Satan His Work & Destiny

Okay, we're going through the, repeat, the top ten list in terms of the false concepts about Satan. The first false concept is Satan doesn't really exist. As we've been looking at this study on Satan, and Roger, last week, going through Ezekiel 28, we saw from that passage that Satan exists. Satan exists, as I've shown here, just as hell exists. And the Lord Jesus Christ was both the creator of Satan and he was both the creator of hell.

And if we just take a quick look at Colossians 1, chapter 1, verse 16, In Colossians 1 verse 16 it says, For by him, talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, were all things created. Now the all things, in that word there, all, ponta, means all, every single thing. There was nothing that was created that was created without him. Every single thing, whether it be principalities, powers, whatever. So for by Him were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him and for Him. And when you have something repeated twice in Scripture, in one verse of Scripture, it makes it very emphatic, and it says in two places here in this verse that all things were created by him. So, it includes Satan, and it includes hell. Number nine, as to false concepts about Satan.

Satan is red, has a long tail, and a pitchfork, right? Is that usually people's concept about Satan? In other words, people feel, if you were to ask the casual observer, that they think Satan looks like this. And so does Satan really look like this? Is that what Satan looks like? Or, Roger went to the internet for me to get all of these, and I like both, two of them, so we're going to look at both. Or does Satan look like this?

Is this our concept of Satan? You know, this sly old devil here? And people have this concept about Satan. And if you go to Revelation chapter 12 in verse 3, it does talk about Satan being a red dragon and having a tail that sweeps one-third of the stars, as it says, to the earth. And so the question is, Is that really how Satan looks?

Because when Roger went through Ezekiel 28 last week, we saw that he was beautiful, right? And it said that he was the most beautiful angel ever created. If you go to the Revelation 12 passage, you don't need to turn there, but it talks about there was another sign in heaven. There were two signs in heaven in that passage. One was a woman. The first sign was a woman in verses 1 and 2. And the second sign was this red dragon.

And the word sign, semeirion in Greek, it has different meanings. And there's one meaning that has a definition that goes like this, that which distinguishes a person. That's called a sign, how a person is distinguished or characterized. And so if we use that definition and apply that when it talks about him being red, I think it's distinguishing or picturing his bloodthirsty character, because that's what he's like.

And being a dragon, pictures his intense cruelty. So those are the characteristics of Satan as it's described in that passage. But that's not how he looks. If you really want to know how he looks, you've got to go to the Ezekiel 28 passage. Okay? If you have questions as we go along here. Now what I've tried to do is, as I set out there, I tried to jot down all of the questions that came up concerning Satan, so we're going to try and answer them this morning. Okay, so if we look at Satan, as Roger read last week and pointed out to us, that Satan is perfect in beauty. Scripture also tells us that he transforms himself into an angel of light. So he comes at us, as an angel of light. He doesn't come to us as an angel of evil. Never does he do that. Number eight. Question always comes up.

False concept about Satan. Satan existed prior to the six days of creation. So that if you read your homework assignment, If you read your homework assignment, you would see that Dr. Lewis Barry Chafer believes that Satan was created prior to the first six days of creation. And what's interesting is this, is that there are so many Bible teachers, and you pick up most books, and most books that you pick up will say that Satan was created before the first six days of creation. Was he? Were all the angels and Satan created at the time of creation or prior to the six days?

Now, Roger went through this, and I don't want to repeat it, but the thing is, if you go to Genesis 2, it says in the day that the Lord created the heavens and the earth and all the hosts in them. And host, as Roger pointed out, was the heavenly host, because you could correlate that to Nehemiah 9.6, and it talks about the heavenly host. And so I think there's a correlation. And there's many other passages.

Scripture just didn't get them on the chart in terms of proving that Satan and his angels were created in those first six days. Now, we don't know. We don't know exactly when. It just gives that summary in verse 1 of chapter 2 in Genesis saying that somewhere in those six days that they were all created. Yes? Let's look at it. Okay, so the question is this, what about the Job passage which says that angels were created before the foundations of the earth? Do you remember where that was, Dave?

Okay, let me read the first six verses then. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwood and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man, for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where was thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding. Who has laid measure of it, if thou knowest? Who has stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone?

When the morning stars sang together, and all of the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut up the sea with doors when it broke forth as it had issued out of the womb? That was it? Okay. Okay, now notice in that passage, did you see the word before the foundations of the world? It says, when I laid the foundations of the world, right? Where was thou, I'm looking at verse 4, Where was thou when I laid the foundations of the world? Talking about day one of creation and forward. Right? Crystal? I'm sorry? He's speaking to Job. Yeah, OK. So let's put the passage in context. At the very start, here comes Satan, before God, and God says to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? My righteous servant Job? And Satan says, oh yeah, the only reason why he loves you, he's righteous or whatever, is because you put this big hedge around him.

He's got all the wealth, he's got 11 kids, you've given him everything he possibly needs. So God says, tell you what, I'm going to let you take all of that away from him. But there's one thing you can't take from him, and that's his life. So you have at it.

Now, Job had no clue what was going on in the heavenly scene Right? And so what happens? He loses his children, his children die, his animals die, he loses everything. He's sitting there with all these boils and he's wondering, why does this happen to me? Right? But he never, he was questioning. So he went through all these questions and then came along all his friends.

And his three friends come to him. and say, Job, look, what you need to do is you need to fess up. Because the reason why you're going through all of these trials is because God is punishing you. So there must be some sin in your life that you're not fessing up with. And you claim that you're a righteous man, and there's some sin in your life that the Lord is punishing you for. And that's why all of this is happening. Three friends come to him to say this. And Job is asking God. He's asking God, why is all this happening? So, God never answers him until the end of the chapter. And God answers Job, and He simply says, Job, where were you when I laid the foundations of the world? Where were you when I did this? Where were you when I did that?

So God was saying to Job, I'm the sovereign God of this universe. Everything that happens in your life happens in my sovereignty, and I've allowed it to happen." And so he was trying to show Job who he was. And Job had nothing to say after God came to him. And Job just melted and said, you know, it's like Thomas saying, my Lord and my God, you know, when he felt the nail prints in the Lord's hands. So that's the whole context in which it's written. And so what God is trying to point out to Job is his sovereignty as to who he is, his entire essence.

Okay. Does that does that help set in context? Okay. Okay. So, so, so in verse seven, it says when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Verse 6, "...whereupon are its foundations fastened, or who laid its cornerstone? When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." So what it is not saying Okay, what you're saying, it seems to implicate that these morning stars existed...

At some point prior. At some point prior. Because they were there to rejoin when it was either occurring or... Yeah, and so here's the thing. We don't know when during those first six days. So let's say they were created very early in the first six days.

Couldn't this verse be true? It may be. It may be. Okay. We're going to get through ten. Number seven as to false concepts about Satan. that Satan is omnipresent, he's omniscient, he's omnipotent. And people believe this. Believers believe this. I got a call two weeks ago from a young man in Arizona. And he said to me that he's having problems with Satan. That Satan is at his place. I said, really? I said, that's interesting. Because I was just, I said, when was this? And he told me. I said, that is very interesting.

I was just talking to somebody and they said the same thing about Satan was at their place in Denver. And I said, isn't it interesting that he was in both places at the same time? And I'll bet you that somebody in New York at that same time was saying that Satan was at their place. And so he left. And I said, do you see what you're saying, that Satan, number one, is omnipresent. He can be everywhere.

And not only that, what you're saying is that if he's doing things in your life, that he's almost omnipotent, that he can control your life. So we had a long discussion about that. But this is what many believers believe. And the point is this. By the way, you will get handouts at the end of the session here.

I purposely didn't give them to you because I didn't want you to see the top ten before. But the point is this, that only God possesses this essence. Only God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. There is no created being, whatever principality or power there is, that they don't possess this essence. If they did, they would be God. Would you agree?

But, God does give Satan limited power. And Roger went through a lot of this last week, so I won't repeat it. So Satan does have limited power, and as we just saw with the story of Job, he gave Job some limited power to be able to take life, and not take life. In another instance, he couldn't take Job's life.

Alright, number six. As to false concepts about Satan. Now, how many of you know people, believers, that believe? Why can't you see that? Number six in the false concept about Satan. That Satan can involve believers. How many of you know believers that believe this?

Anybody? And there are many believers that believe this because there's all this exorcism going on within the church. In fact, never mind. But believe me, there are good, grounded, even pastors and teachers that believe this. I think scripture is very clear. Yeah, thank you. Satan or any demons of the demons, and I should have put that down. Correct. Thank you.

They could be demon possessed. And here's the point, that as you go through Scripture, you'll never find, to my knowledge, a passage of Scripture that says that believers are indwelt or demon-possessed. You'll only find passages that say that believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. And Paul says, embodies the temple of God and the Holy Spirit indwells you, lives within you."

He says that over and over. An interesting passage of Scripture is this. Turn there to 1 John 5.18. 1 John 5.18. In verse 17, it says, all unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death.

We know that whosoever is born of God sins not. But he that is begotten of God keeps himself, and that wicked one touches him not. You see that word, touch? The wicked one touches him not. In other words, it's saying that Satan cannot touch you as a child of God. And the word touch means to harm, or it means to cling to. And he can't cling to you, which means that he can't indwell you, or any of his cohorts, any of the demons, any of his fallen angels can't cling to you, can't indwell you.

So, let's go to the next one. Number five, in terms of what are the false concepts about Satan. And this is one that you hear every day. When somebody sins, what do they usually say? The devil made me do it. Right? And how many times do you hear that? So the false concept is that Satan is the direct cause of sin in believers. Why isn't that true?

Okay, he can't touch us. He's not omnipresent. What can Satan do? Tempt? Influence? So, as you go through Scripture, that's exactly what you find. That he can tempt and he can influence. And as Roger pointed out, I think, in Matthew 4, last week, did you go to Matthew 4? That Satan couldn't cause Christ to sin in the temptation when he was taken into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights, and he was presented with three temptations, and Satan could not cause Christ to sin. Right? And guess what? You're in Christ. And if you're in Christ, Satan can't cause you directly to sin. He cannot do that because you're in Christ and Christ is in you. But what can he do? He can influence. He can tempt. Now here's the point.

The cause of sin in each and every one of us as believers in Christ is The sources are sin nature. And remember when Roger went through this in terms of sin and made it distinguished between sin, its root and its fruit. He had the picture of the tree and the sin nature was the root of sin and the fruit were the sins, were the product of the sin nature. or the fruit, if you will, of the sin nature.

And so, as you go to Romans 6, 12 and 13, turn there, so you see this in terms of where sin in the believer comes from. Romans 6, verses 12 and 13. Now, Paul just gets through, in Romans 6, talking about our identification in Christ, that we are identified in his death, in his burial, in his resurrection. And then in verse 11, he says, likewise, reckon you also yourselves to be dead, to be separated indeed unto sin.

There's a definite article there that's talking about the sin nature. Reckon yourself, count it as true, that you have been separated from your sin nature. but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Verse 12, let not the sin, there's a definite article, let not the sin nature therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lust. Verse 13, neither yield your members of instruments of unrighteousness unto the sin or the sin nature but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."

Notice that the source of sin is the sin nature that still indwells each and every believer. And of course, there is the theology out there today that says that the sin nature has been eradicated. And when they say the sin nature has been eradicated, then the source of sin obviously is no longer the sin nature. And the source of sin has to be something else within the believer, and there's all kinds of explanations for that, saying that it's residual sin, sin in the flesh, whatever that means.

And normally it's very difficult for them to define that, or else the devil made me do it. So the point is this. The source of sin in the believer is the sin nature. Satan can come at us and tempt us, and we can respond to that temptation. But ultimately, the sin, the fruit that comes out from us is from our nature and from our desire. So, the bottom line is this. that Satan can only tempt, he can only influence, he cannot cause us to sin. He could not cause Christ to sin, and you as a believer in Christ, he cannot cause you to sin. Number four, Satan is to be slandered, spoken against, or to. Now, I don't I don't get involved in this kind of theology, and I'm kind of unfamiliar with it, but what I do do is go to TBN sometimes, just to check out what's being taught.

You'll see all of these things happening, and people speaking against the devil, and calling him names, and telling him to go away from his children. in commanding him to do this, to do that. And they're speaking against Satan, and they're calling him, you big red devil, you this, you that, etc. And what's interesting is this, and I want to take a look at it, I want you to turn to Jude chapter 1 and verse 8. There's a stern warning in scripture about us speaking to or even commanding Satan to do anything. Jude chapter 1 and verse 8. I shouldn't say chapter 1, just Jude, right? Jude verse 8. In like manner also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignitaries.

Yet Michael, look at verse 9, yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses what? He dared not to bring against him a railing accusation, but said, the Lord rebuke you. So here you have Michael, the archangel, not even rebuking or speaking against Satan. And so who are we to speak against Satan? So there's a stern warning to believers not to speak against Satan. You know, it's just believers are a worn nut. Yeah, he's the creator. He can say that. Truth. Okay.

There's another section of theology out there that, by the way, all you need to do is go to a quote unquote Christian bookstore and you'll see all these books about binding Satan and rebuking him and all of that. Again, I am not familiar with all of this, but just occasionally coming into contact with it, whether TBM or just looking at books on the bookshelf, Christian bookstore, but there's another one out there that says that Satan is to be rebuked and bound by believers. On Friday nights, every first Friday, second Friday, we have the RMCF here, the Rocky Rocky Mountain Creation Fellowship, thank you, meeting here and one of the guys who comes is a friend of mine and we were talking one night after the meeting and he was saying how he was rebuking and binding Satan. I was going to ask him, how do you do that?

But nevertheless, this is what Believers believe. And here's the point. In Scripture, as we just saw in this one passage in Jude 8 and 9, believers are never commanded to do either. We're never commanded to rebuke or to bind Satan. And so if you try and find out and ask these people, why are you doing that? they'll go to these passages, and they'll give you these passages about rebuking and binding.

And the point is this, if you carefully go through the passages, like in Titus 2.15, we're not going to look at it, but it talks about rebuking.

But the whole context is not rebuking Satan, it's rebuking that which is not of Christ, anything that is not of Christ. So it's not talking about Satan. And then in Matthew 18, 18, it talks about binding, about whichever bind on earth will be bound in heaven, whatever you loosen, earth will be loosed in heaven. And so people interpret that about binding Satan. But the context of the passage is talking about church discipline. If you go through that passage, It's not about church discipline.

It's not talking about Satan. So, the only one that binds Satan is at the end of his tribulation period, just before going into the Millennial Kingdom, Satan is bound by God. God binds Satan. He binds him for a thousand years, as Verne has been teaching in our 10 o'clock hour. Okay, number two on the false concepts about Satan.

This was brought up last week, that Satan no longer has access to heaven. It was worded differently, and the way it was worded is, how come Satan has access to heaven? Okay? Anybody want to take a stab at that? I mean, if somebody would come to you and say, how come Satan has access to heaven? Or, if somebody would come to you and say, you know, Satan doesn't no longer have access to heaven, how would you answer them? Dave? And how often does he do that? He brings accusations day and night. Day and night he brings accusations to God. Now he brings them to God.

Now where? Is it the first heaven? Is it the second heaven? Or is it the third heaven? Does God switch places? God's in the third heaven. What we would call third heaven, right? And so Satan comes before God. God doesn't leave the third heaven to come down somewhere else for Satan to come to him. God is where he is. So how come Satan has this access?

And what other example do we have? Roger went through this last week with Job as we talked this morning, right? Job comes before God and says, hey, God says, look at my faithful servant down there. And they have this discourse. So Satan is in the presence of God. He has access to God. How come? Okay. He's left Satan with some of his privileges. Question. Has Satan been judged? Okay, here we have, yes, no, partially. Alright, that's good. Okay, excellent. Satan has been judged.

He's been judged at the cross. He has been judged. Judgment has been made at the cross, but the final sentence has not been executed yet, right? He's been judged, he's been sentenced, but it hasn't been executed yet. The example that I would use, I always think about Timothy Leahy, don't know why, but Timothy Leahy, went through the whole process in court, right? All of the evidence was weighed, and the jury weighed the evidence, and he was found guilty. He was judged guilty, sentence made, your life shall be taken, right?

You're going to be put to death. But he hung around for some time, right? He was still He was still around, but that sentence had not been executed yet. Could he have killed somebody in between? Sure could have. He could have killed the prison guard. He could have killed another prisoner in prison. He still could have murdered, couldn't he?

Isn't the same thing true with us, that our sin nature has been judged? and it's been judged at the cross. Christ condemned it on the cross, but it's still alive and well and it can still function. And it's going to continue on functioning until the Lord takes us home. So it's just that the sentence hasn't been finally executed. Same thing with Satan. So God still allows him to come into his presence. Did I say Lehay? Oh. Oh, well. Well, is there a message there? No. OK. Timothy McVeigh. I've been. Yesterday I was talking to somebody about Timothy Lehay.

But Satan will be losing his access to heaven. So in the middle of the tribulation period, as Vern has been going through the tribulation period, in the middle of the tribulation period, he's cast out of heaven to earth, never again to be able to appear in the presence of God. And so, not only that, but all his angels come with him, and they're cast to earth.

How does that, I know that when we sin, we, I mean, we talk about the gap of sin, that we can't have fellowship with God because, I mean, maybe there's fellowship, but it seems like, because of sin, we can't fellowship with God anymore. But why does faith have this, that's looking so confusing to me, of being able to go to heaven Okay, so the question is this. Why isn't the gap there for Satan? Because here we have a holy righteous God, and a holy righteous God allows Satan to come into his presence, right? So how come? But I think Marilyn hit on one of the key words, is that it's not fellowship, is it? It's not fellowship. Let's take another example to try and answer that question.

Let's take the Lord Jesus Christ when he was here on earth. Was he God? Was he 100% God? Did he hang out with sinners? OK. Oh, I'm sorry. OK, I'm still in the false conflict yet. OK, Satan no longer has access to heaven. You said that God, the Father, resides in the first heaven. Is that correct? Sorry, third heaven. Third heaven. OK, so and then you state over here near the point that he still has access to the third heaven. But he can't fellowship with God.

This is a false concept. People say he no longer has access, but he does. Okay, got it. The number one reason. False concept about Satan. Satan is not the father of all unbelievers. Now, as you're talking to unbelievers, this is a hard concept for people to swallow. And I'm working with a couple of people right now and presenting, who are non-believers, and presenting this to them.

And I told them Friday that God looks down at this world and he sees two groups of people. He sees those who are perishing because the message of the cross is to them who are perishing, that's one group, foolishness. And to us who are saved, it is the power of God. So God looks down at two groups of people, those who are perishing, those who are going to hell, those who are saved. Those who are perishing, that message of the cross is foolishness.

Those who are saved, it's the power, not only the power of God, but the wisdom of God. to those who are perishing, they have a father, and their father, without any question in scripture, as you take a look at John 8, 44, when Christ is interacting with the Pharisees, and they're so proud that they've got this background, and their father is Abraham, And they finally say that their father is guiding. And the Lord Jesus Christ says, guess what? Your father is not God. Your father is Satan. And so that's the last false concept about Satan. OK.

What about this concept of selling gold to the devil? The concept of selling your soul to the devil, that's number 11. And there are people that can, if you will, that can sell out to the temptation of Satan. There's no question about that. I would call that selling your soul to the devil. Because the devil comes at us. If someone did that, it doesn't mean they can't be saved. No. Something very interesting in terms of how Satan comes at us is that he comes at us not to make us feel bad.

He comes at us to make us feel good without Christ. That's the way he comes at us. with good things, making us feel good, but without Christ. So he draws our focus away from Christ, onto something else, whatever that may be. And he knows what those desires that attract us are. Okay, let's close.

Our Father, we are again just so thankful for your words And thank you for this study. Oftentimes we don't realize the enemy that's out there against us. But we just thank you, Father God, that we can stand against the wiles of the devil, against his strategies that he has. And the way we stand is we stand on your infallible Word, and we stand upon what You have said, and we rest it there. And so, Father, thanking You for Your Word. given by your inspiration and profitable for teaching and for doctrine, for instruction in righteousness. And we thank you, Father, that as we behold the Lord Jesus Christ in your Word, your wonderful purpose of conforming us to his image is accomplished. And we give you thanks now in Christ's precious name. Amen.