How God Deals with Sin

Well, good afternoon, everyone, and wonderful to see all of you, every Sabbath. But even more so on this High Holy Day, this annual Sabbath of the Day of Atonement. Obviously, this is a unique day that God has us observe. And I'll have to say it may not be your favorite Holy Day yet. But I hope to be able to show you why it should be. And perhaps there's not a reason to make anyone more than the other, but I think there's a reason for us to celebrate being able to keep the Day of Atonement. And even as we are fasting, we're beseeching God to give us understanding. And of course, each of us are directly involved.

Whenever you look back in the Old Testament, you see the House of Israel, the people of Israel were given information. They were given clear instruction about how the Holy Day should be observed. And in particular, the Day of Atonement, it was one of those appointed festivals of the Lord that you read about in Leviticus 23. It's one of the days that God designated and designed and that had meaning, some meaning at least back then, because their understanding was pretty limited. And yet it has absolutely fabulous meaning for the future, and for all of us, and for all of mankind. I want us to look in Leviticus 16, because that's where you see the account of what it was that Aaron, the high priest, was to do. And what we find on this Day of Atonement, this was a special day for Israel because, in a sense, they may have looked forward to it knowing that they needed to be cleansed or they needed to be purified. And that's what the meaning and the significance of the day is. It's about purification. It's about a cleansing. And yet, what we find, even though all the people were involved by fasting, for the most part, Aaron did all the work. Aaron, the high priest, was the one who had the specific assignment of what he was to do. And that's what we read about here throughout Leviticus 16. And yet, what I want to point out about this ceremony, and again, some of you may be very familiar with this ceremony, having not only read through it, but having observed it for many years. Some of you, it may be new to you. And yet, he was asked to do a particular function. And what that function revealed, what it revealed was an understanding of how God, our Creator, is ultimately going to deal with sin. See, God doesn't reside in sin. He can see sin from afar. He can look at this earth and he can see men. And he can certainly observe even his angelic rebellion that occurred in the past. And so, he's very familiar with sin. But how is the Creator God going to deal with sin? Well, that's revealed here in two different ways. First of all, he was going to deal with sin through the shedding of blood. Blood was going to be required to cover the sins of the people. And then secondly, from God's perspective, he was going to show that the cause of sin, the one who was the original sinner, is going to bear his guilt for that corrupting of the humankind that God had placed here on the earth. So those are two things that we can learn from how God views, how God deals with sin. Let's take a look at Chapter 16 here. Maybe we could read just kind of, in a sense, kind of a summary here. In verse 29 it says, This is a statute to you forever in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month. You shall afflict your soul or deny yourself and not do any work. Neither the citizen or the alien who resides among you, for in this day an atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you from all your sins, that you shall be clean before the Lord.

And it is, in verse 31, a Sabbath. It is a Sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall deny yourselves. It is a statute forever. Again, here we see it designated, and it doesn't always fall on Saturday, like it is actually falling today. It may fall any other time during the week, but whenever that occurs, that is an annual Sabbath. A Sabbath that God designates for all of us to celebrate. So let's back up here in Chapter 16 and see what it was that Aaron was directed to do. He was to go, in verse 2, Tell your brother Aaron, not to come just at any time into the sanctuary inside the curtain before the mercy seat that is upon the ark, or he will die, for I appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. That shall Aaron come into the holy place. And so, again, Aaron was not going to come into this holy of holiest parts of the tabernacle. He was not frequently going to do that. It was only going to be once a year. He wasn't going to be familiar with it hardly, except once a year he is directed to go in. In verse 5, he was to take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. In verse 6, Aaron was to take the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. So as Aaron went into this, performed this most holy service, he had to take a bull because he needed to be cleansed. The blood of the bull was shed for Aaron and for his family. But then, he was told in verse 7, he shall take the two goats and shall set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tenor meeting, and Aaron shall cast lots on the two goats. So there was a way of determining which one was the first one and then which one was the second one. He was going to cast lots on the two goats, and one lot would indicate the goat, that is, to represent the Lord.

Actually, you see, God is directing, or God is involved in directing this project that Aaron is involved with. So God is the one who determines who the goat is that will represent the Lamb, the Lamb of God, the Lord who will ultimately be shedding his blood for the world.

But the first goat is for the Lord, and the other goat is for Azazel. Or some of the translations translate that scapegoat, that's a kind of unfortunate translation, because it kind of indicates something that is being put off on someone and they don't really deserve it.

But clearly, because this is representing the devil, this is representing Satan's influence in the world. And we're going to find actually another translation for this could be the other lot is for the goat of departure. That really makes a lot of sense, to have the goat of departure, because that's what this goat is going to do.

And so in verse 9, Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and offer it as a sin offering. And so the shedding of that goat's blood was the sin offering that was extended to cover the sins of the people. And of course, that was a part of the process that they went through at that time. But then in verse 10, it says, the goat on which the lot fell for the Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away. He's going to be departing. He's going to ultimately be completely put out of the picture. He's going to be sent away to Azazel. And so this was a service that Israel observed for many years. And they were very aware of what the implication of this was. Or at least they could see that they needed blood to cover their sins and that the other goat was indicated by...maybe we could drop down here in verse 20. Because this is actually how the other goat was going to be dealt with. After Aaron had finished atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. And Aaron shall lay his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquity of the people. All the iniquity of the people of Israel and all their transgressions and all their sins, putting them on the head of that goat and then sending it away into the wilderness by means of someone designated for the task.

And the goat shall bear on itself all of their iniquity to a barren region. And that goat will be set free in the wilderness. So that ceremony was one they were familiar with, certainly one that the high priest was familiar with because he had to be carrying it out. But the others were aware of it. And of course, the symbolization, as it applies to us today, is that clearly Jesus Christ, as the Lamb of God, was the one who allowed His blood to be shed for us.

We needed to be very familiar with that whenever we were baptized. Whenever we came to a commitment before God that we would put God first, that we would see what His Word said, and that we would do it.

That involves forgiveness of our sins, and of course that comes through Jesus Christ. But what about this other goat? We see in Revelation chapter 20 a major event that is yet to happen because we're still living in a world that is dominated by Satan's attitude and his impact on this world. And it's fascinating to see how it is that this Day of Atonement and this second goat is depicted.

That second goat represents what's going to happen to the devil. And we see this described here in Revelation chapter 20, starting in verse 1. Revelation 20, verse 1, it says, I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in its hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, who was the devil and Satan and bound him for a thousand years, and then threw him into the pit and locked and sealed it over him so that he would deceive the nations no more until the thousand years were ended.

And after that, he must be let out for a little while. So here we see a description of something God is yet to do. We see in the entirety of chapter 19 Jesus returning as a conquering king. We see him returning and setting up the kingdom of God. And then, at the very beginning of the millennium, at the beginning of that thousand year period of time, a very important event happens, and it's described here as binding or restraining the devil so that he is unable to deceive the world during that thousand year period of time.

Of course, it says at the end of the thousand years he'll be loosed for a little while. In verse 7, when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and he'll come out to deceive the nations of the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, in order to gather them for battle. And there is numerous as the sand of the sea and they march up on the breadth of the earth and surround the camp of the saints in the beloved city.

So they approach Jerusalem. This fire came down from heaven and consumed them. And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. See, this, of course, was a vision that John saw, and it's showing us or telling us something that is really, really amazing.

Amazing that at the beginning of the millennium, at the beginning of the time where Jesus will be ruling as the King of Kings on earth, this restriction is going to be placed on Satan. And I don't know if we have thought about that as much as perhaps we should have, but I hope that in going over what I want to cover in the remainder of the sermon, you can understand how important that event is. This is an incredible, authoritative move by the great God to create an entirely different environment, to create a time when people, those who live into the millennium, and again, as we study prophecy and we know what's going to happen at the end of this age, as we know the warfare, the disease, the famine, the corruption, as we know what's going to take place in men with Christ returning, many of the armies on earth battling against him.

Many people are going to die. Billions of people will die at the end of this age. And yet, I don't know, I would guess millions at least, I don't know how many people are going to live into that world to come. And yet what God says, that at the very beginning of that thousand years, he's going to restrain. See, he shows two different parts to that. He restrains, and he lets Satan out a little bit, then he removes him altogether.

He fully fulfills the goat of departure. He is no longer affecting mankind at all. But, what I want us to think about is how the world will be different. How the world will be different. Now, we know from many of the millennial scriptures that, well, the law of God will be taught to everyone.

We know that war will be stopped, because they will have to beat their swords into plowshears and their spears into pruning hooks. We know that that kind of change will take place. We know that people will come up to worship the king, so they'll be directed to worship the true God. And yet, there's an aspect of this that I certainly want us to maybe think about more than perhaps we have. Because the world at that point is going to be free from the influence. From the influence of Satan the devil. And again, living in the world that we do today, in some ways that's hard to envision. It's hard to envision a world without Satan's wavelength corrupting everything. It's really hard to envision a world like that. And what's that going to mean for the people who live at that time?

And of course, what does it mean for us today? Those are the things I'm going to cover as we go through the remainder of the sermon. I want to point out, of course, Satan is called the God of this world in 2 Corinthians. He's called the Prince of the Power of the Air.

He's called many different descriptions. And yet, the one about the Prince of the Power of the Air is one that is really emphatic as far as just how it is that he affects people and how he gets them to sin. How he gets them to think that sin is just fine. That's what he did with Adam and Eve. He convinced them. He deceived them into believing that sin was okay. And of course, it's not. In 1 Corinthians 2, verse 11, Paul tells us that we shouldn't be ignorant of the devices that Satan uses. And those devices, you know, he's very cunning, he's very subtle, he's a deceiver, he mixes truth and error. And of course, Jesus said he's a liar. And clearly that's the case in Genesis 3. And he's also a murderer because what was he actually doing to Adam and Eve? He was leading them to death. Whenever he enticed them, whenever he deceived them with a lie, he caused Adam and Eve to follow away that would lead to death. And so, as Jesus correctly stated, those are all impacts that Satan has. But he projects an attitude of anger, an attitude of hatred, an attitude of disrespect, of non-appreciation for God and for the fact that he is the Creator and Ruler. Let's look in Ephesians 2 because that, of course, is a primary area where Paul elaborates on this. And it's fascinating to see in Ephesians 2, Paul says, and I'm going to read some of this in chapter 1 to begin with, he says in verse 17, I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation as you come to know Him. See, this was what he was telling the Christians there in Ephesus.

He says, you are in a process of coming to more fully know God. And that was begun in verse 18, with the eyes of your heart being enlightened. That with the eyes of your heart being enlightened, you may know what is the hope in which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance among the saints, what is the immeasurable greatness of His power for us who believe, according to the working of His great power. And God put this power to work in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at the right hand of the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the age to come.

So not only was Jesus given authority over the church and over the world as we go forward, but even into the world tomorrow, the age to come. And He has put all things under His feet and has made Him the head over all things for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that fills all in all. See, that's a fabulous description of the type of power and the type of authority that Jesus has. And yet in chapter 2, you see a contrast.

See, that's a glorious statement that Paul just made, and in a sense, it's kind of an introduction to the book. It's introducing what he really wants to tell them. Because here in the first part of chapter 2, he wants to make something very plain. He says, those of you who are Christians here in Ephesus, you were dead. You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived. And so he told them, you're alive now. You are a part of the church of God. You have life because of God. Not because of you, but because of God. And he says, you were once dead because of your sins and trespasses in which you once lived when you were following the course of this world. Following the prince of the power of the air. The spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. The children of disobedience is what the King James says. But see, that's a very important statement to understand here in verse 2 because he told all of them, you know, you were just as duped as Adam and Eve were. You were just as deceived as Adam and Eve had been. And you were following the course of this world. You were following the prince of the power of the air. You were affected whether you wanted to or not. You and I were all affected by the wavelength that Satan sends out into this world. A wavelength of anger. A wavelength of hatred. A wavelength of disrespect. And he says in verse 3, he included himself, he says, all of us once lived among the people or among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses. And we were, by our very nature, we, the part of the Church of God, were by our very nature the children of wrath like everyone else.

See, that is a very important verse for every single person in this room to fully comprehend.

Makes no difference what our background was in any form. We are all subject to the influence of Satan's deception in this world. But of course, he positively points out that God, in verse 3, who is rich in mercy out of His great love for which He loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, He made us alive together with Jesus Christ. And as He points out, it is by His grace and by His mercy that we are set on the path of salvation.

He tells us that God has been extremely merciful to us, but He tells us that we have been affected by Satan and His Spirit that works in the children of disobedience.

See, now I want to go back to Genesis 2, because this, of course, is where this began. And it's important for us to understand that this directly affects us today, but we need to understand what happened. What happened in Genesis 2 and in Genesis 3? Well, of course, Adam and Eve were created by God on the sixth day. He had fashioned them out of the dust of the ground and taken and made Eve out of a rib from Adam. He had formed and shaped man. He had breathed into man the breath of life. In a sense, this was a pinnacle of His creation in His human creation. And He said, this is very good. These creatures that I have created, these humans, they are very good. This is absolutely fabulous. I am just thrilled to have these two little children. I would have guessed they probably were 20.

I don't know how old they were whenever God created Adam and Eve. But He had to look down upon them as His creation and as His children that He had breathed into them the breath of life and they became a soul, a living soul, a living being. But they were not immortal because He later told them, if you sin, then you will die. You will be dead. You are not eternal yet. But what I want to point out is, following that creation on the sixth day, you read in verse 1 of chapter 2, the heavens and earth were finished and on the seventh day God finished the work that He had made and He rested on the seventh day from the work that He had done. So God blessed the seventh day and He hallowed it because on it He rested from all His work that He had done in creation. What kind of Sabbath day was that? What kind of Sabbath day? That was the first human Sabbath. The first Sabbath that was created for man. What kind of day was that? The only thing I can imagine that Adam and Eve were thrilled to be alive. They were thrilled to be together. They were thrilled to know they were the children of God. They were joyously happy. They were peacefully existing. They were able to talk to God and God was able to tell them anything that He needed or wanted to tell them. He says here in chapter 2 that He had told them about the trees and He told them about the tree of life and He told them about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and He said, don't take of it because that's off limits by my demand, by my direction. And yet what we find is you think about the fact that God, you know, that had to be the most glorious Sabbath you could ever have imagined because God was showering them with His love, with His peace, with a calmness and a tranquility and a safety that is really unimaginable in our world. You know, we don't live in a world today where there's calmness and peace and serenity. We live in a world that's vicious and that is mean and that is violent and that, as we see every night on television, filled with terrorists who love to terrorize, who love to cause people to be afraid. I mean, that's the whole purpose of terrorism, to cause people to be afraid. And of course, there's a lot more to it, but that's a part of it that I do want you to think about here because that first Sabbath had to be absolutely incredible. The creation of God, able to relate to God, able to respect God, maybe to say, we love you, Father, we're thankful that you created us. We don't know much of anyhow we can see or the animals, but even those animals are at peace. Even those animals, you know, they come by and Adam names them. You know, they don't appear to be even the violent nature that we know of animals today. It doesn't appear to be there then. But whether that's the case or not, that makes no difference. For these children of God, there was a special closeness to the Creator, a special connection that they were able to have. At least what we'll say is it wasn't yet corrupted. Because what we read in chapter 3 is the corruption. What we see in chapter 3 is, of course, Satan coming and deceiving Eve and then Adam to sin. And I'm not even going to go through that section.

I know you're familiar with it, but I do want to start down in verse 7 because after they took of that tree that was forbidden by God, something happened. Something happened. Their eyes, it says in verse 7, were both opened. Oh, all of a sudden they could see something different or they felt different or they, you know, the whole place was different. Their eyes were opened. They knew that they were naked. See, he had said they were naked before that. That hadn't bothered them before then. But now they're all of a sudden noticing, oh, we're not the same. There's some difference here. And in a sense, it says, they knew they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together, making loin claws. In a verse 8, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze. And the man and his wife, what did they do? They hid. They hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden. Like that was really going to work. But what I'm really pointing out is that something had gone wrong in their life. Something had gone wrong in their thinking. Something had gone wrong in their vision. Of course, that's something.

His Satan's influence, his spirit, that impacts all humans, in a sense, evenly. Because, you know, what he causes them to do, what it says here in verse 9, is that the Lord God called to the man and said, where are you? And so God had to kind of get Adam out from behind the tree, for whatever reason. He's over there hiding. And he said, Adam says, I heard the voice of you in the garden, or the sound of you in the garden, and what had happened? I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself. See, what had happened?

Well, Satan's wavelength had been injected into human beings, and they were now corrupted by sin and disobedience. But what I'm wanting to point out today is simply the fact that you know, they were no longer able to relate to God as they had that day before.

That Sabbath would make it relate to God any way they wanted. They could talk to God. God could tell Adam what he needed to do, give him instruction. He wasn't balking at that. He wasn't complaining about, oh, I don't know whether I want to do that or... He was just accepting whatever God offered and showed him was for his good, until, of course, a deceiver came and messed all of that up.

And again, what it says there in verse 9 is remarkable, or verse 10, because Adam says, I heard you in the garden, and yet I was afraid of God. I was afraid of God!

Rather than, you know, who's afraid of God? Well, Satan is afraid of God.

He's the great sinner, the great instigator of sin, as he had been created with such greatness and power, and then as he misused that power, as he corrupted himself in his thinking and in his desire to overthrow God. I can overthrow God. I will get enough angels and we'll take over the throne.

You know, his anger, his wrath, his agitation got so great that, of course, you know, God had to put him in his place. And yet, when God put the humans on earth, Satan saw a great chance, I'm going to corrupt them. I'm going to get them to follow me, instead of following God. And I'm going to, and what he did, actually, was his wavelength.

A wavelength of fear, of apprehension, a wavelength of lust and greed, of strife, of conflict, of anger, of hatred. That wavelength became the wavelength of men.

See, Chapter 4 describes Cain. He was the first child, first born. He had a problem.

That problem was not able, by the way. His problem was jealousy toward Abel. His problem was anger toward God. You don't accept me. His problem was, I don't see a reason why I might not just get rid of you, because I think I can. I'm bigger than you, and I can put you to death. See, he had been injected with the attitude that Satan has, with human nature.

See, that's what we call it. We call it human nature. We call it the nature of man. There are other descriptions that you can find in the Bible, but see, they were affected by that nature, by Satan injecting that nature into them. They didn't ask for it, except that they chose to disobey. And as they chose to sin against God, well, then Satan has been ruling this world for the last 6,000 years. But what do we read here in Revelation 20 is going to happen.

Satan's impact is going to be removed. His wavelength that affects people in such a corrupting way is going to be set aside throughout the thousand years.

That's going to be a wonderful blessing for those people. That's going to be a wonderful, fabulous blessing. And it's going to allow people to come to know God and to come to learn the law of God and to come to a relationship with the Father and with the Son that is going to be a, in a sense, you could say it's probably even a better time to be able to relate to God.

And yet God says our time is better in that He says we can be a part of a better resurrection.

I'll get to this eventually because we have a part to play in this as well. But we need to recognize that when Satan's wavelength is discontinued, you know, the switch is turned off, the inclination of the heart and thoughts of men, I'm sure at the beginning of the millennium, will have to recover. I mean, that's not going to just immediately go away, but at least Satan's driving power over the children of disobedience is not going to be there.

And see, God is going to, at the beginning of the millennium, with this removal of the power that has corrupted the world, He is going to create an environment for peace, an environment for safety, an environment that is secure. And everyone will be aware of the knowledge of God that covers the earth like the water covers the earth.

That's what we read in Isaiah. So I'd like for us to think about, you know, that first Sabbath that Adam and Eve enjoyed with God, I would like for us to think about that as a type of the thousand years that are coming. Because, see, that was a time before Satan interfered, and then Satan's going to be put aside. He's going to be restrained. And that wavelength, that spirit that works in this world, and that affects us. It's going to be put aside.

And as teachers, we're going to be able to show them or teach them, well, walk this way. Walk in the way that God says is good for you. And I think you'll find that people be more readily to follow.

I think it's interesting to see, and I'm making this contrast between Adam becoming afraid.

He became fearful of God. He became fearful of death. People are fearful of death today.

You know, if we don't know different, you know, we're pretty scared of death.

Because death is something that's an unknown. We don't know exactly what's going to happen, except the Word of God tells us what's going to happen, and so we can absolutely know.

But what we're able to see is that in the millennium, God describes teaching the law.

He describes doing away with war. He describes people learning to cooperate and live together in peace. And yet, He also describes a setting of safety. Zechariah 1411 says Jerusalem is going to abide in security. See, whoever is living there and whoever comes there to worship God is going to find a setting where you can be peaceful, where you are secure, where you are able to be protected. And that's going to be exciting. In Hosea 2, verse 18, he says, I will make you to lie down in safety. In Michael 4, verse 4, he says, no one shall make you afraid. See, these to me indicate to me the removal of what was causing that fear, what was causing that sin that caused the fear that Adam and Eve began to suffer from.

See, they began to suffer from other things besides fear. They became extremely guilty.

You know, they were overwhelmed with shame. They were overwhelmed with their embarrassment and their fear of death now because that's what we've earned. We've earned it from our action.

And yet, we were influenced by the deceiver. We were affected by the deceiver. And see, that's a part of the Day of Atonement. The deceiver is going to be set aside. He's going to be first restrained and later removed. And that's what that second goad indicates back there in Leviticus 16. In Micah 32, verse 18, again, all of these talking about the world to come, he says, I'm going to give you peaceful habitations and secure dwellings and quiet resting places. See, that's the description that we have of the world tomorrow, of the thousand years where Satan is restricted. And even here in Isaiah 41, this is one that we should go to because it's not only going to be applicable, it doesn't directly seem to be saying that this is a millennial statement, but this is clearly a statement that would apply to people then and to all of us today.

Here in Isaiah 41, he says to his people Israel, the latter part of verse 9, you are my servant.

I have chosen you and I have not cast you off. Verse 10, do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you.

I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. See, those are Scriptures that describe relationship with God, a closeness to God, a dependence on God that's going to be enabled whenever Lucifer is bound, whenever he is no longer allowed to corrupt the world. In verse 13, he says, I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand. And it is I who say to you, do not fear, for I will help you. See, that's a glorious future to look forward to for people living at that time.

But see, how does that affect us today? What are we told? See, we're subject to the effects of Satan's bombarding this world. We're subject to people who are directly affected. They're not even trying to get out of it. They don't want it. They think it's just fine. But see, that's going to change.

See, God has given us the tools to be able to know how that we can come out of our own fear. See, many of the things that we suffer from are from fear. Whether fear of death, that would be a pretty final fear. Other other fears of being hurt, being harmed, being, you know, not having a job, not having any money. You know, many of the things that we might have, even if we're sick, you know, we're sick. We need help. Are we going to get better? Well, God says, you know, that He can help us.

But see, we have a lot of fears. There are a lot of fears that plague this world today and that plague human minds, and that even plague our minds, if we don't see the answer and apply the answer.

And that answer, of course, is to appreciate the calling of God, as we've already mentioned.

God, having drawn us out of His mercy to see where we were in the world, and to see how much Satan had corrupted the world, and to see how that God is going to fix that. But that for us today, there are those today who He's offering a better resurrection. He's offering a blessed responsibility in the Kingdom to come. You know, He tells us, the more we look to Jesus Christ, the more we come to Him and resist the evil effects of Satan. See, for somebody who doesn't even know that they have been duped by Satan, they're surely not trying to get away from it.

For those of us who do know that, and I'm going to say all of us do, to some degree.

We all need to come to understand that better. But we are allowed to resist the evil effects of Satan in this world, and we can yield to God. So you see, in Hebrews, that Jesus came to release us from the fear of death, and certainly with Him covering our sins with His blood.

And if we happen to die, we have a glorious future to look forward to, and so we don't have to be afraid of death. But what we find in the instruction and direction that He gives to people that would be directly applicable to us today, you know, we're told to not give place to the devil. We're told to, in the model of prayer, pray, deliver us from evil, deliver us from the evil one. See, that probably should be a more emphatic part of our prayers than it may be. And yet, it is a part of what we're told to do. And here in James 4, where we'll conclude here today, in James 4, you find the perfect remedy.

The remedy for all of us, as we understand more about the plan of God, about what God is going to do in setting up an environment of peace without the influence of Satan, without His wavelength that corrupts human minds, for all of us who are preparing to serve in that Kingdom. He tells us here in James 4, I'm not going to read all of this because it'll take a little longer, but the first four or five verses talk about human nature. It talks about the effect of Satan's wavelength on all human minds.

It describes, why are you fighting? Why are you at war with each other? Why do you even think about killing each other? Well, it talks about that. Well, that comes from your nature.

And in verse 5, in the latter, I guess it's down in verse 6, in answer to that, he says, he gives us all the more grace, therefore it says God opposes the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. That's a pretty succinct description of what we need to learn about just about everything. God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.

And then he goes on to say, in order to keep yourselves from Satan's wavelength, in order from keeping being corrupted by your own nature, that you are, with the help of God, overcoming.

Here, in verse 7, he says what to do. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God.

Verse 7, the second verse, or the second sentence, I guess, resists the devil, and he will flee from you.

See, if we don't understand the impact of Satan's wavelength, then we don't really understand what we're resisting. But I think we all want to know what we are resisting, and we want to know how it is that Satan should be resisted, because here he gives us a clear remedy. As we resist the devil, he will flee from us, and as we draw near to God, then God will be close to us.

See, that's a remedy for success in this world today, a remedy for success to be a part of the world tomorrow. And certainly, you know, a wonderful thing to realize how God is working out a plan that is going to deal with sin through forgiveness and then through putting the one who causes sin completely away. And he's doing that in our lives today. We just have to follow the instructions. We have to submit ourselves to God and resist the devil, resist his wavelength, resist the ways that it's described in the Bible, because there are numerous different descriptions of it, and we'd better want to do that in order to draw close to God and know that he will draw close to us. So this Day of Atonement is a fabulous part of the plan of God, or a part of the Holy Day system that God gives that reveals his plan. And see, the characterization that he gave Israel was thousands of years ago. But he already knew what he was going to do. He already knew how he was going to fix the problem. He's wanting all of us to embrace the fact that he is a solution. He's the one that we've got to be close to. He's the one that we've got to draw close to in every way. And as we do so, as he says in verse 8, as we draw near to God, he says he will be very near to us. See, maybe perhaps near in a similar way to the way he was to Adam and Eve, that first Sabbath, that first day that they spent with God without the evil impact of the destroyer that was corrupting not only their minds, but all of those thereafter, you know, after that time.

It's wonderful to know what God is going to do and what he's going to portray here in the near future beyond this aspect of God's plan we know is the world tomorrow. And of course, all of us then can look forward to a glorious world tomorrow. And that's what we're going to be celebrating here at the Feast of Tabernacles in a few short days. The Feast begins on Wednesday evening.

And I certainly want to wish all of you not only a wonderful day of atonement, but a glorious Feast of Tabernacles. I hope that all of you are able to travel. And as I mentioned, we want to pray for protection and blessing as we travel. But also pray not only that we will be safe as we observe the Feast and that we will be an example of the people of God, as we heard in the sermonette, but that we'll also pray that we can draw closer to God throughout this Feast. Because that's the purpose of having a festival, is not just to enjoy ourselves, which we will, but to draw close to God and truly ask that God will provide us a blessed Feast of Tabernacles. And so it's exciting to see all of you today. It's exciting to see what God is going to do. And I hope that all of you will have a wonderful Feast here and look forward to seeing you here in three weeks, which is when we hope to be back from England.