Are You A Child Of The Devil Or A Child Of God? Who Do You Serve Part 4 of 4

Hello and welcome to Social Media Ministries. My name is Spencer Coffman. Thank you so much for tuning in today. This is number four in a four-part sermon series on “Who Do You Serve.” We’ve covered a lot of ground, so if you have not been with us for the last three weeks, then please check out the playlist “Who Do You Serve.”

It’s on our YouTube channel, also on our website. You can watch and get caught up there or listen, scroll in your podcast feed, you can find it there as well.

Today we’re talking about whether or not you’re a child of God or a child of the Devil. Seriously you can be a child of the Devil. So if this is your first time with us, you can watch this sermon, that would be great. But then I really encourage you to go back, watch the rest of this playlist series, get a full grasp and an idea of what’s going on here.

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All right, are you a child of the Devil or a child of God? Hopefully, you’re a child of God, but it’s really one or the other. As we’ve talked about, you’re either hot or you’re cold. You’re either with or against.

There’s no in-between so if your answer is, “You don’t know,” then guess what? You’re a child of the Devil. You are. It’s one or the other. There’s no middle ground here. You’re living in a world controlled by the Devil.

How do we know this? We know this because in the fall of humankind when Adam and Eve sinned or Eve then Adam who was with her when they sinned. They gave control over to the serpent. Now the Devil rules this territory, under the control of God, of course.

The Devil cannot do anything without God’s approval or within limitations, but because we gave up our right to rule, the Devil has certain freedoms and you say, “Well how could a loving God have evil in the world?” Guess what, we allowed it. We allowed it. We gave it up. We gave up our right to rule when we gave control over to the Devil and you say, “I didn’t have that choice.” Your ancestors did.

We gave it up through sin and yeah, you have that choice. You sin each and every day. You sin and if you sin, then you gave it up. The only person who didn’t give that up would be Jesus. He never sinned. Now you can try your hardest to not sin, seriously, I mean we all do. We all try hard, but it still happens. It’s our nature because we live in a world controlled by the Devil.

We’re all naturally children of the Devil and we choose to become a child of God, a child of Christ, a Christian. We choose to follow Him and our old nature still pulls us back. We live in this world but we long to be in another world. We long to be in Heaven. The Spirit that God put in us when we chose to be His children longs to be connected eternally with God and God longs for us as well.

This is why it is so important that we need to devote our time to God and devote our spirit to God. Because if we start following things of this world, we’re taking a Spirit that God gave us and improperly directing it where it should not be.

The Devil has dominion over this Earth. We’ve talked about this in other sermons time and time again. We’ve seen it in Scripture, in The Book of Job. We also see it when Jesus is tempted. It’s documented in Matthew and in Luke where the Devil says to Jesus,

“I will give all this to you.” In one instance, I believe, Luke or Mark says, “For it has been given to me and I can give it to whoever I want to,” which means that the Devil does indeed own all of this or it’s his reign.

It’s his kingdom and he was saying to Jesus, “I will give it to you.” Jesus at that moment could have said, “Yes, it is,” and taken it, and then we could have kind of Heaven on Earth. But what would’ve had to happen is Jesus would’ve had to worship the Devil which then means Jesus would say the Devil is more powerful and then it would all be under the Devil’s control anyway.

Jesus says no. He says no and He takes the fight to a spiritual level and He says, “Worship the Lord your God only.”

Guess what? When you take it to that spiritual level, the Devil can’t win. Because that spiritual level, that spiritual realm is not the Devil’s kingdom. The Devil can win here on Earth. He can make you feel horrible, he can hurt your body, he can crush your house, he can kill other people, he can make you feel horrible here on Earth because he can do it, but the second you take the fight to the spiritual realm, he doesn’t stand a chance because that’s not his kingdom.

He doesn’t stand a chance. He’s fighting. All of a sudden, he’s fighting over enemy lines. Right now he’s fighting on his home turf. He has got the home-field advantage when you’re trying to fight him in the physical realm.

When you’re trying to get through your day, when you’re trying to take a pill to ease the pain or have a drink to take the edge off or whatever you are doing — you’re fighting physically — he is going to win.

But you take that fight to your home turf, the spiritual realm, and let God step in and fight for you, the Devil doesn’t have a chance. You got to resist him. You need to resist the Devil in this physical realm here on Earth. Resist him and then he will flee from you.

James 4.7 is an excellent verse, such an excellent verse. We had a whole sermon on it, “Resist The Devil.” You can check it out in a card here on our YouTube channel or navigate to our website, our YouTube channel, and type in “Resist The Devil.” You’ll find it.

James 4.7 says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God.” So you have to submit to God. That means fighting in that spiritual realm. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Why will he flee from you? Well, he’ll flee from you because he knows he can’t stand a chance in that territory. It’s not his territory. He won’t stand a chance.

Are you a child of the Devil or a child of God? If you stay close to God and do what’s right and stay in the Word, then you’re a child of God and you’re resisting the Devil and you’re being closer and closer and closer and closer to God. The Devil will flee from you.

1 John 3.10 says, “This is how we know who the children of God and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.”

All right, so a few things here. We have children of the Devil and children of God. Now we know who’s God’s child and who is the Devil’s child, based on their actions. So when you do something that’s wrong, you’re a child of the Devil. You’re acting like a child of the Devil.

Now if you’re a Christian you’re God’s child, no one can snatch you from God’s hand. You are God’s child. You’ve made the decision to become a child of God and you’re a child of God. You ask Jesus into your life. You say, “How do I do that?”

You ask Jesus into your life, acknowledge that you’re a sinner, say you don’t want to be a sinner anymore — you want to follow God. That’s really simple. You can do that. You can make that choice today. You can become a child of God. It is very easy. We can help you. I will guide you through it right now.

If you’re thinking, “Well, how do I be a child of God? Of course, I don’t want to be a child of the Devil. Am I a child of God? I don’t know.” You can know right now. You can make that choice. You can say, “Dear Jesus, thank you for dying for me. Please forgive me of my sins. I want to be your child. Come into my life. I want to live for you every moment of every day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Then what do you do? You start telling some people, say, “Hey, I made the choice. I’m a Christian now. I’m a child of God,” and then start reading the Bible. Start watching more sermons, go to church, start learning more about Jesus, pray to Him, talk to Him just like you’re talking to your friends. Be His child.

Once you do that, no one can take you away. The Devil can’t take you away. The only thing you can do is when you screw up, when you sin — and you will — we all sin, everyone sins, even your pastors. They all sin. When you sin you act like a child of the Devil, but we aren’t children of the Devil anymore. We are now children of God.

So when I sin, when I screw up, I act like a child of the Devil and I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to sin. So anyone who doesn’t do what’s right isn’t God’s child. If people are currently and constantly living in sin or doing wrong, they aren’t God’s children. Because God’s children wouldn’t do that. They wouldn’t behave that way.

That’s what 1 John 3.10 is telling us. That children of God would not behave like that. They behave a certain way. They do what is right and they always try to do what is right. Yes they make mistakes every once in a while.

So you have to do what’s right; you must love others, then you will truly be a child of God. But if you fail to follow God and you align yourself with the Devil, then you become his child.

Now we’re getting to Acts 13.10, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the ways of the Lord?” That’s what’s being said about these people who are following the Devil.

Now whether they are really following the Devil and they’re Satan worshipers and things like that, they are actively pursuing it or whether they are just simply not Christians and they’re cold, remember you are either hot or you are cold. If you’re hot, you’re on fire for Christ. It’s a fire. It’s a burning flame inside of us.

Have you ever put your hand over a candle and been like, “Oh that’s not hot, that doesn’t burn because it’s just a tiny little flame”? No, fire is hot. Fire burns. You need to have that spirit within you burning.

It’s a burning flame, a scorching fire, a consuming flame. We got to go out there and then save the lost souls. We’re a burning flame. We’re hot. You’re either hot or you’re cold. There’s no in-between. There’s no like, “Ph this fire doesn’t burn me. It’s okay.”

Well maybe it is fake, well then it’s cold. So hot or cold. The cold are like the people who are either actively pursuing the Devil or they just don’t know. They haven’t been brought into the light yet. They’re still walking in darkness. They’re wandering in darkness. You can go be the light and warm them and bring them over and make them hot.

How do you do that? It is very simple, just share Jesus with them. Share these sermons. You get to make that decision to become a child of God. Hot or cold. It is one or the other. You are either a child of the Devil or a child of God. Now if you are in the world, remember this, we are in the world. If we are in the world, this world is of the Devil.

It’s kind of like in some movies they say, “Oh, it’s of the Devil.” Now obviously not everything in this world is of the Devil, because if that were the case, I mean it’s psychotic, but the things of this world, remember this isn’t our Kingdom, this isn’t our home.

But this sermon is not of the Devil. This Bible is not of the Devil. These things come from the Spirit which is from another world, our heavenly Kingdom, divinely inspired, not of this world. But we are in this world, but it is not of this world.

You see what I’m saying? It’s here but it doesn’t originate here. Our home isn’t here. We have chosen to be somewhere else. So if you’re living in the world, you’re of the Devil. You’re of the Devil. Your goal is to become a Christian and be not of this world. You remember we serve a heavenly king.

Jesus is a heavenly king. He’s in a different realm. We’re in this world behind enemy lines, in enemy territory and this is where we operate. Eventually, we will go home. We’ll go to the place of our eternal resting place with Jesus. The Spirit longs to be united.

When we become a Christian, we have the Holy Spirit within us. This Spirit longs to be united with God and God longs to be united with the Spirit. That’s why when we start directing our attention somewhere else, God is jealous. Because we have taken something He gave us and we are misappropriating it — we are using it somewhere else.

We are focusing the attention in a wrong place and God gets jealous of that justly. We need to turn back to God and connect that Spirit with Him.

Remember we’re not of this world. This world is of the Devil and they may hate you. You might be sharing the light and people are like, “Oh that light is too bright.” They may not like you because you’re too bright or sometimes things may be too hot and they don’t like it.

You come out and you’re a burning flame. You’re on fire for Christ and they don’t like you because you might be too hot. You can’t be too hot. You can’t be too bright.

Okay, that’s something you can never be. You can never be too hot or never be too bright. So guess what? Get out there and be as hot as you can and as bright as you can because this world will always have a problem with however it is.

It’s not your job to tone it down or to compromise in these areas. It’s your job to move the line, to push to be bright, to be that light in the darkness, to share Jesus with others, to bring more people to Christ.

They may not like you. They may hate you because you’re not of this world. You’re different. They’re going to say, “You’re a freak.” Yeah, you’re a Jesus freak and they’re gonna not like you and they don’t know why.

Well let’s see, you’re full of salt because you are salty. You’re full of light, so you are too bright and you’re hot, so you’re burning them. They don’t like you. You are hot. You are bright. You are salty. But guess what? That is exactly what you need to be, and pretty soon they’re going to get hot.

They’re going to get bright. They’re going to get salty and they’re gonna be like, “Wow this is nice,” and now people are gonna hate them too. But guess what? They hated Jesus first. It’s okay, be different.

Now if they hate you because you’re a bad person or you’re sinning or you’re doing something like that, then of course that’s wrong. But if they hate you because you’re salty and you’re hot and you’re bright, then that’s okay. You have got to be on fire for Christ. They hated Jesus first. They hated Him.

1 John 15.18 says, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” That is Jesus. Continue reading, read the rest of that chapter, the next 10 verses are excellent. We don’t have time for them now, but they’re really good.

Some good encouragement for you, that if the world is getting you down, it’s okay. They hated Jesus first. You need to be different. You’re going to be different. You’re going to become that weirdo, that Jesus freak, the Bible thumper.

Yes, you’re probably going to get a label, a preacher. Now if you do it appropriately in the right context it’s okay, but if you’re the type of person that you go out to the bars and you start drinking and then all of a sudden you’re starting to preach Jesus, that’s not right. You’re committing drunkenness — a sin — and now you’re trying to bring Jesus into it to make it okay.

You’re like, “Wait a minute, I need a few in me in order to have that confidence.” No, you don’t. That’s of this world and people are going to hate you because of that and rightfully so. But if you’re on a missions team or a street team helping the homeless and preaching Jesus and they don’t like you because of that, guess what? That’s okay. They hated Jesus first.

Now if you say, “Okay, well I’m gonna go sober into a bar and start preaching Jesus,” the bar is not the place probably to always be preaching Jesus. It’s a good place — people go there to try to drown their sorrows, but when you introduce a chemical concoction into the brain, they aren’t thinking normally and so of course it just doesn’t work as well.

I’m not saying it’s a bad place to go. There’s no bad place to go. You want to be a Christian and walk into a Satanist worship center and start trying to preach Jesus, they’re not going to like you — might be hazardous to your health. Maybe you’ll end up as a sacrifice, but they’re not going to like you. It’s all in context, everything in moderation, it’s biblical.

You keep reading the Bible and understanding the Scripture and you’ll know there’s a time and a place for everything, that includes sharing Jesus. It’s not like every single day you’re going to be sharing Jesus all the time. You’re going to be leading by example most of the time and then hopefully you’ll get chances throughout the day to share Jesus and talk about it.

You got to lead by example though. You got to be in this world. We got to do the things of this world. Whether you’re going to work the store, all of this stuff, you got to be in this world. We’re in it but we are not of the world — in but not of.

We’re of a heavenly Kingdom. John 17.14-15 says, “I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.” Alright, this is Jesus talking to God the Father. His Father. He’s praying for His disciples — really for anyone who wants to share Jesus.

He’s saying He has given them the Word of the Father. He has given them the Holy Spirit. He has given them — given you, given me, given us — the ability to share Jesus with others and the world hates us for it.

They don’t like it, but that’s okay. Jesus says the world has hated them for they are not of the world because now they’re of a heavenly Kingdom, any more than I am of the world, than Jesus is of the world.

His prayer isn’t that God takes us out of the world, but that He protects them from the evil one. So Jesus is saying He has given us something, you and me, He has given us this Word. This Word, “Do not let the book of the law depart from your lips,” Joshua 1.8. Do not let it depart. God has given us this, the world hates us for it, but we’re not of this world.

Jesus is saying, “Hey, I pray for the missionaries and those preachers and the people who are sharing Jesus, who are living out their calling, their greater calling, the Great Commission.” Jesus says, “I pray for you,” and He is praying. He’s saying, “Father, do not take them out of the world, but protect them from the evil one.”

Why? Why would we need protection? Because the Devil rules this world. Jesus is saying, “Hey I want you guys there. I want you to live for me as long as possible.” God doesn’t want you to go die right now for Him. He doesn’t want you to walk into the Satanist center and be a martyr. No, He wants you to get out there and live for Him for years to come.

We are limited to 120 years. How close can you get to 120? You better make it your goal to get all the way living for Jesus, every single moment of every single day for the next however many years it takes you to get to that 120. God wants you here, Jesus wants you here in the world, but not of the world.

Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for this great sermon series. I ask that if there’s anyone out there who hasn’t made that decision to be your child, that they would make that choice. That you would soften their heart, that you would help them see the light.

That they would say, “Hey, I want to be hot. I want to be bright. I want to be salty. I want to be that weirdo, that Jesus freak and I want to live every single moment of every single day for you.”

That you would inspire them to be not of this world and that you would inspire them to get out and live in the world, sharing you as often as they can. That they would lead by example. That they would live for you fully, committed, serving you only. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Thanks again for being with us today. If you haven’t seen the rest of the sermon series, check that out. If you’ve been with us, thanks for sticking it out. Four-sermon series, it has been great.

I hope that you’ve hit the subscribe button, that you will stay tuned, and that you will consider sharing these with others and helping them live in the world but not of the world. God bless.