Satan

Introduction

Well, good morning. As I look out at the audience, we have several visiting with us this morning, and we’re thankful for your presence. My parents have come to be with us today, and I’m glad to see them. And a few from work are also with us. My friend Mike is here, and I believe a few of my friends from work are watching online, and I’m so thankful that they’re supporting me as well. We’re just so thankful that everyone has come out with us this morning to study with us and look and study into the Word of God. This morning I’m going to begin by telling a couple short stories or illustrations to set the setting for this sermon. Years ago, there was a church in a remote part of Alabama, and this church was struggling.

The members did not have the zeal that they once had. They seemed to be backsliding, they weren’t giving as they should, and they were declining in their faith. And so the preacher noticed this.

Take care of the maintenance of the building. And so he decided that he needed to do something drastic to shake these brethren up, to reinvigorate them, to reignite the fire and the zeal within them to serve the Local costume store and he bought the most realistic costume of Satan. It was a nice costume. It had the whole works, the pitchfork, the tail, the horns. And so he waited until, after he had bought this costume, he waited until the next Sunday morning when all the brethren had gathered into the auditorium, and just before the services began, he slipped in through the side window and he began running around the auditorium shaking that pitchfork. And as you can imagine, everyone was scared. And they jumped up and they ran toward the exits.

And just as they all about emptied the auditorium, from the back of the auditorium, he turned around and looked, and there was one man sitting at the front of the auditorium. And this man just sat there and didn’t budge. And he thought, well, if this is going to be effective, my plan, I need to scare everyone. So he went up to the front of the auditorium, got in this man’s face, began shaking the pitchfork, and the man just sat there with a smile and looked at Satan. And Satan said to him, Aren’t you afraid of me? Don’t you know who I am? I’m Satan. I’m the devil. And the man just looked at him with a smile, and he said, Well, I’ve been a member of this church for nearly 40 years.

And he said, But to be honest with you, isn’t it sad that there may be those in the church? They’ve been there almost their whole lives, but never decided to fully commit themselves to the Lord.

There’s another story about a family that was on their way home after the services one Sunday morning after they had heard a sermon on Satan. And as they were traveling home, the four-year-old little girl in the back seat began to cry. And the mother, wanting to comfort the little girl, turned around and said, Sweetie, what’s the problem? Why are you so upset? And the little girl said, Mommy, I’m scared. I’m scared of the devil. And the mother said, Well, baby, you don’t need to be upset. You don’t need to be scared. The devil doesn’t bother sweet little innocent children like you. And she replied, Mom, it’s not me. I’m afraid the devil’s going to get you and daddy. My friends, this morning, I thought it’d be good for us to talk for the time that we have about Satan.

There’s one thing standing between us and heaven. There’s one adversary that we have that is between us and our goal of reaching heaven, and that’s Satan. Satan has a lot of power. He has a lot of influence. And if we do not study him, if we do not understand him. If we do not have knowledge of him, and if we’re not aware of him, we’re not going to overcome him. In Luke, the eighth chapter in the parable of the sower.

1. The Nature of Satan

Luke tells us that those by the wayside are those who receive the word, and then Satan cometh, the devil, and he taketh the word out of their hearts. Satan has tremendous power. He has tremendous influence. And we need to be careful and watch out for Satan. This morning I have four points that I want to illustrate to you, four main points as we look into this lesson. First of all, I want you to see the nature of Satan. First of all, I want you to see that Satan is real. There are those who say that Satan was just some imaginated creature that was created to convince us to believe in the Lord, to scare us and to convince us. That’s not so.

You cannot believe in God without believing in Satan. The same book that tells us everything that has been revealed to man about God also constantly warns us about Satan. Satan is real, but what is his origin? Where does he come from? It’s generally believed that Satan is a fallen angel. There’s certain texts that it indicate that unto us. In Jude 6, we read this, and the angels who did not keep their own domain but abandoned their proper abode, he has kept in eternal bond under darkness for the judgment of the great day. In 2 Peter 2 and verse 4, we read, God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but he cast them into hell and he committed them to the pits of darkness reserved for judgment.

Apparently the angels are held accountable to God’s law, a law of God, and some of them were in disobedience and sinned, and so they fell. And so it is believed that possibly that’s where Satan has come from. I want you to see also that Satan has his messengers. In Matthew chapter 25 and verse 41, we read, then he will also say to those on his left, depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. God has servants that do his bidding, and apparently the devil has his servants or his messengers that also work alongside and with and in accordance with him. I want you to also notice that Satan also has his churches in the letters to the seven churches of Asia in the first part of the Revelation letter.

We read to the church in Smyrna in Revelation 2 and verse 9. I know your tribulation, your poverty, and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not. They are of the synagogue of Satan. To the church in Philadelphia, he wrote, Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, but lie. I will make them come and bow down at your feet and make them know that I have loved you. Satan also has his churches.

If you’ll remember back in the Old Testament in the book of Job in the early part of chapter 1, the sons of God came before Job, or came before God to give an account. And there Satan was among them. And God asked Satan. He said, From where do you come, Satan? And Satan answered the Lord, and he said, From roaming about in the earth and walking about on it. In the text that was read to us just a minute ago in 1 Peter 5 and verse 8. Peter said, The devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Satan is busy, he’s in the earth, he’s walking up and down. He’s like a hunter, a roaming lion, seeking someone to devour. Satan is busy.

When I think of those who are busy, I think of businessmen. Men who have risen to the top of businesses. We have some among us who are high leaders in certain organizations. How did they get there? They were busy and they worked hard and they had goals and they worked and they achieved and made success of themselves. How did Satan? How is he so successful in his work? It’s because he’s busy.

He is successful, but he’s busy.

2. Where Does He Work

And he is constantly searching and working. I want you to also notice that he’s wicked. Satan is wicked. In the parable of the tares in Matthew the 13th chapter, we read, the field is the word. The good seed are the children of the kingdom. The weeds or the tares are the children of the wicked one. Satan is wicked. He’s described over and over throughout that text as the evil or the wicked one. In 1 John 3 and verse 8, we read the one who practices sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. He’s disobedient to God. He’s opposed to God. He’s wicked. Well, that’s his nature. Now I want you to see where does he work. We talked about this a little bit.

In Job, the first chapter. We saw that he works in the world. He works in the world. When God asked him, from where do you come? Satan answered the Lord, from roaming about in the earth. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4, it refers to Satan as the God of this world. In John 12 and verse 34, it refers to him as the ruler of this world. Satan works in the world. He works in the earth. He’s close by us.

And that’s why it’s so important that we think about and study the devil.

When Peter, when Ananias sinned in Acts the fifth chapter, you’ll remember him and his wife lied and held back part of that which they had sold their land for. Peter asked Ananias, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? Satan had filled his heart. In John 13, we read there that the devil had put into and entered the heart of Judas to betray Jesus. Satan had entered the heart. Solomon warned in the long ago in Proverbs 4 and verse 21 or 23, he said, Watch over your heart with all diligence. For from it flows the springs of life. Jesus warned about the heart. He told us what reveals the true character of our heart. In Matthew chapter 12, verse 34 and 35, he said, You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good?

For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good, but the evil man brings out of the evil treasure what is evil. In Matthew 15, when the Pharisees came to Jesus and questioned him about his disciples not washing their hands and keeping the traditions.

But the things that proceed out of the mouth, they come forth from the heart. And those are the things that defile the man. Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, theft, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man.

There will your heart be also. There’s another story told about a man who owned a business. And this man was very successful.

This man was very successful in his business. And he spent all his time there, seven days a week, Monday through through Sunday. I mean Sunday through Friday or Saturday. He spent all his time there. And his business was successful. And one day his son came to his mother and he said, Mother, will Daddy go to heaven? And the mother said, Baby, sure. Why would you ask such a question like that? And he said, Well, Daddy doesn’t have time to come to the services. Will he have time to go to heaven? My friends, one day life is going to end. And one day, those things that seem so important in life that we give so much attention to, that we dedicate our lives to will not seem so very important.

We need to guard our hearts and make sure that our hearts are focused on serving the Lord.

This is Satan’s favorite field of work. Satan already has those in the world. So he tries to get the man in the church also. Jesus said to the church in Pergamos, he said, I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is. Satan had a place within the church. Paul warned the Ephesian elders in Acts the 20th chapter. He said that he would come among them, Satan. They needed to be on their guard. He would come among them in the form of grievous wolves, not sparing the flock. In 1 Corinthians the fifth chapter and verse 6, we read about the leavening, the leaven. In verse 6 or chapter 5 of 1 Corinthians, do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

They had a man in the church there committing adultery, living with his father’s wife. Paul said to purge him out from among you. Purify the church. Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Satan wants and works in the church.

When I was in high school, I played in Indiana. We moved to Indiana just before high school. I played basketball a few years for the team there. They saw my height, not my skill. They wanted me to play basketball because of my height, so they recruited me and I played basketball for a couple years. But before each game, the coach would ask a few of us to go out with him and scout the other teams. So a couple weeks ahead of a game, we would go watch the other team play, and we would study their tactics. We wanted to know about their offense and their defense. Did they play zone or man to man? And so that we might have an advantage when we played this team.

Far too often we failed to study and to do our scouting on Satan. And the game is lost to Satan before it’s even begun.

3. How Does Satan Work

How does Satan works? I want you to see that Satan is subtle. He’s subtle. He’s as a subtle serpent. In 2 Corinthians 11, verse 3, we read, but I fear, lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtility, subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Subtlety has been his tactic for thousands of years, and he’s been very successful at it. What Satan does is he gets people to think that there’s some appearance of good in that which is evil, and the temptation then progresses into that which is sin. I think of how Satan came. I think of uh illustration like the wicked witch that came to Snow White and handed her the beautiful apple that was full of deadly poison.

What Satan does is he presents sin in such an appealing way that we can only see the pleasure. We don’t see the destruction, the consequences that follow. The more cunning Satan is, the less apt we are to see the sin, and the easier it is, easier it is for us to sin. Throughout the Bible, I think of illustrations of this very thing. I think of Cain in the long ago. Cain rose up and murdered his brother Abel. And when God called him to account in verse 11 of Genesis chapter 4, God said, Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you.

You will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth. And Cain replied, My punishment is too great for me to bear. Satan doesn’t show us the consequences of our sin.

He said, What have you done? And Achan said, Well, I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shannar, and two hundred shekels of silver, a bar of gold, fifty shekels in weight, and I coveted them. I took them, and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent. And later Joshua says, Why have you troubled us God will trouble you this day and all Israel stoned them and his family and all that he had and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones Satan makes sin appealing how many other examples can we think of throughout the Old Testament even in the new remember what happened to Nadab and Abihu remember David and his sin with Bathsheba remember Ananias and Sapphira Judas Iscariot who for the regret of what he had done went out and hanged himself how Satan has used his subtlety to present sin in such a way as to conceal the true ugliness and the destruction that follows these actions I found a description of subtlety on the internet I want to read this to you Satan he twists the truth Satan’s primary method is to deceive by twisting or taking truths out of context to make them misleading he twists the scriptures to misdirect people Satan uses distraction he shifts focus away from God’s purposes and on to worldly things such as vanity, popularity, or material possessions.

Satan uses discouragement. He fosters feelings of worthlessness or doubt about God’s power and his love to make people lose hope. He causes men to doubt God by appealing to human wisdom. He gets you to ask questions like if God was so good, he would not have allowed this to happen to my loved ones. How can a good God allow such an evil to exist in the world? Satan justifies human behavior. He offers subtle justifications for wrong actions or behaviors, such as it’s not lying if you believe it. Everybody does it. Nobody will get hurt by it. This one time won’t hurt you. Satan promotes division among God’s people. He gets God’s people that are otherwise would be good to go behind backs of their brothers, use slander, talk in dark corners and behind closed doors.

He causes them to choose sides without confronting the wrongs and working to correct them, but rather using tactics that tear down rather than building up the church of Christ. Satan uses subtlety. He also comes to us as an appealing angel. This is found in 2 Corinthians 11th chapter in verse 14. Satan doesn’t come to us in a bright red suit. Wouldn’t that be nice? We could see him coming then. He doesn’t make himself so obvious. He comes to us as an angel of light, someone that we can trust. He makes his appearance and the things he offers seem pure and good. This reminds me of the TV evangelist. Lately, I believe it’s on the Fox News channel. I’ve been seeing a commercial with Franklin Graham. He’ll ask his listeners, do you want a bit salvation?

He’ll say, You just say this prayer with me, bow your head, confess your sins, confess that Jesus is Christ, and ask Jesus to come into your life. Say the sinner’s prayer. Where’s that in the New Testament? Satan comes as an angel of light. He comes as someone we can trust, but he twists the truth. He doesn’t tell you the whole truth. Not even Paul was saved that way. I think of the Saul, who later became the apostle Paul. The Lord met him on the road to Damascus. The Lord told him, go into Damascus, and it’ll be told what you must do. He was blinded for three days, and during those three days, the text says that he prayed. But when the preacher got to him, what did the preacher say?

He didn’t say what Franklin Graham says. You’ve repented, you’ve prayed, now you’re saved. No. When the preacher got to him, he said, What are you waiting for, Paul? Arise and be baptized and wash your sins away. And Paul immediately arose and was baptized and washed his sins away. I was thinking this week about the thief on the cross. My father taught a class last Sunday morning on the thief on the cross. When I was in high school, I was working at Target and talking to a man about the gospel, and he said, I he was a Baptist. He said, I want to be saved like the thief on the cross. What he meant was, without baptism, I want to be saved. My question is, how do you know that the thief on the cross wasn’t baptized?

When you look at Matthew, what is it, Mark chapter 1 and verse 5, I think it is. Mark chapter 1 and verse 5. John baptized long before the cross. And it says the text says that all Judea and Jerusalem came out to be baptized by him. And when you turn over to John, the fourth chapter, the first verse of the fourth chapter, the text says that Jesus baptized more than John. When the thief got on the cross, he sure knew a lot about Jesus. He knew that he was innocent. He took a defense of him. He knew about the kingdom. He said, Remember me when you get into your kingdom. He sure knew a lot about Jesus when he got to the cross. Who’s to say that he wasn’t baptized prior to the cross?

Satan can deceive us. He’s so subtle. He can convince a man to put his whole faith on a case that he doesn’t even know is true. There was a man years ago that used to go around and he would debate the Baptist on this question. And you know his name was Howard C. He debated, and he actually got two of the Baptist preachers to concede on this point that yes, there is very good possibility that the man on the cross could have been baptized prior to his death on the cross. Satan comes to us and he had convinced us of some fact or some false twisting of scriptures. And men are so ready to stake their faith on it, regardless of whether that’s true or not.

He comes to us as an angel of light, someone we can trust, and we put our hopes and our trust in him and we believe something. And no wonder Jesus said, Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction. Narrows the way, and few there be that find it. When I think of this point, I also think of those who’ve put all their hopes on faith only. And they’ll turn to a passage like John 3 in verse 16. God so loved the world he gave his only son. Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. They’ll turn to Ephesians 2, and they’ll say, By faith are we saved through faith. And they come out with the idea that it’s by faith only.

I heard of a lady from the Methodist church that believed this. She came and talked to the Church of Christ preacher. He told her, look in James 2. She said, That’s not in my Bible. He said, Sure it is. She said, Look. He turned over there, and she had torn that out of the Bible. James 2 teaches that there’s two types of faith. There’s a dead faith and a living faith. The type of faith that God wants is an active, obedient, living faith. No one was saved in the New Testament just by simply believing without obeying. That’s what James chapter 2 teaches us. Faith without works is dead. But the devil will come to us. He’ll twist the scriptures. He’ll convince us on one text, which he’s twisted, and then he’ll get us to dismiss all other texts.

And he’ll deceive us, and our soul will be lost. What is it? John 8 that talks about him as a liar? Been a liar from the beginning.

He lied to Eve in the garden. He only changed one word. He said, You will not surely die. God said, You will die. He said, You will not surely die. So many want to dismiss baptism. God said you must repent and be baptized, every one of you. But Satan comes along and said, You do not have to be baptized. He comes as an angel of light. He also comes as a devouring lion. We read that in 1 Peter 5 and verse 8. Be sober and be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he can devour. What this expresses to us is the insatiable rage of the enemy, of mankind to hinder their salvation and the danger that we are in from his devices.

Is there any warning? Is there any wonder of the warning that the scriptures give us to be sober and to be vigilant? It’s Satan’s intent to obliterate God’s work altogether. In the parable of the sword, we saw that Satan is pictured as the one who comes, and he immediately snatches the word of God out of our life. He wants our soul destroyed.

4. How Can We Defeat Him

He’s as a roaring lion. He’s working against us. These are some of the tactics of Satan. And he’s obviously quite successful in the employment of these tactics. And it’s evidently necessary that we determine in our hearts to overcome him. Lastly, I want you to see how can we defeat him? How is it that we can defeat Satan? First, we’ve got to be alert. Several passages suggest this. In 1 Peter 5 and verse 8, he says, be sober and be vigilant. Be on the alert. In 1 Corinthians 16 and verse 13, we watch, Paul said, Watch ye and stand fast in the faith. Quit you like men and be strong. Watch.

How many of us go regularly to the doctor? I think I go every six months. The older I get, the more alert I become. We’re alert about our health. We’re alert about the weather, especially during hurricane season. Here in Florida, we’re alert. We’re required at work each year to take classes to be alert about active shooters and dangers in the workplace. We’re alert there.

Are we alert about Satan? How he works. If we’re going to defeat Satan, we need to arm ourselves. In Ephesians chapter 6, God has given us some armor. He’s given us some tools to help to overcome Satan. We need to pick up that armor. Learn what that armor is. Use that armor. I think of a carpenter. Would he be any use at all if he didn’t bring his hammer to work? God’s given us some armor. And you need to pick it up and you need to learn it and you need to study it and you need to prepare yourself and put that armor on unless God defeat you, or lest Satan defeat you.

At the end of Ephesians chapter 6, Paul said, with all prayer and petition, pray at all times. Matthew 26 and verse 41, keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. We need to call on God to help us. Our captain in this battle. We need his strength. We need him by our side. We need to pray. And we need to resist. You can resist. James 4 and verse 7: resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Jesus illustrated that in Matthew 4. The devil came and tempted him several times. And the devil resisted him with scripture, and he left Jesus.

We are encouraged to resist. You can resist. You need to determine that you can resist. And you need to resist.

Conclusion

You want to overcome Satan. Remember there are consequences, both good and bad. If you don’t resist, if you yield to Satan, remember their separation from God. Sin separates us. Remember Eve, when she sinned, how she was separated. They were cast out of the garden. Remember what happened to Ananias and Sapphira when they lied.

Remember Nadab and Abihu in the Old Testament. What happened to them? When they offered strange fire. James 1, verse 14 and 15 says, But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Death is the consequence of sin. But on the bright side, if you resist, there are good rewards. Remember Job. In all the things that happened to Job, even his wife turned against him. But yet in all that he did not sin. How God rewarded him.

The crown of life.

And to begin your life of resistance towards Satan. And belief and obedience to the Lord. If you’re here this morning, you’re subject to the invitation. Why not come today as we stand and sing this song?