The Invasion of Planet Earth

This was the message I bought to the 2 Renmark Uniting Church congregations recently.

It is slightly different to how it was delivered.

The order of service and main Bible passage is after the sermon.

The Invasion of Planet Earth

What a title!

No! We are not talking about Martians.

We will find out who,what ,when and where shortly.

How did the world get in this mess that it is today?

How come it’s getting into an even bigger mess?

You look at our society in Australia and the rest of the world over say the last 50 years and it is remarkable how much evil and moral decay has set in.

Things that were once considered very immoral are now dismissed as a fair mode of doing things.

The world is full of people demanding their freedom to do whatever they like and they are winning these freedoms.

At their own cost and those around them.

Drug taking is rife and now we are having marihujana being made a legal drug in many parts of the world when medical evidence points quite clearly to its danger.

There are epidemics of things like “ice”.

Families and relationships are crumbling.

People rejoice when they win their so called freedoms but in reality they are putting themselves in bondage( to the devil).

And of course we have the rise of the pure evil of terrorism.

We have been invaded!

By the devil!

So who is the devil?

From the outset I will say it is 100% positive there is a devil and he is alive and active on planet earth.

How did he get here?

How has he got such a foothold and is doing so much damage?

Lucifer, meaning angel of light, was one of God’s created angels who decided he would try and usurp God as the ruler of the universe.

Lucifer is the devil(Satan).

He is not a guy with horns, a forked tail and a pitchfork.

We would soon run if we saw one of those.

He usually tempts us in the same way he did Adam and Eve.

“No harm will come to you. You will enjoy this.”

He is the one behind the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and is still our tempter.

Yes, Adam and Eve were our real initial parents created by God.

All people are descended from them.

Until the devil,the serpent, tempted Adam and Eve they had an idyllic life.

They were in direct fellowship with their creator and were thoroughly enjoying His creation and going about the jobs He had given them.

You can read about this in Genesis.

The whole scene is a blessed picture of peace.

We do not know how long this state of divine communion and mutual love continued.

All we do know is that the heart of God found a unique joy with those He had created.

Then out of nowhere appears this creature.

The invasion begins.

The serpent.

He may have looked like a snake.

This is recorded in Genesis Chapter 3.

Genesis 3King James Version (KJV)

3 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

² And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
³ But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
⁴ And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
⁵ For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
⁶ And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
⁷ And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
⁸ And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
⁹ And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
¹⁰ And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
¹¹ And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
¹² And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
¹³ And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

Satan challenges Adam and Eve in a very beguiling way to disobey what God has asked of them.

They eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge and immediately they are afraid and realised they are naked.

“I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid….and I hid myself” Genesis 3:10

Guilt and fear had simultaneously entered the world.

They hid themselves from God.

This word fear is the word for the emotion that has the whole world in bondage.

At that point the devil had invaded planet earth and  considered the invasion of planet earth was a great success.

    Fellowship was destroyed between man and God , man was driven out into the agony of existence,outside of the garden.

 God was lonely and all of Satan’s accomplices rejoiced.

Now there are many questions about why God would allow the devil and evil to enter the world.

The devil wanted more than the power and authority God had given him.

He wanted to be like god and worshipped as God.

We don’t know the answers to these questions.

The Bible however tells us what we need to know, not what we want to know.

We do know that for any creature to return God’s love they need to be given freedom to say yes or know.

The devil had been given this freedom also.

Before Jesus came,after the fall, God had not given up on mankind and still, as we read in the Old Testament, He gave instruction on Godly living and spoke through His prophets.

The Old Testament clearly foretells the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, and then He arrives on earth as a baby born of a virgin.

We heard about that again in our Christmas services.

In the NT we learn of His miracle working life and His death on the cross and His resurrection.

The dying for our sins, the shedding of His blood as a sacrifice in our place.

The victory that He has won over the devil.

We learn of the authority, His authority, He gives to us to deal with evil and sin and the devil.

His authority over the devil is clearly shown in today’s Bible reading.

Now while we need to know much how to use the weapons ,spiritual weapons, God has given us, so that we are not ensnared like Adam and Eve were,

I just want to focus on one of those weapons today.

The devil does not want the world to seriously consider he exists.

He does not want the world to understand that the Bible is God’s revelation of His plan of redemption.

The word of God is one,and a very important one,
of God's mighty weapons.

The word of God!

“Hebrews 4:12King James Version (KJV)

¹² For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
And from Ephesians 6.
^"17 And you will need the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the Word of God."
Note the "helmet of salvation". 
We do need to have the question of our salvation settled before we can go into this battle, against our invader, and use “the sword of the spirit” the “word of God.”

So we have been hearing today of how the devil invaded the earth and the minds of men and women.

The devil who is the driving force behind all the evil and rebellion in the world.

So one of the simple ruses of the evil one is to convince people that the first 3 chapters of Genesis, where we read about this invasion, are a myth.

In Genesis 3 we see the plan and purpose of satan in his attack in the garden and his unique pattern he follows in all his assaults on mankind.

Now the theory of evolution is a neat package to help further the devil’s cause.

It is used by many to attack the credibility of the Bible.

If people can be convinced the true story of creation and the temptation by the devil is a myth, then why wouldn’t they accept the rest of the Bible’s message as a fairy tale.

Now just a personal note and for consideration.

I was still believing in evolution when I became a Christian.

I thought at first that God had caused evolution but the more I looked into it the more I came to dismiss that theory.

It is still a theory, not a fact.

Folks evolution is the fairy tale.

I am not knocking science.

There is true science and false science.

If it were not for medical science I possibly wouldn’t be standing here today.

One fairy tale we know of is of the Frog Prince who is awakened from his curse by the kiss of a beautiful maiden.

The only difference between  that fairy tale and the theory of evolution is several million years.

No amount of years, however how many millions, will turn a frog, a fish or a monkey or any other creature into a man.

The much maligned Charles Darwin was one of the main culprits behind getting this theory off the ground.

He started off a Christian but became agnostic much to his Bible believing wife’s despair.

According to the book,”The Kiwi’s Egg”she believed the Genesis account of creation.

They remained faithfully married to each other all their lives but you can read about their conflict in the book.

Christians,

 believe the Bible!

every word of it!

It is a matter of life and death.

For all of us.

Take it at Faith value.

So the one thing?

The one weapon of God we can all use.

The word of God.

The Bible.

We should read it and study it.

 If you are challenged by today’s message take some steps to thoroughly investigate the evidence for the truth of the first chapters of Genesis.

Then share what you find whenever you can,

even though some may ridicule you.

A caution though,

share it when you have thoroughly studied the subject.

Know what you are talking about.

Become a champion for the Word of God.

The Bible.

You need to study your Bible thoroughly.

The devil knows the word of God,

 the scriptures,

 and tried to trick Jesus by misquoting it when Jesus was tempted for 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness by the devil.

Jesus countered all his arguments with scripture in correct context.

Promote the Bible as the whole truth,

including the story in Genesis of our creation,

and the part the devil plays in the fall of man.

So folks, particularly the younger people, study the word of God.

Find out that reputable scientists also believe the Bible and its Creation account rather than Evolution.

We are not here by chance but by a deliberate act of God.

There are many fine books and Christian documentaries on this subject.

Older people here, it is equally as important no matter how old you are to make sure you are right with God.

Don’t allow your faith to be nullified by the devil’s lies.

Just last weekend at the Parkrose Village Church service I was sitting next to a little lady,

 she is 94,

who told me that this,

meaning Christian fellowship and the Gospel message,

was what she had been longing for.

I think it was her first day in our church service.

A new resident.

She told me she had done much wrong in her life and did not think herself worthy to be in the same room with all the other worshipers there.

She said she desperately needed to do something about being forgiven.

I prayed with her and assured her that the first step to getting right with God is repentance.

I also assured her she would be accepted by the people present.

I arranged for her to have a follow up meeting with the Village chaplain who had been leading the service that day.

What surprised me was that this was a service attended by about the same amount of people as here, many in their 90’s.

It was just a simple service like this.

We did have communion incorporated into the service which always reminds us of Jesus and His sacrifice on the Cross for us.

There were no bells and whistles, people leaping and praising God, which is the impression you can get in some modern churches.

Obviously the Holy Spirit was working in her life at the late age of 94.

Where 2 or 3 are gathered in Jesus name then He is in the midst of them.

He was there speaking to this lady.

^{Ephesians 6:17 says this.
"17} And you will need the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the Word of God."

We do need to have the question of our salvation settled before we can go into this battle with satan.

Maybe the Holy Spirit is speaking to someone here today who may over the years may simply have been going through the outward motions of being Christian.

The outward motions but no inner stirring or change.

No recognition that we are all sinners and need to be reconciled to God,

and seeing the need to share that with others.

If young or older people here today are stirred by God’s Holy Spirit, don’t delay making a decision for Jesus or a rededication and re affirming of your faith.

Folks don’t allow the devil in his subtle ways,to  steer you away from Jesus.

Jesus has all authority over the devil and defeated him once and for all on the cross.

When Jesus lives in us we have that same authority.

We do need to exercise it and not just keep the seat warm in Church.

I close with this reading.

Luke 10:17-20

Living Bible
¹⁷ When the seventy disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Even the demons obey us when we use your name.”
¹⁸ “Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan falling from heaven as a flash of lightning! ¹⁹ And I have given you authority over all the power of the Enemy----------²⁰ However, the important thing is not that demons obey you, but that your names are registered as citizens of heaven.”

Let us take on the invasion of planet earth in our part of the world.

Amen

 

Order of Service for Renmark 28/1/18 

Call to worship and Opening Prayer. 

Hymn: “How Great thou Art”

Prayer of confession praise and thanksgiving

Hymn: “Jesus the name high over all”  AHB 150

Bible readings: Mark 1:21-28

Offering and Prayer: Geoff

Hymn: “Be thou my guardian and my guide” AHB 498

Bible reading: Genesis 3:1-13

Sermon: “Invasion of Planet Earth”.

Hymn: “I will sing the wondrous story” AHB 173

Benediction: and Vesper

May or Lord God of Peace, bless and keep you forever.

Bible Reading: Mark 1: 21-28

²¹ Jesus and his companions now arrived at the town of Capernum and on Saturday morning went into the Jewish place of worship—the synagogue—where he preached. ²² The congregation was surprised at his sermon because he spoke as an authority and didn’t try to prove his points by quoting others—quite unlike what they were used to hearing!^[h]
23 A man possessed by a demon was present and began shouting, ²⁴ “Why are you bothering us, Jesus of Nazareth—have you come to destroy us demons? I know who you are—the holy Son of God!”
²⁵ Jesus curtly commanded the demon to say no more and to come out of the man. ²⁶ At that the evil spirit screamed and convulsed the man violently and left him. ²⁷ Amazement gripped the audience and they began discussing what had happened.
“What sort of new religion is this?” they asked excitedly. “Why, even evil spirits obey his orders!”
²⁸ The news of what he had done spread quickly through that entire area of Galilee.