TRANSCRIPTION | Sunday, January 2, 2022 | A Meaningful Life Series | 

Put Hell In Its Place 

 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

I want to share with you this morning, uh, take in a foundational text from the book of Luke chapter four. Uh, one of the things that I have been noticing at an increasing level is that there are so many people that are searching for meaning. Um, they don't want to be involved in and things that don't have meaning, uh, whether it is giving of their time, their talent, their treasure, or whether it is just how they are approaching their everyday life. Seems to me that there is this longing for being a part of something meaningful. And I, I believe that scripture, so its us up in a great way to be able to make sure that we live a meaningful life. Um, and I've even been thinking about how that right now, um, as of yesterday we are 107 days away from Easter.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And I started thinking about how, when per residents take office, there's so much emphasis put on the first 100 days and how there's this just flood of activity and executive orders and all these things that happen in those first 100 days. And I think as we come into this new year, we ought of my, the first 100 days because there's been a lot that's transpired in regards to uh COVID and um, our society and our culture and our government and all the political things that are happening there. There's so much edginess and tension in our world. But I think a lot of us are beginning to calibrate a little better to this world that presently living in. And I think it's a great time to get some stuff in order and put the devil in his place. As you identify your purpose. Can I get a witness from somebody?

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

So let's talk a little bit about putting the devil in his place. As we allow God to have his place, Luke chapter four, verse one, and then Jesus being what the holy spirit returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness and being tempted for 40 days by the devil. And in those days he ate nothing and afterward when they had ended, he was hungry. So what it's basically telling us here is that Jesus has went out into the wilderness and he has spent 40 days praying and fasting in worship to his heavenly father. And the devil said to him, if you are the son of God, command this stone to become bread and Jesus answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God, and then the devil taking him up into a high mountain, showed him the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And the devil said to him, all this authority I will give and their glory for it has been delivered to me and I can give it to whomever. I wish. Therefore, if you will worship me, it will all be yours. And Jesus answered and said, get behind me, Satan. Uh, just tell somebody, put hell in its place for it is written. You shall worship to Lord your God and him only shall you serve. And then he brought him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down for it is written. You will give his angels charge over you and in their hands, he will bury you up and not let you dash your foot against the, and Jesus answered and said, it has also been said that you shall not tempt the Lord.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Your God. Now, when the devil had ended every temptation, every temptation, he departed from Jesus until another opportune time, father help us to live a meaningful life, help us to put hell in its place, help us father God, to be able to walk out the things that you have called and commissioned us to. And God, as we come into 2022, even these first 100 days, may there be some things that are set in order for our life that will forever change the course of generations in our family tree. God, let it be done in Jesus. And this church said, amen, amen. I wonder, do you have a sin that you struggle with personally, like some kind of a sin that it's just like, as much as you wish you didn't have that issue, it just keeps reoccurring in your life. And you know that it's not right. And you know that it's out of God. And sometimes even when you're in the act of that sin, you kind of come to yourself and you're like, what am I doing for some of you? It may be that you are easily offended and you don't want to be offended all the time, but yet you will find yourself pouting for others of you. It may be that you just simply Don how to control your mouth.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And as much as you wish you could, you continue to find yourself in conversations where you've been going on for an extended period of time saying stuff you should have never let come outta your mouth. I probably struggle with both of those first two, uh, uh, for some it's anger. It's getting real quiet on a Sunday morning. Um, I know I struggle with that when I, I, uh, my son plays ball and occasionally I just find myself in a moment where I'm informing referees of things that I just, with a tone that I never in. Okay. Yeah. I was in a game the other night and one of the guys in our section, he said something to the referee and then the referee turned around and he said something to our entire section. He said, I bet he won't say that to me in the parking lot. And before I even knew what had happened, I said, I bet I will.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

So you can pray for your pastor <laugh> and my wife grabbed my leg and she said, what is wrong with you? You are a pastor. I said, I do that thing, which I hate it. Scripture. It says this in Romans chapter seven, verse 15. It says, I don't really understand myself for, I want to do what is right, but I don't do it instead. I do what I hate. I want you to let that sink in for just a minute, because this is not just anybody talking here, here. This is a man who is credited with two thirds of the new Testament. This is a man that is a pillar of faith. It is a man who, when they tried to, to, to, to beat him to death, he got up and still kept preaching. When they tried to put him in prison to stop him from preaching, he grabbed pen and paper and preached.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Anyway, he is a man who was left a dead shipwreck, bitten by snakes. And he just kept on keeping on for Jesus. And at the same time, he says, I still sometimes find myself doing something that I hate. Why is it that sinful actions are followed by such self-hate? Personally, the, the reason that we wrestle with the shame and we wrestle with the condemnation and we wrestle with the guilt is because of the definition of sin to begin with. John gives us that definition. It's found in the book of first John chapter three, verse four, whoever commits sin also its lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness just for the sake of emphasis to make sure everybody's on the same page. The highlighted portion of that text. Could you just say it out loud with me? Ready? Begin. Sin is lawlessness. Come on. Even if you're at home church online, maybe even all by yourself this morning.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

I just want you to just speak this out. Ready? Begin. Sin is lawlessness. So we commit sin when we break the law, but not just the law of man. We're talking about a higher law. We're talking about the law of God and the law of God is recorded in the old Testament. And it is, it ha there's numerous ordinances and elements to God's law, but it primarily all hangs upon 10 laws. We know them as the 10 commandments and there's something that you'll notice. Uh, if you read through the 10 commandments, you'll just of that. The first four have a specific point of emphasis and the next six have another point of emphasis. And it is Jesus. When he came on the scene in the new Testament, that helped us to make sense of that. Because for years, scholars and Pharisees and strides and people who studied God's law had argued over which law is actually the greatest.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And they were trying to rank them. They were trying to prioritize them so they can determine what was the greatest sin and the lesser sin. And, and so they, they are quizzing Jesus on, in this subject and, and Jesus actually in Matthew chapter 22, he settled it for him. He said, the greatest law is this. You should love the Lord. Do God with all that heart, all that mind, all that soul. And the second is that you would love your neighbor as yourself. Now we can summarize that to say this love God and love people. Maybe, maybe just tell somebody that love God and love people. Now, why that's important is because when you look at the 10 commandments, the first four commandments are all about loving God. And the last six commandments are all about loving people. Love God, love people. That is the law of God. And we commit sin. When we do not love God with our whole heart, our whole mind and our whole soul that is sin. But we also commit sin when we don't love our neighbor as ourself. So when we fail to love God and we fail of people, that is when we commit sin.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And it is being aware of that. That brings a certain element of shame, brings a certain element of condemnation, brings a certain element of guilt because the enemy, he is a twisted creature. And so in one way, while the enemy is trying to get us to fail God's law and, and to not love God properly and to not love other people properly at the same time, once we don't do it right. And we do break the law of God in one way or the other, the enemy is the first one to show up and say, see, you're a bad person. You can't keep the law the same joker that was trying to get us to break the law. Some of you hang up, hung out with that fellow just didn't know to call him Satan.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

You understand that the law of God was taken so seriously that God himself, when the 10 commandments were first instituted, wrote them with his own finger, wrote them with his own finger. Hee wrote them in stone. And in the old Testament, if you broke one of the big 10, you would actually be stoned to death. And the reason that happened was to insinuate. You have broken the law of God that was written in stone. Now the law must come down upon you with judgment. That's why in the Bible, you find people being stoned to death because they had broken one of the big 10. Well, now it's the big two that settle the big 10 love. God love people. We break those laws and we become, do wrath. And what happens is the enemy is the first one to pick up the stone and try to point out you didn't love God and you didn't love people.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And he'll go to people around us and he'll point it out to them because he is the accuser of the brethren. And, and, and we'll even feel people glaring at us, we'll people. And we realize, man, I didn't love God the way I should have today. And man, I didn't love people the way I should have today. And, and then the first thing, you know, somebody's in the comment sections reminding you that you didn't love God, the way you should have, and you didn't love people and you they're texting you and they're am I making sense to anybody on a Sunday morning? And so you start to feel the guilt and you start to feel the shame and you start to feel the condemn and, and, and, and, and yet at the same time, you just wish you could quit messing up. And so you are in this cycle of self hate. How do you overcome that? Like how do you overcome self hate that is associated with sinfulness that comes through our hearts and our habits and our hang ups. You know, I was thinking about this first John three, four sin is lawlessness. And you guys understand that now, right? Like sin is lawlessness.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Why do we keep breaking the law? Especially if we know there's gonna be shame and there's gonna be condemnation and there's gonna be guilt, why do we keep doing it? If we know that there's gonna be a voice in our head accusing us, and there's gonna be people looking at us with accusatory tone, why? Well, it's James, it says this chapter one, verse 14, but each one is tempted when is drawn away by his own desires. Yeah. So the reason that we commit sin that breaks the law of God is because every single one of us wrestle with temptation and, and that temptation is fixated upon something that we desire. And so then you have understand desire and it's John that helps us with that. And here's what John said about it. In first, John, two 16, he said everything that is in the world, it's talking about the desire of the world is the, the desire of the flesh, the lust of the flesh, the, the, the desire of the eyes, the lust, the eyes, the pride of life.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

It, it's not of the father, but it's of this world. So, so here's the deal. Sin is lawlessness. But the reason I commit sin is because I'm struggling with a desire for something other than God's law God's will from my life. And that desire always falls within one of three categories. Always. I am going to be struggling with a desire that is associated with the lust of my flesh, which means I want a feeling that I don't presently have. That's what the lust of the flesh is. It, it, it can, it can be where we become sinful with our appetite in any way, shape, form, or fashion. It could be everything from gluttony to adultery. It's something that makes us feel good. It's why we struggle with addiction because the addiction makes us feel something. And the lust of the flesh starts craving that and desiring that.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And we don't have that feeling right now, but man, if I could just get another hit, if I could just get another drink, if I could just get to another computer screen, if I could just get in somebody else's bed, it's a feeling it's the lust of the flesh it's desire. And that lust of the flesh that desire is pulling you away from God's will for your life. Then there's the lust of the eyes. And the lust of the eyes is I see something more that I want. So, so I, I know, I know I got this and I know I got that, but I see that over there. That's how we wind up in debt to the point we go bankrupt. That, that, that's how we wind up with more than we can take care of. That's how we wind up in a field that we thought was greener pasture only to find out that it's drier than where we were it's cuz we see something, the lust of the eyes, it's a category of our desire, but then there's the pride of life and, and the pride of life.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

It's when I deserve something more. And, and, and if you, if you knew who I really was, you would understand that I deserve, it's a sense of entitlement that begins to rise up in our flesh. And, and so we desire this thing that the enemy has convinced us, we deserve. And so we count ourselves worthy and we count ourselves to be deserving. And so if somebody don't give it to us, we'll just take it. Wow. That's why some people steal from their employer is because they feel like they're not properly recognized by their employer. So they take it upon themselves to steal product or to steal time. Cause I deserve it. It's why people cheat. It's it's, it's why people bend the rules. It's why people tell white lies. It's why people buck you in line. Who am I trying to help? It's because we struggle with the desire of thinking that we deserve something.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

So sin is lawlessness come on. And the reason that we commit sin and break the law of God is because we struggle with desire and desire falls in three categories, lust of the flesh, lust the eyes and the pride of life. But, but here's the thing, even though our desires are trying to draw us away from God. I want you to see first Corinthians chapter 10 it's first number 13, it says this no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. So let's just stop right there for just a second. I know you the think you're the only person in this room dealing with what you're dealing with. But every single one of us is wrestling with temptation in some shape, form or fashion. And every single one of us is battling a desire in one or more of those categories.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

So whatever you're wrestling with it is nothing that God hasn't seen before. And it is nothing that the devil hasn't thrown at someone before. The temptation that you're wrestling with it is common to man. But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with temptation, we'll also make the way of escape that you are able to bear. It he'll make a way of escape. Let me show you a what that way of escape looks like. It's Luke chapter four, it's verse number eight. We've already read it. You you've, you've already spoken to it in this message, but I wanna bring you back to it. If we were to have an anchor text this morning, this is probably it, Luke chapter four, verse eight and Jesus answered and said to him, get behind me, Satan for it is written.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

You show worse shift to Lord your God and him only shall you serve. Let me tell you how you're gonna have a way of escape. You're gonna learn to talk like Jesus. And you're gonna look at that devil. That's standing in front of you and blocking your destiny and blocking your purpose and blocking God's vision for your life. And you're gonna tell that enemy. He ain't gonna stand in front of you. He's gonna have to move outta the way he's gonna have to get behind you because the of your escape heads that direction. Come on. Sometimes you gotta learn to talk back to the devil. That's right. Sometimes you, uh, so let's go back to Luke chapter four and let let's see what's happening here. The Bible says that Jesus is full of the holy spirit. And after he's full of the holy spirit, he's led into the wilderness a spirit. Now that's not the place any of us want to be led.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And that's the reason. Most of us never have a meaningful life because we want the palace before the wilderness. And we don't understand that. Sometimes there's some things you gotta work out when nobody's looking so that you can be ready when everybody is looking that's right. And so what happens is before Jesus really launches into this full edge public ministry, he goes into this wilderness environment and there he begins to pray and he begins to fast. And wouldn't, you know, that the devil shows up and the devil starts trying to tempt him. Yeah. And so the, the devil is in this wilderness environment, trying to get Jesus to sin. He's trying to get Jesus to break the law of God. And how does he approach that? He does three things. Uh, the, the first thing that we'll talk about him doing is he comes to Jesus, knowing Jesus is hungry. Yeah. And he says, Hey, why don't you turn this rock into bread and just flaunt your spiritual prowes.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And, and, and Jesus speaks back to him on man, shall know, live by bread alone. But by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God, what he's saying to him is that spiritual food is of greater value than natural food. What he's saying to him is that the word of God is of greater value than even the food that sets on your natural table. And, and so did, but did you see what just happened? He appealed to a desire of the flesh. He tried to cause when you're hungry and you eat it, it gives you a feeling of fullness. It, it takes away the hungry. There's a sensation that comes with that. So what's actually happening is the enemy is messing with Jesus through the lust of the flesh. He's tempting him through the lust of the flesh. He's trying to get Jesus to want a feeling that he doesn't have more than he wants the word of God in his life.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And what Jesus does is Jesus responds by speaking the word that the next thing that, that we'll talk about that happens is that the, the enemy tries to show Jesus all of these kingdoms of the world. Now it's really deep. What's going on here. He's actually trying to circumvent the event of the cross, but we, we won't talk about all that this morning. Let's just look at it at the, at the surface level that he takes Jesus up and he shows it he's a Jesus. Hey, look out. Look at all these kingdoms, everything that the world has to offer. Satan says they are mine to give to you. And I will give them to you if you will just bow and you will worship me. What's he doing? He's appealing to the lust of the eyes. He's trying to get Jesus to break the law of God through a, that is associated with the eyes of, I see something more and I want it.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

But, but the condition is he has to bow and he has to worship the enemy instead of worshiping God. And he says to him, I man shall worship the Lord by God and him alone. But in the middle of saying that he drops one and you better get behind me, Satan, because this is not, you better get behind me. See, there's gonna be moments where the enemy starts pointing out things to you and showing you stuff. And you're gonna have to learn to tell the enemy, get behind me. I'm not looking at that mess anymore. I'm not gonna live in comparison, not gonna live in Discontentment. I'm not gonna live in the lust of my eyes enemy. You've got to get behind me and you've gotta get behind me now. So with the next thing that we'll talk about, that happens in Luke chapter four is that, that, that, that Jesus is tempted by the enemy to say, Hey, why don't you just make sure God really loves you.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

So why don't you commit suicide or, or perform a suicidal act. And, and, and, and then you'll know your heavenly father really loves you. Jesus lets the enemy know that's not how you prove. God loves you cuz you don't prove God by tempting God. And so there's this thing that's happening here. Did you notice what it was? It was the pride of life. You deserve to have it proven to you. And, and so every category of sin has showed up in Luke chapter four. So sin is lawlessness. And the reason we break the law of God is because we wrestle with our desires. But our desires all fall within one of three categories, the lust of the flesh. It's some feeling that we want, that we don't have the lust to the eyes. It's something that we see something more, the pride of life. We've been convinced that we deserve it, whether we do or not.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

That's why we break the law of God. But Jesus overcame every category of desire, every category. And there's a point that God's trying to prove to you that because Jesus overcame every category of desire and temptation you as well can overcome every category of desire and temptation. And you do not have to settle for being a law breaker perpetually. And even though you may slip up and you may make mistakes and you may occasionally find yourself doing something that you hate and you wish that you had not done that does not have to be your biography. You get to live the story of a new creature in Christ. Jesus, that old things have passed away and everyth has become new again, all because you have a relationship with the ultimate overcomer, Jesus Christ. And the way that Jesus did this is he goes into the wilderness and he is in a season of prayer, fasting and declaring the word.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Here's something I've learned. I've learned that when you go into seasons of prayer, it really helps you to realign your priorities. But I've learned when you go into seasons of fasting and I know that's a foreign subject for many of us, it's something we've never even considered. We've never even thought about pushing back the plate for a single meal, but there's something to be said where that you become more hungry for your next encounter God, than you do for your next meal. There's something to be said for going into moments where that you literally take the word of God and you replace the plate in front of you with a Bible. And you just simply say, I want to make sure that my perspectives are changed. So, so when you're praying, you're inviting God to realign your priorities. But when you're fasting, you're inviting God to change your perspectives.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And while you're praying and while you're fasting, you're always doing so with a relationship with the word of God, which brings you into that place, where that you can then declare purpose and your purpose is not to bow down to the enemy. So you can have more of this world. Your purpose is to bow down to God. So you can have more of the kingdom of heaven made manifest in earth. That is your purpose in life. And so my, my challenge for us as a church is that going into these first 100 days of this new year, I, if you want to live a meaningful life in intensify, your pursuit of God, through prayer, fasting and study of the word and it's elementary and it's simple and it's basic, but very few of us ever really do it because we are stuck in a conundrum of going through the motions of a form of godliness and denying the power thereof.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

The at God has called you to be something more than a weak anemic so-called Christian. He has called you to be a spirit empowered life, giving need meeting Jesus, connecting devil stomping. Come on some I, I don't you're you, you don't have to live in this perpetual cycle of defeat. That's one of the things that I'm praying over my life, that, that some of these like hurts and habits and hangups. That just seem to just kind of be there perpetually that I'm believing 20, 22 is gonna be a year of breakthrough and that, and it be a year, a breakthrough breakthrough. We're gonna get to stand in front of the mirror a, a few more times this year than maybe last and not hate the person we see because we're being transformed in the image of the one. We can't see, not conformed to this world, but transformed who a more Christlike image, compelling the loss to come in.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

That the house of Lord may be filled. Have I made sense to anybody this morning? Come on, give God praise this morning. I'm gonna invite him to come to the music and come on. Just give God praise a little bit for 2022, give him praise that it's gonna be a meaningful year. Give him praise that you're gonna over the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Give him praise that the lawbreaker in you is gonna be redeemed in Jesus name. Come on, bless you, father. Bless you, father. Listen, as they're just playing that music softly, whether you're in this auditorium or you're in church online, I want you just to think with me about what Jesus said in Luke chapter four, Jesus makes this profound statement. He says, get the behind me, Satan, how guarantee you that every single one of us in some place in our life, the devil stand in front of us and he's blocking the way of escape.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And he's prevailed more times than we can count at not allowing our escape, but because of Jesus, he moves that if you're buried in a tomb, there's still a way of escape because of a relationship with the power of the holy spirit, through the name of Jesus. And I'm just gonna ask that every head would be bowed. Every eye would be closed in my personal meditation time. The last, um, couple of days, especially yesterday, over and over again, I just, I read this passage of text and as your heads are bow, your eyes are closed. You're just in a moment of focusing on your relationship with God. I give it to you for consideration it. Second Peter chapter one, it says for he who lacks these things is shortsighted even unto blindness. And he's forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren be even more diligent to make your call and your election.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

Sure. If you do these things you'll never stumble for. So an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Peter was making a statement to his audience that it's really easy in our life to become shortsighted spiritually, to the point that we can become spiritually blind and sometimes not even real it. And he says that one of the ways that that happens is that we start to settle for old sins, forgetting that we have been cleansed from those old sins, but our call and our election in heaven is sure. So why do we act as though we gotta settle for something less than God's best for our life father today, as we are bowed before you there's some of us father that need to come to the recognition that the most meaningful thing we will ever experience is heaven. And it doesn't just last for 70, 80 you years. It's for all of an eternity. And I pray father God, that there would be a, a move of your holy spirit in, in our lives today in our hearts today, God, we're all law breakers. God, there's, there's a, a stone of wrath that is due every single one of us, but we thank you, God that you sent your son.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And he took the curse symbolically through a tree called the cross and knowing no sin, he became sin for us and God, you were able to pour out all the wrath of heaven on Jesus. And, and now you give us the opportunity. All we have to do is to confess that Jesus Christ is our Lord and savior to believe that he died for our sins so that we could have everlasting life and that he rose again on the third day, proving that our sins could go away and death would have no hold on our eternity. And now God, we awake his return. So Lord let somebody either in church online in this room right now, have the courage to put a hand up in the air and just say, God, I need a fresh start Lord. I'm a sinner. And I need to be saved God today.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

I repent of my sins. I repent that I've given in to the lust of the desiring feelings that I wanted more than a relationship with Jesus. I repent God of the lust of the eyes of constantly just seeing more and wanting more and desiring more. And God I've sinned. And I repent of that. God, I repent of the pride of life. How'd my I. So, so often made me feel entitled and deserving and I've stepped on other people. And God, I repent. I repent God of every time that I've not loved you. And I repent God of every time. I've not loved others. And I pray now God that your blood would come and that you would cleanse and you would make me clean. You would make whole that Lord as a born again, Christian, I would move forward to become a disciple for you father to the north, the south east and the west.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:

And from this day forward father, may I never overlook the way of escape that comes in the authority of the name of Jesus. By being able to say, get behind me Satan. So God, today we take, we take the exit outta sin and we receive the entrance towards the kingdom of heaven. And we give you praise and we give you honor, and we give you glory. And we rejoice with the angels in heaven, God, for the goodness of grace in our life. And this church said, come on, would you stand with me all over this room? And even at home, could you just join us in at least giving God praise? Come on, he's worthy, he's worthy. He's greater than death. He's greater than the hell. He's greater than the grave. He's greater than our hurt. He's greater than our hangup. He's greater than our habit. He's greater than our sin. Come on, give him praise this morning. It's 20, 22. And this year ain't gonna look like last year, you've got a revelation. You're about to put hell in its place. We worship you. Jesus.