Exposing The Enemy

Slide #1

Prayer

This morning I would like to introduce you to our guest.

Even though he‘s here every Sunday…He’s not your typical church attender.

-He’s a murder -He’s a thief -He’s a gossip -He’s a tempter -He’s a slander and he’s a liar.

His desire is to create havoc… misery and ciaos in every life…every home…and every church all around the world.

He is a well-known enemy of Christians and anyone who claims to be in association of one.

His nature will never change and if he had his way…every local church and all those abroad would be closed permanently forever.

Of course the personality that I am describing to you this morning is the description of Satan.

While studying about him I was quite surprised by

The amount of Church’s that avoid discussing his existence at all.

He has crippling power and unless you are prepared…its best that you avoid him at all costs.

As God was sharing with me this past week…the need to expose his character to you this morning…

One of the first things I did was to warn Shiela of this week’s upcoming message.

I told her to be prepared about what was preparing to happen.

The problem behind preaching about the devil is this…Many people don’t even believe that he exists at all…all he is to them is a joke.

But for those of us who do believe he is real…we know about the control that he has over the people who live throughout his world of darkness.

Anytime that He is placed in the center of attention…for example…(the message this morning)

Christians should be prepared to go to war.

He despises God…and because you love God… he despises you

And in all honesty there is nothing that would please him more than to keep his identity concealed away.

He doesn’t want Gods people to know about him…to think about him….or even believe that he exists.

He is much like any thief…thieves want to keep their identity’s a secret…they don’t want any attention drawn to themselves.

Thieves do their best work at night (during the darkness where no one see’s them).

Satan is the king…and ruler of the dark world.(SIN)

In II Corinthians the Apostle Paul warns Christians to not be ignorant of the devises of the devil.

When we are willingly ignorant of him…he finds it very easy to take advantage of us with his wide inventory of destructive devices.

For century after century…he has used these devices to build up his followers…by splitting marriages…by destroying friendships…by encouraging you to steal…to lie...to gossip and cause division everywhere you go.

It has been taught for years in our own military units that the best way to take down the enemy is to know all you can about him.

You need to be familiar with who he is…where he’s going and what he wants to do with you once he apprehends you.

The best way we can learn about our enemy this morning is by learning some history about the enemy that we are facing.

Slide#2 Understanding the Enemy

It’s in Colossian’s 1:16 that the Apostle Paul shares with us some important insight about this Dark ruler.

Slide #3 He is a spirit created by God

Colossians 1:16 “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”

Clearly…God…Himself existed before everything else…and He was the creator of everything.

If your here today and question the existence of the devil…The devil is one of the invisible creations mentioned in this verse.

Slide #4

We read in the book of Ezekiel 28:12-15…

About His original Character … described in detail

“You were the signet of perfection

full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

13 You were in Eden, the garden of God;

every precious stone was your covering,

sardius, topaz, and diamond,

beryl, onyx, and jasper,

sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle;

and crafted in gold were your settings

and your engravings,

On the day that you were created

they were prepared. (Beauty)

14 You were an anointed guardian cherub.

I placed you…you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.

15 You were blameless in your ways

from the day you were created,

till unrighteousness was found in you.

Satan was originally created by God as an anointed cherub…(beautiful to the eye)

Because of this…He was exalted to a higher position than most of the other angels.

A cherub is described as an angel with both…human-like and animal like characteristics.

Some have human faces while others have animal faces. They had two / four wings each.

Cherubs were very closely associated with God…at times… in the scripture we read where God is pictured dwelling between them or riding upon them.