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Gospel Meeting July 31st – August 3rd

Greg Dismuke - Speaker

Silencing Satan

James 4: 7 & 8

Silencing Satan

• “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

• Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [you] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [you] double-minded.” NKJV

• James 4:7-8

Silencing Satan

• Folks come to Elders, preachers, and counselors all the time with Questions of ;

• Why did it happened? • What did I do? • And most importantly - How can I make it Stop? How

can I make it end. • To give answers to these questions would seem to be a

most difficult task – depending on where you are coming from with the answers.

• But in reality and for the most part – it is a simple task to do if one is willing to turn to God for the answers.

Silencing Satan

• We must realize where all the “problems” come from and when we do that - we will also discover what it will take to find and receive the answer and the relief sought after.

Silencing Satan

1. While attending OVC one of my classes centered in on the “Wisdom Literature” books of the Old Testament. (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon)

2. I was given an assignment to write about the “message” found in the Book of Job.

3. Of course as I soon found out there is no single message in the Book of Job, rather there are many.

4. This evening I would like to talk to you about one of those messages.

Silencing Satan

• The Book of Job is grouped into what is called “THE WISDOM LITERATURE PASSAGES”.

• There are no actual Commands within these passages, rather WORDS of Wisdom, Words that if listened to can bring one a better life while here on the earth.

• Although the book does seem to center on and about the questions and answers surrounding the suffering of mankind. Good and Evil, as it were, it also tells us something about their Source – Satan.

Silencing Satan

• I want us to turn our minds to one of the many messages that comes through –

The Silencing of Satan. Can this actually happen? • This morning in the lesson I presented on the Blessings of

Prayer we talked about praying for Extraordinary Things, just as James mentions regarding Elijah in JAMES 5:17 and as it references I KINGS 17:1. He was a man just like you and me and yet prayed for it to not rain for 3.5 years due to the sins that Ahab and Israel had committed.

Silencing Satan

• Extraordinary things can happen for the True Worshipper of God.

Silencing Satan

3. Have you ever faced a serious incident in your life and wondered why it happened, why is it happening and asked –

Why is it happening to me?

Have you ever asked – “Where is all of this coming from?”

More Importantly - Have you ever asked the Question - “When Will It All End or How Can I make it end?”

Silencing Satan

• Consider – if you will – • James 5:11 tells us to look back at Job…..

“You have heard of the Perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord – that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.”

• Job 42: 10 – 17 tells us of the way that God blessed Job after all that he had endured.

Silencing Satan

• There is a series of lessons that I teach every so often – especially to “Singles Again” classes entitled “21 Reasons Bad Things Happen to Good People”

• Loss through death and/or divorce is a horrible experience – at the time you just don’t think there could be anything worse that could happen to you.

Silencing Satan

• But this feeling isn’t limited to Death and Divorce, it encompasses every “BAD THING” that happens to “ANYONE.”

• Why do things Bad Things happen to Good People?

• Where does it all come from?

Silencing Satan

• Paul tell us in Ephesians 6:12 & 13 12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

We don’t wrestle against Flesh and Blood, We wrestle against Satan.

Silencing Satan

• How real do you believe that Satan is? • The Book of Job gives us so much information about

this that it is a never ending source of inspiration for those Good folks who suffer bad things in their lives.

• We are told in the Book of Job what Job never knows himself.

• Who did what to him and why!

Silencing Satan

• I want you to NOTE HOW ACTIVE SATAN IS in the introduction to the story of Job. He is carrying on a conversation with God about Job. DO you think that he does this regarding you and I ?

Satan Mentioned 12 times from Chapter 1: 6- 2 :7

Silencing Satan

• Talking to God about Job, 1:6-9 - 2: 1-4

• Making his challenges about Job - 1:9,10,11 - 2:4-5

• Note Job’s reaction in these first Two Chapters - 1:20 – 22 2: 8-10

• He WORSHIPPED GOD 1:20, 2:10

• He did no sin, nor charged God with any wrong 1:22, 2: 9

• Job drew near to God and Satan was silenced

Silencing Satan

• JAMES 4:7 – 8 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”

• James 5:11 tells us to look back at Job….. “You have heard of the Perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord – that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.”

Silencing Satan

• What was the “end intended by the Lord?” (Of course 42:10 – 17)

• Is that all God intended?

+++ Note that after Job 2:7 SATAN IS SILENCED +++ • We never hear from Satan again from this point

on in relationship to Job in the Book of Job.

Silencing Satan

• Why is that?

• What does that tell us? • • Can Satan be silenced in our lives?

• James 4:7 …. “ Resist the Devil and he will flee from you.”

Silencing Satan

• Believe in the Integrity of God and that Extraordinary Things can happen to ordinary people JAMES 5:17

• Hold on to your own Christian Integrity as Job did, JOB 2:3

• Don’t let anyone cause you to question that Integrity as Jobs wife tried to do to him - 2:9

Silencing Satan

• When every thing is falling down around you - FALL DOWN, FALL DOWN TO WORSHIP AND

PRAISE GOD FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO FOR YOU.

Job 1 :20, 2:10

And you can “SILENCE SATAN”.

What Must You Do To Be Saved?

Hear The Word Of God Romans 10:17Believe His Word Mark 16:16, John 8:24Repent of your sins Luke 13:3, Acts 2:38Confess your belief Romans 10:10, Acts 8:37Be Baptized Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38 For the Remission of Your Sins Acts 22:16

Galatians 3:26, 27Live Faithfully Titus 2:11-14