 Welcome to Hard Questions where we gather pastors together to take on your tough questions and answer them right from the Bible. I'm Tom Hollis, I'm the moderator, and today our panelists include... Dr. Weymar Glaze, Bethany Baptist Church in Pittsburgh. Ray Hypole Providence Presbyterian Church in Robinson Township. Pete Giacalone, South Hills Assembly Guide Church, Bethel Park, PA. Jantani Gilbert, pastor of another level ministries in the North Hills area. Well, pastors, thank you for being with us, so glad you could join us. I'm glad that Pastor Glaze and Pastor Pete coordinated their outfits today, you know, looking good. Did you guys call each other? I heard my people call his people. Well, today on Hard Questions, we're talking about the book of Job. Again, this is a lot of times one of the hardest books to understand, the hardest books to deal with as we read through it. But it's also got a lot of depth in it, so let's go for the first question. It says, in the book of Job, it states, Satan was present with God, talking with him about Job. So the question is, does Satan have access to God? All right. Well, let's go straight to the Scripture, all right? And there's just a couple of verses in Job 1.6.7. It says, now, there was a day when the sons of God, the angels of God, came to present themselves before the Lord. And Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? And there's none like him, all right? And he asked him, and he said to, ask Satan where you come from. And of course the Lord knew. But Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro throughout, from walking back and forth on the earth. Then we have in Revelation 12.10, Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now salvation, strength, and the kingdom of God, and the power of his Christ have come. For the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God, day and night, has been cast down. So to answer that question, yes. I really believe also in Zechariah chapter 3, verses 1 through 2. Then he showed me Joshua, the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord. And Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. And the Lord said to Satan, the Lord rebuke you Satan. And the Lord has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you. Is this not a brand plucked from the fire? So I believe he has access to God. But he does not possess any of God's attributes. He is a created being. And nor do I believe that Satan can oppose God himself. No, no, not at all. But it's just an odd scenario at the beginning of Job there, kind of unique in Scripture. Isn't it? Pastor Glaze, what? Well, yeah. Pastor Peter is exactly right. But I think there's two things that we need to add to it. Number one is that his access is limited. That, you know, it's not like the angels who are continually in the presence of God. That, you know, he goes, you know, as in the book of Job and comes before God. And then secondly, one day, you know, for eternity, he will be cast into the lake of fire. So, you know, his presence in the presence of God will be totally eliminated. So I think that even though he can come into the presence of God, that it's only for a short period of time and that it's not a permanent thing. Yeah. He accuses them before God day and night. I'm like, what kind of job is that? I mean, it's like a horrible job. I mean, that's, he invented horrible jobs. Ray, you got any thoughts on this? You know, I agree. I would add one more thing. I think that Jesus and his incarnation greatly even further limited that access. So, you know, does he, did he have access in a sense more before Christ? I think so. And I would go to a couple of passages when Jesus comes on the scene, one of the first things he does is he goes out and faces the temptation, defeats Satan, right? And Satan leaves him and then he immediately begins casting out demons. And he says in all the Gospels, but Matthew's version 1238, if I cast out demons by the spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you or how can one enter a strong man's house unless he first bind the strong man. And then he sends out the 12 and the 70 and they return saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. And then he says this, I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. And as he goes to the cross, I think he really completes that, that defeat of Satan because then he says the day before he goes to the cross, John 1231, now is the judgment of this world than this. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. So Satan in this authority position that he had, really over the nations deceiving them, cast out. So I think Christ is even more limited what Satan can do still. I think obviously the Lord allows him to do things. That brings up a good question, Jay. I'll ask you this side of it. We're hearing about Satan being thrown down, falling like lightning. But it seems like he's still getting his way a lot in a lot of people's lives. What's going on? Well, I think that's because the dominion that Jesus restored, that Adam lost in the garden, it got restored back in the book of Acts when the church became the church. I don't think we realize how significant of a time that was. So of course he can still take dominion if we don't take ours. That's why I think 2nd Chronicles 714 comes in. If my people who are called by my name, all of themselves in prayer. So we think if you'll take your place and do what you need to do, Satan doesn't have any power and authority. We just did a great little series on the end times and we were talking about how the restrainer is now, once he's removed the Antichrist, we don't realize how powerful the church is. But if we live in ignorance and we don't take our rightful place, then Satan can have all the authority he wants because we're not taking ours. Somebody's going to sit on that dominion throne. You might as well make it the church of Jesus Christ. Absolutely. That's good. Well, let's go to the second question again about the book of Job. And in the book of Job, it seems that Satan cannot touch Job without God's permission. Does Satan have to ask God's permission before he afflicts us? And there's a follow-up question. Why is God giving it to him if he does? Well, you know, I believe that there are times that he has to, but I believe that, you know, there's times that he doesn't. You know, because if you look at it, he's a prince of the power of the air. He's the God of this world. So I think he's always on the attack. You know, and even in the case of Job, you know, was he asking for permission to attack Job? No. No. He was asking for God to remove the hedge. Yeah. You know, so how did he know there was a hedge there if he hadn't already tried to attack Job and found out that there was a hedge? So I believe that yes, there are times that he does ask permission, but I believe that, you know, he's always on the attack and he doesn't necessarily have to have God's permission. But if God, and see, man, this is the powerful thing, right? If God has a hedge of protection around us, then in the words of M.C. Hammer, you can't touch this. Right? Yeah. And so, right. So in other words, he had to ask God if you remove the hedge, then I can get to him. Go ahead. And then we look that not only is there a hedge, if I can read that portion of the Scripture, that was Satan's complaint. He says, Have not you made a hedge around him, around his household, around all that he has on every side, even his property. He could even touch his cattle. And then when we come into the New Testament, we're told that we're in the palm of God's hand. And then Paul was convinced that his thorn in the flesh was allowed. God allowed him. So I really believe that Satan cannot, on his own, come and bother the redeemed of the Lord. Now, we do have tendencies of lust of the flesh and that we have to face ourselves personally. But I believe that in order for Satan to really come up to attack us physically, I still believe he's got to ask permission of God. Well, let me ask, because we've brought up this thing about a hedge, okay, about a hedge of protection. So, Jay, I'll come to you first. Are we in that hedge? Can we get out of that hedge? Can we get out of the protection of God? I mean, it's a little kind of a side question to what we've been asking. What do you think? Oh, without a doubt. I mean, you know, when you open the door, the wages of sin is death. So I believe what happens is you're giving access to the enemy to, like, if you bring disobedience into your life, you get, you have a period of time where you're outside of that covering and protection. And now you get to reap a little bit. You know, you can't, if you sow to the flesh, Satan has been given authority in the arena of the flesh. So what happens is now you're underneath the elements of whatever it is within the confines of God's judgment, obviously. But I mean, but you still have to, you know, you're going to be in that place. Matter of fact, I want to mention this because a lot of people don't realize do Satan have to ask. Jesus said about Peter and the Lord said, Simon, Simon, indeed Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as we. So there has to be a covering and a protection that Satan has to have access from the Father in order to get in there. But also with that though, going back to what you originally asked, if we step outside of that place of disobedience, I believe it opens the door for Satan to come in. So as long as you stay underneath the protection and the hedge, you're going to be all right. I agree with that. Paul talks about delivering certain people to Satan and it's because they had been flirting with sin and so forth and God could use that for good. They may be taught not to blaspheme, but I had that verse that you just had with Simon, Simon, but I have another one. Remember when Jesus goes to cast out the demons out of that one person and they say, you know, our name is Legion. There's so many of us. And even then it's interesting to go into pigs. They have to beg Jesus for permission. And you know, there's a couple of verses, but Mark 5, 12 and 13. So all the demons begged him saying, send us to the swine that we may enter them and at once Jesus gave them permission and he didn't have to. In fact, one of the other Gospels say, they beg him, don't send us into the abyss. He could have done that if he wanted to. God has all authority over all creatures. No creature can do anything unless God allows it. Satan's a creature. He can only do what God lets him do. Yeah, I mean, that's a good point to keep in mind. And don't get out of that hedge. Stay in that protection of the hedge. Well, coming up in 60 seconds, we ask, does Satan roam the earth? We'll be right back. Welcome back to Hard Questions. We've been talking about the Book of Job. Satan's a big character in the Book of Job. So it brings up a lot of different questions. So here's the next one. Does Satan still roam the earth? Jay. This just popped in my head. If you think about it, a lot of people, he must be because people always say, the devil's at work. The devil's at work. So you've got to be around somewhere. Put your hand on it. But to give you some scripture for it, just so you have it, 1 Peter 5, a real simple one, be sober, be vigilant because you're obviously the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking who made him out. So the short answer to that is yes. He's still walking about. But like we've been sharing, I think it's so important to go back to that. We're more protected than we know. And we just need to stay under that hedge. Stay protected, stay covered because he's seeking who he may, which implies permission granted. I don't know if y'all played that game back in the day, mother, may I? So you had to ask for permission. So the only way that he can attack any believer is under the sovereignty of God to give up position because of disobedience or something, rebellion or something on that line that it opens the door for him. So he's still roaring about. I have nothing to add. He said everything that I was going to say. He took my scripture. He emphasized who he may devour. So he stole my thunder. Let me ask this way because I've heard both sides of this. I've heard preaching where it's like, well, Satan's defeated foe. He's just out there roaring. He can't do anything to you. And other people seem like there's demon behind every door. Where's the right place for that? Well, again, I've heard about the demon behind every door. So I don't think that he's behind the demon of headache or the demon of cancer. But I do believe that he is roaming the earth. Again, in Ephesians 2, it says that he is the prince of the power of the air. And that he's the spirit that moves in this life. So I would say that there's a balance between those two areas. And I think we need to be careful too as we're talking about that. He's not omnipresent. So he can't be bothering you. You hear people say, Satan's been on me all day long. No, no, it can't happen. He can't be at two places at the same time because only God is omnipresent. And just one quick thing, I think most of us, even though he's a great demon, Satan's not wasting his time with me. He's going after the really godly people and the really great ministers. I've got some junior-grade demon that harasses me once in a while. Well, praise the Lord. Let's say one more thing. I think a lot of people mistake adversarial attack from living in the flesh. I think a lot of times we're not living the right life. We're like, oh, the devil's meant well, no, if you just stay out of your flesh. For me, I don't know how it is with you guys, but if I don't pray, if I'm not in my word, life is harder. You can open the door, so what happens is the authority and the power. Think about it. If we can't take authority over our flesh, how can we take authority over Satan? You can't have one without the other. You have to first take dominion over your own flesh, over your own sinful nature, and then you can speak to the enemy. But what happens when we're not living a life that's walking and talking and breathing opens the door for the adversary to afflict us? Yeah. And now we're at our lowest because we're not walking where we need to walk. Reminds me of Flip Wilson. You know, the devil made me do it, right? I mean, that was the whole skit, right? Right, Flip Wilson. But it's not really true. I mean, the devil can't make us do anything. All right, well, we're going to move on here because I think the next question is a really good one for us to ponder. So I'm going to start off with Ray here. Are we all God's children? There's a couple of ways we can answer this. I mean, there's a sense in which God created everything and therefore he is the author of everything. He's the creator of everything. All human beings are made in his image and we're equal in that sense. You might want to say God is the father of creation. He's the father of all people. But I think biblically, when we look at the fatherhood of God, it's talking about a redeemed family that we don't begin life in as fallen people. In fact, Jesus said, you are of your father, the devil, and the desires you want to do. And I think that's where we all begin. In fact, we only get into the family of God by adoption. One of the great doctrines of the Westminster Confession is the doctrine of adoption. We all start off in the wrong family. We have to be adopted. The spirit of adoption has to bring us into the family of God by whom we cry out, Abba Father. First John 3.1, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us should be called the children of God. Therefore the world does not know us. So you've got the world, and then you've got the children of God. And we all start off here, and by faith in Christ and by believing in Him, we are brought into the family of God. He becomes our Father. I pray a lot at the church. You are the Creator of all, but you are the Father of those who love Jesus Christ and believe in Him. You know, the last couple of Sundays, we're at so many times. We're all God's children. And I refute that, because again, in 1 John 1.12, but as many as received Him, to them gave He the right or the power to be called the sons of God. So there's got to be a receiving, and then Ray, like you said so wonderfully, we're adopted into a brand new family. And there's a false theology, and it's called Fogbaum and fatherhood of God, brotherhood of man. That's the false doctrine, which is promoted. And I think Ray hit on it a little bit when he talked about, we might be all God's children by creation, but not by relation. And there's a verse in Ephesians 2, 2 that lets us know that all are not children of God, because it says, we're in time past. You walked according to the course of this world, according to the Prince of the power the spirit that now worked in the children of disobedience. So right there, it's saying that if you haven't received Jesus Christ, that the devil was your father. And there's no question about that. Couple more scriptures I'm just going to throw out there for people that have Romans 9, 8 says, that is those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. And then there's also 1 John 3.10, I want to read that as well. It says here, in this, the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. So the Bible makes a clear distinction between these are these, these are these. So everybody isn't God's children, but to your point, we're all God's creation. That's what I was going to say. Is there any sense that an unsaved person, a person who's never heard of Christ, that is, is, is that person a child of God in any way, in any sense? You mentioned, depend on how you define what we're talking about here. So say that again. Yeah, I think as a creature, you know, in that sense, you know, the brotherhood of man, is everyone my brother in this sense, we're all equally human. Yes, but, you know, to what Dr. Glace said, the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God, that's a, you know, that is not Christianity, that we are all children of the devil, we're born that way and we have to be adopted into the family of God by faith. But anyone who's alive, right? I mean, you have that opportunity. I don't want to say that while you're a child of the devil and therefore you're doomed, we all started out that way. We should be in hell right now, but we're not and God gives, you know, today's the day of salvation. He's having mercy. He's calling you to be part of his family. I mean, that's the gospel, repent, believe in Christ and I will love you. That's the gospel that's been transferred. So it's not an excuse. Yeah, right. Again, we might be children or the world might be children by creation, but not by relation. Let me throw one more verse out there. I mean, there's so many verses. Galatians 3, 26, for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. So it's in that relationship through Jesus Christ where we are adopted into the family of God. We're not born a Christian. No one is born a Christian. I mean, you may have been born into the most religious and even godly family that you know, but you yourself have to come to that place. You have to come to that place of saying, I receive you as my Savior and Lord. I hope you've come to that place. If you haven't, make Christ your Lord. Join that family of God. Join that, the children of light, the children of God, that's where we all need to be. That's where God wants us all to be. Well, we're going to take a break and then we're going to have our Hotline Question of the Week. We've had some great discussion about the Book of Job, about the nature and things that Satan does and about the children of God. Right now, let's listen to our Hotline Question of the Week. Yes, I have a question. I'm a Christian. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, but I don't feel His presence in my life. I mean, I believe He's there, but I don't feel His presence. So does that mean I'm really not saved? Okay, Pete, this is a question that we get sometimes. We get it on the prayer line. I just this past week, I got this question in my office, someone calling. So this is an issue. The enemy has a field day with people about this. Tell us what the truth is. I know these guys have some nice art stuff that they want to share in a moment, but what I believe with all of my heart is, this is the reason why we have to sow the Word into our life. We have to forget about feelings. So if you're watching right now, I would encourage you. All of us as pastors would encourage you. What does the Word of God say? Now, this is what the Word says. Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's the word in your mouth that you believe. That's where salvation begins. And there's where you have to speak to yourselves in songs and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in your hearts of Lord. What does the Word of God please feelings will lead you in the wrong direction every time. And I know Dr. Glaze has something that he wants to share. Well, you know, I like the train analogy. Yeah, I know that's true. When I was in college, there's the four F's. There's the facts. Pete just told us the facts. So the next F is faith. That you've got to put your faith in the facts. And then once you put your faith in the facts, then that affects your feelings and the fruit. So you don't want to put your feelings in front of the engine. Satan will make you feel, he'll make you feel like you're not saying, how in the world can you do that? You're supposed to be a Christian. But you always have to keep going back to the facts. The facts is the locomotive. That's what drives the train. So you put your faith in the engine. And that drives the train. But then the blessing is that feelings come along with that. But you don't want to put your feelings ahead of the facts. Or you don't want to put your feelings ahead of your faith either. Because that'll cause you to be frustrated and think that I'm not a child of God. You've got four cars in your train. You've got the fruit car, too. I've only got three cars in my train. The facts make a feeling. I like that fourth one, though, the fruit. Yeah, Pastor Jay. You know, I think one of the things that's really important to remember, too, is that I believe that whoever the lady is is watching right now. Or maybe some of you are watching that you need to understand this is a time for you to take dominion. You know, our feelings are real. Our faith has to learn to shift your feelings. If you can't shift your feelings, you can't shift demonic principalities and powers. Jesus was hungry. Jesus was lonely. Jesus was questioning himself when he was in that wilderness. But he successfully defeated the devil. Because you can't tell me he wasn't hungry. The Bible says he had 40 days, 40 nights without food, drink, and afterwards he was hungry. But what did he do? He used the word until Satan left him. In any area of your life, stand still and know the salvation of the Lord. Stand still against the Word, against Satan, with the Word of God. Submit yourself therefore into God and resist. I think one of the biggest things that people make a mistake with is that they feel like I read the Scripture and it's feeling didn't go away. You got to be convinced, Ray, that that word is true and stand with that until your feelings line up with your faith. Well, brothers, this problem of going by our feelings. Feelings, like you said, they're real. They're from God in the sense that human beings have them. But we're not given feelings to judge reality by. Feelings follow faith, as you gentlemen said. I would look at this question and maybe add one more thing to it. I hear the woman speaking really questioning her assurance. This is the doctrine that we would refer to it as the doctrine of assurance. How can I know that I'm saved? And I think the Bible speaks to that. In fact, when we're in seminary and you have to try to outline books and so forth, it's great when a book of the Bible has a purpose statement. And first John has a purpose statement. First John chapter 5 verse 13. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. You're struggling with assurance. I always say to them, study first John. The Holy Spirit who inspired that book says, I've written this book so that you may know that you have eternal life. And so I would just say to this woman, you're struggling with assurance. Don't go by your feelings. Go by what the Word of God says. Read first John. It'll tell you how you can know if you know Jesus. I think of the old hymn, Blessed Assurance. Yeah, there we go. It's all those things together. Feelings are important but don't lead them ahead of the facts. The facts are the key thing. Your faith in those facts are the key thing. Well, we have a scripture. We like to end the program with the scripture and it's from Job today. It says this. God's voice thunders in marvelous ways. He does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, fall on the earth and to the rain, shower be a mighty downpour so that everyone he has made may know his work. Thank you so much for joining us on Hard Questions. God is Good.