I SAW SATAN FALL! Series
1. The Accuser/Adversary Fell
2. The Pride Example Fell
3. The Ruler of Darkness Fell, John 3:19-21
4. The Father of Lies Fell
We’ve heard how the disciples were given authority and how in Jesus’ name demons would obey. Jesus’ response was, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” and the Accuser of our brothers and sisters was throw down. Satan will Accuse you and seek to remind you of your past.
We also heard how Satan fell from heaven because of his PRIDE. His PRIDE example blinded him and will blind us also. God’s plan is just the opposite: HUMILITY leads to faith and faith leads to being founded (seated in the heavenlies) and being founded leads to fullness.
Today I want you to consider “you can tell a lot about a person by where he or she lives?” The way a person keeps house and the home itself speaks a little about the person’s character, what is important and what isn’t. Would you agree? Perhaps you don’t want to agree…
But take a 5-6 year old…how do you suppose they keep house? Or take a 8-9 year old, how would he or she keep house? Or what about a college student? Or any single man’s home? Compare that to most any married man’s home and you can tell a lot about the person. Should I give the altar call now?
I think if you were to walk into a person’s home without them there and perhaps having never met them, you could tell some things about them: whether they are old or young, male or female, an organized personality or not, what colors they like, and what they collect. Each preference speaks more and more about that person—what they give their attention and time to; what’s important to them.
I read a statement by Francis Frangipane over 13 years ago, and I have never gotten away from it. It has stayed tucked away in my mind about where Satan lives.
Just before the first chapter in his book, The Three Battlegrounds, Frangipane writes, “Many Christians debate whether the devil is on the earth or in hell; can he dwell in Christians or only in the world? The fact is, the devil is in darkness. Wherever there is spiritual darkness, there the devil will be.”
Just as you can tell more and more about a person by how they keep house and where they live, Satan’s home speaks about him as well. The devil lives in darkness! Darkness is the devil’s home. The more understand about his home, the more we can learn about how he lives. There is a phrase I want you to finish interactively in today’s message and this will help it stick: when I say “where darkness is” you say, “Satan lives!” Let’s practice…
So if Satan lives in darkness, What does the Bible have to say about “darkness”? Since darkness is Satan’s home, how do we battle our enemy more effectively on his turf?
In the small book of Jude verse 6 it says, “And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He [God] has kept in eternal bonds under DARKNESS for the judgment of the great day.
When Satan rebelled against God by desiring the place of worship that only God had, the carpet of clouds he was standing was pulled out from underneath his feet and he was banished to the place the bible calls “pits” or “bonds” of darkness. The devil has been sent to live in a realm of complete darkness. This does not necessarily mean lightless areas, or invisible arenas. The Bible speaks of darkness as void of morality which is then revealed by the visible darkness left behind. The cause of this darkness is not the absence of light, but is the absence of God who is light.
Ephesians 6:10-12 tells us, Darkness is “An unseen world where the troops of the enemy are stationed and the strategies of the devil are devised”
10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly (invisible) places.
Listen to these words of Colossians 1:12-14
[the Father]…has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. 13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness [this realm which ruled over us]
1. Keeps us from sharing in God’s inheritance
2. Keeps us from being God’s people and sharing with them
3. Keeps us bound and nothing can be done from the inside to get us out! We must be rescued by an outside Source = God Who then “beams us out” into the Kingdom of His own Son.
How did this happen? Apparently darkness doesn’t like blood. When the blood of Jesus came to town, forgiveness of sin came with it and darkness had no place left to survive!
We need to get this point into our hearts. Whenever there is unconfessed sin, whenever there is something in our hearts that is not under the blood of forgiveness, there is darkness and the devil has access to it! Because where darkness is, Satan lives!
Luke 11:35, be sure that the light that is in you isn’t really darkness!
Jesus said to Peter, “Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail;”
Behind the scenes, Satan was at work and desired access to the darkness in Peter’s heart. What darkness could Peter possibly have in his heart? Do you remember what came into Satan’s heart when he desired God’s throne? Do you remember what took up residence there and lead to Satan’s downfall? PRIDE!
Listen, just before Jesus spoke the words, “Satan has desired to sift you as wheat…” Peter and the other disciples were having their own conversation! “There arose a dispute among them as to what? WHO WAS THE GREATEST! “Water-walker” Peter had pride in his heart, and Satan went after it! (1) PRIDE brings darkness! And where darkness is … Satan lives.
What else does the Bible have to say about darkness? John 3:19-21 which we read for our interactive reading:
God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, [WHY would anyone LOVE darkness???]
1. Actions were evil = Evil doers…
a. Hate the light
b. Refuse to go near the light, why?
c. Fear their sins will be exposed [like Adam & Eve]
2. Contrast that behavior with those who do what is right:
a. Come to the light, why?
b. So others can see, what?
c. They are doing what God wants or that God is at work in what he is doing!
Fear keeps us from confessing our sins! Satan works in fears! (2) FEAR brings darkness, and where darkness is… Satan LIVES. Pride and fear bring darkness; what else?
In 1 John 2:9-11, we can see that one who lives in darkness
1. Makes claims that aren’t true in action (9 If anyone claims, “I am living in the light,” but hates a Christian brother or sister…
2. Hates and does not love their God-family
3. Causes others to stumble (10 Anyone who loves another brother or sister is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble.
4. Proved by how one lives in relationships (11 But anyone who hates another brother or sister is still living and walking in darkness.)
5. Not knowing the way to go
6. Blinded living (Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness)
Hate smears and distorts our vision; it blurs how we see others and ourselves. HATE causes us to make claims about ourselves that aren’t true, and causes us to harm others by how we treat them and try to lead them. John says if you live in the light, you won’t cause others to stumble! Hating blinds, and you can’t lead others safely if you are blind! (3) Wherever HATE is darkness is and where darkness is… Satan lives.
The creation passage in John 1:4-5, darkness is spiritually brought into the picture as:
1. Opposed to Light and Life (which Jesus is personified as)
2. It is not stronger than the Life (Jesus) given to men (by God) and within Jesus is this Light
3. If Light is associated with Life, then what can Darkness be associated with? DEATH!
In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood/overcome it.
Where there is (4) Death, darkness is. Hebrews 2:14 tells us that Satan holds the power of Death! Jesus destroyed that powerful hold on death and gave to us freedom from the fear of death! (there we see fear again in connection with Satan).
This whole subject of light and darkness is so fascinating and ‘enlightening’ but it is so vast and we could never reach the end of the study. Just a few more references though.
In Acts 26:15b-18 Jesus is speaking to the apostle Paul and makes some great statements about the abode of Darkness:
1. Darkness is where Jesus wants people to be turned from
2. And to be turned from Darkness certain things are needed:
a. Eyes have to opened (How? TRUTH!)
b. A turning must take place (mentally, emotionally, physically, because it has happened spiritually!)
c. And this turning is said to be “turned from” one direction or position and “turned to” the Light
3. Darkness is the power of Satan
4. Darkness is the opposite of Light and God
5. Darkness keeps people from JESUS! All of us NEED
a. the forgiveness of God so we can have
b. a place among God’s people by
c. faith in Jesus
This is the pattern for those who are confronted with the truth about their sin, see it for what it is, confess to God that He is right and they are wrong, and by faith turn by God’s grace & love to follow Jesus Christ. It is a miracle to be sure!
(5) Where unbelief and unforgiveness is darkness is, and where darkness is…Satan lives!
But what about those who do not choose to follow God’s grace?
Paul writes about those who chose to stay in darkness in Romans 1:21-25: For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their THINKING became FUTILE and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for IMAGES made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. [Idolatry is just a short form for worshipping Satan! Idolatry is the 1040ez of the Devil!]
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Idolatry comes from a darkened heart which exchanges the things of God trading truth for lies. (6) Wherever LIES are, darkness is, and where darkness is… SATAN lives!
And what about you? Who are you in relation to the darkness? Romans 13:11-14 tells us The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber…and put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
2 Cor 6:14f tells us who we fellowship with will directly affect our DARKNESS QUOTIENT! Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. By YOKED TOGETHER Paul explains in the following ways: For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Satan? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
“Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
(7) Listen, wherever COMPROMISE is, darkness is, and where darkness is, Satan lives!
Eph 4:17-19 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
(8) Wherever IGNORANCE is, darkness is, and where darkness is, Satan lives!
There are a few other things in Scripture you can study for yourself that are associated with darkness:
Ephesians 5:8-20 & 1 Thessalonians 5:4-11 speak about sleep and a lack of self control are connected with darkness.
We’ve walked into Satan’s home and looked around at the things that furnished his place and his general décor. You can tell a lot about a person by the way they keep house: what’s important, how they spend their time. What a person likes and prefers tells more and more about their personality—what kind of a person they are.
The things we discovered about the darkness abode of Satan is: it isn’t a very safe place to be. In fact, it is a death trap! Everything in the darkness is set up against you—to blind you, cripple you, steal from you, drain you, make you ineffective, blend you in with everything around you, put you out of commission or put you asleep—either way, you are not living LIFE! Satan is the ruler of darkness.
Jesus said, “I came that you might have LIFE!” And the darkness could not, cannot and will not overcome it. Not too long ago anyone driving outside could see lights being shot off and illuminating the Kokomo sky. When Jesus shed his blood, his was a light bomb, an eternal light bomb! And when we believe the truth, we drop a light bomb in Satan’s living room! When we share the truth, we drop a light bomb on Satan’s roof! And when we walk in the light of truth as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus purifies us over and over again from all our wrongs—past, present, and future!
Illustration:
How about you? Is there any area of your life Jesus’ Spirit has revealed to you that is still in darkness? If so, will you listen to God’s voice speaking to you about coming into the light in that area of your life? Remember: If there is darkness, guess who has access!
Where darkness is, Satan lives.
I can’t say it any clearer than that.
