Intro: during the season of Halloween television becomes a tribute to the dark side. Every show advertised gives the impression that the devil is so powerful that nothing can stop him. As Christians we know better, we know that in Christ the devil is defeated, his time is almost up, and he is going down. Today, October 30, 2005—I want to give you my response to all this glorification of the demonic. “Why The Devil Is Going Down.”
· The cross was a blowout
· Jesus is the Man
· The Believer is the Boss
· His Time is almost Up
I. The Cross was a blowout---Colossians 2:14-15—made a show of them openly (principalities and powers).
· in the Southeastern conference, football games are many times defensive struggles, example, Alabama 6, Tennessee 3. The other day a halftime score was posted where Penn State was 56, their opponents 3, that is a blow-out. That is why the devil is going down, because the cross was a blow-out.
a. man’s sins are all forgiven—the devil has lost his power to condemn man because of the cross. There is no condemnation in Jesus Christ. Sin was wiped out, the devil was put to an open shame.
b. All the devil’s accusations against man were nailed to the cross. This is wonderful, Jesus didn’t just barely defeat the devil, he saved man to the uttermost.
c. I Corinthians 2:8—this is one of my favorite verses about the devil, because you can title this verse, the devil’s biggest goof. The bible clearly states, that the devil went for 4th and one, and was stopped dead in his tracks. He was the big loser, man was the big winner and Jesus is Lord of all.
The cross is the devil’s downfall, and reminds me of this terrorist
Story:
Iraqi terrorist, Khay Rahnajet, didn’t pay enough postage on a letter bomb. It came back with "return to sender" stamped on it. Forgetting it was a bomb; he opened it up and it blew him to bits.
II. Jesus is the Man—Ephesians 4:8-10 not only did Jesus ascend, go up to heaven, but he descended first. This is another great part of the story of the cross. Jesus descended, not just into the earth, but into the kingdom of darkness, and led captivity captive.
· Revelation 1:18—Jesus got the keys. The reason the devil is going down is that he has been stripped of the keys. Jesus took back what man had lost, power and authority.
· Every knee shall bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Ill) having Jesus on your side is guaranteed victory. One year I coached a team that went undefeated in basketball. My son Bradley played on that team and his friend Chris. It wasn’t would we win, but by how much. At 10 years old Chris was 6 ft, 200 lbs, and was unstoppable. He could shoot, miss, shoot, miss, over and over again, until he scored, because no one could rebound over him. In the game of life, we have a guarantee of victory, Jesus Christ is on our side.
III. The Believer is the Boss—Luke 10:17-the demons are subject to us through your name. The church knows that the movies where the devil is more powerful than Jesus Christ is a lie. The devil isn’t all powerful, the church is. In Jesus Christ every principality and power are under our feet. Man has been given all authority through the name of Jesus Christ.
a. whatever we bind on earth will be bound in heaven, whatever we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matthew 18:18
In Christ we have power over sin, sickness, and the grave.
We can tell the world what Pepsi cola told the Chinese. Pepsi had for a slogan, “come alive with the Pepsi generation.” This was a wonderful slogan, but when sent to China, the translation changed to say, Pepsi can bring your dead ancestors back to life. That isn’t the message of Pepsi, but it is the message of the Church. We have passed from death unto life.
b. under our feet—this means that the devil can’t walk all over you, but you can walk over the devil. It is so sad that people don’t understand that Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, the work is finished, and we are heirs to the kingdom.
· to show you how mixed up people are concerning the authority of the believer, years ago I did a series on that subject and a lady met me at the back of the church and said, you better stop talking about the devil or you will get him stirred up.
IV. His Time Is Almost Up—Matthew 8:29—this is a demon speaking to Jesus Christ—have you come to torment us before the time? It is amazing that the Church doesn’t understand what the devil does.
· The devil’s going down soon—the reason you see so much demonic activity in our world today, is that time is almost up.
· The devil’s going down, the church is going up. We need to realize that his defeat and our victory is at hand. I believe we should give it all we have because we are in the last days. I like the theology of a truck driver named Ricky that was at a church we pastured years ago. He said, Pastor, I believe I should work harder for Jesus than I did for the devil.
Close: the Devil’s going down—because the cross was a blow-out, Jesus is the man, the believer is the boss, and his time is almost up.
As Christians we know the end of the story, we have read the final chapter, we know that the devil is going down. We should have that peace, we should have that hope, we should know that we know that we know.
I read a story about some really bad used car salesmen. A couple came to look at some cars at lunchtime and they were in the middle of fixing their meal. They told the couple, you go out and look at those cars, we’ve already seen em’. That doesn’t work to good at selling cars, but I think it works great for walking in faith.
We’ve already seen Jesus ascended, We’ve already seen the devil defeated, we’ve already seen our victory completed, we’ve already seen the devil’s going down.
From Pastor Steve, if you need to accept Christ, do it today, do it now, and do it for all time. May God bless you.
