Transcription
[Applause] How much fun, uh, are we having in church this morning? And we're going to continue today in our series, Angels and Demons. If you've been with us, then you know that we've been in this series for a couple of weeks now. And I would just encourage you just from the start to say, hey, if you've missed one of the weekends, make sure you go back and listen to the content from those weekends because these messages are building on each other. And so you're going to see that there's portions in even today's the passage that we're going to look at today, the passages that refer back to what we've already looked at. And so you'll want to make sure you do that.
Also, I would encourage you, there's a lot of scripture today. So jump on the James River Church app and you can follow along with the notes that you're able to take notes that way. But we're going to dive into God's word as we really go to part two of a message that was started last week on Satan, the fall, and the origin of evil. Satan, the fall, and the origin of evil. And today, we're going to turn our sights specifically to looking at the person and the work of Satan. What do we know about Satan? What does the Bible tell us about Satan? What do we need to be alerted to in our walk with God and walking through life about Satan's tactics and how he wants to intersect and disrupt and attack?
So yesterday I was, um, getting ready for today's message and so I was down in the office in the basement and I was, uh, typing on the computer and I had an audience because halfway through, um, Owen, Elliot and Henley, our oldest along with Calvin, our three-year-old. They all came downstairs. Calvin had a big bag of Cheetos and he was sitting on the on the floor so we vacuumed afterward. Um, they were just all sitting there. So I thought, well, I'll just stop and I'll just ask them some questions because they knew I was working on a message about Satan. And so I said, 'Hey, if you know, what would you say that people tomorrow need to know about Satan?' And so they had a bunch of different, um, ex, you know, thoughts. You know, Owen and Elliot gave their thoughts. And then, uh, Henley, who's five, I call her Bu. Um, Bu said, "Well, here's what I think people need to know." And so I wrote this down because I thought this was gold. She said, "They need to know that he's not good to be around because he can trick you. You don't want to talk to him. and you don't want to listen to him." That's good theology right there. Like that'll preach. I'm done. I'm done. I'm just going to go home. Like that. That's solid gold. You don't want to talk to him. You don't want to listen to him. It's like that's with authority, girl. Come on. Um, so that's Henley. That's Buchu.
And with that, you know, the, the fact of the matter is what she's saying right there is something that American society needs to listen to in general. 61% only 61% of Americans believe the devil exists. That believes the devil is real. 43% of Americans say that they believe the devil is a symbol of evil or a symbol of humanity's inhumanity toward one another. The Bible though paints a very different picture of Satan. The Bible paints a picture. He t it talks consistently from cover to cover about a supernatural being, a powerful being who revolted or rebelled against God and actively opposes the plan of God and works to destroy the people of God. And so you find this again and again and again. And last week we started in our study of Satan. But today, I want to equip you with what the Bible says about Satan. Because 1 Peter chapter 5:8, Peter says this, "Stay alert. Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." Peter says, "Stay alert."
Now, the truth is this, that in order for you and I to stay alert regarding what Satan is doing, we have to know who he is and what he does. And so, I'm going to give you five realities that kind of encompass that through the pages of scripture today that help us understand who he is and what he does. And the first is this. I want us to look at Satan's assignment. What was Satan's original assignment before he became who we know him to be? Who was he? What does the Bible teach us about Satan? Because to understand, we have to go back before we can go forward. And to go back, one of the best places to go to is the book of Ezekiel. Because in Ezekiel, this prophetic book, he he takes some time in chapter 28 to pronounce judgment on a human ruler called the prince of Ty, a Phoenician ruler in the city of Ty. But what Ezekiel does is in verse 11, he kind of takes us, he looks past the prince of Ty to somebody he calls the king of Ty to look at the satanic power behind the power, the power behind the throne. And I, I think just as an aside, the reality is this that whenever you're looking at the landscape, the geopolitical landscape around the globe, whenever you see a ruler that is exercising, it seems like things are going really bad. It seems like there's a lot of evil happening in that part of the world or in that nation or through that government, you can always know that there is a power behind the power which is something Ezekiel is pointing us to. And that power is none other than Satan.
But the truth is that Ezekiel, he not only pulls back the curtain on Satan, but he backs up in terms of timeline and gives us some information about how Satan was created, how Satan started. Verse 11 says this, "Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Ty." That's a reference to Satan. "And say to him, thus says the Lord God, you were the signant of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty." Now, one of the ways that we know this is a talking about Satan is because there are a bunch of things in this passage that are impossible to equate or identify any human ruler in those terms. Says, "You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering. Sardis, topaz, and diamond, barrel, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle, and crafted in gold. And your settings, uh, your settings and your engravings on the day that you were created, they were prepared." What Ezekiel is giving us insight to is how Satan was created. What was he like? Some of the things that he includes in this description as he says, you know, that Satan walked among the stones of fire. Last week we learned that that seems like an obscure reference, but it's a reference to the divine counsel that God sovereignly the God sovereignly orchestrates things according to his will. He sovereignly carries out his plan. He allows supernatural beings to be the initiators or to be the implementers of his plan. And we saw this in 2 Chronicles chapter 18. We looked at it in Daniel chapter 7. If you go back a couple of weeks, Pastor John showed us that. You see that? You also see that here that Satan was originally created and he was meant to operate in that sphere of authority, in that sphere of influence. In fact, Ezekiel says, "You were full of wisdom." So, think about it this way. If Solomon was the wisest human who ever lived, Satan was the wisest supernatural being to ever be created. He was the Solomon of the angelic realm. And so the the prophet Ezekiel is writing this lamentation over Satan. He says he was wise. He was beautiful. He was powerful. He had access to God's inner circle. He was operating close to the throne of God. And one of the ways that we op we know he was operating close to the throne of God if we go back to Ezekiel 28 is it says you are an anointed guardian cherub. What's a guardian cherub? Now, we looked at this both last week and the week before, but I want to remind you of some things. A guardian, cherubs or the cherubim were throne guardians. They are throne guardians. Satan was created and part of his original assignment was to guard, to safeguard the throne of God. In other words, if you were invited into the presence of God, if angelic beings were invited into the presence of God, Satan served as a guardian to the throne of God and he was, you know, he would welcome those in like the other cherubim who were invited. But if you were uninvited, he would terrorize so that he was a protector of the throne. And it says, "I placed you. You're on the holy mountain. He was in God's house. In the midst of the stones of fire, you walked. You are blameless in your ways from the day that you were created till unrighteousness was found in you." Says you were blameless on the day you were created. In other words, Satan was created good. Satan wasn't created evil. See, Satan wasn't created, uh, he wasn't created conniving. He wasn't created to go behind God's back. He wasn't created. He was created good. He was created wise. He was created beautiful. He was created powerful. These are the things we know from scripture about the way that God created this angelic being. So if he was that close to God, I mean, think about this. If he was that close to God, if he was operating in a sphere where decisions were where sovereign decisions were being made from God's throne, then what happened? What happened?
So I think from there we have to move from Satan's assignment to look at Satan's apostasy to see what what happened to this angelic being who had so much and lost so much. And here both Ezekiel and Isaiah tell us what began to brew in Satan's heart. In Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 14, he does something similar to what is to what Ezekiel does in chapter 28. And that is that he begins to pronounce judgment on the king of Babylon. And as he's pronouncing judgment, he once again goes to the power behind the throne. Once again, he looks beyond this king to Satan. And here's what we read in chapter 14 and verse 12. "How you are fallen from heaven, O Dayar." That term Dayar is where we get the name Lucifer. In Latin, it's translated Lucifer, son of the dawn. "How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid nations low." This is a reference to Satan's power, the power that he held, the power, the supernatural power that he was created with and possessed. And then Isaiah moves from that pronouncement to tell us about five I wills, five promises Satan made to himself that began to corrupt his heart. Verse four, verse 13 says, "You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven. Above the stars of God, I will set my throne on high." Here's what Satan wanted. Satan saw how he had been created, and he saw where God ruled from. He saw the decisions that God was making. He saw the way that God was carrying out his plan. He saw the things that God was creating. And he said, "I don't like what I see." He saw his realm of authority. He saw other angels and angelic beings, their realms of authority, and he said, "I want what? I want to set my throne on high." Whose throne is on high? God's. God's throne is on high. What is he saying? He's saying, "I want to be in charge. I want to I want to call the shots that God calls. I don't like the decisions he's making."
And if we can stop here and just say this, that the truth of the matter is that any person, the first, the first inkling in the heart that you're gravitating toward a satanic way of thinking. And this sounds strong, but it's true. The first inkling is when you see something. When you know that God is speaking to you, when you know that God has commanded you, when you know that God has called you to step out or you see something clearly in his word and you say, "I don't like that. I want to do it a different way. I want to do it my own way." That's this. That is you adopting. Let's just put it in real blank, real frank terms. You adopting the mentality and the mindset of Satan because that's where it started for him. He looked at what God was doing. He looked at God's rule and reign and he said, "That will not apply to my life. That will not be me."
You go down to the next verses and you see this. He continues, "I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high. I will sit on the mount of assembly." Now there are two words in here that are included in this I will, these promises that you need to take note of. One is the word stars and the other word is assembly. Now these are two words that are identified in scripture with angelic beings, with heavenly hosts, with the divine council at times. So what Satan is essentially saying is when I sit on the mount of assembly in this far reaches of the north, what he's what he's promising himself, what he is saying is I see the reaches of the authority that I've been given under the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. I see what God has allowed me to do. I see what has been carved out for me. And I want more. I want God's prominence among the angels. I want God's power, his delegating power among the heavenly host. I want that for me. He wanted God's wisdom. He wanted God's authority. He wanted God's place. He wanted God's worship. He wanted God's glory. That's what Satan desired.
We read about the fate of Satan both, it's interesting, both in Ezekiel chapter 28, but also we read about it in Isaiah 14 and:15. Ezekiel says, "You sinned, so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, oh guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire." Then Isaiah says, "But you are brought down to Shil." Shiel is the realm of the dead, to the far reaches of the pit. Now, obviously, Satan was strong enough. Satan was powerful enough. Satan was smart enough. Satan felt like he had enough wherewithal that he saw God and he saw himself and he thought, "I'm going to take him on." That sounds crazy, but he saw God as a worthy adversary and as an opponent. I think perhaps Satan thought that this was going to be some cosmic epic battle and it might last for years. It might last for millennia. But in the end, he thought, man, this is a fight I think I can win. It's a fight I think I can win. What's interesting about that is that is one, it's an indicator of what was going on his heart, but also it tells us about the deceptive power of pride that he could look at the God who created everything. He could look at the God whose power is infinite. He could look at the God whose wisdom is unmatched and he could say, "No, no, he and he and me, that's that's a fair fight." Like, he and me, we we can we can go mano a mano. It'll be okay, like I'll be fine. That's pride. Pride is a is a blinding force that keeps you from seeing real. That's the danger of pride. That's the danger of arrogance that everybody can see around you. That ain't going to work. And yet pride blinds people. Pride blinded him.
When you go back to Ezekiel, I want to take you back to a a portion of Ezekiel because Ezekiel chapter 15 and verse 17, it says some things about, um, it speaks to us about what Satan saw in himself, how Satan viewed himself. So, we can go back to Ezekiel 28:15. Yeah, there we go. "You were blameless in your ways from the day that you were created till unrighteousness was found in you. Your heart was proud. Why? Because of your beauty. And you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of what? Your splendor." What what happens here is Satan takes the gifts that God gave him and he turns them instead of that prompting worship, he turns them back on himself. He starts to worship the gift rather than the giver of the gift. And because he starts being enamored with the gift, he's enamored with the recipient of the gift. That can happen to all of us. Satan looks at himself and all of a sudden his existence ever so subtly becomes about his beauty and becomes about his splendor. His existence becomes about him, which is always the endgame of pride. And so he looks at God and he says, "I think this is a fair fight." And what happens is almost comical. God looks at him and says, "Nope, that ain't going to happen. That's over." How do I know it was like that? Because Jesus says it was like that. Luke 10 and verse 18, he, this is Jesus, said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." Have you ever watched lightning fall? It's not like a slow parachute. It's not like that. It's like boom, it's over. If you missed it, you missed it. Like you can't watch, you know, it's like somebody's like, "Oh, there's a lot of lightning out there." Sometimes it's just you had to be there. Jesus was there. Yeah. He says, "I saw Satan fall and it wasn't long, it was a sudden drop. Yeah. Boom. It's over."
And yet what we know is that Satan though he fell and though God moved him removed him from the heavenly throne room the reality is this that even though he was removed the Bible indicates that Satan's work was not done that Satan's assignment heavenly that part may be over but Satan's power was still in play. And so I want you to see now not only Satan's assignment and Satan's apostasy, but now Satan's authority. Because a lot of us wonder, okay, so Satan fell, Satan's powerful, Satan retained that supernatural power. What can he do? Where does he rule? Where does he reign? What does that look like? Well, you need to know this that Satan is not sovereign. Satan is not like God in that sense. Satan is in fact when he fell, his pride made him as almost unlike God as you could possibly be, which is what pride does. But when Satan fell, he retained that power. But he does not have sovereign power over creation. He does not have omniscience. He doesn't know everything. He doesn't know the future. He doesn't know the beginning from the end. He's not omnipresent. He can't be everywhere at once. He's spatially bound. He's not omnipotent. He's not all powerful. He cannot do anything he wants to do at any time he wants to do it to anybody he wants to do it to. He doesn't have that power.
So what power does he have? And the Bible gives us a sense first of all where Satan rules and operates. What are what are the limits? Because he he operates on a in a limited sphere. Essentially Satan is on a leash. But where can he go and where does he operate? And the Bible gives us a a great deal of clarity on that. Starting in first John, I want you to notice this. "We know that we are from God and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." Yeah. The whole world is Satan's domain. John 12:31. "Now is the judgment of the world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out." He is the ruler of the world. So Jesus is looking forward to that. Now you skip down a little further. John chapter 14. "I will no longer talk much with you. For the ruler of this world is coming." Satan is the ruler of the world. Jesus firmly establishes that. The writer John establishes that. Jesus says in John 6:16, "The ruler of this world is judged." Satan's purview of ability and authority lie in this world. He is the ruler of this world. And Satan's called ruler of this world. But it doesn't mean he has cart blanche. Doesn't mean he can do whatever he wants. We already established that. But there are limits to what Satan can do even in this world.
But it's interesting when you think about Satan, the limitations of Satan, God in his sovereignty and God in his infinite power does carry out his plan. At times, he exercises his sovereign plan and purpose through the rule of Satan. And I want to show you a couple places where this happens because this can get muddy. But there are a couple of places. There are two passages that speak to kind of disobedience or or you could call them discipline passage or a a judgment passage. But I want to look at these two with you because they give you some clarity on the parameters of Satan. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. "You are to deliver, this is Paul talking, you are to deliver this man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. Why? So that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord." In other words, God is carrying out a spiritual good through a physical bad through an evil being. That's God's power. You you need to recognize that's God's power. Satan thinks he has authority. Satan thinks he's well, I'm going to I'm going to exercise my power in this situation. Little does he know that God is the one who's working behind the scenes to exercise his sovereign plan and his purpose. Good. That's an amazing thing. Yeah. Not only that, but Paul also talks about this in 1 Timothy chapter 1. He says, "Among whom are Himnaeus and Alexander who I am handed who have whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme." In other words, Paul says, "These people are being handed over to Satan to learn a lesson." You're like, "What?" God is able in his power. God is able in his rule to exercise his plan by using Satan as a puppet. Now, that's not always true. It's always true that he's sovereign. It's always true that he's in control. He doesn't always work that way. Those are specific instances and situations. But it is true that Satan does not operate with autonomy or independence.
What do I mean by that? Well, when you go to Job, the beginning of Job in this book in the Old Testament, there's this courtroom scene or this throne room scene in which God is speaking with the divine counsel. And one of the things that is happening in that setting is that he Satan shows up and God says, "Where have you been?" And we're going to look at this. He says, "I'm roaming to and fro throughout the earth." And God says, "Have you looked at Job?" Like Job is just, man, good. Job loves me. Job seeks God. Job worships God and Satan says the only reason that Job does any of that is that Job likes the gifts that you give him. You're good to Job. You've blessed Job. You've helped Job. Therefore, Job has every reason to serve you. But if that all was out of the picture, Job would not worship you. And God says, "That's not true. Job loves me. Job loves me based on his relationship with me, not on the things that I give him." Satan says, "Okay, well, I mean, you watch. If he gets all this pulled back, he is not going to worship you." And what does what does God say to Satan? Job 2:6. "And the Lord said to Satan, 'Very well, then he is in your hands, but you must spare his life.'" In other words, God boxes Satan in and gives him parameters in which he can operate and in which he cannot operate. Jesus says the same thing similar thing to Peter when you go to the gospels Jesus says Simon Simon Satan has asked Satan has to ask permission Satan we he cannot he cannot assault a child of God he cannot interact with your life or try unless he gets permission and he's getting permission he's he's asked for permission to sift you Jesus says I'm going to pray for you but the reality is this that Satan's purview of power is limited. His authority is limited. He is not God. He does not have a free hand in the world, but he is active in the world.
So, I want to show you a bit about Satan's activity because this is where for most of us, the rubber meets the road in terms of how Satan operates in the world. In 2 Corinthians 2:1, Paul says, "So that you would not be outwitted by Satan." In other words, you and I can be outwitted by Satan. This can happen. It does happen and it happens too often. It happens a lot. And Paul says, "For we're not ignorant of his designs." In other words, you don't and I don't need to be ignorant. Instead, what we need is we need to be informed by the word of God because as the word of God exposes the tactics and the attack of Satan, we're prepared to stand when he attacks. That's good. And so let's look at some of the activities of Satan.
The first is this that he seeks to devour. Satan is looking for people to devour. 1 Peter 5:8, we looked at this, but he prowls. Satan prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. In Job 1:7, the Lord said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" And Satan answered the Lord, "From roaming through the earth." Satan is opportunistic. He's not all knowing. He's not all powerful. But he's looking for an opportunity. That's why he's roaming. He's not roaming for fun. He's roaming with a purpose. He is roaming to prowl. He is looking for potential candidates for his attack. He's opportunistic. He Satan Satan is looking for people to devour.
But number two, he lies. Satan lies and he prompts people to lie. John 8:44, "Your you are your father. You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires." Now, Jesus is talking to the religious leaders and he's saying, listen, the the way that you live and the way that you operate signals that you are children of the devil. He says about Satan, "He was a murderer from the beginning and he does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies." Now, not only are Satan's words lies, but actually the Bible says Satan's whole presence and demeanor and posture is a lie. See this when we go to the next passage, 2 Corinthians, Paul says, "Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light." So, you may have a a mental image of Satan or a mental image of the way Satan operates. And we can tend to think that Satan is nasty or Satan is overtly evil or overtly grotesque or overtly horrific. But oftentimes Satan comes to us in a fashion that is very plausible to us. Satan comes to us with what sounds right and what looks right but what is wrong because his presence and his posture of an a or as an angel of light. He says, "So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness." Satan and his cohorts both operate this way. Not only though is his are his words laced with lies. Everything he says is a lie. His presence and posture are a lie. But he puts lies in people. You see this in Acts chapter 5. But Peter said to Ananias, "Why has Satan filled your heart?" Now Ananias is part of the church. Ananias is part of the community there. And he says, Peter says, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to do what? To lie. In other words, that as even as a believer, we can give Satan entree into our lives and into our hearts in a way that that presence and his power and his influence comes out in the words that we speak. It's a scary thing. Satan filled their heart to lie to the Holy Spirit to keep back for them for yourself part of the proceeds of the land.
Now I want you to notice number three. He blinds the minds of unbelievers. 2 Corinthians 4:4. "In their case, the god of this world, Satan, has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God." What is he saying? Satan not only lies and spreads falsehood, he hides the truth. Satan not only spreads falsehood, he hides the truth. He is in the active business of keeping people from seeing the light of the gospel, the truth about who Jesus is. And so we can think at times, wow, man, I just I talk to them. I I live I live in front of them. I share the gospel with them. Why don't they see it? Why don't they respond? Why won't they come when I invite them? Because there's a battle and there's somebody. His name is Satan. And he's working. He is actively working to confront your efforts and to confront my efforts and to confront the Holy Spirit's efforts to blind the minds of unbelievers so that they don't receive the gospel. Some of you in here maybe today you've come with a friend or a family member or you just decided to show up and you would say, "You know what? I don't know if I'm a Christian." Or you would say, "You know what? I've never trusted Jesus with my life." Can I tell you something? The reason that hasn't happened to this point is because Satan is actively working to oppose that happening. He is actively working to blind you to the truth. It's part of what he does.
Now, number four, Satan tempts people to sin. Now, this is probably the one that is most obvious to us, but in Genesis 3 and verse one, this is the first time we ever hear Satan speak. And he says to Eve, he said to the woman, "Did God really say, you must not eat of any tree in the garden?" Now, the if you read the rest of this dialogue through verse 7, what you're going to find out is that Satan, he moves through a certain strategy, and his strategy actually hasn't changed. Because where he starts with Eve is he starts with questioning God to get her to doubt God to get her to distrust God to get her to disobey God. And it always follows that trajectory. It always starts with a question about God's character, God's integrity, God's honesty, God's goodness, which is where he starts with Eve. And that's not just Old Testament. You go into the New Testament, Jesus says or and we read this in Matthew chapter 4 about Jesus. Then Jesus was led up by the Holy Spirit or by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." Notice where it starts. His identity. Jesus, if you're the son of God, it's a question. It's questioning God. It's questioning who he is. Prove it. Prove it. You don't look like the son of God out here starving in the desert. You look like a crazy person. Yeah. Prove it. Show me. Do a trick for me, Jesus. Why? Questioning God. To doubt God, to distrust God, to disobey God. He doesn't stop there. He says, "If you're the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." But he answered him, "It is written." This is Jesus talking, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." Boom. Here's the thing. When Satan comes to question God, to question his goodness, to question his character, you can always know that he is leading you to where he went, which is rebellion against God. And the way that you have to answer that is by going to the word of God. You always have to go here if you want to stand firm because you cannot stand firm against his attack. If Jesus could not Jesus basically is saying the way I'm going to stand firm when Satan comes to me is I'm going to stand firm on the word of God. If that was Jesus' strategy that ought to be our strategy, right? Jesus knows. And the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you are the son of God, throw yourself down. As it is written, he will command his angels concerning you." What is he trying to get him to do? If Jesus goes to the top of the temple and just goes, "Whoops," and angels catch him. Guess what's going to happen? He is going to be famous. All of a sudden, instant fame, which would subvert the entire plan of God. It would make his life a lot more comfortable. It would make his life, I mean, obviously more prominent. It would give him position and prestige. No doubt. Satan, here's the thing. Satan always wants you to to think in terms of having a better way than what God has called you to do or asked you to do. It's always going to be that way. He will always say, "There's a better way. There's a different way. There's a faster way. There's a more expedient way. There's a less difficult way." And you can always know that what he's doing is he's trying to subvert the plan and the purposes of God to take you off course. And what can happen is we can inadvertently aid him in that. We can help him out. Paul says in Ephesians, he says, "Do not let the sun go down on your anger and do not give the devil a foothold." In other words, what he is saying is when you get in a fight with your spouse and you're at it or you get in a fight with a friend or you get in a fight with a co-worker or you've got there's there's relational tension and angst and it goes unresolved and it goes unforgiven and you are unforgiving and you go to bed on that and just huff off and say, "It's over. I'm going to go to sleep." Guess what you've done? You haven't just gone to sleep. You've left the door wide open for the work of the enemy. Wow. Says you've given the devil a foothold. Now his He's opportunistic. He's going to take the opportunity. He's going to seize the opportunity to do incalculable damage because now the door has been left wide open and it's a lot easier to tempt you. And in that temptation to be successful in his endeavors. This is not only true just in general relationally. This is specifically true in marriage. What is I think it's interesting that Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 7, "Do not deprive each other." What is he talking about? He's talking about physical sexual intimacy between married couples. He's saying do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent. So agree for a time limited so that you may devote yourselves to prayer for a purpose. Then come together again. Why? So that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. Satan is a very good student of humanity. And he knows we're not very self-controlled. He knows that we can get ourselves in trouble very easily. And so this is very practical guidance from the Apostle Paul because he recognizes that if you leave that door wide open, if you're not cultivating intimacy with your spouse, if you're not cultivating that relational quality about your life together, guess what? Satan will take notice and he will cause damage. Yes, he will. Satan looks for open doors. He looks for opportunities. And if we're not careful, we can give him access without even realizing it.
Now, number five, Satan leads people away from close relationship with Christ. Paul says, and this is about false teachers coming into the church. But I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. What is he saying? He's saying, what's energizing the false teaching you're hearing is Satan. And Satan, anytime you hear something wrong, it just rings wrong. It rings wrong about scripture. It rings wrong about God's character. It rings wrong about God's nature. Satan is behind that. And his purpose of that ploy is to cause you to stray from devotion to Christ. He wants you to he wants that that relationship to be frayed. He wants that relationship to be strained. That's what he's doing.
Now, number six, Satan plucks the word of God out of people's hearts. So there are times where in a room like this the word of God goes forward and these are the ones Jesus is talking about a parable of the soils which is a picture of the human heart and he says these are the ones along the path where the word of God is sown and when they hear Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. You know Satan might be roaming to and fro throughout the earth but he's particularly busy on Sundays. Why? Because people are hearing the word of God perhaps for the first time or they're hearing the gospel and all of a sudden they're weighing out, do I want to make a decision to follow Jesus? And Satan is right there to snatch it away. Don't do it today. It's not worth it today. It's not the right time. It's not the right place. It's It's not It's not today. Don't do it today. He's snatching the word away.
Number seven, Satan persecutes believers. Revelation chapter 2, "Do not fear what you're about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested and for 10 days you will have tribulation. Then be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life." This is happening all over the world today. This is happening. There are people in prison right now because Satan put them there. There are people who are suffering persecution that is going to lead in martyrdom because Satan is instigating governments and people and personalities and movements to bring about the persecution of followers of Jesus. Satan is actively persecuting the church.
Number eight, Satan fights against the spread of the gospel. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. "And we endeavor more eagerly with great desire to see you face to face because we want to come to you. I Paul again and again. But Satan hindered us." Satan actively works to cause. He does not want you to share the gospel. He does not want the gospel to go forward. He does not want people to join Jesus. He doesn't want them to experience life in Christ. Satan came to steal, kill, and destroy. And the best way that he does that is to keep the gospel from going out that reconciles people to God. All right. It's not that your neighbor's just saying, "No, thank you." It's that there's an active force. Satan is energizing things around that person, around those people to keep the gospel from going forward.
Now, number nine, and with this, the team can come back up. Satan accuses believers before God. Zechariah 3:1 in the Old Testament. "Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him." Who's Joshua? Joshua is a high priest in Israel at that time. And the if you read the context, what you find out is that Joshua, the accusation that Satan is levying against Joshua is that he's unfit for duty. He's not he's not God. He this guy's not qualified. God, this guy can't represent your people. God, this guy can't do what you've called him to do. It's the same way he works with us. Revelation chapter 2. "And I heard a loud voice in heaven say, 'Now is the salvation of the power salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.'" And you better believe if Satan is accusing you before God, he's accusing people in this place right now. There's some of you almost didn't show up to church today because you feel like you don't belong here. Because you feel like God doesn't want you or you feel like, "Hey, I've gone too far. I've done too much. My sin is too great. I'm not an applicant for the grace of God." That's the work of the enemy, right? He seeks to accuse us.
Here's the good news, and this is the final reality about Satan, Satan's abyss. There's coming a day, the Bible tells us in Revelation 20, when Jesus will return, and he'll rule and reign on the earth for a thousand years. It's the millennial reign of Christ. And during that time, Satan will be kept in captivity. It says at the end of that time, Satan will be let loose and he'll just for a split second almost for for a very short season, he'll he'll try to revolt against God once again and then God will crush him. It says in Revelation 20, "And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beasts and the false prophets were and they will be tormented and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." In other words, it's over. It's over. It's over. Satan, sin, death, done. No more. Over. Finished. He's done.
Now, I realize you could hear all of this and even knowing that, you're like, "Well, that's that's not today. Satan's still at work today." What do you need to know as a believer? First John, John says, "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. Then gets better. He follows that up in chapter 5 and verse 8. "We know that God's children do not make a practice of sinning. For God's son holds them securely and the evil one cannot touch them." That's God's power on your life. When a person is fully surrendered to God, Satan can't touch them. Bible says finally, John says in first John that the son of God appeared to destroy, to destroy, to destroy the works of the devil. That's why Jesus came to destroy Satan's work in your life. That's what he wants to do for you when you trust him, when you look to him, when you walk with him. Amen. Let's pray together.