that you don\u2019t know exists.\u00a0 So you have not one, not two, but three enemies and I have them too.\u00a0 And those enemies will tag team on you over and over again; they cannot steal your salvation, they cannot derail your path to glory but here\u2019s what they can do.\u00a0 They can render you fruitless, ineffective, and inoperative in the Christian life.\n\nSo what does the Christian need to do?\u00a0 The Christian, living in the devil\u2019s world, living in a body that still has a sin nature has to start studying these three enemies.\u00a0 The concept that I use to describe this is three dimensional warfare; you\u2019re fighting enemies on three fronts all of the time as a Christian.\u00a0 You have to understand who each one is, how each one operates and then you have to understand the resources that God has given to the believer to overcome each one, because for every enemy there\u2019s an answer.\u00a0 For every enemy there\u2019s a resource.\u00a0 I mean, back in my basketball days, college, high school, we would spend hours and hours and hours watching films of the other team that we were facing that week; we would watch them play over and over again. So when we stepped onto the court we knew them probably better than they knew themselves.\u00a0 Is it man to man defense, is it half-court trap, zone defense, who are their best players, who are their highest scorers, who are their best defenders.\u00a0 We had that knowledge because we were aware of who the opponent is.\n\nAnd that\u2019s how the child of God has to become relative to the Word of God, relative to the three enemies.\u00a0 You have to study them over and over and over again and you have to study how God has equipped us to overcome each one.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t do that you may be going to heaven but you\u2019re not a soldier of Christ that Christ can use to expand His purposes on the earth.\u00a0 May God help us understand this.\u00a0 May God help us understand that we are no longer, in the United States in \u201ccountry club Christianity.\u201d\u00a0 Even the United States itself is becoming progressively hostile to Christians and it frustrates me to no end to watch church after church after church teach nothing other than how to improve your life in three steps, your best life now, whatever they\u2019re into. We are NOT from the pulpit being equipped for the reality of the war that we are in\u2014lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, the pride of life.\n\nThe world, the fallen angelic world; the flesh, the fallen nature itself, and if that weren\u2019t bad enough you\u2019ve got Satan and his demons who wreak havoc in the life of the child of God. For what purpose?\u00a0 Not to take\u00a0 your salvation, that\u2019s given to you by grace; to render you ineffective during your earthly sojourn.\n\nBack to Daniel 10:13, \u201c\u2026then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.\u201d\u00a0 The Persian government is going to make no sense a few\u00a0 decades down the road because of what Haman is going to do.\u00a0 The Persian government today makes no sense logically; it\u2019s incessant hatred for the nation of Israel, which they call the little Satan, and by the way, do you know who the big Satan is?\u00a0 It\u2019s the United States. Why is Israel hated?\u00a0 A lot of reasons but they see Israel, the only functioning democracy\/republic in that part of the world, that tiny nation, a nation that has some semblance of western values in a sea, a literal sea of Islamic dictatorships.\u00a0 And they don\u2019t like it.\u00a0 They don\u2019t like it because they don\u2019t like western values.\u00a0 And they see Israel as a little United States.\n\nSo the whole name of the game here is first we\u2019re going to deal with Israel, then we\u2019re going to deal with the United States.\u00a0 This is the reality that we\u2019re in, politically, ideologically.\u00a0 And so these governments do things that are irrational. We say well, why do they do that?\u00a0 The angelic conflict.\u00a0 Why is it that in this country we spend money as if there\u2019s no tomorrow?\u00a0 Why we wrack up, I think we\u2019re close to 20-21 trillion dollars, why do we wrack up trillions and trillions and trillions of dollars in debt which we couldn\u2019t pay back if we wanted to?\u00a0 That makes no logical sense.\n\nWell, my answer is who\u2019s to say it\u2019s related to logic?\u00a0 It\u2019s related to the angelic conflict.\u00a0 Governments do insane and irrational things.\u00a0 As I speak today around the world our brothers and sisters in Christ are being persecuted by their own governments, literal stoning\u2019s happening in Middle Eastern countries, literal crucifixions, something that looks like it comes out of medieval times or even biblical times; people put in cages and burned to death, people put in cages and drowned to death, and we look at that and we say that\u2019s irrational.\u00a0 Well of course it\u2019s irrational; it doesn\u2019t come from the human mind.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t come from logic.\u00a0 It comes from Lucifer himself, whose wisdom\u00a0 has been corrupted.\n\nAnd we understand something like this, then all of a sudden Paul\u2019s injunction in 1 Timothy 2:1-2 starts making sense. \u201cFirst of all, then, I urge that entreaties and<\/em> prayers, petitions and<\/em> thanks\u00adgivings, be made on behalf of all men, [2] for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.\u201d\u00a0 Paul knew a little something about a government that gets out of control because he just got released from prison when he wrote these words.\u00a0 Paul is writing these words under a diabolical lunatic named Nero who is lighting Christians on fire to illuminate his garden parties.\u00a0 Now how much logical sense does that make?\u00a0 And Paul says that\u2019s why we are to be, as God\u2019s people and God\u2019s church, in intercession for the institution of human government, which easily goes awry.\u00a0 Paul himself was a victim of that multiple times in his Roman imprisonments and other imprisonments.\n\nAnd so it is incumbent upon the New Testament to be in prayer so that the gospel can go forth in an unrestrained way.\u00a0 You fight the angelic conflict with prayer, you don\u2019t fight it by screaming and yelling, and I have a lot of Christians that I know that are trying to bind Satan, even in people\u2019s prayer lives you hear them says \u201cbind Satan.\u201d\u00a0 Why are you doing that?\u00a0 The Bible is very clear that Satan will not be bound until the thousand year kingdom.\u00a0 Until that point in time he roams about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.\u00a0 [1 Peter 5:8, \u201cBe of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.\u201d]\n\nAnd in replacement theology churches you\u2019ll never hear a sermon like this.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because they bought into the doctrine of amillennialism which teaches that Satan is bound right now.\u00a0 Are you kidding me?\u00a0 I mean, what newspaper are you reading.\u00a0 The Bible never says Satan is bound now; it never says I have the ability to bind Satan now.\u00a0 It says stand up, put on your armor and fight the good faith as you\u2019re living in the devil\u2019s world, and fight on all three levels, three-dimensional warfare, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the pride of life.\u00a0 The world, the flesh, the devil!\u00a0 Look, you get to the end, do you want to wind up like Demas, who obviously was saved but was rendered ineffective?\u00a0 Is that what you want?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think anybody sets out to want that.\u00a0 Well, how do I not end up like Demas?\u00a0 I have to become aware of three dimensional warfare.\n\nSo Daniel, your prayers were answered by God when you started praying.\u00a0 The moment you prayed the request was being answered, it just took a while for the request to get to you because of the reality of spiritual warfare.\u00a0 A tremendous set of verses on why sometimes prayers are unanswered, why God is not unconcerned, we should not interpret a lack of an answer as a lack of concern on God.\n\nAnd you know, isn\u2019t it interesting that we always want to blame God for everything.\u00a0 My prayer request didn\u2019t get answered; it\u2019s God\u2019s fault. Well, if we could understand the spiritual conflict maybe it\u2019s Satan\u2019s fault.\u00a0 This is what bothers me about insurance companies calling hurricanes and tornados acts of God; why are you blaming everything on God?\u00a0 There\u2019s another opponent out there, is there not.\n\nSo may God help us understand these things as we seek to live for Him in the devil\u2019s world in these last days.\n\nShall we pray.\u00a0 Father, we\u2019re grateful for these just two verses that we went over today and what they teach us about the conflict that we\u2019re in.\u00a0 I ask, Father, that You would help us in these last days stand amidst this conflict.\u00a0 I ask, Father, specifically if there is anybody here today that does not know You personally, anybody listening or watching via the internet or social media that does not know You personally, I ask specifically that the Spirit of God would convict them of the sin that they are committing against God as I speak that is sending them into a Christ-less eternity which is unbelief.\u00a0 There\u2019s only one sin, Lord, You won\u2019t forgive and that\u2019s dying in unbelief, having gone through one\u2019s life having never trusted in Christ for salvation.\u00a0 We\u2019re thankful, Father, for the gospel, which means good news, which means Jesus did it all for us.\u00a0 He died on the cross, He rose bodily from the grave, He has done everything possible to bridge the gap between fallen humanity and Your holiness and You simply ask human beings to do one thing, which is to trust exclusively in what Jesus has done. We don\u2019t, as You have instructed us, Lord, not to trust ourselves but we trust You because you said \u201cIt is finished!\u201d\u00a0 And we ask if anybody is listening that has never done that that they would do that right now as I speak, in the quietness of their own minds, in the privacy of their own hearts they would exercise faith in you, for \u201cwithout faith\u201d Hebrews 11:6 says \u201cit is impossible to please God.\u201d\u00a0 We just ask that today the gospel would go out and many people, as they prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving will be thankful for the ultimate gift that You can give a person, and that\u2019s salvation.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026.\u201d","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t