How to Keep Doing Stuff that Satan Hates! | Matthew 26:3-4

[00:00:00] Real Truth Daily. This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman.

[00:00:07] Hi everybody. Welcome back to Daily Truths. We've all had it. You're working hard for the Lord. You're doing some amazing things for Him. You're using your gifts and talents to bring glory and honor to Him and to benefit the body of Christ. You're doing the work that God had called you to do in your vocation and you're making a difference for the Lord Jesus wherever you go.

[00:00:30] You're doing mighty things for God and somewhere, somehow, and in some way, someone is trying to undermine your work. Someone is antagonistic towards what you're doing. If it's not an individual, it's Satan and he does it all the time. Satan hates the good things of God. He is diametrically opposed to the will of God and he will do whatever he can to undermine the work of the Lord Jesus.

[00:01:00] Those believers who are trying to serve the Lord in love, extend His kingdom and minister to other people. He hates it.

[00:01:08] Now you think about the ministry of Jesus. In Matthew chapter 26, Jesus is preparing to go to the cross. And remember, He had given this long diatribe about end-time theology from the Mount of Olives. And just a few of His disciples were there. And now it's time for Him to go to the cross. And remember, they're going to celebrate the Passover. We talked about this yesterday. They're going to celebrate the Passover in a couple days.

[00:01:32] And of course, for the Passover festival, young men from all around the Mediterranean Sea, if possible, came to Jerusalem to celebrate that festival, that event. If they couldn't make it, they had at least during the festival of Passover to turn towards Jerusalem. Wow.

[00:01:50] So listen to this. When Jesus had finished all these sayings, He said to His disciples,

[00:01:55] You know that after two days, the Passover is coming. That means this was a Tuesday.

[00:02:00] And the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. Yesterday we talked about the anatomy of the crucifixion.

[00:02:07] Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill Him.

[00:02:22] Think about that. Jesus was doing amazing things for God, performing miracles, talking about the kingdom.

[00:02:29] But of course, His ultimate mission was to go to the cross.

[00:02:32] Caiaphas and the other religious leaders had no idea that it was God's will that Jesus should go to the cross.

[00:02:38] And so the key word here is stealth.

[00:02:41] They secretly wanted to look for an opportunity when there weren't many people around to apprehend Jesus and place Him on a cross and crucify Him.

[00:02:50] They were antagonistic to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:02:54] Little did they know that they were falling right in the hands of God the Father, whose will for the Lord Jesus was to go to the cross.

[00:03:01] And we said that already.

[00:03:02] So they were undermining the work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:03:06] At least they thought they were.

[00:03:08] And Caiaphas, who was he?

[00:03:09] He was the son-in-law of Annas.

[00:03:11] And Annas was the high priest for a time, but the Romans didn't like him very much.

[00:03:15] They liked his son-in-law better.

[00:03:17] And so they appointed Caiaphas to be the high priest.

[00:03:20] He was in that position for 18 years.

[00:03:23] Because previously, he was a Sadducee.

[00:03:25] And he got along with the Romans great.

[00:03:27] And of course, he and Pilate were good friends.

[00:03:30] And so as a result of that, I'm going to do what the Romans want me to do.

[00:03:34] I want to make sure we don't rock the boat too much and we don't cause a riot.

[00:03:38] So wait till the Passover festival is over.

[00:03:40] The feast of unleavened bread is over.

[00:03:42] And then we'll apprehend Jesus and we'll put Him to death.

[00:03:45] Again, they were working secretly to undermine the work of our Lord Jesus.

[00:03:51] Secretly.

[00:03:53] I started this podcast by saying there are people, maybe, maybe even probably,

[00:04:00] who are trying to undermine the work that you're doing for the Lord Jesus.

[00:04:04] You don't know what they're doing.

[00:04:06] They're doing it secretly.

[00:04:07] But do you know what?

[00:04:09] If they're not doing it, somehow in some way Satan hates the work that we do for the Lord.

[00:04:15] Whether it's in service or witness or activity or kindness or caring or whatever it is that we're doing for the kingdom of God,

[00:04:24] Satan hates it.

[00:04:25] And he will work behind the scenes to try to undermine what you're doing.

[00:04:31] Did you hear that?

[00:04:32] He will work behind the scenes to try to undermine the good work that you're doing for the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:04:40] So here's my word of encouragement for you today.

[00:04:43] Just keep doing it.

[00:04:47] Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand firm against the schemes of the devil,

[00:04:52] the helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit, the shield of faith, the belt of truth,

[00:04:58] the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet, the gospel of peace.

[00:05:02] Put on that full armor every day.

[00:05:04] Embrace the promises and proclamation and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ who says,

[00:05:11] I'm with you always.

[00:05:13] And greater is he that is in you, namely Jesus Christ, than he that's in the world.

[00:05:19] Satan is working in a stealthy way, in a secret way to try to be adversarial against anything you're doing for the kingdom.

[00:05:29] And my best word of encouragement for you is with the strength that God gives, putting on the full armor,

[00:05:34] just keep doing it and accomplish great things for the Lord through the giftedness and service that you're rendering.

[00:05:45] And that is today's Daily Truth.

[00:05:47] Have a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:05:50] Thank you for tuning in to Daily Truths with Dave Ullman.

[00:05:53] Pastor Dave Ullman is the pastor of Mount Hope Church in Boulder, Colorado.

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[00:06:08] Come back tomorrow for your next Daily Truth.