In this devotional sermon, M.t. Clark opens with a photo of a sunset over the St. Vincent Gulf, using it as a metaphor for keeping spiritual “curtains” open to gratitude and truth. He warns that complacency invites the enemy’s lies, focusing on Lie #8: the claim that the devil does not exist. Clark cites a 2009 Barna survey showing that a majority of Christians either doubt or deny Satan’s reality, and notes a rise in self‑identified Satanism in the UK. He argues that the enemy’s strategy is to convince people, even believers, that demonic forces are merely symbolic, thereby weakening spiritual vigilance. Clark explains how negative thought cycles can be demonic attacks rather than mere mental illness, urging believers to put on the “whole armor of God,” take every thought captive, and recognize the reality of spiritual warfare. He recommends several resources—Dr. Neil Anderson’s The Bondage Breaker, Dr. Carl Payne’s Spiritual Warfare, Frank Turek’s apologetics site, and an OpenBible list of 100 verses about Satan—to help listeners identify and resist demonic influence. Clark shares his personal testimony of deliverance from addictive behaviors through the “Steps to Freedom in Christ” program and his volunteer work with Freedom in Christ Ministries. He then reads the day’s meditation verse, 2 Timothy 3:16 (NLT), emphasizing Scripture’s role in revealing truth and correcting error. The sermon concludes with a brief theological reflection on God’s sovereignty (citing A.W. Pink) and an invitation to join weekly Bible studies, podcasts, and online resources. Clark ends with a prayer for listeners, specifically mentioning Bob Griffin’s cancer battle and financial struggles, asking God to keep believers’ “curtains” open to truth, peace, and joy.
Chapters
To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of the fading light of day over the St. Vincent Gulf comes to us from author Lisa Grace Bonn, who shared this view from the lounge room window of her home in Adelaide, South Australia, commenting that not a day goes by that I'm not grateful for where I live. With a view like this, it's not surprising that, uh, that that's why they never close those curtains. Well, it's Tuesday, and I share Lisa's photo and sentiments about being grateful for where she lives and how she never closes the curtains on this spectacular view as a reminder to be intentional about being grateful for what God has given us. And by never closing the curtains on the truth that can give us a continual source of peace and joy. I just happen to have been blessed with a view of the Hudson River, which diverts into the Skodak Creek in front of my home, and it never fails to remind me of how good God was in bringing me through the aftermath of my divorce to give me a home, a hope, and a future. Well, unlike Lisa, I do pull the blinds over my windows. I have neighbors and I like my privacy. And because I, and because I do, I can sometimes completely forget about the awesome, uh, that awesome view and just how blessed I am by where I am. We can take the good things we have for granted, and when we aren't practicing gratitude, the enemy loves to come in to give us a negative perspective about the things we once were very happy to receive. This can happen with our possessions and with our relationships. The people and things in our lives can become familiar and underappreciated or even viewed as problematic when the enemy sows the seeds of discontentment in our lives, in our minds. We can even see the dark train of our thoughts that paints the world black and wonder, what is wrong with us? Why do I hate everything? Why do my— why is my heart grown cold? What's wrong with me? You know, familiarity may cause us to naturally take things for granted, and if we aren't careful with managing our thoughts, we could become anxious, discontented, or depressed. But when these negative mind states persist, we should wonder if those thought cycles are products of ourselves or a demonic campaign to steal our peace and joy and lead us into the temptation of finding happiness through circumstantial means. These negative thoughts could be the condemnation of, of the enemy as a precursor for setting us up for sin. However, if we don't believe in the spiritual forces of darkness or their ability to affect our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, we would have— we would, we would probably come to the conclusion that we are slipping into mental illness, which would further depress us and may cause us to seek a medical solution to a spiritual problem. However, the good news is that the Word of God warns us of the reality of the demonic, and when we put on the whole armor of God, which is analogous to intentionally living according to our identity in Christ, we can stand against the devil's schemes. But we have to know this and do this. We have to be on guard and take every thought captive. But the enemy seeks to have us close the curtains on the spiritual realities of our lives and his existence in particular. His schemes are far more effective when we aren't on guard against his attacks. And so that brings us to our current series, which is an examination of some of the common lies the enemy tells us to cause us to doubt our faith, steal our peace, or to choose, uh, or, or for us to choose not to follow the Lord with the way we live our lives. So today's big lie is lie number 8: the devil isn't real. It's foolish to fight someone who, who doesn't exist. Um, and as much as the enemy is prideful, uh, enough to want to be God, he is also wise enough to circumvent the authority that Christians have to resist him by convincing the world that he doesn't exist. Surprisingly, the enemy is not only successful in convincing the world he doesn't exist, he has also convinced a significant portion of people who identify themselves as Christian that he isn't real. In 2009, the Barna Research Group conducted a survey, and the results concerning Satan stated that 4 out of 10 Christians strongly agreed that Satan is not a living being but is a symbol of evil. An additional 2 out of 10 Christians, 19%, said they agreed somewhat with that perspective. A minority of Christians indicated that they believe Satan is real by disagreeing with the statement. Uh, one-quarter, 26%, disagreed strongly, and about one-tenth, 9%, disagreed somewhat. That the remaining 8% were not sure what they believed about the existence of, of Satan. So even among Christians, according to this survey done in 2009, mind you, only 35% would strongly agree or even somewhat agree that Satan is real. And that is— and that was before, you know, our present distress of the post-COVID-19 mass departure of the faith and social and moral, moral slippage that indicates that Satan is alive and well in his efforts to lead humanity astray. People are abandoning the faith and increasingly identifying themselves as non-religious, so it's no wonder they doubt— that they doubt the existence of Satan. However, paradoxically, there are indications that Satanism, the worship of Satan, is on the increase in Great Britain anyway, with a reported 167% increase in people identifying as Satanist between 2011 and 2021. So some people don't need to be convinced, um, they're worshiping him instead of resisting him. For biblical support on the existence of Satan, I am providing a link to the openbible.info's 100 Bible verses about Satan. And for those interested in overcoming, uh, the enemy's effects in your life, I would direct you to read Dr. Neil Anderson's The Bondage Breaker and The Steps to Freedom in Christ, or Dr. Carl Payne's Spiritual Warfare: Christians, Demonization, and Deliverance for information and methods for resolving personal and spiritual conflicts that may be influenced by demons. I don't want to just point to the Bible and tell you that the devil is real. I want to direct you to resources that intelligently guide you through the scriptures to validate the enemy's existence its effects on mankind, as well as point you to resources that have methods that are proven to be effective in overcoming those demonic influences through repentance, renunciation, and prayer. Through my journey of faith on the path of Christian discipleship and through going— and through going through the Steps to Freedom in Christ, I've overcome addictive behaviors and negative mind states that I now realize were at least partially influenced by spiritual the spiritual forces of darkness. I never knew what freedom was available to me until I was led by the Lord to follow Him and to cast out and resist the spiritual forces that sought to keep me in bondage to sin and the lies about God, myself, and the world that kept me from knowing the peace, joy, and abundant life that God gives to all who place their faith in Christ. I myself have been delivered delivered from the effects of the enemy. And through my volunteer work with Freedom in Christ Ministries, I've seen other people delivered as well. So I encourage— I encourage you to not believe the lie that the devil isn't real, but to also know that he is a defeated foe who is powerless to afflict us when we put our faith in Jesus and act out of the power and authority that Christ has given to us. And for more evidence for the truth of Christianity than my simple apologetic will provide, I offer apologist Frank Turek's website, crossexamine.org. And I know for a fact that there's, you know, they offer Christian courses, and one of them is on the existence of hell. And I don't know, I don't know, honestly. I know there's a teaching on hell because I have that one. But basically, I'm not sure about the existence of Satan, but I would not be surprised for him to— for Frank to have something on the spiritual forces of darkness as well. Anyway, that moves us along to today's Bible verse, which comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is 2 Timothy 3:16. And it says, "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right." Today's verse reminds us that all Scripture is inspired by God to teach us and correct us to do what is right. Our resource shared this verse under the heading of "When You Want to Know the Truth." And it rightfully points us to the Word of God, Scripture. If we want to overcome the lies of the enemy, we have to know what the truth is, and the source of truth is the Word of God. Beyond facts and figures, the Bible teaches us the truth of the spiritual nature of our universe, and through it, the Lord teaches us what is right and wrong. When we heed the wisdom of the Bible and apply it to our lives, we correct our wrong thinking. And change our poor choices to align with the truth according to God. And because God wouldn't lead us astray, when we follow his word, we increasingly grow in the fruit of the Spirit and the assurance, uh, that God is good and his word is true. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.org, um, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from A.W. Pink's The Sovereignty of God, and we continue, um, in the conclusion by sharing the, the next point, um, basically in the conclusion where he's sharing some final thoughts. And today's final thought, um, as I pull that up Terribly sorry, as I'm literally doing this right now. The next point is God foreordains everything which comes to pass. So as I've stated, I think I've stated that something in regards to that before. If we want to know what God's will is, we can look at the past and say, well, he at least allowed that to happen. And well, whether or not it was good or bad. It's, you know, something that happened under God's watch. He wasn't asleep at the wheel. So, um, it's a hard truth, but, you know, it should also be a comforting truth that, you know, God is directing everything, um, for good, uh, and will one day send Jesus Christ to, uh, to reclaim the Earth and rule and reign here, and, uh, and one day create a new heaven and a new earth. And so this is all leading to something, and it's leading— all of us are being led to God, um, and whether or not we, we choose to be with him or against him is, is up for us to decide. Um, you know, if we want to know the Lord, we need to seek him, and, um, God uses the word to draw us in. And so if you are curious about God, keep seeking him, you know, keep knowing him, keep growing in your faith, because his word wouldn't lead you astray. And when you follow him, you can overcome the lies of the enemy, the world, the flesh, and the devil, obviously. So also, you know, I don't just point to a book We also can point to our podcast or our YouTube channel because we did a teaching on The Bondage Breaker ourselves. So if you don't want to read a book, you can listen to the lessons on that book by going to MT for Christ 247 YouTube channel or podcast and looking under The Bondage Breaker. There's also a podcast on The Steps to Freedom in Christ and the Freedom— well, Victory Over the Darkness and the Freedom in Christ course available to you. And if you contact me at M.t. Clark 247 247@gmail.com, I would email you the Word documents that I shared when I taught those classes back in 2021. I share all this and my daily encouragements to encourage people that the word of God is true, and when we come into agreement with the Lord, we find a life of peace and joy and love. And even though the world may seem dark Our lives are filled with light when we get on the path of Christian discipleship. So we encourage you in that every day, and we encourage Bible study to know the truth. And we share a Bible study, a topical Bible study, where we look at different, different aspects of our faith. And we do that every week with Arthur and Suzanne Sincotti. So if you want to be part of our Bible study You would find those under Bible Study with the Sinconys on our YouTube channel or other podcast and the blog as well. So we encourage that. Uh, well, it is Tuesday and I'm just a working stiff, so I gotta shuffle off to work soon. So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we just thank you so much for the good things that that you've brought us to, you know. Let us keep the curtains open on the truth of how good you are and what you've done for us, so we won't be led astray into depression or anxiety or anything like that. That we will understand just how good you are and how good our lives are when we come to find the new life in Christ. Lord, you've saved us. You made us and you saved us through Jesus, and we thank you for that. And Lord, we, we thank you for anyone who's listening or reading today's message. We pray for you to come alongside them and their prayer requests. We offer up prayers for Bob Griffin today as his, as his journey with cancer is continuing, and there's some financial difficulties, Lord. So we just pray for you to bless him with healing and with help on whatever way you can arrange things, Lord, to move hearts and minds to come alongside Bob until he can get back to work after this medical crisis. He's left in a lurch right now, and we're praying for our friend that you can help him. And also, Lord, as always, we just pray for you to go before us today, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, and open our, you know, lead us in the way we should go. And so, Lord, all we want to do is represent you and your kingdom on this earth, and, um, we need your help, um, to remember the truth about us, to see the things you want us to do, and to, uh, to overcome the, the works of the devil and to share the hope that's found in Christ alone. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
