Stronghold Beliefs Part 7
Scriptures: Ezekiel 28:12-17; John 8:44; Revelations 12:3-4
This morning I want you to think about two words, persuasion and influence. Persuasion is defined as “the act or fact of persuading someone or being persuaded to do or believe something.” Influence is defined as “the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone.” Everyone under the sound of my voice has been persuaded and/or influenced at some point in your life. I want you to remember these two definitions because as you will hear this morning and in my message next week we must be on guard because the tools of persuasion and influence are powerful tools in the arsenal of our enemy. Let me give you an example that will become even clearer in my message next week.
Most of you may not remember the date November 18, 1978 as some of you were not even born at that time. I was seventeen years old when I heard the news account of what happened on this day in 1978. On November 16, 1978, two days earlier, a Congressional delegation, led by California representative Leo Ryan, had arrived in the Guyana jungle to a commune in Jonestown. The delegation was on a fact-finding mission to investigate allegations of human rights abuses against the People’s Temple and its leader, Jim Jones, a charismatic ordained minister, civil rights activist and documented faith healer. As members of the delegation were leaving, Jones’ armed guards, called the Red Brigade, opened fire and killed five members of the delegation, including Ryan. Later that day, 909 inhabitants of Jonestown, 304 of them children, died of cyanide poisoning. This was the single greatest loss of American civilian life in a deliberate act until the attacks of 9-11. After ambushing the delegation, in the 45-minute audio of the murder-suicide in progress recovered by the FBI, Jones is heard convincing the people that hostile forces would invade the commune and shoot innocent babies and torture the children and the old people. Jones argued that the group should commit “revolutionary suicide” by drinking cyanide-laced grape flavored Kool-Aid. When members cried, Jones said, “Stop these hysterics. This is not the way for people who are socialists or communists to die. No way for us to die. We must die with some dignity.” According to Temple members who escaped, children were given the drink first by their own parents (which was murder, not suicide) and families were told to lie down together. Jones was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Do you see how persuasive this man was? Do you see the influence he carried with those under his control? He was able to persuade over 600 adults, with their children, to leave their jobs and homes in California and move to the jungle of Guyana. He was able to persuade and influence people to do something that many of us today would consider utterly foolish. He deceived a lot of people and led them to their deaths. This is a prime example of how persuasion and influence is used by our enemy! But the mass murder-suicide at Jonestown does not compare to the mass spiritual suicide that took place before there was a planet called earth. What I am talking about is how Satan persuaded, influence and thus deceived a third of God’s angels into following him and leading them to their eternal death and separation from God.
This is the seventh message in my series on Stronghold Beliefs. Today we’re going to spend some time looking at Satan, his downfall and how he is the reason that there is hell and the lake of fire. Next week we will examine the fall of man and how Satan continues to use sin to separate man from God. The stronghold belief that we as Christians must have is a belief that Satan exists; that he is fighting against us; and that hell was initially created for him and his angels. Having this belief is important because it impacts how we choose to live and serve God on this earth. And while this may sound basic Christianity 101, you will hear later that this belief is not so basic after all. The Bible tells us that, “The one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8) If Jesus came to destroy the works of Satan then it is crucial for all believers to understand what those “works” are so we can ensure that we are not participating in his works which I will explain in more depth later.
Long before he appears in Genesis 3, Lucifer had rejected God’s love. The hands of love had created him as an angel like no other, second only to God in wisdom and perfect in beauty. He was the only angel the Bible says had been in “Eden the garden of God” (Ezekiel 28:13) and was the anointed cherub who was on ‘the holy mountain of God” (verse 14). Based on his position, Lucifer probably had spent more time with God than any of the other angels. The angels – millions and millions of them – knew him. They believed he was God’s “right hand man” and that only God was greater than Lucifer. That’s how they treated him and he let it go to his head. Lucifer, over time, came to believe that he could rule heaven as well or better than God. Can you envision him saying to himself, “I can do this? I should be in charge, not God. The angels will follow me. I’m sure of it.” So he plotted his rebellion. (Let me point out that this is the same spirit we witness when people rebel against authority God has placed over them in Church or even those in authority over them on their jobs.)
The Bible says Lucifer was created perfect in all his ways. Let’s read Ezekiel 28:12-17. It says, “Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the ruby, the topaz and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. By the abundance of your trade you were internally filled with violence, and you sinned. Therefore I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, that they may see you.” (Ezekiel 28:12-17) If you go back and read about the King of Tyre, you’ll see that God is comparing Lucifer to one of the most ruthless kings to have ever lived. I want to point out some things from this passage.
First, God created Lucifer perfect, with all wisdom and perfect beauty. The word “perfect” means “complete, whole, lacking nothing.” Everything that God could possibly place in a created being, every characteristic, every attribute, every ability, He placed in Lucifer. Lucifer was perfect when he was created. When you see images of a red devil with horns and looking all scary that is the image that man created of what he looks like. In reality, Satan is a beautiful creature and the Bible does not say that this was taken from him when he sinned. Actually the Bible does say that Satan “……disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14) which he could easily do because of his beauty. Without the Spirit of God dwelling within us, we would not recognize Satan if he stood in our midst because he would not look like the images we have been given of his appearance.
Second, God put into Lucifer all the wisdom that He could possibly put into a created being. Did you hear me? Let me put it this way: outside of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, no created being had more wisdom than Satan. And, as we read later in the passage, Lucifer corrupted the wisdom that God had given to him. What does this mean? The Godly wisdom he once had has been so corrupted that it is no longer in him. Remember last week when we read about him tempting Jesus? Remember how he too was quoting the Bible but how he was using the Scriptures was flawed? Jesus said in John 8:44 “[he]…….does not stand in the truth because there is to truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” Satan cannot tell the truth. He’s incapable of telling the truth which is the total opposite of God as God cannot tell a lie. He’s incapable of lying.
Third, God created Satan “blameless.” It’s the same word as “perfect.” In other words, from the moment that he was created, Satan did not have sin anywhere in him. He was an angel without sin. He did not have the nature that he has now – a sin nature. As a matter of fact, sin did not exist until it was brought forth in Satan’s actions which lead to the fourth point.
The Bible says “unrighteousness was found” in him. This tells me that God created angels with free will. Satan could make his own choices. As I said earlier, he began to believe that he could rule Heaven as good or better than God. Unrighteousness had been slowly growing inside of him long before it manifested itself in rebellion. How many of you have thought about something over a period of time before you actually decided to act on the thought? Now, what was the unrighteousness that grew inside of Lucifer? Hatred of God’s rule! Plain and simple. This is the first time in all of created existence that someone who was not in power planned an insurrection against the One who was in power. The first (and last) time this has happened in heaven. Once was enough!
The fifth point I want to make is to call your attention to the word “trade” and the phrase “internally filled with violence.” The word “trade” is better understood as “dishonesty and an uncanny ability to sell it.” For me it brings to mind some of the unscrupulous sales people who will say and promise anything in order to get the sale. Satan, the angel filled with complete wisdom, was “the salesman of salesmen.” No created being is better at the art of persuasion than Satan and we see this in Revelation 12, verse 3 and the first part of verse 4. “Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to earth.” Lucifer persuaded one third of the angels to rebel against God. Can you imagine having that much influence? We must never, ever underestimate Satan’s ability to persuade and/or influence us to temptation and then into temptation. The passage says he was “internally filled with violence.” The verses we just read in Revelation describe him as a great red dragon, which suggests fierce power and a murderous nature – not a description of his physical looks. I told you Satan hates God but he also hates Christians just like he hated Jesus. Why? We are God’s children. Jesus was very clear on this point in the first part of John 10:10. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” While he doesn’t care about the lost who already belongs to him, he truly hates us because we belong to God!
The last point I want to make about this passage is that Satan sinned. Before he sinned, sin did not exist. I am going to repeat that. Before Satan sinned, sin did not exist. The word “sin” means “a missing of the mark.” A person can only miss a mark if he knows what the mark is. The word communicates a deliberate and complete rejection of God, who He is, what He represents and what He said. Remember how the serpent questioned Eve in the Garden of Eden? When he said in Genesis 3:1 “Indeed, has God said…,” it was a question for Eve but for him it was an outright rejection of what God had said as he knew exactly what God had said and meant! We need to get this settled today: there is nothing that God says that Satan agrees with. Let’s bring this home: last week’s message was about the Bible being the words that the Holy Spirit gave to the different writers. There is nothing in the Bible that Satan agrees with. What the Bible calls sin, Satan does not call sin. And based on what we see in society today, sadly it appears most Christians believe what Satan says and not what the Bible say. Satan will never tell you anything is sin and today that is the philosophy that we are seeing exhibited in the world. If something is not offensive to the masses then it’s ok. Lying, cheating, adultery, fornication, etc. are all deemed okay as long as it is done within “acceptable” means and if you don’t get caught. If you do get caught then deny it until it goes away. That’s the world we are living in. When Satan sinned, he and his angels were kicked out of heaven. Jesus said in Luke 10:18, “……I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.” When Satan was kicked out of heaven he and his followers had to go somewhere. So where did he go? He went to the place God created for him and his followers, hell, the place some people do not believe exist.
The Bible says that hell was created for Satan and the angels who rebelled with him. Now that’s what the Bible says. Last week I talked about the Pew Research Center and the data analysis it conducts. Well once again I have some “survey results” to share with you about what some Christians believe, or don’t believe, about hell. In a survey of Christians in 2014, they found that 16% of Christians under the age of 30 do not believe in hell, 31% between the ages 30 and 49 do not believe hell, 30% of those between 50 and 64 and 24% of those over 65 do not believe in hell. (It’s interesting that as people aged their belief in hell diminished until after the age of 65.) Across all age groups, more women (56%) than men (44%) don’t believe in hell. Also, of those surveyed, only 58% were absolutely certain that God existed. That leave 42% of the Christians surveyed being unsure if the God they worship actually exists! 42% not being sure that they God they are supposed to be serving exist!!! What does this information tell me? I’m going to sound like a broken record, but it tells me that these people, if they read the Bible, do not believe what they read in the Bible. And they don’t believe that the Bible came from God who may or may not exist for 42% of them. I desperately want to point out that a person cannot believe in heaven without believing in hell. It’s not possible. The person that believes in heaven but does not believe in hell is saying that everyone goes to heaven by default because hell does not exist. If that is the case, why should anyone serve God? Jesus said in Matthew 25:41, “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” This is what the Bible says so I find it difficult to understand how people professing to be Christians cannot believe in hell.
Jesus clearly tells us that before the devil sinned, there was no need for an eternal fire. When Jesus talks about “accursed ones,” He’s talking about people who never accepted Him; those who “thought” they had a relationship with Him; and those who walked away from their relationship with Him. We see an example of this when the phrase “Depart from Me” is used in Matthew 7:21-23. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” These were people who thought they were walking with Jesus and were not, even though the preached the word, cast out demons and did miracles. Everything they did they did it in Jesus’ name and got results. Now you may wonder “how” they got results when they did not have the relationship. They got results because the power is in the name of Jesus. Demons tremble at His name! Miracles happen in His name! So the fact that someone might be preaching, performing miracles and casting our demons does not mean that they have a relationship with Jesus which underscores again why we need the Spirit of God active in our lives. Jesus tells us that the eternal fire was not originally created for people. It was specifically created for the devil and his angels. It was not God’s plan for human beings to go to the eternal fire that’s called the lake of fire. No. The Bible tells us in First Timothy 2:4 that God’s desire is for all men to be saved. That’s what He wants. But we have to choose what God wants.
I want you to see something in Second Peter chapter two. We’re going to read verses one and four. “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who brought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves….For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment.” (2 Peter 2:1, 4) What will be the destination of the false prophets and false teachers? The Bible says hell. And let me also point something out. The reason they will be going to hell is because what they taught the people was wrong. What they taught the people sounded good, but from God’s point of view they were lies. That’s why James 3:1 says that those of us who teach will be held to a higher standard when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ. It is important that teachers get it right. No one can teach or interpret the word of God in a way that “pleases” people – we must teach the truth. Hell is very real!
Turn with me to Revelation 20. We’re going to read verses 10-15. Revelation 20:10-15 says “And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Remember the eternal fire that Jesus talked about? Well this is it people! The fire is very real!!! Everyone will stand before the judgment seat; the great and small, and our earthly status will not matter on that day. Whether I was rich or poor will be irrelevant as only “what” I have done for Christ and “how” I did it will matter. Now let me pause here for a moment. We have read twice that all of us will be judged according to our deeds, according to what we have done here on earth. We need to take this seriously. We will be judged FOR EVERYTHING. Now listen to this again very closely. Verses fourteen and fifteen say, “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Remember what Jesus said to those who said to Him “Lord, Lord did I not……?” and He replied “I never knew you, depart from me…..” New Light, at one time their names were probably written in the book of life. Some of their names were never written in the book because they never truly accepted Christ. But there will be people who stand before the judgment seat who are going to be very surprised that their names are not written in the book because of the “what” and the “how” they lived “after” their initial conversion.
I cannot stress this enough, what we believe matters because it will dictate how we live! I am going to give you of a few more Scriptural references pertaining to hell and the lake of fire so that you to go back and study and hopefully be prepared with an answer when someone tells you they believe hell is not real or was made up by the Church as a fear tactic to keep people in line.
Matthew 10:28: “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Matthew 13:49-50: “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Mark 9:43: “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire.”
Luke 16:23-24: “In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.”
2 Thessalonians 1:8-9: “Dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”
Jude 6-7: “And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”
Revelation 21:8: “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Jesus says hell is real. Jesus says the eternal fire, the lake of fire is real. Jesus says that the eternal fire was originally meant only for the devil and his angels. And Jesus says that those who teach wrong doctrine, who teach the Church to err, who teach the Church to sin, will join the devil and his angels. To that end, anyone teaching that hell is not real or teaching doctrines not found in the Bible, without repentance, will find upon their death that hell truly does exist and after the Day of Judgment, that the lake of fire exists as well. New Light, Jesus is talking about men and women who, at this very moment, are standing in the pulpit and delivering false teachings. As I said earlier, James 3:1 says those who teach will be held to a much higher standard than those who don’t. And in Revelation, we see that the false prophet, the beast and the people whose name are not found in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second, and permanent, death.
New Light, I am so thankful that we can know, right now, that we will never see hell and the lake of fire. What is our assurance? Colossians 3:1-4 tell us: “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” Praise God! New Light, as long as we continue to seek Jesus, as long as we never lose sight of Him, we don’t have to concern ourselves with hell and the lake of fire. Personally, I like that comfort. What about you? Next week we will examine the truths about how Satan uses the world and some Christians to minimize the impact of sin so that we will remain in it.
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
(If you are ever in the Kansas City, KS area, please come and worship with us at New Light Christian Fellowship, 15 N. 14th Street, Kansas City, KS 66102. Our service Sunday worship starts at 9 a.m. and Thursday night Bible study at 7 p.m. Also, for use of our social media, you can find us at newlightchristianfellowship on FB. To get our live stream services, please make sure you “like” and turn on notifications for our page so you can be notified when we are live streaming. We also have a church website and New Light Christian Fellowship YouTube channel for more of our content. We are developing more social media streams so please stand by and we will notify you once those channels are up and running. We look forward to you worshipping with us. May God bless and keep you.)
