Satan- Boogeyman or Real Enemy of the Church?
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· 17 viewsUnderstanding Satan as the Enemy of the Church
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INTRODUCTION- WHY NOW?
INTRODUCTION- WHY NOW?
Possibly the most unique teaching I have ever done.
Having just completed the Passion Week-
Jesus’ trial, Crucifixion, Burial and Resurrection
Jesus conquered Death, Hell and the Grave- Right?
So why now would we take the time to talk about Satan?
He is defeated, right? So what’s the big deal?
Anyone who has ever had to deal with pest control, knows the worst case scenario is having to deal with a cornered rat.
The rat knows it is caught- There is no escape, it is going to lose.
What does the rat do?
Roll over and just submit to the inevitable outcome?
Nope- The cornered rat will rise up with bared teeth and bravado far beyond what it is capable of and- Fight.
Rats, mice and other vermin are usually timid and will avoid conflict at all costs-
A cornered rat is dangerous, aggressive beyond reason and unable to accept reality for what it is.
Thanks to Christ’s victory through His sacrificial death and Glorious Resurrection...
Satan is now a cornered rat.
He knows he has lost- But is so filled with hate towards God, that he is blinded to that fact.
Having lost at every turn, he is so filled with rage, that he cannot see the corner he is trapped in- And he still remains very dangerous.
As much as modern society has tried to manipulate Satan’s image- to the point of almost making him likable- Or just misunderstood:
Satan is still the evil adversary of the church.
And like the cornered rat, he is relentless and will stop at nothing to discredit the Christian’s Faith and belief in God.
The Temptation of Christ
Matt 4:1-11.
Luke 4:1-13.
Hungry, Jesus was tempted with temporary relief
Satan offered Jesus temporal worldly power, such a step down for The Creator of the Universe
Satan challenged His Deity and Jesus rebuked him with the Word of Truth
And just as Jesus was tempted with things He already possessed- Satan uses the same tactics with us.
Now, to be fair...These events were prior to the Resurrection
However:
Every single writer of the NT from Acts to Revelation speaks of Satan in some form as still trying to take down the body of Christ.
It is to our own detriment, without glorifying Satan, that we do not recognize him for the cornered Rat that he is.
Satan, known as the accuser of the Brethren, attempts to convince believers are unworthy of God’s grace.
Satan is relentless in his tempting of individuals to sin and then accuses them before God, leading to feelings of guilt and inadequacy.
There is a military strategy that we can apply here to help visualize this:
Sometimes you have to lose a battle to win the war.
Satan tempted Adam and Eve and got them evicted from the Garden. Gen 3.
Satan thought because he “won that battle, he had won the war.”
Prior to Gen 3. Satan led a rebellion in Heaven against God.
And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon.
And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
“How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!
You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.
Can you hear the arrogance there:
Satan says in his heart,
“I WILL, ascend to Heaven”
“I WILL, set my throne on high- ABOVE the stars of God”
“I WILL, sit on the mount of the assembly”
“I WILL, ascend above the heights of the clouds”
“ I WILL, make MYSELF like the Most High”
So, what is the big deal about Satan anyway?
In Scripture he is :
The Prince of Demons- Matt 12:24.
The god of this age 2 Cor 4.4.
Ruler of this world John 12:31.
The Enemy Matt 13:39.
A roaring lion 1 Peter 5:8.
The Dragon/ Serpent Rev 12:7,9.
The Accuser of the Brethren Rev 12:10.
Eze 28: 12-17. Describes Satan as Anointed as a Guardian Cherub.
Basically, one the Throne Room Guardians directly before God.
Also- Full of Wisdom, Prefect in Beauty and a Model of Perfection.
Can you imagine Satan/Lucifer preening before a mirror, say “ Yeah, I AM all that and the bag of Chips!”
Contrary to what some believe, God created Angels with the same self will to choose to either worship their Creator or not.
Satan chose not to- He choose poorly.
By choosing his own Pride over God, evil began to grow in Satan.
Satan is also described has having a personality:
A Mind
2 Cor 11:3. “Cunning”
Eph 6:11. “Scheming”
Willful- As in the “I Will” statements of Is 14.
Emotions
Rev 12:17. Furious or enraged.
Dudes got a temper.
God held Adam, Eve and Satan accountable for their participation but also clothed and fed Adam and Eve- Although their lives got infinitely more difficult going forward.
As mankind multiplied- Satan turned their hearts to their own wicked desires.
Genesis 6 is one of the greatest examples of just how much God really cares for us
And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Man had become so evil that God was willing to blot humanity from the face of the earth and regretted even creating any of it.
Yet ONE man caught God’s attention-
Noah found grace in God’s eyes.
Job is another story of Gods patience and trust in Humanity.
There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
The story of Job is one that shows how Satan and God interacted for at least a time.
Satan has access to Heaven and presents himself to God.
(There are scholars who believe that this type of interaction was limited and ended totally after Jesus’ Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension back to Heaven.)
Satan challenges God that Job is blameless and upright and having reverence for God, ONLY, because God has blessed him so much.
So God allows Satan to test Job with every affliction one can imagine- Short of death itself.
Job stands up to the testing- “Naked I came into the world and Naked I shall return..”
Even Job’s wife tells him to just curse God and die.
OK, so much for all the OT stuff...
We live beyond the cross, Right?
Consider the story of Peter, who felt the sting of accusation when Jesus foretold his denial.
In Luke 22:31-32, Jesus tells Peter, 'Satan has asked to sift you as wheat.' Here, Satan seeks to accuse and undermine Peter's confidence.
However, Jesus' response is profound: 'But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.'
Even when we face accusations, our Savior intercedes for us, reminding us that our worthiness is not determined by our failures, but by His love.
This is the entire point of Jesus sending the Comforter/ The Holy Spirit to lead and guide us in our Faith.
John 16: 8-11. discusses the role of the Holy Spirit as an advocate for believers, contrasting it with Satan's role as the accuser.
While Satan points out believers' sins to God, the Spirit defends them, ensuring they are not condemned.
This divine support reassures believers of their standing before God, emphasizing the unity of Father, Son, and Spirit in their defense.
Despite his power, he cannot prevail against God's defense of His children. Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice ensures that believers remain justified and secure in their salvation, regardless of Satan's accusations
Believers are reassured by the presence of Jesus as their advocate, offering forgiveness and support against Satan's accusations.
Still...
Satan is more dangerous than ever. WHY?
Because he still knows he is losing and is determined to take out as many believers as possible before his end comes to pass.
Satan has a strategy:
His tactics are simple, really and havent changed all that much since the Garden
He creates doubt about the truth of God’s Word.
He repeatedly calls God a liar.
He questions where God’s motives lie.
He actively places false believers amongst the Church to distract, confuse and break the Church Body’s unity in Faith.
Satan will use our own successes against us by puffing up our own sense of pride.
He will do whatever he can to stop or stymie ministry
Uses Spiritual Warfare against all those that believe.
(Will add here that, although Satan and his minions can harass believers- They CANNOT possess believers.)
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
We love because he first loved us.
There is no text that instructs us to deliver believers from demon possession.
Rather, Christians are instructed to Resist:
Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
Satan is not God, nor is he a god.
He is not omnipotent (All Powerful)
He is not omniscient (All knowing)
he is not Omnipresent ( Ever present, everywhere, all the Time)
He is still a formidable opponent-
He does have temporary limited control of our present world- And spreads his evil influence everywhere that he is allowed access.
We cannot resist or even hope to defeat him in our own strength. Humanity has been trying that from the beginning- It has yet to work.
BUT-
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance that is
imperishable,
undefiled,
and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?
Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone.
Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.
In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
How can we apply the lessons from Jesus' temptation in the wilderness to our struggles with temptation?
What implications does Satan's defeat by Christ have on our faith and daily life?
How does the concept of Satan as a 'cornered rat' influence our understanding of spiritual warfare?
In Zechariah 3:1-5, Joshua the high priest is standing before the angel of the Lord, with Satan at his right side ready to accuse him. Imagine the scene—Satan has a list of every mistake, every fault, taunting and belittling Joshua. But then, God intervenes, removing the filthy garments from Joshua, replacing them with clean, radiant robes. This moment illustrates how God not only silences our accuser but also bestows upon us His righteousness through Christ, showcasing the transformative power of divine grace.
