The Devil's Got Your Number

The Devil’s Got Your Number

Sunday, August 04, 2013

By Rev. James May

The Apostle Paul had helped to establish a great Christian church of the Galatians. He had preached and taught the Word of the Lord and many souls had been won to the Lord. But even though a great work had begun in that church, they were facing some hard times due to confusion and false teachings that were entering the church through a lot of Judaizers who were attempting to cause the church to come under the bondage of the Law of Moses.

The devil isn’t going to sit by and not do anything and allow you to just waltz into Heaven without any opposition. You can rest assured that he’s got your number, and that Satan is going to do everything in his power to stop you on your journey through life while you’re trying to serve the Lord.

Often, it’s a little thing that seems so innocent that draws us aside, but the end result of taking that little side trip off of the strait and narrow leads us much farther than we ever thought, and sometimes it even leads to the end of our ministry.

Many Christians have found themselves having to overcome just a moment of disobedience to try and get back to a place of victory in their walk with the Lord. Often, just one instance of stepping out of the way that the Holy Ghost is leading us, will result in a lifetime of trying to repair the damage.

Entire ministries have fallen into a self-destructive mode because of the failure of one minister who fell into the devil’s trap. The devil had his number, and knew what it would take to make him fall; and that’s what was placed in his path.

Paul knows this is a danger to every Christian and that’s why he says in Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage

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We must ever be on guard lest something, or someone, should lead us astray. We must be careful to use all of the spiritual discernment, to seek to ever be sure that we are walking according to God’s will, and to try every spirit and every word that comes our way. Too much is at stake to be rash in making decisions or to listen to every little wind of doctrine. Even well-meaning people can be unwittingly used of the devil to lead you astray.

Paul asked the Galatians this question in Galatians 5:7, Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?

Turn to 1 Kings chapter 13

There is a story here that I think is important for us to hear this morning. It’s a story of a true Prophet, a man of God, who began well, but through tricks of the devil, he lost his way, lost his ministry, and even lost his life. Sadly, we don’t even know his name.

Though he began with a great ministry that had so much promise, and had the power of God with him as much as Elijah, or Moses or any other of the Old Testament prophets, all it took was one wrong decision to bring it all to a halt. His ministry didn’t last long enough to even record his name.

Perhaps his name was never recorded for a reason; to let us know that what happened to this man of God could happen to any Christian who walks away from the will of God, even for a moment, and even for the best of reasons. It’s a sobering story of someone who had it all and lost it all with just one wrong decision.

We won’t read about it right now, but if you want to read the background of what was happening in Israel during this time, you can read the story of King Jeroboam and his idolatry in chapter 12. He was a wicked king who established the worship of two golden calves in Israel and said, “These be your gods, Israel, that brought you out of Egypt”.

It seems that even though hundreds of years had past, those golden calves had made a terrible and permanent mark upon Israel.

All of us have our own “Golden Calves”; things that can quickly be placed on a pedestal in our lives and suddenly have control over all that we do.

Our nation has its own “Golden Calf”. It’s called money. More American’s watch the “Golden Calf” of Wall Street and the stock market than watch to see what God wants to do in our country. Their hope for the future is in their cash cow, and not in the God that gives them the power to get wealth.