Satan: The Harsh Reality

Someone has said that the greatest accomplishment of Satan’s career is convincing the world that he does not exist. Most people today claim that Satan is not real, he is merely a symbolic representation of evil. A simple internet search will give you a multiplicity of answers, such as one site that claims: “The is no proof that the devil is real, nor that he was cast out of heaven. These are stories in books.”

Another site I came across had an article on the ancient teaching of gnosticism…no to be confused with agnosticism, gnostics (from the Greek word for ‘knowledge’, and going back to the fifth century BC), believe all matter is evil, therefore if the god of the OT created all matter, then the god of the OT must be, in reality, the devil. “They looked at this world of matter as being evil, and its creator being the ultimate being of evil.”

Why does it matter if more and more people refuse to believe in Satan today? Shouldn’t we be more concerned that they believe in God? Consider this....In 1991, 73% of American adults believed in an All-powerful God and had a biblical understanding of Him. Today that number is 51%. Roughly 35% of American Christians believe Satan is real, and 40% agree with my previous statement that he is not real, only a personification of evil.

Yes. The greatest accomplishment of Satan’s career to this point has been to convince the world he does not exist. Listen to this statistic, only 28% of Americans believe the Bible is the literal Word of God.

Church, I want to you to listen to me very well this morning because, based on the statistics I’ve read you, I am going to say something controversial. Are you ready?

Satan, is real.

The Bible clearly teaches that Satan is real. The Bible explains his..

Existence

Genesis 3:1 KJV 1900

1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Right there, there in verse 1 we see that Bible affirms to existence of Satan. Oh, but it goes much further than that! See the serpent, is not Satan, the serpent rather loaned its body to Satan…hence the curse placed upon it.

No doubt right here someone somewhere is going to say this is only a myth. Animals can’t talk. Of course this same person, who would deny the existence of God and the authority of His Word will also tell you that we are here as a the result of natural processes through evolution which took place over millions of years, and we, are in fact, descended from animals. But I thought animals couldn’t talk? Wonder where they developed this theory that excludes God? Satan!

In Genesis the Bible:

Assumes the existence of Satan

There is in Genesis no explanation of Satan’s origin, it is assumed that everyone accepts the reality of Satan

The Bible also assumes the reality of God, Genesis 1:1 “1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

Psalm 14:1 “1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, There is none that doeth good.”

The word fool has three meanings:

Insanity

Wicked person

Stupid

We conclude therefore the following:

“The wicked, insane, stupid person, hath said in their hear, There is no God.”

If God is real, as the Bible assumes, and if God cannot lie as the Bible claims, then the Bible must be true as Jesus proclaimed John 17:17 “17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

If the Bible is right concerning the existence of God, then it must be correct concerning the existence of Satan.

Again, what is the goal of Satan?

To get the entire world to deny he even exists.

Genesis assumes his existence, the rest of the Bible...

Affirms the existence of Satan

Ezekiel 28:11-19 .

This prophetic portion of Scripture gives a description of Satan before his fall

Some have wrongly claimed it was a prophecy concerning only a man, but they are wrong

No man could meet this description

It must be referring to a supernatural being

Jesus certainly believed in the existence of Satan Matthew 4:1-11

Are we to assume in this passage that Jesus spoke face to face with a personification of evil?

If that is the case, then Jesus must have been crazy?

Consider also the following warnings and observations of Jesus concerning Satan:

Luke 22:31 “31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:”

Luke 10:18 “18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.”

Matthew 25:41 “41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:”

Matthew 13:19 “19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.”

Rev. 2:9 “9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.”

Rev. 2:13 “13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.”

The Apostles affirmed the existence of Satan

Acts 5:3 “3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?”

Romans 16:20 “20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.”

1 Thess. 2:18 “18 Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.”

1 Tim. 1:20 “20 Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.”

Rev. 12:9 “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.”

Rev. 20:2 “2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,”

With all this evidence against him, it is easy to see why Satan is working so hard to discredit the source. Any good defense attorney will tell you their greatest hope in a criminal case is to bring something to the jury’s attention that will cause a ‘reasonable doubt’. This brings me to my next point, the Bible explains the existences of Satan, but it also warns us of his...

Intelligence

I call your attention again to Genesis 3:1 “1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”

Notice that word “subtil”. The meaning of which is crafty. Paul explains in Ephesians 6:11 “11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

“wiles” = methods, trickery.

Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 11.3 “3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

“beguiled” = to deceive.

Consider this verse in 2 Cor. coupled with our verse in Genesis 3:1. Satan’s intelligence is the key to his success in convincing the world he does not exist.

He tricked Eve

She and Adam had personal daily fellowship with God Genesis 3:8 “8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.”

They knew God face-to-face, yet she was tricked into doubting the authority of God's Word.

He is able to trick men today 2 Cor. 4.4 “4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

My friends, I desperately want you to understand that we are facing an enemy that is more intelligent than this entire congregation put together. We are facing an enemy that has convinced nearly the entire world that he does not even exist. I’ll go one further, when we, who know he is real, try to warn them that he is, we are mocked, ridiculed, and laughed at. That is how intelligent our enemy is. That is why it is so important we read, study, and believe what the Bible says.

We’ve seen evidence for his existence, we have looked at the warning of his intelligence, lastly, let us consider his...

Goal

As I have already stated, Satan has succeeded in convincing the world he does not exist, but that is not enough, it will never be enough for him. Convincing the world he does not exist is only step one. Step two is to replace God. Isaiah 14:12-17

Isaiah 14:12–17 KJV 1900

12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. 16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; 17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; That opened not the house of his prisoners?

It is not enough that he is the “god of this world” in a spiritual sense, he will not rest until all men everywhere bow before him and worship him. My friends, I am sad to say, but this desire will be met one day. There will come a time when Satan will possess a man who the entire world will believe to be the Christ, but he is not, he is Antichrist. As Antichrist he will rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and will sit upon a throne and demand to be worshiped. This has not happened yet, but I promise you, it will.

Conclusion: Church if I could sum up this entire message in one sentence it would be this:

“Satan has so blinded the world to his existence they fail to see that he is behind everything that is wrong with our world today.”

This is just the first message in this series. In the weeks following we are going to take a deeper look at Satan. We are over the next several weeks going to examine the more sinister parts of his plan. What then do we take away from this message today? Simple:

Our enemy is real.

We see this affirmed in the Word.

Our enemy is intelligent.

He has the entire world convinced he does not exist.’

Our enemy has a goal.

Step one is completed. Step two is well under way.

The only question left is: What are you going to do about it? While the rest of the world is on autopilot what are you going to do? Church, I want to encourage you to take an active role in combating the evil influence of Satan in this world. I want to invite you to pray specifically that God will continue to bless our church. That souls will continue to be saved, that our number will continue to grow, that we will stand up in the face of the enemy and continue to serve God.

I want you to pray for your family, your loved ones, you neighbors who do not know Jesus. Pray for them, witness to them until they do know Him!

Maybe today you’re here and you do not know Jesus as your Savior, well I want you to know that I prayed for you this morning, and I want to ask you right now to come to Jesus and ask for forgiveness. “How can I be saved?” you ask, simple:

Are you willing to admit to God what He already knows to be true about you....you are a sinner in need of forgiveness.

Are you ready to fully believe that Jesus died for you as He said He did?

Will you confess Jesus as your Savior?

Today, if you will take those three steps you can be saved. I wonder is there one willing to take this step today?