2/1/18 – Eph 6:11, The Angelic Conflict, Pt. 12,

The Enemy, Pt. 9.

Satan’s Counterfeits.

Lesson #18-013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfD62hUwB4M

Grace Fellowship Church

Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard

www.GraceDoctrine.org

Stand in Warfare – Eph 6:10-20.

Outline of Eph 6 :10-24

1. The Empowerment, vs. 10.

2. The Enemy, vs. 11-12. 

3. The Equipment, vs. 13-17. 

4. The Energy, vs. 18-20. 

5. The Encouragement, vs. 21-24.

2. The Enemy, vs. 11-12.

Eph 6:11, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”

What God sees on the human side of the cosmos is described in Rom 3:9-18. These verses are a medley from the Old Testament describing the nature of unregenerated man and the one who lives in the cosmos, put together by Paul through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Compare Psa 14:1-3; 53:1-3, 13; 5:9; 140:3, 14; 10:7, 15-17; Isa 59:7-8, 18; Psa 36:1.

The following scriptures are all commentaries on the cosmos. 2 Peter 1:4; 2:20; James 1:27; 4:4; 1 John 4:3; 5:4; John 14:30.

2 Peter 1:4, “For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”

2 Peter 2:20, “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.”

James 1:27, “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

James 4:4, “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

1 John 4:3, “And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.”

John 14:30, “I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.”

Satan’s strategy to control nations includes: conspiracy and deceit; manipulation; world peace movements, socialism, communism, or the welfare state; internationalism; opposition to the laws of Divine establishment; the breakdown of freedom and sovereignty of any nation where establishment, evangelism, and Bible Christianity is functioning; and to malign law and order. His policy is power politics: violence, tyranny, and change.

Religion is also a part of Satan’s strategy. Religion is the creation of Satan’s genius to counterfeit the Plan of God. Religion is man seeking to use his own merits, his own works to gain the approbation of God or the gods. Satan’s counterfeits of the Plan of God in religion including a counterfeit:

1. Gospel, 2 Cor 4:3‑4.

2. Ministers, 2 Cor 11:13‑15; 2 Peter 2:1-3, 18; Jude 4, 8.

3. Doctrine, 1 Tim 4:1-7; 2 Tim 4:1-4.

4. Communion table, 1 Cor 10:19‑21.

5. Spirituality, Gal 3:2‑3.

6. Righteousness, Mat 19:16‑28.

7. Self‑righteousness, Mat 23:13‑36. This self-righteousness is based on morality in the Cosmic System. For example, the Mosaic Law is sometimes distorted into self‑righteousness, which rejects faith in Christ for relationship with God and accepts man’s works or deeds as the way of relationship with God.

8. Power and dynamics (e.g., miracles, healing, tongues) 2 Thes 2:8‑10.

9. System of gods, Rom 1:21-23; 2 Thes 2:3‑4.

False teachers are a part of his strategy, Jer 14:14; Mat 24:24; 2 Tim 3:13; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 2:18; 4:1-3.

Stopped Here to be continued on Sunday, February 4, 2018:

1. They have a phony, hypocritical facade. They are bleeding heart do‑gooders, who “love” everyone, being all things to all men apart from any standards based on Bible doctrine, Mat 7:15. They seek to stimulate your ego, Rom 16:18.

Rom 16:18, “For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.”

2. They use human public relations systems, legalistic flirtation, and activism to court believers, Gal 4:17‑18; 2 Tim 3:5‑8.

3. They appeal to human ego, arrogance, and pride to distract believers from grace, 2 Cor 10:12. They use mutual admiration society ideas. They love to counsel others to promote their arrogance.

4. They promote idolatry as a part of Satan’s communion table, Hab 2:18‑19.

5. They promote legalism as a system of pseudo‑spirituality, 1 Tim 1:7-8. They encourage people to gossip to keep others “in-line.”

6. They possess a false spirit, 1 John 4:1-3. They are inspirational but do not function by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, believers are warned to not fall for any of these counterfeits that give a chance or opportunity for the devil to exert his influence over your life and spiritual walk, Eph 4:27.

Though the shield of faith is sufficient to quench all the flaming arrows he throws at them, Eph 6:16, he can still hinder the Christian walk, if we let him, by being susceptible to these falsehoods.

The ultimate counterfeit will be the coming Antichrist, whose activities will be in accord with Satan and who will pawn off on mankind “the lie,” 2 Thes 2:3, 7-11; Cf. 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 1:7.

1 John 2:18, “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen; from this we know that it is the last hour.”

1 John 2:22, “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.”

2 Thes 2:9-10, “That is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, ¹⁰and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.”