No Satan I Will Not Serve You

NO SATAN I WILL NOT SERVE YOU

MATTHEW 4:1-11

WE ARE CONTINUING OUR SERIES LOOKING AT SOME OF THE EARLY EVENTS AND STATEMENTS IN JESUS’ LIFE AND MINISTRY. TODAY WE ARE GOING TO LOOK AT THE TIME JESUS WENT INTO THE WILDERNESS AND WAS TEMPTED BY SATAN.

TEMPTATION WILL ALWAYS BE A PART OF THE LIFE OF A BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIAN. SATAN WILL CONTINUE TO TRY AT VARIOUS TIMES AND IN VARIOUS WAYS TO DESTROY OUR TESTIMONY AND JOY WE HAVE IN OUR WALK WITH THE LORD.

1 PETER 5:8-9:

8 BE ALERT AND OF SOBER MIND. YOUR ENEMY THE DEVIL PROWLS AROUND LIKE A ROARING LION LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO DEVOUR. 9 RESIST HIM, STANDING FIRM IN THE FAITH, BECAUSE YOU KNOW THAT THE FAMILY OF BELIEVERS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD IS UNDERGOING THE SAME KIND OF SUFFERINGS

SATAN CAN BE VICIOUS, DECEIVING, AND UNMERCIFUL IN HIS ATTACKS ON US, AND HE WILL NOT QUIT. HE DID NOT QUIT ON JESUS, HIS LAST TEMPTATION BEING TO COME OFF THE CROSS, WE CAN EXPECT NOTHING LESS.

SIN AND TEMPTATION HAD IT’S HUMAN ORIGINS AT THE TIME OF THE FALL OF ADAM AND EVE, BUT IT’S SPIRITUAL ORIGEN OCCURRED BEFORE THIS. TQO PASSAGES SPEAK OF IT’S SPIRITUAL ORIGEN

REVELATION 12:3-10:

THEN ANOTHER SIGN APPEARED IN HEAVEN: AN ENORMOUS RED DRAGON WITH SEVEN HEADS AND TEN HORNS AND SEVEN CROWNS ON ITS HEADS. 4 ITS TAIL SWEPT A THIRD OF THE STARS OUT OF THE SKY AND FLUNG THEM TO THE EARTH. THE DRAGON STOOD IN FRONT OF THE WOMAN WHO WAS ABOUT TO GIVE BIRTH, SO THAT IT MIGHT DEVOUR HER CHILD THE MOMENT HE WAS BORN. 5 SHE GAVE BIRTH TO A SON, A MALE CHILD, WHO “WILL RULE ALL THE NATIONS WITH AN IRON SCEPTER.” D AND HER CHILD WAS SNATCHED UP TO GOD AND TO HIS THRONE. 6 THE WOMAN FLED INTO THE WILDERNESS TO A PLACE PREPARED FOR HER BY GOD, WHERE SHE MIGHT BE TAKEN CARE OF FOR 1,260 DAYS. 7 THEN WAR BROKE OUT IN HEAVEN. MICHAEL AND HIS ANGELS FOUGHT AGAINST THE DRAGON, AND THE DRAGON AND HIS ANGELS FOUGHT BACK. 8 BUT HE WAS NOT STRONG ENOUGH, AND THEY LOST THEIR PLACE IN HEAVEN. 9 THE GREAT DRAGON WAS HURLED DOWN—THAT ANCIENT SERPENT CALLED THE DEVIL, OR SATAN, WHO LEADS THE WHOLE WORLD ASTRAY. HE WAS HURLED TO THE EARTH, AND HIS ANGELS WITH HIM. 10 THEN I HEARD A LOUD VOICE IN HEAVEN SAY: “NOW HAVE COME THE SALVATION AND THE POWER AND THE KINGDOM OF OUR GOD, AND THE AUTHORITY OF HIS MESSIAH. FOR THE ACCUSER OF OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, WHO ACCUSES THEM BEFORE OUR GOD DAY AND NIGHT, HAS BEEN HURLED DOWN.

REVELATION IS A DEEP BOOK WITH A LOT OF SYMBOLISM AND DIFFICULT TO INTERPRET. THIS PASSAGE SPEAKS OF A HEAVENLY BATTLE TAKING PLACE BETWEEN MICHAEL AND HIS ANGELS, AND AN ENORMOUS RED DRAGON, WHICH V.9 IDENTIFIES AS SATAN.

THE OUTCOME OF THIS BATTLE WAS THE DEFEAT OF SATAN, AND A THIRD OF THE ANGELS (V.4) EXPELLING THEM FROM HEAVEN TO THE EARTH. THE TIME-FRAME FOR THIS BATTLE, WAS AFTER CREATION, FOR THEY WERE EXPELLED TO THE EARTH, BUT IT WAS BEFORE THE FALL.

WHAT LED UP TO THIS BATTLE IS FOUND IN ISAIAH 14:12-15:

ISAIAH 14:12-15:

HOW YOU HAVE FALLEN FROM HEAVEN, MORNING STAR, SON OF THE DAWN! YOU HAVE BEEN CAST DOWN TO THE EARTH, YOU WHO ONCE LAID LOW THE NATIONS! 13 YOU SAID IN YOUR HEART, “I WILL ASCEND TO THE HEAVENS; I WILL RAISE MY THRONE ABOVE THE STARS OF GOD; I WILL SIT ENTHRONED ON THE MOUNT OF ASSEMBLY, ON THE UTMOST HEIGHTS OF MOUNT ZAPHON. 14 I WILL ASCEND ABOVE THE TOPS OF THE CLOUDS; I WILL MAKE MYSELF LIKE THE MOST HIGH.” 15 BUT YOU ARE BROUGHT DOWN TO THE REALM OF THE DEAD, TO THE DEPTHS OF THE PIT.

THE SAME THINGS THAT CAUSED THE FALL OF SATAN, ARE WHAT HE USED TO TEMPT JESUS, AND WHAT HE USES TO TEMPT US. THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS A QUESTION OF DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY. IT TEACHES US THAT ALL TEMPTATIONS WILL COME IN ONE OR A COMBINATION OF THREE FORMS:

1. LUST OF THE FLESH

2. PRIDE OF LIFE

3. LUST OF THE EYES

SATAN CANNOT CREATE NEW FORMS OF TEMPTATION AS HE IS LIMITED TO WHAT NATURALLY ALREADY EXISTS, SO HE HAS TO USE ONE OF THESE THREE FORMS. WHAT HE CAN DO IS INCORPORATE NEW METHODS OF USING THESE ELEMENTS. WHAT WORKS ON ONE PERSON MAY NOT WORK ON ANOTHER. SOMETIMES HE WILL USE A COMBINATION OF TWO OR EVEN ALL THREE OF THESE FORMS.

SATAN USES ALL THREE ELEMENTS AGAINST JESUS IN OUR TEXT TODAY. JESUS COULD HAVE STOPPED IT AT ANY TIME, WHICH IN ITSELF WAS A TEST OF HIS OBEDIENCE TO HIS HEAVENLY FATHER. HAD HE DONE SO HIS MINISTRY AND THAT OF THE CHURCH WOULD