In this sermon, the preacher begins by expressing concern for a group of men who were deceived into thinking they were studying the Word of God but were actually attending a Sanskrit class. He warns that their church is programmed by Satan for destruction. The preacher then shifts focus to the impact of parents leaving their children at daycare centers, emphasizing the importance of the message these children receive. He then delves into the concept of redemption through Christ, highlighting the need for believers to understand the spiritual warfare waged by Satan. The sermon concludes with an analogy of a father paying off his son's debt, likening it to God's forgiveness of our sins through Jesus Christ.

I'm with you again today. We started a little series on the book of Colossians, and our theme has been that Christ is all and in all, and actually Christ is all you need, is he all you want, has been our main statement. I don't know where you've been in the last few days, the last few weeks. You know, here I am, I'm just a voice to you, unless you know me, and I don't even know you're out there, except by faith I know you're out there. But I was just thinking this morning, how so many times somebody comes along our way that is a great help to us. And my desire in this program of Eagle's Wings is to be a help to you. I am especially burdened to the pastor, have a burden for the pastor and the local church to be a help to you. In this area of the Christian life, there is great blessing, a great privilege to be a child of God, to know that our sins are forgiven, to know that we have a home in heaven, eternal life with the Lord Jesus Christ, to know that we have the power by the Holy Spirit to overcome temptations and the trials of life, we have the grace of God to help us to endure to make it through. But sometimes, it just seems that we need an encouraging voice, an encouraging friend to help us, and this program is designed to be that. I hope that we have been an encouragement to you in the weeks past. We don't want to blast you away. We don't want to put you down. There are times when we need to be put down and we need to be corrected. If we are not right scripturally and what we are doing is not according to God's word, then we need to be corrected. Or we run into apostasy and actually we can carry on a ministry in the flesh, out of the will of God, in the power of not God, but ourself, or maybe even Satan. In the book of Colossians, chapter 1, we started off doing a little study in Colossians just to bring out some principles of the cross and the crucified life from maybe a little bit different angle. But we are going to go through the passages of scripture and try to carefully draw out what is there. Last time we ended up down around, I think it was around chapter 10, Paul had started praying and in verse 9 he said he prayed for the Colossians. He said, For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you. One of the things that will be in your life and mine is a continual attitude of prayer for those that we hear about that are Christians that are going through struggles, that have just received Christ as their Savior, to pray for them. Our friends, we pray for them continually. And Paul said, I won't cease to pray for you. Now this morning as we get into this passage, I'm going to take some time and we're going to get into spiritual warfare because when we get down to verse 13 he's going to talk about how God has delivered us from the powers of darkness. And we've been delivered positionally, but many are still struggling practically because they are under bondage and actually they have given ground to Satan. Now the book of Colossians is a tremendous book. I've mentioned before it's probably the greatest book in the New Testament to teach us about the Lord Jesus Christ himself. In chapter 9 then Paul is praying for them and he's praying that they would be filled with the knowledge of his will. I was sharing in a church down in Louisiana yesterday, and I'm recording this on a Monday, and I was preaching down in the church and one of the things I shared was that God wants them to know his will in chapter 6 of Ephesians, and it's interesting that knowing his will is in proportion to prayer. In Ephesians 6, 18, Paul said, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there too with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. And for me, he said, that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am ambassador in bonds that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. God wants us to be praying always with all prayer. Back over in chapter 5, in verse 17, Paul had said, wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is. I'm convinced that many of us are just barreling on today, going along day by day, week after week, and really not knowing what the will of God is for our life. We've got our minds already made up, or we don't care, or we're in some kind of a groove, maybe a traditional groove, or a legalistic groove, or whatever, but we're not seeking God day by day carefully in his word and in prayer to know his will. Wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And of course, writing that context, the will of God is that you be filled with the Spirit in the next verse. Wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is. So the book of Colossians, in verse 9, starts us off this morning with us knowing the will of God in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, he went on to say, and that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. This was his desire for the new believers, for the Colossians. Being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthening with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. Then verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints and the like. Which brings me up today to what I want to share with you, starting with verse 13. How Christ is related to us with his redemption. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5.17, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things have passed away, and behold, new things have come. Now when we get into the Christian realm, we immediately enter into the realm of warfare. And many believers never do understand how Satan is craftily trying to destroy them spiritually, wipe them out. I see many that never talk about Jesus. They go day after day after day and they never talk about Jesus to an unsaved person. They are no threat to Satan. He has got them off the track, no problem to him. They are actually then no problem to him, a positive force for his kingdom and a negative force for God's kingdom. And God will be trying to get you revived, trying to get you back on the track so that you can do that which you are supposed to do. Maybe I should flip back over there to 2 Corinthians 5 and just read you a little bit more in that passage, because it goes on to say in that passage, back O prophet in verse 14, it says, For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we are all dead. And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. One of the evidences of a carnal fleshly believer is he is self-centered, self-oriented, and not Christ-centered and Christ-oriented. Actually, God has said that we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's head, be you reconciled to God. We are made an ambassador for Jesus Christ. He doesn't just save us to lose us or save us to shove us, he saves us to use us. He wants to use us so that he can receive the glory and that the good message of Christ dying for our sins and being raised again the third day can continue on. Now listen, I don't know where you're at. You may be at home, you may be in your car, you may be going for a walk, but wherever you are at, you are at some position spiritually. You are either dead in your sins, and if that's the case then you need to be born again, as Jesus said. Either you are walking in the Spirit, living in the Spirit, being joyful, being obedient, and living by the power of God, or maybe you are a Christian, living in the flesh, and you're miserable, and you know there's something wrong. It's just like when you go out and you start your car, and it won't start. You try to start it, you say there's something wrong, or that's the way it is. You know there's something wrong because it won't start. Or you know there's something wrong in your life spiritually if you're not right with God, because the Holy Spirit will not leave you alone if you're a child of God. You know there's many dangers today for the Christian, but basically I see two that are devastating to a believer's life. One is a false experience. In chapter 13 of Colossians, or verse 13 Colossians 1, Paul went on to say that Christ has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. In the powers of darkness is this one area of false experience. The occults will give you an experience. Many groups will give you an experience, and your experience will be valid. You jump off of a building and hit the ground and break your leg, you've had an experience. You go on a trip, you've had an experience. The question isn't whether or not you've had an experience, but was your experience according to God's will? Was it biblical? And we have all kinds of experiences, experience-oriented groups today, trying to lead us spiritually into these experiences, or these feelings, emotional feelings. And I remember back when I was just beginning to walk with the Lord, I had some friends that had this experience. And they said I had to have this experience if I was going to be spiritual. So I tried to have that experience, and it didn't happen. And I wonder, well, what's going on, God? I didn't have this thing. And I come to understand by studying the scriptures that God didn't say I had to have that thing to be spiritual. He told me something else, that I needed to just be obedient and be clean to him. Not only is there false experiences, but there's false doctrine. The power of darkness will work in your life to give you a false experience or false doctrine if you're not careful. God wants you to walk in the light. Satan will get you to walk in the darkness. The power of darkness, Christ has delivered us from the power of darkness. Actually, if I can give you a definition of that, it's from the dominion or authority of darkness. You know, if you live in darkness too long, you'll lose your sight. And if you're a believer and you're not living in the light of God's word, you're going to lose your sight. And your light will become darkness. I'm not saying you'll lose your salvation, because I don't believe the Bible teaches that. But if you live in the realm of darkness, if you feed your mind, say if you live in the realm of watching dirty movies or going to places where you shouldn't go or having fun that you shouldn't be having, that's in the realm of darkness. And it will hurt you. The Bible says if we say that we have fellowship with him, that's with Jesus, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. God wants us to practice the truth. We're to live in the kingdom of his dear son. Listen, he's delivered us from the power of darkness, and he's translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. What is that kingdom? I believe that's the kingdom where we live in the realm while we're on this earth of prayer, Bible study, fellowship. Actually, the Bible says in Romans 14, 17 that the kingdom of God is righteousness, that's holy living, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. That peace will be in your heart, the joy will be there, and it doesn't matter what your circumstances are. When you're living in the kingdom of God, you have peace and joy and holiness. And I don't think you'll find that there's a middle kingdom. There's just not. Jesus said that either you're for me or against me. You know, Peter tried following Jesus and warming himself by the fires of Christ's enemies, and he got him in trouble. It always gets us in trouble. Now, going on to verse 14, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Redemption means to set free as an enslaved people. Israel was set free out of Egypt. The blood is a ransom. The blood deals, it deals with the past. When Christ died on the cross, he in the past died for all of our sins which we will commit today or tomorrow and which we've committed yesterday. It's a legal thing. And it's not talking about us doing our best. Not that kind of stuff. But the redemption that he gives us, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of our sins, is something that he accomplished on the cross. And we receive it by faith. It is a free gift. And we do not work for our salvation. If you believe that going to church is going to get you to heaven, if you believe that being baptized is going to get you to heaven, you believe doing good works is going to get you to heaven, then you have accepted the doctrine of Satan. The Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible teaches us that we're not saved by works. The Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. In other words, salvation is a gift. And not of works, lest any man should boast. We are saved by faith. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. The good works follow as an evidence of our faith. And not as, it's not the thing that produces salvation. One person said, somebody said, a payment of our sin debt by a substitute is irrational. And if you think about it, this is the teaching of Satan. He says it's just not logical that you are saved by faith. You've got to do something. Well, that's true. We do have to do something. We have to repent of our sin and by faith just accept the fact that Christ died on the cross and paid for our sins. And you just can't do it. It's not the blood of Christ for your sins, plus your good works. That's false doctrine. Nope, it's faith in the blood of Christ alone. Your sin debt is not canceled just because you confess your sin. Your sin debt is canceled by the payment of the debt by the blood of Jesus Christ. And the remission of it deals with the past and present sins. It's like I've got this little booklet that I wrote on revival when this boy came before his father. The father was the judge and the son had got into trouble. And the son knew that he had really blown it. And the father knew that he had to be fair. He had to be just. And so he sentenced his son to six months in jail or either a thousand dollar fine because of the severity of the crime. With tears he came down with the gavel and pronounced him guilty, pronounced the fine. And then he did something unusual. He got up out of his chair, took off his robe, walked down to the clerk. He wrote out a check. He looked over at his son. He says, Son, I'll pay your debt for you. It's all written out. The check is here. Will you accept it? And of course the son was broken by his father's humbling himself and willing to do that for me. He ran over and hugged his father and accepted it. And of course then his life was straightened up. Well, you see the debt was paid for. The check's been written out for your sin. But the question is, my friend, will you accept what God has done for you and quit trying to do it for yourself? It's just like when I got stuck in sand here a few years ago. I tried rocking the truck, but the more I tried, the deeper I got until finally I was up to my axle and I had to walk up the road and get some help. We just go deeper when we try to get ourselves out. God has delivered us from the kingdom and the power of darkness. He's translated us into the kingdom of his dear son in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. I think I'm going to stop right there on that verse and share a little bit with you about spiritual warfare. When we're talking about the power of darkness, I think we need to take some time. And in the remaining few moments, I want to share some things with you. I don't think we should be focusing on demons. I think that's a diversionary tactic of Satan to focus on these little demons that flutter around and try to do things in our lives. And they're real. I've seen the power of these little demons and what they can do. If you have fear in your life, they'll really make you afraid. If you've got any kind of area that you give them some ground, they'll just tie you up in circles. But we're not supposed to focus on the demons. One thing, it can divide Christians to focus on that. It's focusing on a lesser power. We need to be focusing on the Lord Jesus Christ and His power over the powers that control the demons. There's a hierarchy of power in Satan's realm. Did you know that? And in this hierarchy, principalities control demons. And Satan controls the principalities. Therefore, we're told not to resist demons, but to resist the devil. And he will flee from you, James 4, 7. And if Satan flees, his princes are conquered, the demons, they also have to go. And if we just focus on these little things, it'll be like this little philosophy that came out here a few years ago, that the devil made me do it. One of the greatest consequences, probably, of focusing on demons is that we tend to blame our failures and our sins on them. So it would be easy for someone to say, well, I stole because the devil made me do it. Or I divorced my wife because the devil made me do it. No, my friend, we give him a lot of credit, probably, that we should take for ourselves. And this kind of thinking, it makes the guilty Christian appear as a victim. Instead of just coming out and saying, I submitted to this temptation, I did it. We're trying to pass off the blame back onto Satan. Now, he, sure, he's had maybe something to do in there, but we've got to face it. Now, listen. God points out the fallacy of this kind of thinking when he says, let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. But every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed. And then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. We've got to assume personal responsibility for personal sin. And God is able to deal with us in justice and mercy and to cleanse us and get us going right when we will face up to it. Now, let me share another thing about spiritual warfare. The battleground between God and Satan is in the mind, the human mind. And this is described at many places in the scripture. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10, 3 through 5, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Now, listen to this. Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Do you ever get thoughts that tend to go something like this? You're no good. You're not serving God. Look at you. You're just, you're a nobody. Well, if you'll stop and evaluate those thoughts and just evaluate where they come from, you'll come up with some interesting deductions. For one, the Bible says that God doesn't condemn us. These are condemning thoughts. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit, he convicts. And there's a big difference between conviction and condemning. Condemning is putting down, attacking our worth. Well, if you get to thinking about that and evaluating it in light of scripture, a lot of that thinking is the attack of Satan on your mind. Trying to get you to accept some thoughts about yourself. One thing that has really grown strong in our country is the concept of the worth of the wife. And this comes out in the philosophy of what's she doing? Even you go fill out a form somewhere for a job or something. What's your wife's occupation? Well, according to the scripture, if you have children, she's occupied at home. She's busy. You mothers, let me encourage you again. I've done it before. You have right there in your home a great mission field. Don't feel bad that you're not out tearing up the world by making a lot of money financially. You just keep plugging away, building into your children the character of Christ. God has ordained that the woman be in the home. To be there to take care of the things at home and the children. And these thoughts will come to a housewife. Well, if I would just get out and work a little bit, I'd have a little bit more freedom. We'd have a little bit more money and could help out and things. Actually, the damage that's done to children, we haven't really seen it yet. I believe it's coming. My wife and I, at this time I'm recording down in the south in Louisiana, and we've been going out walking most mornings. And when we go around this one corner, there's a daycare center. And about the time we're walking, the folks or the parents are just coming in and dumping their kids off. And it's very interesting to watch as these little kids are dropped off. The expression on the parents' faces, the expression on the kids' faces. Little babies up to older kids, six, seven, eight years old, dropping them off while mom and dad go off and make their living. What is the message that these little children are receiving? Well, they're receiving several interesting messages. One is, it's more important for mom and dad to go off and make a living than to take care of me. Now, granted, we've gotten to such a shape to where it's impossible for a lot of families to make it on just the father's income. But I challenge you that a lot haven't considered just how much it's costing them to not take care of their children. And in the area of spiritual warfare, if you want to destroy an army, and you can't get the present army, then start destroying the army to be the next generation. Our generation of young people that's coming up in the churches are being wiped out. Home life is a mockery to the biblical standard. Church life in most churches now is a mockery. A lot of the Christian, our so-called Christian music is nothing more than demonic drumbeats drawing in the demons. We've not researched enough to see what our music is doing. We've not researched enough to see what our lifestyle is doing to the generation to come. The warfare is going on in the mind. And so though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. But the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Notice that the conflict in this warfare is not casting out demons, but casting down evil imaginations. You are given a thought. If you're given a thought long enough, consistently enough, just like our newscasters continually, the national newscasters are continually throwing out socialistic philosophies to us. And if you sit there year after year after year listening to that, pretty soon you're thinking like that, and your thinking will come out in your voting. And one of these days, we're just going to vote ourselves right down the tubes, because we've accepted these evil thoughts. Here's something else. Satan's tactic is deception. He works through deception. There may be a debate over whether or not Christians can be demon-possessed, but there should be no question about whether or not we can be deceived, because we sure can. Over and over in Scripture, we are warned not to allow ourselves to be deceived. And some of the references about this, one is Galatians 6.3. If a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Now, you can't blame demons or Satan for self-deception. This deception is based upon secret lust and desires that we have in our own heart. And if you have a secret desire, say, for praise or for money or whatever, if any man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Be careful that you're not playing games with yourself. You may think yourself a spiritual giant in the church. I see over and over again. While I was in the church just the other day, where I got to sit in the adult son's school class. Wonderful experience. Here's about like how it went. Well, we went back and sat back in the back of the church on the last two pews, the adult men's son's school class. And so we got there, and then the men began to throw it around, well, who's going to teach this morning? And so they were throwing it back and forth like a ball, and pretty soon, well, one of them, he got up. I guess he was the designated winner of that little game. And he got up and he said, well, the son's school teacher's gone today, and I guess I have to do it. And so here was the lesson. Basically, we read a few passages of scripture from, they read from their textbooks, and I read from my Bible. Read that, asked if anybody had a comment, nobody had a comment, and he said, well, we were dismissed. Now, I think that took maybe ten minutes. And the rest of the time was just a visit time. My friend, those men have been deceived into thinking that they had a son's school class. They've been deceived into thinking they studied the word of God. And their church is programmed by Satan to be destroyed. And remember, the Bible says, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Don't give him ground. Well, our time's about gone today. And until next time, I'm going to trust that God will bless you richly, my friend.