It’s a battle and it’s already won.

Steve Brown:
It’s a battle and it’s already won. Let’s talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Being adopted into the family of God is not about doing more or trying harder, it’s about being welcomed by God because of his radical grace free from the penalties of sin and never alone in your suffering, that grace is what Key Life is all about.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. If you have your Bible open to the eighth chapter of the book of Acts, as we continue our study in the book of Acts. We’re talking about the fact that we live in a supernatural world and we saw yesterday that we’re not invited to a party, we’re invited to a battle. But it’s not a battle between good and evil with an outcome that isn’t predetermined. Jeremy, the producer of this program and I were talking just before we turned on the microphones. And Jeremy was saying that Satan came to God in the book of Job on bended knee. And he was on bended knee because he knew that if God willed it, he would be incinerated into nothing right then, but God had a purpose for Satan and Satan was God’s lackey. I’ve said often, and then probably on this broadcast that I want to be sort of good. Listen, don’t write me letters. I want to be in the process of sanctification. I just don’t want to get there because that’s where you get into trouble, if you believe the book of Job. I don’t want God ever saying to Satan, have you seen my Steve? Because bad things happen when that happens. So, I just want to sit over in the corner and I don’t want anybody to notice me. And I certainly don’t want Satan to notice me. And of course I’m being facetious, but don’t ever think they’re two equal powers, one evil and one good. And the outcome hasn’t been decided, Satan is used by God for various reasons. And maybe one of these days we’ll do a series on Satan and God, and how that works out. C.S. Lewis in Screwtape Letters, and if you haven’t read that you ought to get it. In fact, you ought to read everything you can get that C.S. Lewis ever wrote. He’s one of the few heroes that I have left. So, if you know any dirt on C.S. Lewis, don’t tell me. Everybody needs at least one hero and you’ve got to wait until they’d been dead at least 20 years before you make them into a hero. But at any rate, I love C.S. Lewis for the impact that he’s had on my life. But in Screwtape Letters, it was a group of letters that a junior demon, a nephew is writing to his uncle, who’s a senior demon. And he’s giving advice to this young demon on how to deal with a Christian. And C.S. Lewis said it was the hardest book he ever had to write because he had to change things. Good turn to bad, evil was lauded and praised. And he said that was hard to write, but because these are demons talking to each other, but one of the things that C.S. Lewis said that was really good in the introduction to the Screwtape Letters. He said this, we make two bad mistakes, and one is, to think that Satan has power, that he doesn’t have. That, we should live in fear because of demons and evil and the battle where we are. He said, that’s one mistake because God’s already won the battle. And then he said, the second mistake is to be an intellectual and let that do bad things to your brain and start saying, none of this is real. Nothing’s real, except the world that I can see and touch and feel. And there aren’t any demons, so I’m not worried. And Lewis said there is a golden mean between those two places. And that’s the place where Christians ought to walk, but nevertheless, it is a battle. My friend Eric Metaxas was on a television show the other day. And he was an, and I’m, this is not a political statement, by the way, I don’t do that on Key Life. But he was talking about some of the evil things that are happening in our nation and in the world. And he said, I don’t want to sound like a crazy person. He said to this person doing the interview, but some of this feels really evil. Kind of like the devil and stuff, boy, he was right. A lot of the things that we see right now in terms of the definition of what’s good and bad, what’s helpful and what’s not helpful, what ought to be a part of the national mindset and what ought not be part of it, is from the pit of hell. And if you look at it, as a Christian, you begin to see it. You begin to say this isn’t politics, this isn’t, this isn’t nice people talking about nice subjects and deciding which way to go, something else is going on here. There’s a battle going on here. You remember what Jesus said to Peter? He said, Satan has desired to have you. And then in the original Greek, it says, be cool, I prayed for you, it’s going to be okay. And that’s always true. And it’s always true with a Christian. Somebody has said, and I’ve quoted this often on this broadcast that the dragon has been slain, but his tail still swishes. And that’s true. We are involved in the battle. It’s a battle that has national and international repercussions to it, but it has personal repercussions to it too. You know exactly what I’m talking about, it’s the temptations we fight, the sometimes feeling that we can’t win this, the times when we think this is going down the tube and I can’t fix it. I am overwhelmed. Don’t let that happen. Remember that Satan is God’s lackey and he has a purpose. And when he has fulfilled his purpose, it will come to an end. Let me give you a quote. This is at the federal constitutional convention in 1787 and Benjamin Franklin spoke. Now, I’m not sure he was a Christian, but he had great respect. And one of his closest friends was the evangelist George Whitfield, and they remained friends for years. And anyway, this is what Benjamin Franklin said at that convention.

Mr. President. In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for divine protection. Our prayers were heard and answered. I have lived a long time, sir, a very long time. And the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of the truth that God governs in the affairs of men. I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of heaven and blessings up on our deliberations, be held in this assembly every morning.

Wise comment, that’s what we’re going to see if we see another awakening. And I personally believe we’re sitting on top of one. I did a series at the Billy Graham Training Center, three or four years ago on the revival that I believe is coming and I believe it’s true. And you say, Steve, are you crazy? It’s going the other way. It’s not going that way. That’s because you don’t see what’s going on behind the scenes. I think we are very fast coming to the end of ourselves. I think we are very fast beginning to see that we don’t have any solutions. I remember Bill Bright, my friend, my late friend said one time.

Our problems are beyond us. We have no solutions. And the wisest men in our culture don’t have answers for the problems that we’re facing.

And then Dr. Bright said.

But if we would repent and we had a great awakening, a child could lead us out of this mess.

You know, that’s true. That’s right. And so, as things get dark, that’s bad. No, that’s good. Because when it gets dark enough, somebody has said, you can see the stars, when it gets dark enough a little light will do, when it gets dark enough then that’s the place where God begins to move. And I see it. I see it all over the place. It’s not going to be an awakening like previous awakenings or a revival like previous revivals, but it’s going to happen. And we’ve got to be flexible enough to see it. And affirm it when it happens. It happens when the people of God repent, agree with God and cry out for mercy. And when the people who are not God’s people have done everything they can and nothing has worked and nothing is left but God, then he moves. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve. We’ll continue our unhurried, guided tour of Acts tomorrow. Sure hope you’ll join us again then, wouldn’t be the same without you. So here we are heading full speed into the season of gift giving. Is there anyone you’ve met this year who has been a gift to you? For me, one of those people is Matt Heard. Matt is a speaker, teacher, writer, pastor, coach. You may have actually heard him teaching here on Key Life a few weeks. Well, we recently spoke with Matt on Steve Brown Etc about a subject, very close to his heart, living life to the fullest. It’s a very encouraging show that I know you’ll be blessed by. Would you let us send that to you for free? Just call 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] and ask for that CD. If you’d like to mail your request, send it to

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Just ask for the CD featuring Matt Heard. Hey, and in case you didn’t know today is something called giving Tuesday. It’s a day for financially supporting non-profits, like Key Life. If you believe in the work we do here, would you join us in that work by giving today, you can visit www.keylife.org/givingtuesday or just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or if you prefer just text Key Life to 28950. Key life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.