Permission from God
Today's message is permission from God. We will meditate on three important scripture passages from Luke, Job, & 1 Kings. Shall we ask ourselves: Do we ever believe that God gives permission to Satan to come against us or to take us into bondage? We are also going to answer the question: Does God ever grant Satan permission to come against us? Let us think for a moment from God's people's life in both Old and New Testament. God's people were sinning, and God was granting the enemy permission to take His people into bondage. Then His people cried out to Him, and He released them from bondage. Psalm 107:6 tells us “Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; and He delivered them out of their distresses.” What does that mean? Well, we have talked about Satan as a thief. Jesus said he is always looking for a way to come in. Joel said 2:9, “they run to and fro at the city, they enter at the windows like a thief, or they can come in through an open door.” Today, I want to tell you about not one open door, but three. Three definitions of it.
The first open door is when believers, even mature believers, open a door to Satan. This is the area of PRIDE. Now it is amazing to us when we talk about pride. Many people are proud that they don't have pride.
I. Pride is trusting in your own strength:
Pride is trusting in your own strength. Now look at Luke 22:31-32. In verse 31, the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; when you have returned me, strengthen your brethren.” This is an amazing passage of Scripture. The New American Standard says, “Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat”. In other words this could be translated Satan asked and received permission to sift you like wheat. Satan is always touching on your weakness. He will touch your pride, your selfish attitude, that is called your open door.
There was an open door in Simon’s life. We can say that he trusted in his own strength. He leaned on his own way. He had pride in himself that “I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” (33). But in Mark 14:27-31, “then Jesus said to them, ‘all of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: I will strike the Shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.’(Zea.13:7) 29 Peter said to him even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be. 30 Jesus said to him assuredly I say to you that today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. But he spoke more vehemently, “if I have to die with you, I will not deny you.” Now Jesus was trying to say to Peter, “What part of ‘all’ do you not understand? All of you will deny me.” But Peter argued, “Not me. Maybe the other disciples might, but not me.” So Jesus said, “you're going to do it tonight three times.” Jesus is telling the disciples, there is a scripture in the Old Testament that says that His sheep will scatter. But Peter’s pride refuses because he believes he could do no wrong.
Let me show you a little more pride in Matthew 16:21-23 “from that time Jesus began to show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and scribes. He would be killed and raised on the third day. 22 Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from you Lord this shall not happen to you!” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “get behind me, Satan. You are an offense to me for you're not mindful of the things of God the things of men.”
Jesus was addressing Satan in Peter. Dear brothers and sisters, we have to deal with the scriptures. Because of his pride of trusting in his own strength, Jesus said to Peter, “get behind me Satan.”
But because of this, Jesus said to him, Satan is coming. And he is coming because you have opened the door to him. And because of this, Peter does something totally out of character for himself. He was a strong disciple, and he was willing to take off a whole troop of soldiers but turns around and denies Jesus that same night. He even curses and swears. He starts using curse words saying, ‘I don't know him. I don't know the man.’
Today many mature believers fall into this trap. They have walked with the Lord for a long time. But when they begin to trust in their own strength to resist temptation, they will always fail. Another example can also be found in King David’ life. David grew in the Lord and loved the Lord. But he was a very, very, strong man. There were moments in his life where pride caused him to trust in his own strength. In 1 Corinthians 10:12, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”
II. Trusting in your own righteousness:
Pride is also trusting in your own righteousness. Now turn with me to Job. Most of us know the story of Job. Look at Job 1:6-12. Now Satan came near to God as all the sons of God presented themselves. God asked Satan if he had seen the Lord’s righteous servant, Job. However, Satan argues that Job is only faithful to the Lord because of all the blessing God has showered upon his life. He challenges God and says that Job would surely curse God if his blessings were taken away. And God responds in verse 12, “behold all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
Job had three friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar; they showed up to try to comfort him. They said to him, over and over and over again, “Job are you sure there is no open door in your life? Are you sure there is no weakness in your life? Are you sure there is no cause that the enemy was able to use against you?” And Job said, “no, no. I have not done any of those things.” Therefore in chapter 32:1 “So these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.” 2 Then the wrath of Elihu who the family of Ram, was aroused against Job; his wrath was aroused because he justified himself rather than God. Job justified himself rather than God.
In chapter 33:9 Job says, I am pure without transgression. I am innocent and there is no iniquity in me.” And again in Job 36:3, Elihu “I will bring my knowledge from afar; I will ascribe righteousness to my maker.” Here was the sin. Here was the open door in Job's life. He thought he was righteous because of what he did. His whole conversation is about what he did. I've done this, I've done this, and I've done this.
A mature believer falls prey to pride in this area. Because when we get saved, we know that our righteousness comes from God. Because we were righteous, and God came by with his grace and saved us. But years later we begin to feel like we are righteous because of what we do but forget that we are righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ, his son alone. This is the ONLY reason we're righteous. When you begin to believe and trust in your own righteousness, that is pride. Jesus said that’s kind of like the Pharisees. When the Pharisee was in synagogue praying while he saw a sinner; This was his prayer to God: “thank you that I'm not like him. Thank you, Lord.” The Pharisee compared himself. That's what Job does in chapter 31. He says, ‘compare me to anybody, and you'll see I'm righteous.’ Then God came and said, ‘okay, if you want to do some comparisons, you can compare yourself to me.’ (Job 38:1) And the Lord begins to show Job all of His creations and wonders of the world.
Then God ends it with a statement from Job 40:8, “Would you condemn me that you may be justified?” Of course, Job repents. There are many mature believers who begin to trust in their own righteousness. Unrighteous living will open doors to demons. Living righteously through the blood of Jesus will protect our souls. 2 Cor. 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” & 1 Peter 2:24 says, He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.
There are many Christians, who are steeped in Pride. They have troubles in their lives and situations. They find it difficult to overcome the pride of self-righteousness. Understand, no one has always done the right thing. Each and every one of us are sinners. Each and every one of us, are in need of the mercy of the Lord. Pride is trusting your own strength. Pride is trusting your own righteousness. Listen to me for one more thing:
III. Trusting in Your Own Wisdom
The third pride is trusting in your own wisdom. Please turn to 1 Kings chapter 22. This scripture talks about the story of King Ahab. When he was king of Israel, he asked Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, to come visit him. Jehoshaphat was a good King. However, Ahab was a very bad King. Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “let's go and attack the king of Syria and get back Ramoth in Gilead. This city should be ours.” King Jehoshaphat says, “Please inquire for the Word of the Lord today.”
Now Ahab called his 400 prophets, who all responded with, “yes, go. God will be with you.” However king Jehoshaphat wanted to hear from a prophet of the Lord. They brought in the prophet Micaiah; however king Ahab did not favor Micaiah because the prophet never prophesied good concerning him. Now, Micaiah had already warned King Ahab that he would die because he had made God angry.
Micaiah again warns the king that going to war with the Syrian king will lead to his death. “Israel would be scattered on the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd.” Remember when they have no shepherd, the wolf attacks. But rather than listening to God or the wisdom of His word from the prophet, King Ahab declares, “Did I not tell you he would not prophesy good concerning me but evil.”
Now Micaiah says in 1 King 22:19, ``Therefore hear the Word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the hosts of heaven standing by on his right hand and on his left.” Understand, God has dominion over both angels and demons. Remember, we just read in Job where Satan was standing in front of the throne of God, and God gave him permission to test Job.
Now in 1 Kings 22:20-23, the Lord grants permission to a lying spirit to go down into the mouth of all 400 of king Ahab’s prophets. This was not a good holy spirit, but an evil spirit, a lying spirit. However, because of Ahab’s trust and pride in his own wisdom, he could not differentiate between a holy prophecy and a lying spirit. Therefore the Lord put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these 400 prophets, and the Lord has declared disaster against King Ahab.
He thought he could outsmart God. He didn't put his kingly garments on him. However, Ahab told Jehoshaphat to wear his Kinsley garments. Thinking that the enemy would kill Jehoshaphat, and then Ahab could be the ruler of both Israel and Judah. So king Ahab put on normal armor and pretended to be a regular soldier and stayed in the very back of the battle. Now in 1 Kings 22:34 “Now a certain man drew a bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor.” And king Ahab died. God warned him, ‘if you go, you're going to die.’ God guided that arrow to hit king Ahab right in the joint of his armor. God told him what would happen. But his pride did not allow him to listen to God.
We are all sinners from birth. Our wisdom is nothing in comparison to God. We can never trust in our own wisdom for spiritual understanding. For our wisdom comes only from God.
God is in Control
I want you to understand who is in control. There is no battle between God and the devil. The devil is a creative being, and God is the Creator. God is in charge, and God will sometimes use the enemy to fulfill his purposes. However, God is completely and totally in charge of everything. Now some people may say, a demon couldn't enter me because God lives here. The Holy Spirit lives in me, and a demon can't live where God lives. However, understand that God is omnipresent. He lives everywhere, so if a demon can't live where God lives, then a demon can't live anywhere. There were spirits standing right in front of His throne.
Even in our story of Job, Satan was standing in the presence of God, and God gave him orders. You need to understand, God is in control. But when you sin, you open the door to the enemy, and God may grant permission for the enemy to come in and sift you like wheat. I'm going to answer the question of: Why would God grant permission.
We need to understand that God is in control. When you trust in your own wisdom, believe that you're smart enough, and don't listen to people who warn you of danger, you will open the doors of your heart to evil. This wisdom is also talked about in James 3:14 saying “But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts do not boast and lie against the truth.” Understand, prideful wisdom does not come from above. But it can come from a lying spirit talking to you, and you think it is God, because you trust in your own wisdom and not in the Lord’s. When you have pride, you have an open door, which can allow evil to come into your life.
So would God ever grant permission for Satan to attack a believer? Yes, absolutely. We saw it with Peter. Jesus said Satan asked, and he was given permission. Satan also asked for Job. Why would God do that? Listen to me very carefully! It's always for your good. Why would a parent ever spank a child? For his good. Because you don't want them to go in the wrong way. Turn with me to Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
But God does not want us to fall into destruction. Peter and Job had Satan come against them, but they repented. Peter became one of the preeminent apostles in the New Testament church. Satan stole everything that Job had, but it was soon restored by twice as much. However, Ahab did not repent. God sent Micaiah, a prophet, to warn the King that he would fall. But there were 400 lying spirits all around him. He didn't repent, instead he went into battle.
CONCLUSION
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! I want you to remember, pride is trusting your own strength, your own righteousness, and your own wisdom. Pride is a trap that even the strong, the righteous, and the wise may fall into many times. I want you to take a moment and be very honest, Lord do I have pride in my life? Pride creates an open door. It grants the enemy permission to enter our souls. Have you relied on your own strength to overcome trials? Have you relied on your own self-righteousness to justify yourself? Have you relied on your own wisdom to solve your tribulations?
Dear brothers and sisters, our strength comes from God, our righteousness comes from God, and our wisdom comes from God. Only He deserves the glory. God does not want us to fall into destruction. He wants us to cry out to Him, reach out to Him, and hear to His voice. For we are mere mortals, and He is our eternal savior. Amen.
