Satans Love Counterfeit

But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denari – that’s just about three months’ work – and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat and said, pay me what you owe. His fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him, saying, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he could pay it all. That wasn’t that much. And he wouldn’t let him, but he went and cast him into prison, till he could pay the debt.

Pretty tough to do when you’re in prison. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, came and told their Lord all that was done. And the Lord, after he had called him, said unto him, O you wicked servant, I should not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee. And his Lord was angry and delivered him to the inquisitors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also to you, if you from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother his trespasses.

In other words, typical world’s perspective, no forgiveness. And the Lord came to him and said, you give evidence of not being a Christian. You’re not in my family, you’re not in my kingdom, there’s no love in you. The point is this, people, it’s a simple point. The world is not forgiving. The world bases its responses on conditions, you pay up and I’ll tolerate you. The world is self-seeking. The Christian is the opposite. That’s what we want you to see. Now, let’s look at Ephesians 5, verse 3 and 4 specifically. Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.

If God’s love and the love of God’s children is self-sacrificing, forgiving and unconditional, then be sure that Satan will pervert that, and the love of the world will be selfish, self-centered, unforgiving and conditioned on what it gains, not what it gives. That’s the point. So when the world says love, it isn’t using God’s definition. It means desire, self-pleasure, lust. Oh, I’m not denying that now and then there’s some self-giving in it, that now and then there’s some milk of human kindness. Now and then there is some magnanimity in it. Now and then there is some generosity in it.

There are times when love, human love, does reach a higher level than at other times. But the basic commodity is self-pleasure, self-gaining, and it is a conditional thing. . I never cease to be amazed how many people say, well, we’re getting a divorce because you don’t meet my needs anymore. Well, whoever said love was all about somebody meeting your needs. Love is all about you meeting somebody’s needs. Physical desire, personal gratification is a fickle dream. It’s an elusive bubble. And if you want to chase your whole life long to find the ultimate fantasy, you’ll wind up desperate, destitute, and never having realized it.

The world says, I love you for what you do for me. It is shallow, selfish, sensual, sexual. Satan tries to sell this to the world, and it’s incredible to me that Christians fall into the trap. People, I think that what’s happening in the church today, in this area of divorce and the breakup of marriage and infidelity and all of this, is based simply on this one principle. Christian people will not walk in love as God defines it. They won’t. Paul says, I’m not talking about the world’s love, fornication, uncleanness, covetousness. That shouldn’t be once named among you.

Not one single time should that be heard of. The word fornication, you know that word. It’s mentioned in its noun forms at least 35 times in the New Testament. It’s a big problem. Now, when something is mentioned 35 times, it’s a problem. The word porneia means sex sin, and it means any kind. Any kind. There is a term in the Greek, ecriteia, and that word means, it’s a great word. It means discipline and self-control. That’s its basic meaning. And it denotes the power of control that a person has over himself. Ecriteia. It’s a good word. Socrates said it is one of the chief virtues.

So did Plato, and so did Aristotle. The word was self-control, self-discipline. By the way, it is used ten times in the New Testament, and it always means self-control. Sometimes translated temperance, but meaning the same thing. But watch where its real significance is. The ancient Greeks used it to refer to sexual self-control. Sexual self-control. They said it is the ability to transcend one’s passions, to transcend one’s desires, sexually. Now, in the New Testament, is it used in that way also? In Acts, for example, 24-25, let me just show you this very fascinating word. And Paul here is talking about, he’s talking to Felix.

And as he reasoned, he’s talking to Felix. He talked to him. Watch this one. This is really powerful about righteousness, self-control, and judgment to come. Now you say, well, that’s a pretty general message. A little righteousness, a little self-control, a little judgment to come. No, sir. Do you know what he was doing? Listen, Felix married Drusilla in an adulterous relationship, and here is Paul in front of Felix, this powerful man, and he says to him, I’d like to give you a sermon, Felix. It has to do with righteousness, as opposed to lack of self-control, sexual self-control, which leads to the judgment of God.

Listen, what he was doing was nailing Felix to the wall on his own relationship to his wife. This wasn’t any generalized message. He was saying, Felix, you’re a living illustration of God’s righteousness violated by a failure to have sexual self-control, which ends in judgment. In 1 Corinthians 7, the word is used again, and there it is used in reference to marriage, where the Apostle Paul is teaching, and he says, if they cannot have self-control, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn. And it means sexual self-control. If you have a problem with that, get married.

Don’t try to say, I have the gift of singleness, but it sure is difficult, because I have this tremendous desire for marriage. No. If you have that desire, and you do not have self-control, sexual self-control, then you’re better to be married. In other words, I want you to see that the word egriteia is a word that refers to sexual self-control. Now, the Greeks said that that word had an opposite, and the opposite was porneia. And so now you can see by the opposite what it means, a lack of sexual self-control. That’s porneia.

It is an antonym of egriteia. It is behaviour out of control. It is undisciplined. It is beyond the limits that God sets. And by the way, it means bestiality, homosexuality. It was used to speak of pedophilia, which is sex with children, child molesting, any kind of unchastity, prostitution, harlotry. Anything comes under that term. Any lack of sexual self-control. Porneia. There’s a Greek word graphae, which means to write. Porneia and graphae is pornography, to write about sex sin. That’s where the word comes from. There’s no place for this in our life. He says this shouldn’t be once named among the saints, not one time.

You’ll remember, if you were here when we studied 1 Corinthians 6, how that the Apostle Paul says there’s no place for this in our life. None at all. Such were some of you, he said. You used to be like this. This is in the past, but since you’ve come to Jesus Christ, that’s all gone. That’s all done away with. That’s all in the past. There’s no place for that. And the Corinthians, of course, were throwing up all kinds of stupid arguments about the fact, well, meat for the body and the body for meat.

Do you remember that? I mean, it’s only biological, just like eating. After all, it’s just a biological thing. And the Apostle Paul says it isn’t biological at all. Don’t you know your body is a member of Christ? And when you join yourself to a harlot, you join Christ to a harlot. And by the way, a harlot is anybody who has sex outside of marriage. . And when you do that, it’s not just a biological thing. You’re taking Jesus Christ, with whom you are one, and you’re joining Jesus Christ to a harlot. It’s not just biological.

If you’re living in any kind of a perversion of love, you’re a blight on the church. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, and the Apostle Paul writes, he says, it’s reported commonly there is fornication among you. And he says, instead of being stricken about it, instead of being mournful and broken about it, you’re puffed up and you have not mourned. And he says, your glorying is not good. And he says to the church, you put that person out of the church, deliver him to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Don’t let that leaven destroy the lump.

And he says, if you find a fornicator in the church, I write unto you not to company with a fornicator. If he calls himself a brother and he’s a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, don’t even eat a meal with him. 1 Corinthians 5, put them out. You’re a blight on the church. You need to be removed from the church if you live that way, to say nothing of the fact that you’re definitely not walking as a child of God. In 2 Peter 2, he calls people that do that scabs and filth spots on the assembly.

Satan will always introduce a counterfeit. Thank you for joining us in this exploration of Satan’s love counterfeit. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world. To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way. [tr:trw].