Matt Hagee - The One Thing Hell Hopes You Never Find Out
If you brought your Bibles, turn them to the book of Colossians 1:13 and 14, as this morning, we begin a new sermon series entitled "Identity theft" with this message, "The one thing that hell hopes you never find out". There's a lot that hell has unleashed in our culture and our society today. They're trying to distract you. They're trying to overwhelm you. All of the powers and principalities of darkness are doing everything that they can on a continuous basis to try and force you to doubt God's word, draw you away from his promises. But of all of the things that hell is trying and seeking to afflict you with, there's something that all of hell hopes you never find out, and that's your true identity in Christ.
The reason that hell does not want you to know your true identity in Christ is because if you were to ever realize who you are in him and what you can do because of his blood and because of his word, then you become a force that hell itself cannot stop. We begin this message series by understanding who we are in Christ. How many of you've ever opened up your inbox or gotten a phone call that said there's been a fraud alert? And immediately, fear and panic enter into your soul, as you begin to wonder, "Well, who got in my account and how much did they take"? I mean there's only $2.47 in there, but I need that. And you begin this process of trying to validate, if you are who you say you are, and in order to demonstrate that you are actually who you say you are, you have to say certain things, do certain things, demonstrate certain things that cause someone you cannot see, but you hear their voice, and they're saying, "Please understand this is a secure line".
How do I know? "And I'm your friend helping you through this process". How do I know? How do I know you're not the agent of abu dhabi, who's taking everything out of my account as we speak? And they begin to ask you for answers to weird questions like, "Where did you go to middle school"? And "What's the middle name of your third child"? And "What's your favorite dog"? And you forgot what your favorite dog's name was, and you say, "Fluffy," and they say, "Scruffy," and now you're back to square one. And then you go through all of that process, and the last thing they ask you is, "What is your pin"?
And you realize that your pin and your password are, you know, 1472 characters long, containing 16 capital letters, 14 unique asterisks and underscores and overscores and accent marks. And at the end of all of that harassment, you got your $5.57 back. How many of you know who I'm talking about? Well, the devil, he has a fraud alert on the church. He wants us to be anything but what Christ has given us to be. Christ said, "Upon this rock have I built my church: and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it". And therefore, in every way that he possibly can, the enemy wants to steal the identity of the church and cause us to live under a cloud of confusion and the alert of fraud.
Because if we ever become who Christ says we are, if we ever begin to shine like Christ has commanded us to shine, if we ever begin to do what we have the authority to do, I promise you this: based on God's word, the gates of the hell cannot prevail against us. So if we're going to validate who has authority in this world today, we're not going to use a password. We're not going to use a pin. We're not going to go into some part of our past. We're going to look at the truth of the Word of God. And what it says about you is the truth. Let's look at what the Bible says in one of many places, Colossians 1:13. If you're this, say, amen. "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, and forgiveness of sins".
Heavenly Father, thank you for the complete and total victory that you have given us and that you have taken us from a kingdom of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of your son. Now let this truth be sown into our heart, our soul, our minds, and our bodies: that when we leave this place today, hell will not have any form of dominion, but your kingdom would stand victorious. In Jesus' mighty name, we pray and say, amen.
You may be seated. The word "Identity" is a word that you get to hear a lot in the world that we live in today. And it's important that we understand what the real definition of "Identity" is, because these days, you can identify as just about anything you want to identify as. Whenever you're trying to define something, unfortunately, as much information as we have in the world today, you actually have to go digging for an older source and look for the definition. Because whether you know it or not, they're rewriting dictionaries. So the word "Identity," when you go back and look at the original Webster's dictionary, not the revised, says, "A distinguishing character or personality of an individual".
You have an identity. You are an individual. God did not create two of you and decide which one he liked better. There's only one of you, and you have been made just like God wanted you to be. This is a powerful thing for you to understand, because when you recognize that you have a unique identity and that you are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God, it enables you to become confident that if that kind of God has a plan and a purpose for you: that he made you as unique and distinguished as you are, that the world itself cannot stand against you. This issue of identity is one that we see all around us whether we recognize it or not. Celebrities are paid millions of dollars for the use of their identity. They want the identity of the celebrity to hold up a certain drink or wear a certain shirt or do a certain thing.
The word "Identity" is being attached to a multitude of platforms. How many of you've heard the phrase "Identity politics"? It's all over the place right now. And identity politics, for those of you who don't know what it means, is simply this: it's when a politician, seeking your vote, will do anything he can to identify with you even if he's nothing like you. And then whenever they identify with you, not only do they want you to associate with them, but they'll do everything they can to create as much animosity as they can between you and another group. Because if they keep you divided, they can control you. You say, "Well, I don't know that that's true".
Okay. Then why do you always see politicians in churches during campaign seasons but not Sunday to Sunday? There's identity marketing. You may or may not know this. But every time you pick up your phone, everything that you watch, everything that you like, everything that you add, everything that you click on, all of that is building a profile for people to know more about your identity. As new as we would like to believe that this identity issue is, Solomon was correct when he said, "There is nothing new under the sun".
Because the world, the flesh, and the devil have been building a profile on you, wanting to show you the things that you like, doing everything it can to steal the identity that you have in Christ. This is why we're talking about identity theft. Because the enemy wants you to believe anything but what the Bible has to say about you. Why? Because if you begin to believe what the Word of God says about you, then you begin to operate like the Word of God says you should function. What you need to know is that you are not what the world says you are. You are not what the enemy accuses you of being. You are not bound by your past. You are not burdened by your present. And you are not afraid of your future. Why? Because you are what the Word of God has to say.
You are what the blood of Jesus Christ can make you. When you open this book, you find out that you are an heir and a joint heir with Jesus. His blood has washed you whiter than snow. In Ephesians, it says, "We're seated in heavenly places". It didn't say we're going to be. It says we're there right now. Why? Because I have an advocate that's up there. His name is Jesus. And whenever I find a circumstance down here that I need his help in up there, I go into heavenly places, and I say, "In the name of Jesus". And Jesus says, "How may I help you on earth, my child"? And when I begin to explain the situation, he says, "We can do that. We can fix that. We can move that. We can break that. We can build that. We can destroy that. Because whatever you ask of me, you can have it, in my name"!
And this is why the enemy is trying to make sure that you don't ever discover who the authorized user of the Word of God happens to be. You are the authorized user of this account. When it's in your mouth, it's a two-edged sword. When it's in your heart, it's a shield around your faith, around your family, around your home. When it's in your life, it cannot be broken. It will not return void. When you look at the authorship of God, here is how he wrote it, Genesis 1:27. "God created man in his image: in the image of God he created them", how? "Male and female". This culture of confusion is the kind of environment the devil loves to operate in. That's why God is not the author of it. The devil is that liar. He's the serpent of old. He's the one who's been a liar from the very beginning.
The serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field... And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said..." You see that in the middle of the verse? How many of you recognize that that's a statement of doubt and confusion? "Has God indeed said..." When somebody asks you a question about the obvious, it's not because they don't know the answer. It's because they want you to question what is obvious. And if eve would have remembered what God said, she would have told him, "Absolutely". Genesis 2: "Of every tree, you may eat". Of how many? "Every".
How many of you know that God always gives you so much more than he restricts you from? You can eat of every tree that's out there. You can eat of the McRib tree, and you can eat of the quarter pounder tree, and you can eat of the whataburger tree, and you can eat of the taco tree. "Of every tree you may eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it," what will happen? "You will surely... Die". There's no question in that statement. God made it very clear, if you do this, you will die. But now the enemy is causing confusion. Let's question God. Questioning leads to doubt. "Will you surely die"? Doubt mixed with desire leads to deception.
Genesis 3:6, it says, "The woman saw the tree that it was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, that it was desirable". She wanted it. And whenever the enemy created confusion and doubt, her desire allowed her to listen more clearly to the voice of the serpent saying a deceptive thing than it was God saying a very clear thing. In verse 5, he says, the day you eat it, you're going to be like God. When you break God's word, you're not going to get worse: you're going to get better. And we sit here and we look at eve and we go, "How could she be so dumb"? But how many of us in this room have allowed the enemy to do the same thing by playing games with us? You think you can break God's word and get better? You want to throw rocks at eve for eating fruit, but you're not doing what God wants you to do on a daily basis.
How dare she eat that apple. How dare you not read your Bible and say your prayers. And yet, because our desire is to give into the deception, we'll justify that behavior instead of doing what God wants us to do. Eve justified taking the apple. Deception led to death. Guess what? She believed what the father of lies had to say. This is why Jesus, in John 8:44, says, "He's a murderer from the beginning". Every lie he tells is with the intent of killing you, destroying your future, taking what God has given you. That's why he's the thief who comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. Eve believed the lie. But before we feel sorry for eve, recognize that she wanted to believe the lie, and we do too.
"She took of the tree," is what Genesis 3:6 says. "She took of the fruit and she ate it. And she shared it with her husband". She knew that she was breaking God's word. And the first thing that she did when she broke it, is she shared it with somebody else. What is it about humanity that when we break God's rule, we prefer to celebrate it with others than be ashamed of it? Why is it that when we do something that's a little bit risky or something that's out on the edge, we want to tell people, "You'll never guess what I did last weekend". And for whatever reason, we feel good about it. You ever notice that no juicy stories begin with, "You'll never guess where we went last Sunday, church"? As soon as she broke God's word, she shared it with her husband.
Theologically, we call this "The fall". And while some think it's the fall of man, I'll tell you that I believe it was the fall of everything. Yes, indeed God's creation, Adam and Eve, lost severely, but so did all of nature. That's why Romans tells us very clearly that the whole earth is groaning. Now the difference between Adam and Eve and all of nature is that Adam and Eve chose this route. Nature was subjected to this route. It's not like they took a vote and said to the rocks and the trees and the flowers in the garden, "Hey, you guys think we should break God's law"? No. They couldn't do that, because Adam and Eve had been given dominion over all of nature.
So when you tell yourself that your sin doesn't affect anybody else but you, you need to understand that everything that you have dominion over is something that is going to lose when you break God's word. Dad, you think you can sin and it's not going to affect your children. Wrong. You have dominion over them. Mom, you think you can walk away from God's word and it's not going to impact your generations. Wrong. You have dominion over them. Adam and Eve lost. They lost their supernatural nature. "Their eyes were opened, and they were naked and afraid". Just a few verses prior to that, in Genesis 2:25, it says, "They were naked... And they were unashamed".
This speaks of their innocence. The second that Adam and Eve walked away from God, they begin to feel a new feeling, and it was the corruption of shame that had been brought into their nature. They lost their dominion. Genesis 1:26, it said, "Let them have dominion". And suddenly, the earth is now cursed. Genesis 3:17, "Cursed is the ground for your sake". God told Adam, "Thorns and thistles shall it grow for you... From the sweat of your brow shall you eat... From dust you came from, to dust you should return". Adam was formed in dust. And the supernatural breath of God was breathed into him. And when God's breath got into dirt, dirt was exalted to have dominion over everything else. And the second that he walked away from God, he lost that divine nature. And now, he's going right back down to dirt.
Don't you ever think that you can get by without God. Not only did he lose his dominion, he lost his fellowship. Prior to deciding to eat this fruit, Adam and God had blessed fellowship. They had a relationship like none other. Look at what Genesis 2:19 says. It says, "God brought the animals to Adam so that he could name them". I don't know anybody else that's ever had such a day with God. God brings you an animal, and says, "What do you want to call it"? He says, "Let's call it a giraffe". He goes, "I agree. Let's call it a giraffe". He brings him another one and says, "What do you think this one looks like"? He said, "That looks like an aardvark". He says, "I like that, aardvark".
God and Adam spent time together, and they had such a sweet relationship that whenever God's presence showed up in the garden, Adam ran to God. But as soon as the fall occurred, the Bible says that they heard God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And what did they do? They hid from God. Adam and Eve lost fellowship with God. They lost companionship with each other. Look at what God said to eve in Genesis 3:16. He said, "Because your desire is towards your husband, he shall rule over you".
Up until this point, Adam and Eve were partners. God took from Adam's side, a rib, and he made woman out of that rib. He took from the side, because he wanted them to be co-laborers. He wanted them to be partners, companions. And when the fall occurred, God said, you're not going to be companions: you're going to be competitors. And this is something we struggle with even to this day. Not only did they lose their companionship, but all of creation was subjected, not willingly. Romans 8:20 through 22, the whole creation was subjected. How? Not willingly, because of him who subjected it. Who was "Him"? "Him" was Adam, because he had dominion over it. He subjected it to the bondage of corruption.
Verse 21: "And it will also be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God". "For we know that all creation groans with labor pains". It's literally Paul telling the church that the world is saying, "Oh, even so, come Lord Jesus". "Oh, even so, come Lord Jesus". What do I believe the groans of the earth are saying? I believe they're saying what you heard during the triumphal entry when Jesus and his disciples made their way into Jerusalem. You see, there was a crowd lining the street that day. And as Jesus was entering the city, what they were saying was, "Hosanna. Hosanna to the king. Hosanna to the one who comes in the name of the Lord".
And some of the pharisees came to Jesus, and they said, "Do you think it's right that these people should be screaming, 'hosanna. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.'"? And Jesus looked at them and said, "If they don't do it, the rocks are going to start saying it". The rock would start saying, "Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna to the king. Hosanna to the one who comes in the name of the Lord"! Why? Because since the Genesis of time, those rocks have been waiting on Jesus. Since they fell and started to work against the plan of God, they've been waiting for somebody to come and make things right.
When Jesus walked into Jerusalem, the rocks were so filled with anticipation that they were literally vibrating, saying, "This is what we've been waiting for. This is the moment that we've heard about. This is that seed of the woman who was promised to crush the head of the serpent. This is that one who was coming to redeem and to restore and to make things right again. This is the one that the prophet said about that he would have the government upon his shoulders. And of his kingdom, there should be no end".
Church, if the men would have shut up, the rocks would have cried out, "Hosanna, hosanna, the king is coming! The king is here"! This is what the devil doesn't want you to find out, who you are in Christ. Why? Because he knows that if we get together, he knows that if he can't accuse us, if he can't burden us, if he can't shame us, he knows that if one of us puts a thousand to flight, two of us can put ten thousand to flight. He knows that if two or three of us get together in his name, Jesus Christ has promised to be in his midst. He knows that if we agree on earth concerning anything, and ask according to the Word of God in faith believing, whatever we ask, God the Father will do it.
He recognizes, "Behold, how blessed and good it is for brethren to dwell together in unity". Because there God commanded the blessing. And the commanded blessing that he gave was life forevermore. You see, church, whenever the church comes together in the beauty of holiness, bought by the blood of Jesus Christ, and begins to behave like the church that he set us free to be, there is nothing that the gates of hell can do to prevail against you. Because Jesus said, "I'll give you the keys to the kingdom. And what you bind on earth, it's bound in heaven. And what you loose on earth, it is loosed in heaven".
Child of God, you are liberated today, because the authorized account says that you stand in the liberty by which Christ has made you free. You are eternal today, because the eternal account says that those who believe in him shall never die. You are a son and a daughter of God today, a joint heir with Jesus, because the Word of God has declared that you have been made equal in the place of heaven. Give the Lord a handclap of praise in this house today!