Satan

SATAN

II Cor. 11:13-14

INTRO. Have you ever heard these statements? "Go to the devil." or "Let the devil have him." or maybe, "Go to hell!" We have all heard them at one time or the other and probably gave them no thought at all. Someone said, "The devil’s greatest trick is to make men believe he does not exist." Too many people believe the devil is an old wives tale, designed to scare people into going to church.

Some would say, "I have never seen the devil." You have never seen George Washington and you never met anyone who did. But you accept the witness of history. The same history offers evidence of the existence of God and once you accept God’s existence then you must believe the devil is real. But who is the devil? Where did he come from, what does he do, and what is his future?

I. THE ORIGIN OF SATAN.

A. Before God made man He made the angels. (Heb. 1:7)

1. The angels were made before the world was even made. God said to Job (Job 38:4-7)

2. It seems that God created three orders of angels in accordance with the trinity of God.

a. Intellectual -- Gabriel

1. Appeared to Daniel (Dan. 8:16, 9:21)

2. Appeared to Mary (Lk. 1:26)

3. Zacharias (Lk. 1:19)

b. Spiritual -- Michael

1. Called "the prince which stands for the children of Israel" (Dan. 12:1)

2. He fought with Satan for Gabriel to go to Daniel (Dan. 10:13)

3. He (not Gabriel) will sound the trumpet in the end time.

B. The third of God’s "chief princes" or head angels was Lucifer. He was the most beautiful of God’s creations.

1. He was given charge of the physical world...the earth.

2. Ezekiel speaks of him in 28:12-19

C. All of this was not good enough, so he rebelled against his creator. (Ezek. 28:15)

1. What was that iniquity?

a. Pride. (Prov. 13:10) - "Only by pride cometh contention:"

b. Explain Heb. 1:4-6

c. Lucifer wanted the worship of the other angels. In his lust he decided he would war against God and exalt his throne above the other angels. In this he failed and his name changed from Lucifer (shining one) to Satan (hater)

d. Isa. 14:12-15

2. John also saw a battle in Heaven. (Rev. 12:7-9)

3. Jesus said, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." (Lk. 10:18)

4. Thus did the Shining One become the Hater.

II. THE NATURE OF SATAN.

A. Jesus said that Satan is the father of lies, and the original murderer.

1. No liar ever admits he is a liar but always accuses the other fellow lying. So Satan tempted Eve by saying that God had lied to her about the dangers of eating from the forbidden tree. (Gen. 3:1-5)

2. When he convinced Adam and Eve to disobey God he caused them to sin (Rom. 5:12). Because of Satan’s lie then both Adam and Eve died spiritually and later died physically as we all do. Thus is Satan the first murderer.

B. He is bitterly opposed to God, good, and Heaven.

1. He opposed God in his attack on Heaven. He lost the battle for Heaven but he won 1/3 of God’s angels away from Him.

2. Having lost his bid to gain a throne in Heaven, the devil then set about to oppose God’s redemptive work for man on earth.

a. There’s too much information here to try to cover it all in one sermon. But his main purpose is to resist the work of Jesus. (See Gen. 3:15)

b. When Jesus died on the cross, Satan bruised His heel.

c. But when Jesus comes again then He will bruise the head of the serpent

C. He is the great deceiver. Paul warned that because some people preferred to believe a lie then God would one day turn the devil loose on the world and the Prince of Lies would deceive many.

(II Thess. 2:11-12)

1. What is the lie that God will let happen? Satan will send a man who will claim to be the Son of God. This is the Anti-christ, the lawless one and the greatest liar the world has ever known (II Thess. 2:3-9)

2. Jesus warned of his coming by warning that many would claim to be Christ (Matt. 24:24-25) Jn. 5:43 -- "I come in my Fathers name and ye receive me not; if another come in his own name, him ye will receive."

3. This man will gain complete rule of the whole world. He will be empowered by the devil, like Judas (Jn. 13:26-27)

D. In his work of resisting God, Satan has established fake churches. Now these church look like the real thing and do not teach a false gospel but a perverted one. See what Paul warned the Galatians in Gal. 1:6-7