Major Bible Themes

The subject matter today is Satan, his personality and power, and I'm hopeful to get both chapters done today. So, personality and power of Satan. Satan was a, what is he? He's an angel, right, which means he's a messenger, right? As we studied last week, that's what the word angel means, is messenger. The interesting thing about Satan is, and we get it, it doesn't seem like he gets it, that he's a created being. Now, if you read the chapter, you would notice that, why would he think the infinite difference between him and God and he thought he could take over?

That just blows my mind. But right here in Ezekiel 28, did anybody go to Ezekiel and read it? Let's go there for a second. What's interesting about Ezekiel 28 is that it gives us a look at. I can't find it. It gives us the only look that I know of in the Word of God that talks about Lucifer and kind of what he looked like and what he was up to before he fell. Now one of the things that, how many of you think that, just for grins, how many of you think that the angels and especially Lucifer were created long before Genesis 1. You kind of do. It sort of is the thought process of most people that angels have been around for eons and eons.

I don't think so. I think every creature was created in the six days of creation, including Lucifer, the hosts of angels, everybody. Every person, every everything. Why can't I find this? There we go. Bear with me, I'll find it. I'm thinking I have an Ezekiel in my Bible.

In verse 12, it says that Let's see if I can see more of the words. Verse 12, the son of man, the lamentation of the king of Tyre, and say to him, thus saith the Lord. And it goes through who he is. And it describes him in verse 13, you were in Eden, the garden of God. Now, some commentators say, well, that's a different Eden. Well, that's like saying, OK, there's another Denver someplace. I think he was in the Garden of Eden and I think he was there in all of his glory before he fell.

What I find interesting about Genesis is that Genesis is time-space, it's not eternity. And so how old was Adam and Eve when they fell? Maybe not so old, I don't know. People seem to think that they were created like in their late teens, what we would consider, or maybe their early 20s were their, who knows. But I think Lucifer in there talks about who he is.

He had the seal of perfection. He was full of wisdom, perfect in beauty. And they were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was his covering and on and on it goes. And it talks about him. This person, was the greatest of God's creation in terms of power, intellect, and beauty.

Now, look at the last line here, until what was found? He was blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. What does that mean? I look in Courtney's heart and I find unrighteousness. What did I find? What did I see? Sin. And what was the source of the sin? Self.

This guy, there must have been mirrors around, and he looked at himself and thought, I'm pretty cool, and I'm very powerful, and I can put my throne above God's throne. And he's described as the king of Tyre now. He definitely has a personality, which means he's a person. Don't you find it interesting that all the angelic hosts and human beings, all are persons and all have personalities?

Why? Why would God create us with such a thing? To worship him, but yeah, and to glorify him because he's a person. So one of the issues of being created in the image and likeness of God is that we're created as persons. And Lucifer was created as a person. Back to the creation, when he's created here, is that actually after the study of angels and that? They were created a long time ago.

So if they were created at the same time, then when the fall of Satan had to be pretty quick then, it had to be, depending on how, I mean, that's what I'm trying to figure out the timeframe in Genesis. Everything's created, and Adam is there, and Eve is created. the serpent, the snake, whatever, is already at that point fallen. So it had to be between... It had to be between Genesis 1 and Genesis 3. Yeah. I mean, what time period is that? Right. Now here's one other issue that came...

Six days. Six days? It had to happen before Adam and Eve. Now let me interject something else that will get your mind spinning. When Peggy went home to be with the Lord, is she counting days? Why not? She's in this thing called eternity and I think Lucifer lives in eternity. So what the six days of creation that we think about and then the following days that Adam and Eve are in time and space, Lucifer's not.

He's not. So I don't know if you can put a time, like, well, let's see, was it October 25th when he blew it? You know? No. Well, but, I mean, he may be eternal, but it functioned within our time frame. Because he's in the garden? Right. He's functioning. So, I mean, regardless of him being in eternity, that doesn't matter. In his time frame, it's a flash. It doesn't matter.

Whatever. But I'm just trying to think, you know, chronologically. It had to be after they're created. You know, it didn't happen between when Adam is in the garden over all the animals that were named. Sure. And after Eve was created? After Eve was created. Which means after he named all the animals, it took a couple of days. Right. So yeah, I mean, how long is that period? I mean, I guess I don't know between when he was created and when Eve was created. Maybe it could be a year. It could be five years. It could be anything. Yes, it really could be.

So, the number one thing about Lucifer is when he becomes prideful. I will ascend to heaven, I will raise my throne above, etc, etc. What's interesting about that is when we get this thing called the sin nature, when we're conceived, this is what it looks like. My niece had a baby a year ago, one year older. That baby within her heart has got all of those things.

Why? Because now every son of Adam is born just like Adam and Adam got this thing called the sin nature and that came from our boy Lucifer who is now Satan. We're self-centered. All we care about is ourself. We're expanding. There was a book that I found very interesting. Most other people didn't. You probably can't find it anymore. It's called The Present Kingdom of God. And it was written, I think it was written by Chuck Salmon, which I don't recommend him because he's a One Nature guy.

But one of the things that he pointed out is that when a baby is born, when their feet hit the floor they have one agenda and that's to expand their kingdom and they live in a house with a mom and dad who already have expanded kingdoms and so as time goes on their kingdom starts to butt up against mom and dad and his premise is that how mom and dad deal with that intrusion into their kingdom will form the personality of the child that if they really love the child, they'll say, you're done, these are the parameters, you can't go any farther. If they covertly reject the child and let him do what he wants, at some point in society he's going to run up against somebody else's kingdom, like the police, and they're going to say, you're done.

And it proves to the child that he's loved when you restrict the expansion of his kingdom. I really like the book, it taught me a lot about you know, the reason why you discipline. I was watching the dog whisperer the other night, because I have this new puppy, and he said, if you want to love your dog, discipline him. That's how they know you love him.

Right? I love it. Cool. So he's totally conceited, which means he's absolutely self-centered. And he is the personification of these principles. You understand what I mean? It's like Christ is a personification of holiness. Lucifer is a personification of all of these prideful conceit things. He is those things. And we get that nature. He's crafty and he's full of deception.

Pretty interesting enemy we have, isn't it? Important, I think, for us to know who the enemy is, but then as we go forward to know what our relationship to him is. Now, along the line of personhood, in John 1, 6, 2, 1, it talks about that the Lord and Job, I'm sorry, the Lord has this interaction with Lucifer and they discuss things and the Lord says to him, have you considered my servant Job? And what I like about this is that everybody thinks that Satan sort of initiated this dialogue.

No, it was the Lord. And Satan said, Does Job fear God for nothing? You have made a hedge around him, but put forth your hand now and touch all that he has and he will surely curse you in your face. And the Lord said, Behold, all that he has is in your power. You can do anything you want to him, but you can't take his life.

Who set the parameters and who set up the game? God did. For what purpose? So that Job could get knocked out of him? No, to prove to Job that God loved him. So, he also had obviously a dialogue with Jesus in the wilderness right after Jesus was baptized. Now, do you think he had the power, Lucifer had the power to offer the kingdoms of the world to Jesus? You think he owned them? I think he did.

What happened when Adam sinned? What was Adam designated in the garden? We've talked about this in Romans 5. He's a federal head of the race. He's given dominion over the creation. He's in charge. When he sins and gives up his position, who does he give it up to? Satan is the guy that now has the power of life and death. He is the head of the creation.

Now what's interesting is that God never intended for an angel to be in that position. He intended for a man to be the head of the creation and obviously the man who is the head of the creation now is the Lord Jesus Christ. So when Lucifer offers Jesus the kingdoms of the world if you worship him he could he rightfully could do that although he's deceptive you know he wouldn't have given them to him even if he did but what I find here interesting is that Lucifer or Satan knew enough was in on the mystery enough to go after Jesus but wasn't really sure who he was knew he was there to reclaim dominion and to destroy his power, but wasn't really sure, thought that he could approach him. Because from his perspective, if he did hide his glory, then what did Satan see?

He saw a man. He saw a man. And the Lord Jesus didn't resist him at that point based on being the second person of the Trinity. He resisted him by faith as a man. You see that? Schemes. His personal strength cannot be estimated. You buy that? You think he has unlimited power? Do you think you can estimate his strength and power? I don't think you can. And here's why.

All the kingdoms of the world were handed over to him. He causes sickness. He caused sickness in Job. He was allowed to sift Peter. And this is the interesting thing. He weakened the nations, Isaiah 14, 12. He made the earth to tremble. He shakes kingdoms. He made the earth as a wilderness. He overthrew the world's cities. And he didn't allow his prisoners to go.

Now, if there's any of you who watch Fox News, this is what you're watching. Who do you think controls the nations of the world? Now, he does it now under the overall will of God, but he's running these guys. Just a question. He has reign over the earth, but it's a limited reign in that he does not have absolute freedom over mankind. And it's now been judged, and there's a time fuse coming. And he knows that. So, I mean, he's being used by God now. So, you know, when you say through rulers or whatever, who establishes the rulers? God does. Right. So, I mean, he's being used by God at this point. From day one, was he being used by God?

From day one, God would not create a creature who could have the capacity to subvert his sovereign will. But his sovereign will is to such extent that he can allow someone like Satan and you and me to exist and resist him and he can have a scenario in which all created, all human beings that show up on the planet show up attached to him and Adam and they're condemned in sin and trespass and still in his grace and mercy save some. and have a period of time of however many years plus a thousand in which the old creation still is the manifested power that goes on.

What is Satan called by Paul? He's called the prince of the air. He's a prince. He's an unwilling servant of God. What I want to do is separate right now who Satan is and what he can do with his relationship to believers. He's very powerful in and of himself and he does do all of these things. And I'll tell you the society that you see it most active in is what? What group of human beings on the planet do you really see the satanic guy working?

No. Islam. That's where you see it. Because they're murderers. They're vicious, horrible people. And they possess all of those personality characteristics that Lucifer has or Satan has. And they are trying to do all of these things. They're trying to control cities and kingdoms and everything.

Well, who do you think Allah is? Who do you think he really is? You think he's the person that exists? Yeah, it's him. That's who Allah is. You know, not that you have to do a study, but Allah is the name of an Arabian god that Muhammad came up with and put a few more characteristics on him and said he's God. Where do you think that came from? So all you have to do is watch how Islam functions. It functions exactly like any study of Satan would show you. It's exactly what they do. If you disagree with them, what do they do? Okay.

Satan is not omnipresent, which means he's not everywhere. He's not all-powerful and he's not all-knowing, but he is the top of the ladder when it comes to knowledgeable creatures. If he's not omnipresent, then how does he deal with circumstances around the earth? He's got all these other guys called demons and they report into him.

I don't know how they do it. I don't know if they've got cell phones or what they do, but somehow they communicate and they run things. Now, I don't think we see it so much in this country, but Hassan talked about, you know, demon possession and stuff like that in Uganda. And, you know, there's still these guys called shamans and angels and demons can possess creatures and take them over and be using them. I don't think you see it much here.

But I do think this. I do think Satan has the ability not to possess a believer but to so severely influence a Christian to cause him to have mental illness. I really think it's possible. I have a brother who's got this thing going right now where he has been relieved of his position that he's had for 40 years subject to a psychiatric evaluation. And he's having real troubles staying with reality. you know he sees black helicopters and people sneaking around just 17 acres in the middle of Nebraska that there isn't anybody been on the property in who knows how many weeks but he's got the cameras going you know and he's having trouble hanging on to reality and he's a believer but he's over the last 10 years or so developed this paranoia And so I woke up the other night thinking about him and thought, you know, when I was studying this, I thought, you know, I need to pray for him along these lines, because a psychiatric evaluation isn't going to help him, but he's being so severely influenced by his own sin nature and whatever's going on in his mind that it's becoming reality to him.

Well, where do you think that came from? I think these guys can really influence. And that's why understanding and knowing the truth, and when the Lord Jesus said, you'll know the truth and the truth shall set you free, free from you, is really important. Satan has lots and lots of power. He can be very influential on a lot of things. Study the politics of our country. You see his hand in all kinds of stuff.

So, the judgment upon, Satan has been judged, the judgment upon the world, he has, this world has been cast out, the ruler of the world has been judged, but he's still around here, so what is God doing? Wouldn't you think after the cross, well, we'd parkle Satan someplace and things would get better. So what do you think he's doing? Courtney mentioned it about ten minutes ago. What is God doing with Satan? Is he allowing mankind to make a decision?

Yeah. It's similar to Job. I mean he's allowing Satan to do certain things to turn us towards God. And I mean, because it sounds cruel and wicked, but again, when you put in all the perspective of can we be separated from God's love? No. So he's using that in love to what draws to him. And I think even with your brother, I mean, God's allowing that. You know, for a reason and a purpose. or to use him later, or I don't know. I don't either. But, I mean, God uses him, you know.

And that's what I say when people say I'm being attacked by Satan. You know, all I ask him is who allowed it. We had a, our buddy Sharm Sherman, who's now home with the Lord, came to our Bible study one day. I was asking him for prayer, and he said, well pray for me because Satan's been attacking me.

And I said, Satan doesn't know your name, he doesn't know your address, he doesn't know where you live, and he doesn't care. He said, oh no, he's been picking on me. I'm like, I said, how did you get to be so important? You know, I mean, Satan's not omnipresent, so he came to Denver just to pick on you because you're a big threat to him, right? Mike exhibits compassion. That's an amazing thing. But the point being is that he may well have been influenced in circumstances by a demon? I doubt it.

Why would the demons have to mess with us? We all got sin natures. They can just leave us alone. Why do they have to mess with non-believers that got sin natures with no anything to curtail it? You just leave them alone. What does Satan want? He wants all non-believers dressed up real nice on Sunday going to church. That's what he wants them.

Nice and organized. No hassles. No riots. Everybody's nice and comfortably in a pew. Perfect. Then he doesn't have to work so hard. Now, the believer. One of the reasons for the cross, the big reason in Hebrews 2, is that he might render powerless him who had the power of death. Did he have it? Yes he did. And it's the greatest wielding power there is on the earth. It's the power of death. But he doesn't have it anymore.

In Hebrews 2.12, the Lord Jesus rendered it powerless through the cross. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. He overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and then the admonition is to be strong in the strength of his might. That's really, really important right there.

If there's any circumstance that a believer runs into regarding opposition either from his own sin nature or from outside source. What's your attitude about that? Say you have opposition. How do you deal with it? Do you go out and deal with it? You hang on to the word. Who does the dealing with it? It's the Christ or the Spirit of God. They do the dealing with it. You don't. That's one of the big issues with the charismatics. They think that the Spirit of God has given them the power to deal with whatever the adversarial situation is.

Nonsense. What does the angel Michael did? How did he deal with Satan when he was fighting over the body of Moses? He said, the Lord rebuke you. Not me. The Lord do it. Miles Stanford had the greatest analogy of how we should view Satan. Satan is a vicious, huge attack dog foaming at the mouth with a choke collar on him, which Christ has a hold of that collar. And when he starts letting Satan out towards you, what's it designed to do?

It's to get you to back up. Into what? Into him. You see that? The only reason you would encounter him is because you put the imagery in your mind that you're at the perimeter of Christ and he's trying to drive you deeper into Christ and he'll use Satan to do it. You see that? You'll run away from him, flee the devil. It isn't that you just start running, it's that you move into the comfort of nearness and intimacy with Christ.

And he deals with him. Because he really already dealt with him, right? Okay. Oh, super. We got through one. Now, his work and his destiny. Any questions so far? It's important that we know and kind of understand the characteristics and the personality of the adversary. At the same time, it's important to understand and know your relationship to him. So now we're going to talk about his work and his destiny, if this thing will go to the next slide.

The way that this is set up, the way that Roger and Hal set this up is they started by saying the top ten list, the false concepts about Satan, who the world thinks or doesn't think he is. And the very first one is that the false concept is that he doesn't exist. You think he exists? We all think it. You know any people in the world that think he doesn't exist? Legions of people. Why would this be such an important tool for Lucifer, Satan, to get you or to get people to think he doesn't exist? He's that much more easy for him to operate. Sure, that's exactly right. It gives him a much freer reign. Satan is red, has a long tail and a pitchfork. That's a misconception because we looked at Ezekiel, Satan is perfect in beauty. He can appear as an angel of light. Appear as an angel of light. So if you're watching TV one night and this bright light shows up in your living room, I can promise you it's not the Lord Jesus. Can he appear as a good thing?

Absolutely. There's no such thing as, you know, you hear all the jokes about hell and fire and brimstone, yeah, that's the way it's going to be, but even in hell he's not going to be wearing the red suit with the tail, with the pointy horns. He's not going to be like that, because he isn't like that.

Satan existed prior to the six days of creation. If you look at Genesis 2, 1 and 2, it talks about when the heavenly hosts were created. Lucifer and his boys, okay? Now, going back, I mean, the one reference in Revelation, the red dragon, is that where we get the pitchfork? Yeah. They call that the red dragon? Let's look at Revelation 12, 3 and 4. What's it? Read it. Then another sign appeared in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon And on his heads were seven diadems, and his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child."

That's where they get it. We've talked about this one, the misconception that Satan is omnipresent, which means he's everywhere. Omniscient means what? He knows everything and he's omnipotent, he's all powerful. Do you know what? I think it's easy to understand that Satan isn't everywhere, although it may seem that way. It got too hot again, didn't it? So, well, will it cool off and come back on? I don't think so. I think that fan thing is not working, the extra fan that they have up there. Then you're just going to have to listen to me.

Omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence is something that only God possesses. I don't understand how omnipresence is actuated, but I do know that God is everywhere. No created being has any of these. attributes. Tell me how God has omissions, in other words he knows all things.

He's just got this incredible database in his mind with unlimited resources to bring things to mind. Isn't that how you look at it? Think of what I'm saying. Because I'm tricking you, it's a trick question. You didn't tell us in the past that he doesn't have time. He sees everything. That's right. He does not think sequentially. And he doesn't have hit F7 for the memory bank. He doesn't have any of that. He has all knowledge in play right now. And trust me, I don't know how that looks if I had to sketch it. But that's what it is. It's all knowledge in play right now, and right now, and right now. It's not sequential.

Satan does not possess that attribute. Doesn't do it. God gave him a lot of power, but he certainly didn't give him that one. The sixth false concept is Satan can indwell believers. Think about that. He can influence, but he can't dwell. Why not? Somebody there already. Who is it? It's the Spirit of God. He can really influence you.

1 Corinthians 2.12, 1 Corinthians 6, 1 John 3. Can Satan harm or touch a believer? Only with God's permission. That's exactly right. And he would do it, God would allow it for what purpose? Glorifying him. That's right.

And for the growth of the believer. So he cannot indraw believers. Our charismatic brethren say he can. Can he indraw non-believers? Sure he can. Alright. Fifth misconception. Satan is the direct cause of sin in the believer. True. The devil made me do it. What is the direct cause of sin in the believer?

Self. So can you separate yourself from yourself? Sometimes we might like to. Well you always want it to be somebody else's fault. You're responsible for your own sins because you have a sin nature. Now you might be separated from it Am I right about that? So how can you be responsible for something, an action of some nature that you're separated from? Because it's your sin nature.

Paul said, in me, that is in my flesh dwells no good thing. Whose flesh was it? Mine. In me. So your job is not to snuff out the sin nature. What is your job? Sure, it's who you allow to control you is what it comes down to, Romans 6, 13, 14 and there. Our sin nature has a source of sin and it came from Satan, but it's the nature, my sin nature that's the source of my sin. He can tempt us, he can solicit us to sin, but he's not the cause. Alright, fourth one is Satan is to be slandered. In other words, we should go around bad-mouthing him.

Look at 2 Peter 2.10. Hurry up, I'm hoping I'm going to get this done.

And somebody else, look at Jude 1.8.

So, who's got 2 Peter 2.10 to read?

Those of you who read English, go for it. Especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties. Who are those guys? Me. Okay, Jude 1, 8. In the same way these people who claim authority from their dreams, live immoral lives, defying authority and God, the supernatural being. Yeah, so believers are warned in those two verses not to speak against Satan and his demons. Here's the folly. Where's the believer's focus supposed to be?

Face to face with the Lord Jesus, right? If Satan creates enough noise to get you to face him, what has he done? He wins. Why? Because he got your focus off of Christ. Pretty subtle, but he did accomplish his purpose. Let's say he gets you to your cruising along, abiding in Christ, and here comes a circumstance and, oh, I'm worried. Has he accomplished his task? Sure he has.

He's got you to think about the circumstance other than him. Walking in the Spirit means that the Lord Jesus Christ is the focus of your attention. But then you get up in the morning, if you're a man, you say, well, I've got to put Christ aside and got to go to work and make money and pay for the mortgage. No. Does that kind of focus leave you irresponsible? No, as a matter of fact, it makes you responsible.

Number three, Satan is to be rebuked and bound by believers. How many times in Christian television do you see, I'm going to bind Satan? Are we supposed to do that? Have you ever been in a prayer service or someplace where somebody praying said, God, we're going to bind Satan so he doesn't come in the room and mess with us? Never told to do that in the scripture. Never. How does it work in reverse and people pray for a hedge around themselves? Yeah, same thing.

It's a misinterpretation of Titus 2.15 where you're to rebuke Satan, you're to rebuke not Satan but anything not of Christ. See the difference there? Give me an example of something that would not be of Christ and not be of Satan.

Oh come on, you're surrounded by them. This afternoon, go someplace in Denver and look at the mountains and just be awed by the beauty, but forget that God was the one that created them. What happened? You got involved with the creation rather than the creator. Okay, number two, Satan no longer has access to heaven.

Think he does? Was he judged at the cross? Yes. Was the sentence that the judgment gave at the cross fully implemented at the cross? No, it's not. He still is functioning and he can still go into the heavenly realms. He still has access to the third heaven.

Revelation 12.10 says that. And he will lose his access when? When does he lose the access? When he's bound and cast into the lake of fire. Before then. Like in the middle of tribulation. Yeah, right in the middle of the tribulation when God locks him in a dimension. He has no access anymore. And then when he lets him loose he comes out and You talk about 15 minutes of fame and then he's cast into the lake of fire.

Number one, Satan is not the father of all unbelievers. Do you think he is the father of all unbelievers? Do you think that Satan is categorically the spiritual father of every person not trusting in Christ? What do you think? Answer, I think he is. Here's the verses, John 8, 44, 1 John 3, 8. And the reason that that's important is because if Satan has been judged and he has a doom coming, if you don't believe in the personal work of Christ, guess where you're going? You're going where he's going and you've been judged, he's been judged and you get to go. I wish you could, I'll show this to you.

Does Satan look like this? He's a red dragon? Yeah. How does he look like? How does Satan, if he looks like that, how does he look like the most beautiful angel ever created? Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. I have some notes here that says that in Revelation 12.3, sign in heaven, Sign equals that which distinguishes a person. Red is his pictures, pictures his bloodthirsty character, and the dragon pictures his intense cruelty.

So it's talking about him as a person, not how he physically looks. Okay, guess what? He did it. He's gone through two chapters. So next week, that one's going to get serious. Maybe. Next week we're going to start talking about man and we're going to talk about his creation, next week after that his fall and sin and salvation. And again, really important stuff because every one of us needs to have very clear in our mind the answer to three questions.

Where did I come from? What am I doing here and where am I going? And the creation of man goes to, as a matter of fact, that's what the kids are studying in my class at 10 o'clock. Where did I come from? And you have to answer that question, what am I doing here and where am I going? You answer those three questions correctly, you're in good shape.

Let's close. Dear Father, how I thank you and how we thank you for your word and that we might recognize our position in your dear son which shows us our relationship to Satan, the adversary father. We thank you for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and our exalted position in him before you. We pray in his precious name. Amen.