What We Believe About Satan, Part 2 (090623)
Pastor Joseph Campbell
What We Believe • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 37:52
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What we believe about Satan
What we believe about Satan
We believe that Satan is a supernatural person, a fallen angel, the author of sin and the cause of the fall; that he is the “god of this age, “the prince of the power of the air,” and the open and declared enemy of God and man; his destiny is eternal punishment in the lake of fire.
Satan is real!
Satan is real!
The world - and even Satan himself - does not want you to believe that Satan is real.
However...
If we accept the Bible as the literal Word of God, then the reality of Satan cannot be denied. (This is why, once again, it is important to know what you believe about God’s Word!)
Satan is real!
Satan is real!
Satan’s existence is proven in the Old Testament.
Satan’s existence is proven in the Old Testament.
Question: What is one passage or book in the Old Testament that proves the existence of Satan?
Genesis
1 Chronicles
Job
Psalms
Isaiah
Ezekiel
Zechariah
Turn to and read Genesis 3:1-7.
Turn to and read Job 1:6-12.
Satan’s existence is proven in the New Testament.
Satan’s existence is proven in the New Testament.
Every writer of the New Testament affirmed the reality of Satan and his activity.
Jesus, during His earthly ministry, not only had interaction with Satan, He also taught the existence of Satan.
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Where did Satan come from?
Where did Satan come from?
Satan is a created being.
Satan is a created being.
Question: What is one of the two key Scripture passages that deal with the origin of Satan?
Isaiah 14:12-14; Ezekiel 28:11-19
Satan sinned!
Satan sinned!
Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
We know very little concerning the circumstances of Satan’s original sin. Christ, though, did give us insight into the iniquity that was found in Satan:
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Satan, the father of lies, originated in his heart the first lie in the universe: that he could be like God!
For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
From all of that we declare, in our doctrinal statement:
We believe that Satan is a supernatural person, a fallen angel, the author of sin and the cause of the fall;
that he is the “god of this age,”
2 Corinthians 4:4 (KJV 1900)
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
“the prince of the power of the air,”
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Satan is the open and declared enemy of God and man.
Satan is the open and declared enemy of God and man.
He is the destroyer.
He is the destroyer.
And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
Both names, Abaddon and Apollyon, mean destroyer.
Satan is seeking to destroy us.
He is seeking to eternally destroy mankind by keeping them from accepting the Gospel message and being saved.
He is seeking to destroy Christians - destroy their testimony; destroy their joy; destroy their families; destroy their church
Satan wants mankind to believe that he is like King Midas; that everything that he touches turns to gold. However, Satan is more like Dennis the Menace; he destroys everything that he touches!
He is our adversary.
He is our adversary.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
He is our enemy; our opponent. He is against us!
Remember though...
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
He is our accuser.
He is our accuser.
Turn to and read Job 1:9-11.
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
Just as he did with Job, Satan seeks to accuse us - bring charges against us - before God but praise the Lord that Jesus Christ stands there with us as our great Paraklete and, showing his nail-pierced hands and side, declares that the righteousness of God has been satisfied; we’ve been redeemed!
Galatians 3:13 (KJV 1900)
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
When I think of all my faults and my failures
When I consider all the times I let God down
I am humbled at the grace he has extended
I'm amazed at the mercy I have found
I could never earn his love on my own
Yet every time I come before his throne
I stand redeemed by the blood of the lamb
I stand redeemed before the great I am
When he looks at me he sees the nailed scarred hands
That bought my liberty I stand redeemed
He is the tempter.
He is the tempter.
And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
It is important to understand how Satan tempts us so that we can be prepared to defend ourselves (in God’s power) against him.
From 1 John 2:16 we learn that the Devil has three primary methods of temptation:
1 John 2:16 (KJV 1900)
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
Each one of these temptations arises out of an area of God-given desire but is then taken beyond their God-give, Scriptural limits.
Christ’s victory over the Devil’s temptations in Matthew chapter 4 gives us the confidence that we, too, can overcome his temptations.
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
As we seek to understand Satan, our eternal enemy, let us also consider...
2 Corinthians 2:11 (KJV 1900)
Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
As our declared enemy, we should everything that we can to avoid allowing Satan to get a tactical advantage or to gain the upper hand.
One of the ways in which we are able to do that is in the fact that we are no ignorant of his devices.
The word devices means Satan’s plans; his strategies. We can figure out what Satan is seeking to do and how he is seeking to accomplish those things.
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
What do we know about Satan’s devices; his strategies; how he operates; how he works?
Satan is powerful but he is not omnipotent!
Satan is powerful but he is not omnipotent!
The power that Satan has now is by God’s permission.
We see that in the first two chapters of Job when God allowed Satan to test Job.
And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.
Satan is intelligent but he is not omniscient.
Satan is intelligent but he is not omniscient.
A computer, (or engine) can play chess at a Grandmaster level, even though it’s only thinking about one move ahead. But how many moves does it calculate in advance?
The short answer is twenty or thirty...
Computer chess programs play by brute force; they try every possible combination of moves until they find the best one. The number of possible combinations increases exponentially as the game progresses, making them difficult—in fact, impossible—to solve using human calculation alone.
If chess programs looked further than about 30 moves ahead—the point where every game ends—they’d run out of processing power before finding the solution! So while human players are good at looking far ahead, computers are better at close-ups.
Chess computers can now look 28 or more moves ahead thanks to alpha-beta pruning and other advances in programming technology. That’s enough to beat any human player, but it’s still “looking” only one step at a time.
https://www.chessjournal.com/how-many-moves-ahead-does-a-chess-computer-think/
God is omniscient; He saw the end of the game as soon as the game began.
Isaiah 46:10 (KJV 1900)
Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times the things that are not yet done, Saying, My counsel shall stand, And I will do all my pleasure:
Satan however…
Matthew 4:11 (KJV 1900)
Then the devil leaveth him...
Satan could only think 3 moves ahead. As soon as Jesus Christ countered those 3 moves Satan was done. So, he just left!
So, while Satan has had thousands of years to hone his craft, there is still a limit to his abilities and his capabilities!
This is why...
Satan is subtle.
Satan is subtle.
Subtle: cunning; crafty; clever
This is one of Satan’s most dangerous abilities.
2 Corinthians 11:4 tells us that he can transform himself into an angel of light.
Ephesians 6:11 tells us that Satan has many wiles - tricks up his sleeve.
But even so, we can be victorious!
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Then, protected by the whole armour of God, James records for us:
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Satan is the open and declared enemy of God and man.
Satan is the open and declared enemy of God and man.
Then lastly...
Satan’s destiny is eternal punishment in the lake of fire.
Satan’s destiny is eternal punishment in the lake of fire.
Turn to and read Revelation 20:1-3 and Revelation 20:7-10.
What We Believe About Satan
What We Believe About Satan
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