The Present Character, Position & Work of Satan

Well, we are in the middle of a study on what the Bible teaches about angels and have been for the last few weeks talking about the head of the evil angels Satan himself and what the Bible teaches about him our last time together was We were talking about Satan's past we were talking about Satan's original state and his fall from heaven and And we kind of finished that up last week. So tonight we're going to be talking about his present We talked about the past we'll talk about his present and we'll spend a little bit of time on that especially The work of Satan and then we will also talk about Satan's future What is in store for him But tonight his present character position and ministry and we'll get started or work. We'll get started into that Tonight we'll say a lot about his work. We'll spend two or three weeks maybe just on that But we'll begin tonight with the present character of Satan I would encourage you to open your Bible to John chapter 8 and verse 44 We're going to look at that first and then we'll put a number of passages on the screen because we'll be looking at a lot of verses Tonight present character of Satan what kind of Person is Satan what kind of character does he have Well Jesus describes a couple of elements of his character first of all Satan is a murderer That's not a good beginning is it Satan is a murderer John 844 Jesus is sparring with the Pharisees and This is one of the most intense confrontations in all of the gospels that he had with the Pharisees He says in verse 44 you belong to your father the devil they have just claimed that their father was Abraham And that made them right with God and so Jesus really nails down the spiritual condition of their hearts when he says no Your father is the devil you belong to your father the devil and you want to carry out your father's desires He was a murderer from the beginning. Let's stop right there He's a murderer from the beginning and obviously in the context of Jesus combating the Pharisees he says to them you are you wanting to carry out your father's desires um Satan is a murderer and the Pharisees were murderers too the desires they were wanting to carry out was to to kill Jesus And so they're wanting to do what what their father the devil Is all about he's a murderer he cannot give life he is all about death He does not promote life at all He because of his rebellion against God and leading other angels with him He ultimately has condemned all of those angels to death eternal death separation from God in the lake of fire He has brought death into human history Through his temptation of of even Adam and certainly he promotes death and violence Today wherever he is death and violence is is what he promotes so he is a murderer Secondly, Jesus identifies him in this very verse as a liar And notice he makes four statements about Jesus Along these lines and so it's pretty powerful what he says Says he was a murderer from the beginning look at this not holding to the truth For there is no truth in him When he lies he speaks his native language For he is a liar and the father of lies Okay, so four separate statements about Satan in regard to His relationship to the truth or the lack thereof He does not hold to the truth So he doesn't believe it he doesn't believe the truth Secondly, there is no truth in him He his character is is falsehood and deception and lies He is a liar by nature Jesus says He speaks his native language for he is a liar so he's a liar by nature And then he is the father of lies in other words he promotes Deception and lies outright lies and half truths to promote his own agenda This is nowhere better seen than what Paul says in second Corinthians chapter 11 verses 13 to 15 I want you to notice the the the lying references to Satan For such people talking about false teachers such people are false apostles the seatful workers Notice false the seatful masquerading as apostles of Christ and no wonder for Satan Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light it is not surprising then that his if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness There end will be what their actions deserve that will passage is full of descriptive words that have to do with Satan's lying and deception and falsehood he is he is by nature a liar and so he is Deceptive and everything he does to promote his agenda and we'll see that a little bit later as we talk about He opposes the work of God one of the ways he opposes the work of God Most frequently is by false religion and we'll see a number of things in regard to that a bit later So he's a murderer he's a liar thirdly he is a confirmed and practicing center To the very core a confirmed and practicing Center first John three eight The Apostle John says the one who does what is sinful is of the devil because The devil has been sending from the beginning So he is a confirmed practicing center. He is a center from the beginning Through and through out and out he is a center from the beginning the reason the son of God appeared was to destroy The devil's work. So he is a confirmed and practicing center continuing in sin from the very beginning And then fourthly he is an opponent of the righteous. This is all having to do with what kind of character He has he's an opponent of the righteous Peter says in first Peter five eight Be alert and of sober mind Your enemy the devil he is an opponent of all who love the Lord your enemy the devil Prows around like a roaring lion seeking for someone To devour and there again is his destructive Character he is opponent of the righteous revelation 1210 passage. We've looked at a number of times and we'll look at a number of times more Because it has so much to say about Satan says then I heard a loud voice in heaven say Now have come the salvation and the power in the kingdom of our God the authority of his Messiah for the accuser of our brothers and sisters Who accuses them before God day and night Again, he opposes us he accuses us he is against us He is our opponent and our enemy He opposes God's truth he opposes God's people He accuses us before God day and night and accuses us in our own hearts and minds and consciences At times because he's seeking anything he can do to destroy us Anything he can do to destroy us and our testimony is what he will promote And if he can destroy us best by accusing us to ourselves so that we are filled with self doubt and An unwillingness to do what God wants us to do then He's won the victory. So he is He is a fierce opponent Of the righteous we stop for a moment see as we've described his character see if you have any comments questions you want to Ask or comment you want to make Tommy Well Well, he's he's pretty smart. He's pretty smart. He's been around a while and he is very Very good in the art of Of deception and so he knows how to get to us and he knows what our weaknesses are for sure John Yes Yes from that point on from the beginning of sin in the universe Talking about the beginning of his rebellion his turning against God from the from the first time he sinned he has been Full of it since then that's all he's thought about all he's done is is sin and rebellion against God Yes Just one Heaven was a perfect place Everything in heaven was perfect all the angels were perfect And it would only taken one sin to to contaminate to to I mean, you know James chapter 2 in verse 10 says if of us if we offend in one point we're guilty of all In other words if we break one command God sees us as sinners as though we had broken them all And so certainly I think that would be true of Satan as well one sin is enough to kick him out of heaven to ruin everything for him But obviously he has since that time sinned non-stop Center from the beginning all right good questions any others Okay, let's talk a little bit about his present position his character is pretty clear pretty evil Very evil and let's talk about his present position first of all his dignity Satan does Maintain kind of a perverted majesty Twisted dignity if you will he retains somewhat of a dignity Particularly among the realm of evil angels as we'll see a little bit later. He is their ruler But he maintains that that dignity of being the head of something Although it's a very evil empire He still occupies that position and to that extent has a degree of dignity that that remains so much so That as we have seen before in Jude verse 9 Even Michael the archangel when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses Did not himself dare to condemn him For slander but said the Lord rebuke you So Michael is very aware of Satan's high position even though it's over an evil empire he still maintains a degree of Twisted perverse dignity and Michael is respectful in a sense of his position certainly not his character But of his position So he maintains a form of dignity Let's talk a little bit about his dominion as far as his present position He not only has a a place of dignity if you will in an evil sense But it's because of this. It's because of his dominion. He is a ruler. He is a a prince Um in a couple of ways first of all he is the ruler of fallen angels He rules a vast army of fallen angels that battle with gods angels Revelation 12 again that well-known passage we've referred to many times Uh makes it clear Then war broke out in heaven Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon and his angels notice They are his angels The great dragon was hurled down. Who is that dragon? We've seen this Picture several times. He is the ancient serpent called the devil or Satan who leads the whole world astray He was hurled to the earth Again his angels with him. So he is The prince or the ruler over a vast army of angels that that do battle with With gods angels, but they also do battle with us They wrestle with us. They wrestle with us um As the power behind all the evil all sorts of opposition to gods work That we encounter they are constantly wrestling and battling with us Ephesians 6 tells us that in very plain they put on the full armor of god So that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes for our struggle Our battle our warfare in other words is not against flesh and bloods not against people But against the rulers against the authorities against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil spirit beings that are martyled as forces against us But have evil characters spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms a heavenly realms refers to that Space between earth and the third heaven the presence of god where the evil angels actually Hang out that's there above that's where they dwell and so this realm of of evil angels is constantly opposing us struggling against us fighting against us all sorts of opposition so Satan is a ruler of fallen angels battling against god and battling against god's people But he's also the ruler of this world system So he is a ruler over two realms the realm of evil angels and the realm of this world system Now the bible often calls the this world system that he rules over simply the world and It's the Greek word cosmos which we get our English word cosmetics from It literally means an ordered system and really isn't that what cosmetics do? Should I go much further with that bring order to the system right? Some order to disorder right that's what cosmetics do that's really the the Meaning of the Greek word there is an ordered system and when the bible talks about the world or the cosmos it's talking about not Sometimes it uses the word world of the planet earth Sometimes it uses it of people got so loved the world people But most of the time when that word is used it's talking about an ordered system a well-organized system And it is a system of thought and belief At the world system is ruled by Satan himself look at a couple of verses on the screen where Jesus calls him that now is the time for judgment on this world Now the prince of this world the one who rules over this world will be driven out and then in chapter 16 verse 11 He said and about judgment Holy spirit's gonna convict People about sin righteousness and judgment about judgment because the prince of this world now stands condemned God's judgment is seen at the cross against The prince of this world who is Satan himself and then in a little different terminology Paul refers to him in second Corinthians 4 or 4 as the god of this age this age is the the time when this world system is In play and in prominence The god of this age is blind to the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see The light of the gospel so he is the ruler of this world system now this system includes not only evil angels it includes people That are organized in a system of thought a way of believing a way of seeing a way of viewing the world What you believe and think it is an organized system that dominates those Who are far from God who do not know the Lord sometimes Most of the time without their knowledge or consent Without them even knowing Who they're being influenced by? They're simply buying into the philosophies of this age But it is all organized and ordered by Satan himself He's behind all of that and so he promotes This agenda this world view that really has three primary pillars That John tells us about in first John 2 and I don't have this verse For you, but John talks about all that is in the world If you love the world you don't love the father the love of the father's not in you and then he says all that is in the world Everything that comprises this world system the three main pillars of the world way of looking at things and thinking and believing about things Are the lust of the flesh lust of the eyes and pride of life So lust of the flesh is simple pleasure lust of the eyes is Possessions or materialism the desire to have whatever your eyes see lust simply many strong desire fed by the eyes and then pride of life is popularity fame the desire to be number one the desire to be recognized To be first no matter who you have to put down to get there to be the best you know that that whole philosophy is What this world system is all about? And that's the way the world system operates The pursuit of sinful pleasure the pursuit of possessions and the pursuit of pride The pursuit of recognition or or prime That's That's what the world system is built on and that's what Satan controls So his dominion he is a ruler he rules a kingdom and that kingdom is composed of evil angels But it's also composed of a system of thought a world view a way of looking at things and that's that's the world Okay comments or questions before we look at his domain where does he where does he stay Questions before we look at that Revelation 12 No actually that's describing a more Complete casting out of heaven that happens in the middle of the tribulation No, I don't think so there's the reason I hesitated is there's There are some who take Ezekiel 28 to mean that he had as a good angel he had a position of ruling over planet earth but you know there There's a lot of debate about that and I don't think that's necessary the case But as far as being the god of this age and ruling over the world the prince of the the world that happens after his fall Uh Talking about his his ruling over this world system which is designed and promoting Is designed to promote everything that opposes god so that happens after his fall Yes Yes, but the revelation 12 10 passage is not talking about that original fall It's talking about him being Completely cast out of heaven where he can no longer inter gods presence to accuse believers of sin That happens in the middle of the tribulation if you follow the The description in Revelation 12 It's clear that he knows he has limited time The time frame has even mentioned this 1260 days which is three and a half years the last half of the tribulation And that's when he begins to do everything he can to oppose Israel and any Christians and tries to destroy Any believers or any Jewish people in the last half of the tribulation So that's his his complete casting out of heaven in Revelation 12 The others Yes, Bill Yeah he's He is um He is in control in the big picture god is in control of everything that's happening Uh, I think a good way to describe it is that satan is is not and we're going to see this in a little bit He's not bound yet but he is He has a certain amount of freedom But only within the confines of what god is doing god is still in control of all things So he's like a dog on a Least tied to the clothesline You know, he can be pretty mean look like he's going to get you But he's got limitations So in that sense yes god is using him it's it's not that Um, and I know what you mean by that Bill it's not that god um Is responsible for evil but But god allows satan to do what he does For the ultimate purpose of glorifying himself Because ultimately even all that is evil will be Will be punished so that it ends up glorifying god So everything satan does ultimately will glorify god not in the short term Yeah, certainly there's yeah, there's a lot of truth in in that that um satan is is Is the the best picture of what rebellion against god does and thus serves as the best object lesson to us Of why we should fear god and obey him and live for him and so it to that in that sense yes God uses satan as the best lesson for us Of what it What it means to rebel against him yeah well You know specifically um he he can't There are lots of things he can't do um he he cannot rob our salvation Um Romans 8 38 and 39 there's nothing that can separation from the love of god and he mentions Everything in heaven and earth in life and death um and he mentions even angels can't do it Well good angels certainly wouldn't want to do it so he's taught by evil angels So satan cannot separate us from the love of god so there are certain limitations like that Obviously there are limitations that we may not know the details of that just have to do with god's plan and purpose Good example would be job You know god told job Okay, or god told satan yeah you can you can take his health You can't take his life Um, so you know there are certain specific instances even with us maybe that god has put limitations on satan I don't know what those are But some more general we know those limitations he can't take our salvation. We know that um We'll get into i want to jump into the air demon possession But i want to do that right now because that's a whole other part of our study later on so we'll wait on that one Okay, but there are certain limitations satan has there too All right, yes gene That's a great question um satan is not omnipresent he does not have any of the characteristics of god Attributes of god that are Reserve for god himself like he does not know all things. He's not omniscient He's not omnipresent. He's not everywhere at the same time like god is He's not omnipresent. He doesn't have all the power it got has and all the other attributes of god that are not shared with with anyone else Satan does not have any of those so how does he affect so many people In in this world and the answer I believe would be Through this vast army of evil angels that he commands his demons are doing his bidding all over the world And that's why Paul says our battle is against all these spiritual forces plural not just satan but spiritual forces that are doing his bidding It throughout the world now satan is still active in doing that for speed or five eight the devil Prouds around like a roaring lion seeking whom he made of our But he obviously is limited. He's only in one place at one time so He has a lot of demons that are doing his work in other places at the same time Yeah, I mean satan can Can affect us affect our thinking our actions and so in that sense Um, I want to be careful here in that sense indirectly he can use us To to accomplish his purpose again. I want to stop a little short of demon possession or control I want to stop a little bit short of that for for a believer But satan can certainly impact our thinking remember when Jesus first announced to his disciples in Matthew 16 that he was going to go to Jerusalem and die and he laid it right out I'm going to be rejected and and and and persecuted and tortured and I'm going to die and remember what Peter said Far be it from you Lord. No, that's not going to happen and you remember what Jesus said to him Get the behind me satan now. It's not that Peter was satan It's that satan was was using Peter's mind to speak blasphemy to speak that which was against God's purpose and Christ Was not calling Peter Satan, but he was recognizing the real Force behind what Peter was thinking Because he went on to say you're not thinking of the thoughts of God you're thinking the thoughts of men So he realized that so yes, yes, that's very true that satan can Sometimes accomplish his purpose even through us when we're not thinking biblically we're not living biblically We're not living obediently So that can be true. Neil did you have a question? You are you are exactly right in saying that in fact the the passage that describes that best is Ezekiel 28 which describes him as merchandising it uses a business term of a source to describe that he sold them a bill of goods He'd he'd deceived them into thinking so it was an elaborate plan Well thought out that they could they could be a part of his rebellion and take over from God and you know the Bible talks about satan's schemes um his strategies his wiles and so He does he does carefully think through plans as to how No, there's no indication of the time frame as to how long that scheming planning went on Again, we know that at the end of the six days of creation. God said everything was good. So there wasn't any Sin yet in heaven, but by the time you get to Genesis 3 he's in the garden tempting I haven't even now how much time between those two we don't know But enough time for there to be some of that scheming and planning A rebellion and recruiting other angels Yes, a good point bill when you look at the temptation of Christ and how satan very craftily You know appeals to Jesus You've been fasting for 40 days turn these Stones into bread I know you have the power to do that almost appealing to his ego if you will as though Jesus would fall for that But that's the way he does for us. Oh look how smart you are look how good you are you you can do this You can do that So the way he appealed to Jesus and then takes him up on the the mountain and shows him the kingdoms of the world Look at all this. How give you all of this? Yeah, those are those are very Good ways to see the way that Satan appeals to us too way tempts us Okay All right, very good He is the ruler of fallen angels the ruler of the world system. Let's talk a little bit about his domain where he stays First of all, it is clear that he abides In the heavenly places we saw that earlier in Ephesians 612 just notice it again The very end of the verse against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms and so There's a spiritual sphere of operation and combat Where Satan abides that's where his evil forces are so it really is a misnomer it really is a mistake To say that Satan is in hell That's not where he lives Now we often speak of the devil coming from hell or you know, that's where he Where he is or supposed to be Ultimately he will be cast into the lake of fire after the millennium after one last rebellion against God's kingdom But not yet He abides in in heavenly places Secondly, he has access to heaven and there I'm talking about the third heaven the presence of God You understand what we mean by third heaven the the Bible speaks of that and maybe I should back up a little bit or explain that term In second Corinthians 12 Paul talks about a Vision that he's saying says he was caught up into the third heaven which he then identifies as paradise when he refers to it again In that same passage So it's the presence of God he says I saw things that I'm not allowed to talk about So the third heaven is the presence of God and it basically is called the third heaven because the the word heaven Is used in at least three different ways in the Bible sometimes it's used of the earth's atmosphere The birds of the heaven in other words, so the earth's atmosphere is the first that's the first heaven The second heaven is the the stellar universe the the the A boat of the planets and further on out the stars and so forth When I view the heavens the the work of your fingers Where the psalmist said we're amazed at the grand your majesty of God. So that's the second heaven first right around the earth Second will hire up the third heaven Paul said I was caught up to the third heaven paradise the presence of God So that's what we mean when we say the third heaven. It's not like there's three separate places It's just there's kind of layers that are all termed heaven So the third heaven is the presence of God now where was I going with that? uh Access to heaven that's where that's where we are Satan is able to go into the third heaven and appear there to accuse us Before God he has access to that revelation 1210 again the passage we've seen earlier middle of tribulation Hurt of voice from heaven now comes salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God 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 So he's saying up until this point Satan the one who's identified in the previous versus the dragon Satan accuses believers our brothers and sisters Day and night before our God now he has lost his position of Of constantly being near the throne of God remember he was the anointed cherub Before he rebelled against God and was was cast out of that position But he still has access into the presence of God to accuse Believers of sin and no doubt when he is accusing us He is demanding That we be punished for our sin He is demanding it because God is adjusting the Holy God that that person down there John King who just said that that Terrible thing against somebody he deserves to be punished everlasting punishment And that's the kind of accusations. I'm convinced that he he does before the father Or other accusations like Job he accuses our motives You know he accused Job of only serving God because of how good God was doing you take away his stuff he won't serve you anymore He only fears you because of what you've done for him And so those kind of accusations probably are there as well So he abides in the heavenlies Second heaven if you will he has access into the third heaven, but he's also very active on earth We saw it in 1 Peter 5 8 Be alert and if so remind your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring alliance looking for someone to the power He's he's looking to Disrupt the work of God and attack the children of God. So he's very active here on this earth roving around prowling around like a roaring lion seeking to Oppose us pose the work of God the fetus and God's purpose in this this world He also Is opposed to the spreading of the gospel In a parable that Jesus Taught in Matthew 13 he says this the field is the world The good seed stands for the people of the kingdom of God now. This is different from the sower in the soils It's a different part of the parable Field is the world the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom the weeds are the people of the evil one This is the field that has both wheat and tears in it and tears look a lot like wheat You know and so he's saying the the uh The good seed that brings forth the wheat that's the people of God the weeds the tears Are the people of the evil one the enemy who so's them is the devil Okay Satan is always sowing his people and and his ways in the midst of God's work to try to battle God's work Oppose God's work disrupt God's work frustrate God's work He's got his tears among the wheat So that there is always an attack on the work of God Second Corinthians 4 or 4 verse we saw earlier the God of the sage has blinded the minds of unbelievers So that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ Sometimes it's hard for us to understand on this side of faith Why is it that people can't see it? Why can't they understand what seems so simple to us That we are sinners in need of a savior and Jesus died for us It just seems so clear And there's only one way to heaven and we know that and and you try to convince your neighbor or your family member or your co-worker And they just don't get it and they're coming back with all these crazy ideas. Why is that? Vingo right there that verse that's it Satan's blind that Satan is always opposing the gospel by by causing all these other thought systems a part of the world system to mask the gospel and blind the eyes of people and it's It's a constant battle that we face against our enemy And only the Holy Spirit can take those blinders off You will argue to you are blue in the face and human argumentation cannot remove those blinders Second Corinthians 3 read it the veil comes off When the Holy Spirit where the spirit is there is freedom That's what Paul says so only the spirit can do that Okay, let me just mention his detention so that we can finish this section his detention He is not now detained like you will be in the future in Revelation 20 during the millennium He's cast into the pit and restrained there, but he is limited He is limited in his power By God and we were taught a little bit ago about how he's limited just look at these two verses real quick John 1715 Jesus prayed in his prayer the evening before he died on the cross my prayer is not that you take them my people out of the world But that you protect them from the evil one Okay, so that's one of the ways Satan's limited. He can't get it us not ultimately not in the sense of Of getting us for himself for good. He can't do that and And Jesus says the same thing and first or John says the same thing in first John 518 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to send does not continually live a lifestyle of open rebellion against God with no consequences The idea the one who is born of God keeps them safe and the evil one Cannot harm them does that mean that Satan can't attack us? No, no because there are other verses that talk about that Does that mean that Satan can't do us damage? No It doesn't mean that but it means that Satan cannot do ultimate harm He cannot Take us away from the one who keeps us safe in him Who keeps us secure in him he can't can't rob us of our salvation Okay, that's the present position of Satan um Next time we'll talk about his work will get into a very extensive section of what is he doing? What exactly does he do the Bible lays it out pretty clearly our times up. Let's go ahead pray and we'll stop Father, we thank you that you have given us enough information for us to recognize our enemy What kind of character he has where his domain is what he's doing so that we can recognize His schemes Lord help us to be alert like you've told us help us to be alert and Be unguard against Satan's attacks his ways of thinking His belief system which is so prevalent in this world help us not to succumb to The overwhelming majority of popular thought in our world today help us to stick true to your word in Jesus name amen