The Adversary
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Our sermon will be on Luke 10:17-20
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The Adversary
The Adversary
Luke 10:17-20
When I was growing up, I remember watching scary movies. You can probably name some of them. I remember watching some movie (I don’t know which one), and all my sisters where there.
The music was starting to intensify, you knew something was going to happen, and then I yelled at the top of my lungs and all the girls screamed. I think one of them even peed in their pants. I might have had to run after that.
I don’t really like those types of movies that much any more. I’ll watch the more realistic ones, like a thriller.
I even watched a TV series called “Evil” that came out a year or so ago.
I did watch a show that was based off of a real life event. It was what they call a docudrama.
I think things that could really happen are more interesting to me.
The truth is that in our scientific society, we can’t separate fact from fiction. We see these shows and we assign it to the realm of fiction.
Most of it is, but there is real evil out there.
There are real happenings, even if we don’t see it. I don’t think we can even imagine what’s going on.
One of the things that I learned in engineering school was that I needed to study the problem.
Analyze it, break it down into smaller problems.
If you are playing a game like football, you do the same thing. You study your opponent. You analyze their plays.
We don’t do that as Baptists.
We don’t look at the game film. We skip over those parts.
We should be.
Today, we are going to look at one of those places.
Before we get to the text, we need to explain where we are and what’s going on before this passage.
A few weeks ago, I talked about how Jesus had sent out the 12.
Here, Jesus is sending out the 70. He sent them out in pairs.
We pick up our story when they return.
17 Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.”
18 And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”
Pray
Who is the Adversary?
Who is the Adversary?
There are 2 words we need to study: Satan and demons
Let’s talk about Satan - first I need you to understand that this word here is transliterated from the Hebrew word to Greek and then to English. So the Hebrew word here is Satan.
The Hebrew word means Adversary, or one who withstands. The word is used 27 times in the OT. Most of those times are translated as Satan.
It’s used 34 times int the NT.
When we read some of the passages, we get an idea of his character.
In Matthew 4:10 Satan is the one who tempts Jesus
In Matthew 16:23, Peter is compared to Satan because Peter had basically tempted him into not fulfilling his mission
In Mark 4:15, Satan is part of the parable of the sower where he the one who takes away the word out of people’s heart
In Luke 13:16. he is the cause of a woman’s infirmity
In John 13:27, Satan is the one who enters into Judas.
In Acts 5:3, he is the cause of Ananias’ sin.
In Acts 26:18, Paul is called upon to remove the power of Satan.
In 1 Corinthians 5:5, the Corinthians are called to deliver those in open sin to Satan.
In 1 Thessalonians 2:18, Satan is said to have hindered Paul’s ministry.
In Revelation 2:9, the synagogue of Satan is behind blasphemy. A few verses later, Jesus says that there’s a Satan’s seat and a place where Satan dwelleth.
Wow, that’s a lot of references, but I ain’t done.
Most of those (except for the temptation of Jesus) show Satan as a force of evil behind some kind of trouble like the last one in Rev 2:9.
There’s a few more places:
9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
and
2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
as well as
7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
In these, Satan is seems to be an individual, like in our passage that we just read
The Adversary
In 2 of these he is clearly shown as the serpent and he is shown as the leader of his angels.
He is also called our enemy in our text.
I don’t think it’s necessary to map out everything and to explain every reference, because I think we can get the point from what we just discussed.
Satan, or the Devil, or the serpent, or the dragon, has a group of followers that are called angels here.
These followers are called demons here but called devils in many other places.
What we need to know is that Satan is the leader of supernatural beings that rebelled against God.
I just reread a book called “The Unseen Realm” that equates these beings as the originator of the “gods”.
It is well documented and researched and Dr Heiser could be correct.
Whatever the truth of all this is, is that there is a world out there that we need to be cautious of.
So why don’t we see these things? Well, I think the biggest lie that Satan has propagated is that he doesn’t exist.
We need to understand that he and his followers are dangerous.
However, we need to ask:
Who has the Authority?
Who has the Authority?
Notice that Jesus gave these followers authority over demons and they were amazed by it.
So they had authority, but do we.
Although we don’t see a direct link, there does seem to be authority given to us by invoking the name and authority of Jesus.
I haven’t seen this directly, but I have heard others say that they cast out demons using the name of Jesus.
We may not have authority, but Jesus does and we can ask for things through his name.
So that means we have the authority to cast out the enemy.
One thing we need to understand is that the enemy may not work like we think he does.
What do envision the battle lines to look like?
Who has the Authority?
The problem is that the battle we are in isn’t like that.
It’s more like Afghanistan. You don’t know who or where the enemy is.
It’s guerrilla warfare. And it’s not organized. There seems to be a hierarchical system, but we don’t see organized battle plans.
So what does that mean for us?
What can we gain with all this information?
It means that there could be small battles going on everywhere.
Now, I believe that the Bible is fairly clear that since we have the Spirit of God within us, we can’t be possessed by Demons, but we can be influenced. That’s what I think happens in church conflicts. The enemy influences Christians or even possesses those that are not Christian. They then cause these divisions that hinder the word of God.
A long time ago, the church we were going to was assaulted by these types of influences that I believe were demonic in nature.
And let me tell you something - these people that see ghosts - I think they are seeing something else. A glimpse of the spirit world.
On the other side, there are Angels that minister for us, for good, for God.
When I was really young, I mean about a year old, I remember seeing a place that I told my mom about and see said, how can you remember that. Here’s the thing - I remember an Angel protecting us there.
There is a story that Billy Graham shared in his book “Angels”. It’s about this missionary that had a tribe come to his house and they surrounded it and were going to kill him.
He and his family got down on their knees and prayed. They all fell asleep praying.
When then woke up, the tribe was gone and they were fine.
Years later, the chief of that other tribe became a Christian. The missionary asked him, “why didn’t you kill us that night?”
The chief said, it was because of the warriors that were protecting you.
The missionary said, “I didn’t anyone else there with us.”
So, I’m not telling you that there’s a demon behind every bush, but the enemy is out there and he’s coming for us.
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
I want to ask you something: where are the gates?
Who has the Authority?
That means we are the ones on the attack.
Satan is losing ground.
He’s coming for this church. We need to be on our knees asking God to protect us.
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 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.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—
Let’s go to Battle! What do we have to lose? nothing. Instead we have everything to gain.
What will we Attain?
What will we Attain?
We have talked about the enemy. We have said that God has given us the means the defeat the enemy.
Now, we are going to talk about who is going to win.
I read part of the end of Revelation.
It says that those who have rebelled against God will be thrown into the lake of fire.
Does that sound like somewhere you want to be?
I want to be with Jesus.
When Jesus says here that their names were written in heaven, he’s talking about the book of life.
Listen I can rejoice, not that the enemy is subject to us, but that my name is written in the book of life.
Because Jesus died in my place, I will see Jesus.
The enemy cannot unset us, and he can not defeat.
We have the victory, and Jesus we are going to meet.
See even if we are a casualty, we still have the victory!
Are you ready for battle?