Satan In Court
Satan knew, before Adam and Eve ever were, God's eternal plan for man's salvation. Therefore, he has had a long time to plan his strategy against it. You have to admit, he's done a very thorough job, and even churches are teaching that belief is enough. Yes there are scripture verses in abundance to support belief alone. That's where Satan is clever. Think about it, if that's all it takes, even he has eternal life through the cross of Christ! The blood of Christ is sufficient for ALL who believe. It is Truth, all of it, but it's not the whole, and it's that whole which separates the Christian's destination from Satan's.
Let’s picture the scene:-
It’s the Great and Terrible Day, there, standing before you is the Lord Jesus Christ!, finally after eating dirt for some considerable time, you look up. His robe is stained red, in his hand is a sword dripping something equally red. Finally, He looks at you and begins to speak, and the words you hear leave you numb.. “I never knew you” Now, He’s not saying I knew you for a little while but then I decided I didn’t want to any more. Neither is He saying I knew you until you didn’t want to know me, then I stopped knowing you! He IS saying “I NEVER knew you” As the words sink in you begin to question the facts… “Just a minute!” you cry “I have worked for you for 30 years, how is it possible for you not to know me? I was on the church leadership; I ran youth groups, planted churches, did beach missions, the children’s talks, Sunday school, I was pastor of your church blah blah blah.................................... __________________________” Insert your own list there. “How can you possibly say I never knew you?”
He looks at you for a while, then says to His angels “Take this one to the throne for Judgement”
“So!” Says the voice:-
You really know the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes I know Him.
Do you really believe with all your heart and soul? Yes truly I do.
Do you believe before the foundations of this world were laid He already was? Yes He is God and He came in the flesh. I do believe that.
Do you believe that He died and took your place, taking upon Himself everything you so richly deserved? Oh yes, yes I do.
Do you know how he agonised in the garden, and despite knowing God’s charge to the angels, he forwent his power and authority and chose instead the will of Him who sent Him? Oh yes, yes I know.
The tears begin to fall…
Do you understand what that meant? That He chose the beatings? He chose the spit? He chose to have his beard pulled out… think about that for a moment. His beard yanked out!!!! He chose three times to receive the 40-1 lashes, His back striped down to the bone, no wonder he was unable to carry His cross, yet he tried!
All you can do is nod
Do you know He chose the humiliation, the rejection and let’s not forget those nails, hammered into His flesh, His hands, and His feet. The Crown of thorns pushed upon His Head.
And do you know He endured it all for you?
Oh yes, I know
Do you really? Well then only one question remains….
At that moment Satan arrives!
S: Yo! Jesus, how’s it going?
J: You know what day it is?
S: Sure do and I came here to claim all those lovely promises of yours.
J: I don’t think so
S: Aww c’mon you an’ I go back long ways and we both know you have to honour your promises, after all you can’t lie.
J: Angels. Take Him to the throne for judgement
“So” says the voice
You really know the Lord Jesus Christ? ~ Know Him? Are you kidding I was there with him before the foundations of this world were laid!
Do you really believe with all your heart and soul? ~ I don’t need to believe, I know, beyond question.
Do you believe before the foundations of this world were laid He already was? ~ Mate, I was there, I saw him!
Do you believe that He died and took your place, taking upon Himself everything you so richly deserved? ~ Listen matey, I was there when the whole plan was brought into being, only thing unknown was times and dates! I knew the whole salvation plan!
Do you know how he agonised in the garden, and despite knowing God’s charge to the angels, he forwent his power and authority and chose instead the will of Him who sent Him? ~ Do I know? Do I know? I was there! I was with him in that garden, right by his side, helping him out as it were.
Do you understand what that meant? That He chose the beatings? He chose the spit? He chose to have his beard pulled out He chose three times to receive the 40-1 lashes, His back striped down to the bone, no wonder he was unable to carry His cross, yet he tried! ~ Again I was there, I witnessed it all, I don’t think it happened, don’t believe it happened I know it happened
Oh enough already! I was there, right by his side
Do you know He chose the humiliation, the rejection and let’s not forget those nails, hammered into His flesh…. Stop right there! I know! I made sure he was there and stayed there. That one moment was my shinning moment of glory His hands, and His feet. The Crown of thorns pushed upon His Head, all my handiwork. No guesswork, no knowledge all facts…
And do you know He endured it all for you? ~ Well that was God’s plan right from the beginning and we all know he can’t lie
At this point Jesus steps forward and resumes His dialoge with you and says:-
So what separates you from Satan?
Have you worked it out yet? Or are you still hoping that His absolute love is going to save you. It did of course, but there’s more than that. If knowing all about Him, who He is and what He accomplished upon that cross with His resurrection and ascension is enough, then Satan qualifies too! No matter how much you believe it still falls far short if you just stay there at the cross with all your knowledge.
Here’s the difference, here is what WILL separate those bound for Hell and damnation and those bound for life eternal with the Lord of Glory. Now if you’re expecting some huge revelation I can only apologise for the disappointment, Satan doesn’t do huge and obvious, he only does subtle and slight. So what is that remaining question I hear you cry….
With all your knowledge and absolute certainty, why did you never acknowledge His Lordship? Why did you never bow down and worship Him. Why did you never humble yourself at His feet? If you knew and believed everything He suffered and endured for your sake, why did it not cause you to humble yourself at His feet, give Him ALL of your life?
Jesus is Lord of ALL or Lord of nothing, He’s not into settling for half measures, and rightly so. You may feel you are free to treat Him less than He deserves, He however, will not accept it.
So what was that hidden commandment, that half quoted scripture?
Turn in your bible to 1John 3:23 “His (Gods) command is that we should give our allegiance to His Son Jesus Christ and love one another as Christ commanded us.” {REB.}
Everybody knows Christs’ command that we love one another, but so few (there’s that word again) know God’s whole command and it fits so beautifully with all of scripture, “this is my beloved Son, hear ye Him” basically, obedience is required here, and we all know God’s priority on that one! {If you don’t, stick with us we will get there}Please note it is not a polite request, it is a command one that demands obedience.
The point:-
We can know everything there is to know about the bible, theology, God, Jesus, the Trinity, Satan, the cross, absolutely everything there is. We can believe it all to be true. We can KNOW that God cannot lie, we can trust in Him for everything, but if we do not recognise and acknowledge the Lordship of His Son in direct obedience to the command of God then Jesus will never know you! Never raise you up to sit at His table, never acknowledge you as a brother or sister, never wash you clean in His precious blood, never take away your guilt and your shame, never walk the road to Calvary in your stead, in short, you will have denied Him. To deny His Lordship is to deny Him. Remember His words, “if you deny me, I will deny you before my father in heaven” rough translation… I never knew you…! Salvation is NOT about what you know or who you know or even how well you know! It’s all about WHO knows you. You may know Jesus, but the question is does Christ Jesus know you? Everyone knows Satan will NEVER acknowledge the Lordship of Christ Jesus, never serve or worship Him, and yet Satan has so much knowledge and is fully aware of the truth. Are you the same? Are you paying lip service? Do you have some knowledge? Are you doing your thing and waiting for Him to bless it? Is HE Lord of ALL? Are you ready to truly get to know who He is and who you truly are in Him, then it is time to Take the Crumbs!