Why Your Powerful Victory Over Satan's Wisdom Is Certain

Did you know that your victory over Satan’s wisdom is a sure thing? Now, don’t be afraid to ask questions, that is a motto to live by. It is important to ask questions when we don’t understand something. We need to set aside our ego and acknowledge that we don’t know everything, as this is how we mature. However, we must not mistake this attitude for the rebellious “question authority” movement of the past. That is simply a disguise to do whatever one wants to do with no restraint. It is crucial to remember that God ordains the powers that be [Romans 13.1]. We should question things and not blindly accept everything we hear as truth. For example, if a minister claims a Bible verse says something, we should give him credit for his honesty and faithfulness of heart in declaring the Word, but feel empowered to verify. Checking things out for ourselves is how we make truth our own. When you put the work in, these verified facts become ‘thus says the Lord’ instead of ‘thus says the preacher.’ Failing to slow down, and think, leaves us open to great folly because, if the well-intentioned information is erroneous, it will not produce results.

There is a story that Napoleon often told to illustrate this point. Once, while visiting a province, he encountered an old soldier who had lost one arm in battle. The soldier was proudly wearing the coveted Legion of Honor on his uniform. Napoleon asked him where he had lost his arm, and the soldier replied that it was at the Battle of Austerlitz. When Napoleon praised him for receiving the Legion of Honor, the soldier humbly considered it a small token for his sacrifice. Surprised by the soldier’s response, Napoleon commented that he must be the kind of man who regretted not losing both arms for his country. In a bold move, the soldier immediately cut off his remaining arm, hoping to receive a double Legion of Honor. This story circulated for years, highlighting the importance of questioning and critically thinking before blindly accepting what others tell us.¹

In today’s podcast, we delve into the certainty of our powerful victory over the world’s wisdom, which is ultimately doomed to fail. Join us as we explore this topic in this week’s episode of Light on Life: “Why Your Powerful Victory Over Satan’s Wisdom Is Certain.” All on this weeks Light on Life.

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Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.
This week’s call is:

You can be certain that your victory over Satan’s wisdom is certain because God flat out told you He is going to destroy it.

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Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11). Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony.
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Question: Share your story you experienced victory over Satan’s wisdom in some part of your life. Share your story in the comments section below.

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We are currently teaching in the book of First Corinthians. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 47 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. He and his wife Sharon of 42 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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Podcast Notes

Well, again welcome.
Let’s pray.

Father God, in the Name of Jesus, thank you for your great power and outstretched arm. Thank you that your way is always to confound the wisdom of the enemy and consequently, the world. Help us to today to know and walk in the reality of this truth as you show us it in your Word. Grant unto us today, a spirit of wisdom — true wisdom — the only wisdom that comes from you; the only wisdom that counts and with that, a spirit of revelation in the knowledge of you. We thank you for that in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Victory Over Satan’s Wisdom: What Paul Told the Corinthians

We are looking at Why Your Powerful Over Satan’s Wisdom Is Certain.
Let’s read about it in First Corinthians one, starting at verse nineteen.

1 Corinthians 1:19–25 (ESV) — 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

You can be certain that your victory over Satan’s wisdom is certain because God flat out told you He is going to destroy it.
In this podcast, we will see why you can be certain of these facts.
You must understand the intensity of God’s purpose, which is clear in the word ‘destroy,’ and with that thought in mind, here is the Definition of the Day.
The Greek word ‘destroy’ is a verb, meaning this is an active thing that God will do.
The word means to do away, to cause the destruction or undoing of.
Picture in your mind a building that stands tall and erect that’s slated for demolition.
The building is there but, you know it’s coming down – they set the explosives in place in a targeted manner.
The building will come straight down in its place without damaging nearby structures because the people who are setting the charges know what they are doing.
This edifice will implode.
Dust and smoke will waft into the air as it comes down in place.
The structure will change into something unrecognizable — the city will wipe out its former glory.
You know how it is with our map systems that we have on our phones and in our vehicles.
Your map hasn’t been updated, so putting in the destination causes the address to pop up.
The map says the building is still there — but it’s not nothing but an empty lot.
That’s what’s going to happen to the wisdom of the world.
It will implode.
God’s going to set dynamite charges against the foundation of man’s ungodly thinking and the Tower of Babel, that man is trying to build yet again, will come down in a heap.
You watch it — God will destroy the wisdom of this world; that’s a fact of God’s Word you can bank on.
You will have victory over Satan’s wisdom.
Now, here’s another marvelous reality.
God is going to use you, the righteous, to bring the enemy of your soul to cataclysmic confusion.

Victory Over Satan’s Wisdom Is God’s MO

Victory over Satan’s wisdom is God’s MO.
He has always operated in this manner — He has always been the destroyer of the worldly wise.
Which means you want to be on the right side of this.
In the previous illustration where the building that was brought down, blast crews will mark off the area so that innocent bystanders will be unharmed.
If a person defies common sense and violates the perimeter, the blast will injure or even kill them.
Listen again to what Paul told the Corinthian church.

1 Corinthians 1:19 (ESV) — 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

He said, it is written.
That means it’s Old Testament.

Isaiah 29:13–16 (ESV) — 13 And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, 14 therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.” 15 Ah, you who hide deep from the LORD your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?” 16 You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

The wisdom of their wise men shall perish, did you hear that in verse 14?
That’s what Paul is referencing.
The Lord declared this 2700 years ago back in Isaiah’s day.
It was true 27 centuries later in Paul’s day and you know what, it’s still voraciously true today.
What does the Hebrew word ‘perish’ mean?
Try, destroy — try cease to exist, try disappear — meaning the wisdom was there, but then it wasn’t.
I like what Gordon Fee, a Pentecostal New Testament scholar said.
Listen to it if you would.

In its original context this passage belongs to that grand series of texts that regularly warn Israel, or someone in Israel, not to try to match wits with God (cf. Isa. 40:12–14, 25; Job 38–42). Yet it is the folly of our human machinations that we think we can outwit God, or that lets us think that God ought to be at least as smart as we are.²

Victory Over Satan’s Wisdom: Why You Should Never Try to Match Wits with God

Isaiah 40:12–15 (ESV) — 12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel? 14 Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.

No one on Planet Earth can answer any of these questions.
Your first awe-filled response is ‘how in the world did He do that?’
How did He measure out all of the waters, that means the oceans, the lakes, the rivers, the puddle by the side of your house, with the hollow of His hand?
Your first response might be to dismiss this as flowery speech.
The Most High God is the Creator.
He is not the husband of mother nature.
There’s no such being as mother nature.
The term is an abomination to God, for it implies that this mystical mother and her evolutionary ways are the source of all this wild.
It’s totally bogus.
God is the Creator – what He did in seven days in Genesis one, mother could never do in an eternity of lifetimes.
God measured the waters out – he knows the number to the gallon if you are imperial or to the liter if you are metric-minded.
Only a fool desires to match wits with one so super smart.

Victory Over Satan’s Wisdom: A Sad Story

Einstein, Madame Currie, Stephen Hawking and all of the high scoring IQ’s of Planet Earth’s history where but infants when compared to God.
Here’s a sad IQ story for you.
The person who had one of the highest IQ’s ever recorded at 400! And, with that thought, here is the Illustration of the Day.

Adragon De Mello, an American who gained fame in the late 20th century, captured attention due to his extraordinary intelligence during his youth. He achieved significant academic milestones at a remarkably young age, earning widespread recognition. At the age of 8, he began his studies at Cabrillo College, a community college in Aptos, California. In 1988, at the remarkable age of 11, he made history by becoming the first person in American history to earn a college degree at such a young age, majoring in computational mathematics. This remarkable accomplishment garnered significant media attention and even secured him a place in the Guinness World Records book.

However, despite his early academic feats, De Mello’s life took a different course in his teenage years and adulthood. While he was accepted into a graduate program at the Florida Institute of Technology, he chose not to enroll. The intense academic pressure, driven by his father’s ambitions, caused considerable strain within the family. Consequently, De Mello decided to lead a more conventional life, away from the spotlight and expectations.³

Which means what, the smartest man on Planet Earth, IQ wise, did nothing with his great intelligence.
Why?
It seems he had other emotional type of issues that he difficulty managing.
I want you to understand that I am NOT speaking down on this man at all.
We are all men of like passions and issues.
What I am trying to get you to see is that perfect wisdom flows out of perfect personality.
Perfect wisdom pours forth out of a holy, sinless character.
God has no issues — He is emotionally sound — His judgement is perfect.
All other wisdom is a mixture of varied level of corruptness.
So, men endeavor to figure out life.
What’s the right thing?
The right thing is God’s wisdom — it’s God’s way — It’s God’s opinion.
Men disagree with His wisdom — His way — and His opinion.
If you disagree with perfect wisdom, coming forth from a perfect being, and you generate an alternative wisdom that comes forth from an imperfect being, what do you have?
What you have latched onto is wisdom that will fail because of its natural imperfection.
So, who has measured out the waters in His hand?
God, who is all wise.
Jehovah Tisdekenu, who is all knowing.
The Lord of Hosts, who is perfectly pure.
Only what He provides will stand.
And with that thought, here is the Quote of the Day.

[The design of the universe is] very magnificent and shouldn’t be taken for granted. In fact, I believe that is why Einstein had so little use for organized religion .… He must have looked at what the preachers said about God and felt that they were blaspheming. He had seen much more majesty than they had ever imagined, and they were just not talking about the real thing.⁴

The prophet didn’t stop with God’s ability to measure out the waters in His hand.
He also said this about the Lord’s wisdom.

He has… marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?

The Great I Am has marked off the heavens with a span.
A span is the distance between the thumb and a pinkie.
Think about the entire universe marked off by the breadth of God’s hand.
The dust of the earth is measured by this all-wise God which means every speck of dirt is accounted for.
Jesus alluded to this aspect of His Father.

Luke 12:7 (ESV) — 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

The Father knows the dust of the earth, the weight of the mountains to the ounce and the every single hair of your head.
When you look at His magnificence, you can see how small and puny the wisdom of the world is.
Refuse to be taken in.
Cling to perfect wisdom.
Read your Bible.
Consume it in large portions.
So after laying these things out to the Corinthians, Paul proceeds with a list of rheotorical questions.
In plain view of the great wisdom of God in saving men via the Cross…

20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

Where is the supposed wise one who has a better plan that balances all the books, pays for man’s sins and leaves him or her a very child of God — bone of His bone — spirit of His spirit?
Where is the scribe?
Scribe refers to Jewish religious teachers.
Remember God’s Word here.

2 Timothy 3:1–5 (ESV) — 1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

Avoid the scribe — that is — the supposed spiritual leader who spouts with royal robes of religiosity another way to God.
They appear to be godly.
‘Appear to be means’ they are not the real thing, they are just putting on a show.
You can trust this — just five seconds in God’s Presence will make you ditch all your self-help, ‘get to heaven your own way’ books.
You will plant your face in the floor and see how dumb you really are.
Avoid the debater — some people are good with words — they are exceptional at arguing.
Being skilled at debate or arguing down others doesn’t mean you are wise.
You know some Jesus followers hold back on speaking up because they feel they are not good at debate.
You don’t need to debate Jesus — just declare Him.
You don’t have to explain the Cross — or God’s wisdom in choosing this as a means to salvation.
Just preach the Word and let the Holy Spirit sort everything out.
The power is in the preached message.
It is not in your skill or lack of skill with words or scriptures, for that matter.
If a person misses the Cross, if they miss heaven and gain a devil’s hell, a place that was never made for them, — how smart are they, in fact?

When Will We Experience Victory Over Satan’s Wisdom Forever?

Now here’s the thing, up until Jesus returns, you will have all these people spouting out.
You will have the wise one spouting out current worlds view.
After him, the religious scribe will stand up pouring out their mixed up views of God.
The debater will then appear sometimes using science to back up his claims.
A host of others will do the same.
But, all arguments will be over when…

Revelation 1:7 (ESV) — 7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

The Greek word ‘wail’ means to beat one’s breast as an act of mourning.⁵
Men will mourn because they bought into Satan’s wisdom and where will he be when Jesus splits the sky?
He’ll be trying to find a hole to hide in but alas there is no escape.
The wisdom of Satan will be flushed down the toilet.
Until then, what should do?
Well, the Jews will persist in demanding signs, and they will keep doing that — so there’s no need to be alarmed.
The Greeks will seek wisdom — if they are seeking it, that means they’re rejecting God’s wisdom that’s been simply declared.
And, you know what? — they will keep doing that as well.
It happened in the Old Testament — men seeking their own way goes all the way back to the Tower of Babel and even further back to Cain.
But while that sad tune continues to play out on the world’s stage, the born again child of God must stick to the wisdom as it’s found in the message of the Cross.

23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Now, Father God, thank you for your mercy — thank for your wisdom — grant unto us great boldness to declare the message of Jesus just as it is stated in your Word. Lead us in these areas. Help us – give us utterance to speak. For you are the only wise God and, we choose your way. We thank you for these things in Jesus Name, Amen.

Why Your Powerful Victory Over Satan’s Wisdom Is Certain.
You guys have a great God week and we will see you next time for another edition of Light on Life.

How To Find Your Ultimate Calling for Your Life

__________
References:

C. E. Hembree Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 1466. ↩
Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, ed. Ned B. Stonehouse et al., Revised Edition., The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014), 73. ↩
https://www.scienceabc.com/humans/people-who-have-the-highest-iq-in-the-world-html.html ↩
Quoted in Daniel J. Kevles, “The Final Secret of the Universe?” The New York Review of Books, May 16, 1991. I thank Dr. John Piper for drawing attention to Misner’s comment. — Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. and R. Kent Hughes, Isaiah: God Saves Sinners, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), 242. ↩
William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 559. ↩

emeryhorvath.com

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Why Your Powerful Victory Over Satan’s Wisdom Is Certain

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eleven Episode Fifteen

by Emery Horvath

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