23 April 2017
Two-Minute Features | 30 April 2017 | 16 April 2017

Satan Uses the Jewish Leaders to Arrest Jesus (TMF:635)

Friday, April 28, 2017
Peace to Live By: Satan Uses the Jewish Leaders to Arrest Jesus (TMF:635) - Daniel Litton
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       So, let us turn to Luke chapter 22 because I want us to get a full picture here into what was taking place when Jesus was arrested. This is a long chapter, but let us go to verse 47. Luke gives us the best account of what happened. Jesus had been praying to God and was also struggling with Peter, James, and John to get them to stay awake and pray. But they didn’t. Jesus saw his betrayer coming, with the mob. We’ll pick up in verse 47. It is written: “While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness” (Luke 22:47-53, ESV).

Satan Tempts Jesus to Walk Away from the Cross? (TMF:634)

Thursday, April 27, 2017
Peace to Live By: Satan Tempts Jesus to Walk Away from the Cross? (TMF:634) - Daniel Litton
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       Now if we go to the Garden of Gethsemane, in Matthew chapter 26, before Jesus was arrested, Jesus was taking in the full realization of all that was about to take place. He even said to Peter, James, and John, ““My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” (Matthew 26:38, ESV). Now, it could be that Satan was tempting Jesus to walk away from the cross, since Jesus knew what was going to happen. And Jesus prays to God and asks him to take the cup of the cross away from him. He asks God if there is a way everyone in the world can have a chance at being saved without him going to the cross. But God knew that there was no other alternative, and Jesus was obedient to the Father, to the point of death, even death on a Roman cross, as the Apostle Paul talked about in Philippians 2:8. If Jesus hadn’t gone to the cross, you, me, and everyone in the world would have been condemned. But despite the unbelievable suffering the stood before him, he went to the cross for all of us. He despised the shame, as the writer of Hebrews has told us (see Hebrews 12:2). He knew the joy that would be his afterward.

Satan is Behind Evil That Happens in the World (TMF:633)

Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Peace to Live By: Satan is Behind Evil That Happens in the World (TMF:633) - Daniel Litton
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       When evil things happen, it’s not just that a person had a bad thought, or series of bad thoughts, that led to an evil deed. It’s not that people are only the problem. But really, Satan and his demons are behind great acts of wickedness. They were behind things like the September 11 terrorist attacks, or even to use a more recent example, the pilot that flew that airplane into the side of a mountain. That wasn’t just that troubled pilot’s decision. Satan and his demons are behind those types of things. There is a spiritual war going on, which we, as humans, cannot see with our eyes, at least, most of the time. But we do see the results of that warfare, like in the violence I just talked about. Jesus tells us of Satan, “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him” (John 8:44, ESV).

Satan Uses Judas Iscariot Against Jesus, Part 2 (TMF:632)

Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Peace to Live By: Satan Uses Judas Iscariot Against Jesus, Part 2 (TMF:632) - Daniel Litton
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       Jesus eats the Passover with the Twelve, and he then institutes the Lord’s Supper. During the actual Passover meal, it is recorded by John, ““It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night” (John 13:26-30, ESV). So, it wasn’t only Judas’ bad thinking that led to Christ’s betrayal, but Satan was actually behind the whole thing. And Jesus had him leave before instituting the Lord’s Supper. And Luke tells us that after the Lord’s Supper, Jesus said to the Eleven disciples: “For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors. ’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment” (Luke 22:37, ESV). Jesus had to go to the cross, for the Old Testament had testified that it would be so.

Satan Uses Judas Iscariot Against Jesus, Part 1 (TMF:631)

Monday, April 24, 2017
Peace to Live By: Satan Uses Judas Iscariot Against Jesus, Part 1 (TMF:631) - Daniel Litton
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       So the chief priests and Pharisees would continue to come against Jesus, and be a bother to him throughout his ministry. And they would be the ones that Satan would use to devise plans to have him arrested. Matthew tells us, in chapter 26, “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” (Matthew 26:3-4, ESV). But Satan wasn’t just working in their minds. He was also working in the mind of Judas Iscariot, who was one of Jesus’ close disciples, being one of the Twelve. Indeed, Jesus had many disciples, but Judas was numbered in the twelve top ones, the ones closets to him. Jesus eats the Passover with the Twelve, and he then institutes the Lord’s Supper. During the actual Passover meal, it is recorded by John, ““It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly” (John 13:26, 27, ESV).