[Music]
The most important thing we can do to begin winning
life's battles... you are in a spiritual battle. If you are a
believer you understand the Christian life is, you know, not
just putting a flower in your hair and speaking of peace and
love. We are called to a battle. The Christian ground...
Christian life is not just a... it is not a playground; it is a
battleground. And we are in the battle! If you are a follower of
Jesus, you wear a target and you are targeted by the enemy. Thank
God, in Christ we can defend ourselves. We can be protected,
but we need to be warned, because to be forewarned is to
be forearmed! This is why the first step we need to take in
winning life's battles is to acknowledge our adversary. So I
want to take some time this morning to expose the enemy of
our soul... Satan, who is very, very real. Not a... not a
Saturday Night Live skit, not a caricature, you know, a devil
and pitchfork with long horns, tail on a side of a can of
potted ham; not a cartoon character, but a very sinister,
seductive and powerful created being who leads a revolt against
Almighty God and whose desire is to cast your soul into hell!
Jesus taught us to pray deliver us from the evil one; literally,
deliver us from the evil one. He is called in the Scripture Satan
which means the adversary, the opponent, the one who comes
against us. He is called the devil, which means the accuser.
He's described in the Revelation as the accuser of the brothers
and sisters. Three times in the Bible the devil speaks... I
mean, literally speaks. His presence is seen... the shadow
of the enemy is in the Scriptures, but three times...
he... he verbally speaks and his words are recorded. One, in the
Garden of Eden when he slandered God to man. He slithered...
slithered into the Garden... the serpent, Satan himself, and he
said, "God is holding out on you, Eve. Has God said...? God
knows that if you eat of this fruit that He has forbidden you,
that you will become as He is; you will become as God." He
slandered the character and the nature of God to man. The second
time that Satan speaks is in the book of Job. Remember this? When
Job was living a righteous life for the Lord and Satan was given
permission to appear before the throne of God and at that point
he slandered man to God. He said, "Job serves You for
nothing. If You take away everything that he has... Sure
he lives for You! He's got a great family, he's got a great
life, he's making lots of money, he's living for You and ... he's
living for You only because You give him all these things. Take
away all of this and he'll be gone." And God gave Satan
permission to try Job... buffet him, and he did indeed. But when
he spoke he was lying and accusing and slandering the man
to God. First, God to man and then man to God. The third time
that... that the devil speaks... the accuser of the brethren is
when Jesus is tempted in the wilderness, and Satan spoke
to... to Jesus Himself and said, "If You worship me and bow down
before me, I'll give You the kingdoms of this earth." This
time Satan is slandering the God-Man... the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the accuser of the brethren. He... he... he is on
the attack. He is Lucifer as we'll see in a passage in just a
moment, which means the son of the morning... the angelic being
who became the angel of the night. He's called in 1 John
5:19, "the evil one"; 1 Thessalonians 3:5, "the
tempter"; in John 12:31, "the prince of this world"; 2
Corinthians 4:4, "the god of this world"; 1 Peter 5:8, "a
roaring lion". He's known as the serpent. Jesus said in John 8,
"he was a liar, the father of lies and a murderer from the
beginning." Satan! His M.O.- his method of operation has not
changed through the centuries. And that is why Paul says, "I
don't want you to be unaware... I don't want you to be ignorant;
you can't be blindsided by the devil. You need to know his
schemes, his tactics." So we're going to take some time to
expose him; some of his schemes, some of his methods, his
operations to destroy, to divert, to deny, to twist, to
mislead, to ultimately Jesus said, to kill and to destroy! He
specializes in subversion and perversion and diversion and
destruction! Bottom line: he wants to destroy your soul! And
with you, your family, your friends, your church, your
children! And he is prepared to use every tactic he has. Every
tool, every weapon in his arsenal he prepares to use. And
again, all of us are in involved in this invisible war. We cannot
go AWOL. We cannot sit because to sit is to be a sitting duck.
You... you will be a target of the enemy! It is a covert
operations much like a terrorist operation. It is a cosmic
collision. Behind the scene... behind the scenes is this cosmic
battle that is going on between good and evil, light and
darkness, Christ and antichrist, heaven and hell, God and Satan.
How did this all begin? What is the source of evil? What... why
is there such evil in the world? What is the explanation for evil
in the world? We take you back to eternity-past in Isaiah 14.
Take your Bibles, turn to Isaiah 14. We're going to put this on
the screen for you, but it would be so much better if you opened
your Bible and looked at... with me to Isaiah 14, and mark these
verses and note them, because we get a glimpse of how it all
began. I mean, little children... little first graders
ask the question, "Mommy, Daddy, how did the devil become the
devil?" "Why did God make the devil?" We have a glimpse...
just a glimpse of what happened before time began in the eons...
in eternity, in the infinity of the past. Here's what happened,
verse 14... chapter 14, rather, verses 12 to 14: 12) How you are
fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn!(Lucifer... meaning
Day Star, son of Dawn) How you are cut down to the ground, you
who laid the nations low! 13) 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; 14) I will ascend above the heights of the
clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' Lucifer, the son
of the morning, was a created being; he was swollen with
pride. He said, "I will be like the Most High." Before there was
ever rebellion on earth, there was revolt in heaven! Please
remember this: Satan is not equal to God; he is a created
being by God, an angelic being that was created by God... The
son of the morning, the Dawn Star... the Day Star. But God,
this is a mystery... The Bible speaks of the mystery of
iniquity. But one thing is for sure; God gave angelic beings a
choice. And Satan and his minions chose to rebel against
God. Notice the temptation in heaven was the temptation first
on earth. "I will be like the Most High!" Satan ended up
saying to Eve, "If you eat of this fruit, you will be like
God!" His desire is to rule... always has been, always will be!
This is why Jesus called him the god of this age, the ruler of
this world! But there is a clearer picture, perhaps, in
Ezekiel chapter 28. This is another passage in the Old
Testament that takes us beyond time, into the invisible,
eternal world of the past! The first eleve... ten verse of
Ezekiel 28 have to do with an earthly king by the name of the
king of Tyre, or the prince of Tyre. He was a literal, physical
king that existed in the ancient world. But something turns in
verse 11 and obviously the writer beings speaking of
something beyond an earthly presence, and earthly king.
"Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me..." and he speaks of
this power beyond the throne of the prince of Tyre. He speaks in
terms that could only describe an eternal powerful being. Verse
12 of Ezekiel 28: 12) "Son of man, raise a lamentation (That
means cry out...) over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus
says the Lord: "You were the signet of perfection..." (This
angelic being was a perfect being as created) full of wisdom
and perfect in beauty. 13) You were in Eden... (Now we're
moving from eternity into Eden) in the garden of God; and every
precious stone was your covering..." (He mentions...)
"sardius and topaz and diamond and beryl, and onyx and jasper,
and sapphire, and emerald, and carbuncle; and created in gold
with your settings and your engravings. On the day that you
were (watch this) created... (Again...) created as an angelic
being they were prepared. 14) You were an anointed guardian
cherub. I placed you in the holy mountain of God; in the midst of
the stones you walked. Ezekiel 28 described the powerful
timbrel ... the voice of Satan. There is indication that Satan
himself may have been the leader of the angelic hosts of praise,
and this is why he is so allergic to praise and the
worship of Jesus today! He runs when he hears the name of Jesus
in worship. That's another message. He was a powerful
angelic being and force! Paul describes him in the book of
Corinthians, even now as an angel of light. He disguised
himself as an angel of light. Now listen to me... If Satan
manifested himself in this room right now, right here, right now
you wouldn't go running out of the auditorium like an old
horror movie! You know, remember those screaming [ha!] horror
movies? People went running out the doors! You wouldn't go
running out the doors, terrorized by his presence! If
you saw Satan as he is right now, an angel of light, you
would be tempted as even Jesus was to bow down and worship him.
A powerful, beautiful, angelic being! But something happened.
He chose rebellion against God, to be like the Most High, to
ascend above the throne of God! And as a result of his
rebellion, God casted him out and all who followed him.
Apparently one third of the heavenly hosts in this cosmic
construction of history left with Satan, were dismissed from
the presence of God in heaven. Verse 15 says: 15) You were
blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till
unrighteousness was found in you. (Verse 17) 17) Your heart
was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your
wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the
ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on
you. That's the title of this message... "Dark Angel". He is a
dark and devil... devilish spiritual being. This means that
not everything that is spiritual is good! Not everything that is
supernatural is of God! We must know the enemy; we must prepare!
Satan is called the ruler of this world, the prince of this
world, the ruler of the world system. Second Corinthians 4:4
says this: "In their case the god of this world has blinded
the minds of the unbelievers..." You wonder why your friends do
not believe, do not receive the Gospel? Their eyes are blinded
by this enemy to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel
of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.
His power is
dark and deadly. He is filled with hate and rage and revenge
and envy. He wants to capture souls. He presides over
strongholds and structures even of governments, of
principalities. He looks for footholds to develop strongholds
on our lives; thus we have addictions such as drugs and
alcohol and pornography and... and fear and anger; behaviors
that are controlled by the devil! Jesus went about doing
good according to the book of Acts and healing those who were
oppressed... in bondage to the devil. He is a very real,
decided foe and decided fact of an enemy. You're primary
problem, therefore, is not with people, not with your
circumstances; you're primary issue, if you're having a
struggle in life, is not with your spouse, not with your kids,
not with your addiction, not with pornography, not with
abortion. The problem is this satanic powerful force, these
sinister beings behind. This happened with Jesus and Simon
Peter. When Jesus spoke of going to the cross on the... on the
heals of Simon's great confession... [Matthew 16:16]
"You're the Christ; the Son of the Living God!" When Jesus
spoke of the cross and dying on the cross, Simon began to say,
"No! No, Lord, don't do that!" And Jesus immediately said,
[Matthew 16:23] "Get behind me, Satan!" He wasn't talking to
Peter! Peter was just a puppet! He was talking to Satan himself.
And all the lies, the schemes, the sinful behaviors...
everything that embattles us in life... this comes from the evil
one. Satan is not
co-equal with God! God is Almighty; Satan is not almighty.
The devil cannot be everywhere as God is omnipresent and
everywhere. Satan is... is not all-knowing as God is
all-knowing; he is not God! He is... he is created, and even
now, controlled by God. And our focus should not be primarily in
life on the poise of Satan, but on the power of God! Our
authority in Jesus! While he is ro... roaring, roaming lion, he
is a lion on a leash! We are given power over the works of
the enemy because of the cross! When Jesus died on the cross, He
cried out, [John 19:30] "It is finished!" The... the imps...
the demons of hell were shrieking and screaming, "He is
finished!" But He was not finished; His mission was
finished! He gave Himself to die on the cross for our sins! This
is our victory! When He was buried all hell celebrated;
that's the end of that! But on the third day Jesus rolled away
the stone and came out holding in His strong mighty hand the
keys to life and death and heaven and hell [applause]
because He is Lord! And this is our victory! A mighty fortress
is our God; the great I AM is our victor and our victory, and
therefore, we have authority! If you watch a football game there
are powerful athletes on the field, running up and down. But
there are some weaker men on the field... some smaller men
typically who have a whistle and a yellow flag. Now they don't
have as much power as these mighty athletes, but all they
need to do to stop the action... control the action, to make
adjustments in the game is to throw a yellow flag. And those
men, therefore, have authority over that game. That's the
difference that we have in Christ; the difference that
Jesus makes! We are not as strong as Satan. We in and of
ourselves would be destroyed by the power of the enemy. But we
have authority and that authority is in Jesus! This is
why we say we don't fight for victory; we fight from
victory... from our victory in Christ! I've illustrated for
years with a... with a silly illustration, but it's a little
vivid so you may want to hold your first-grader's ears,
alright. When I was a little boy, I wanted some Easter
chickens. And down at the Montgomery Wards in our little
town they were selling these little Easter chickens. They
were red and yellow and blue and pink. They were beautiful. And I
asked my grandfather to buy these chickens. And a
grandfather can't say no to a six year old grandson so he
bought me these chickens. [I] Loved the little chickens, made
pets of those little chickens, had Easter with the little
chickens. It was fun. But you know it wasn't long till all the
color had grown off those chickens and they were just big
white chickens running around our yard. And we didn't have a
farm; we just had a yard! And so one day my grandfather, Grandpa
Sims, decided that we were going to have chicken and dumplings.
[laughter] Now to this day I'm not certain why he wanted to
teach me this vivid lesson except maybe to tell this story
and to illustrate this point, (thanks, Grandpa- and this is
the part you close the eyes of your kids, alright?) You know I
thought about this early, I said, maybe I shouldn't tell
this chicken story. But I've got to because it's such a perfect
thing of what I'm trying to tell you about the devil. You know
I've been telling you the devil is real, the devil is powerful
and he is, and we're in a battle and we are. And yet, you know,
now I'm saying, we have victory in Jesus! The war is over but we
still have battles to fight! Okay? But we are fighting
against a dead chicken! My grandfather took one chicken in
one hand and another chicken in the other hand there in the back
yard (my eyes are getting wide as saucers!) and he begins to do
this: [sound effect] Faster than this! (Am I making my point
without being too vivid?) Alright. And those chickens are
now sans their head, flopping all over the yard, to my
amazement! They don't have a head, but they're bouncing all
over the yard! Blood squirting everywhere! It's... it was
amazing! [laughter] Those chickens were dead and didn't
even know it! [laughter] So when I think about the devil and what
Christ has done, I think about those chickens...flopping
around, a lot of noise, a lot of excitement, a lot of gore, but
Satan is a defeated foe; defeated in the power of Jesus!
And we claim that authority when we claim the power of His name,
His victory! Revelation 12:11, "They have conquered him by the
blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony. They loved not
their lives unto death." How do we win life's battles? We claim
our victory in Christ. He (Colossians 2:15) "Disarmed the
rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing
over them!" Like a Roman general with a stripped down, defeated
opponent, chained to his chariot, the applause... the...
the... the... the excitement of... of a great victory! Back
in the Roman legions, coming back home. Those enemies, those
generals, those prisoners chained to the chariot! Satan is
stripped of his power and his authority over us because our
King [strike] Jesus [strike] has won [strike] the victory!
Accept, acknowledge, appropriate your victory in Jesus! Hebrews
2:14 "Since therefore, the children
share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the
same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has
the power of death, that is the devil!" Therefore, stand...
stand in the face of the enemy... of the enemy! And in
Jesus name claim your victory in Him! You don't have to be the
devil's plaything! You can be strong. Now you know I don't
believe in swagger here, you know. Don't get your swagger on,
you'll get your head knocked off! But be strong and steady;
dependent upon God! And as you prepare yourself and stand in
Christ and His righteousness, your victory will be assured,
and the enemy has no right or authority to claim you, to
control you, to corrupt you because you have victory in
Jesus.
[Music]
It was an angel who announced Christ's birth to the shepherds.
Angels ministered to Jesus when he was tempted and angels were
there when he rose victoriously from the grave. And the very
same angelic presence that was with Jesus on earth is closer to
you today than you might imagine. In my book, "Angels", I
show you how to see past the thin veil that separates our
reality from the angelic world and to discern the divine
activity that is deciding our life's journey today. Angels
exist and I believe that angels are all around us today. They
are worshippers of God and they are servants, ministers to God's
children. Angels are working behind the scenes in the drama
of life as God's messengers. They are warriors and servants
of God to execute His will and it's important that you
understand the purpose of angels in your life so that you won't
be confused by some of the myths and movies and television shows
and book that are more fictional than fact. It's important to
know what the Bible says about angels so that you can really
give an answer to your family and to your friends as to the
work and the witness and the worship of angels. My book on
angels is our gift to thank you for your financial support to
keep PowerPoint broadcasting on this station. So click or call
and give and request your copy of "Angels" today. And thank you
for giving so generously to help proclaim the gospel of Jesus
Christ, the word of God around the world.
The last several weeks we've been talking about
God's holy angels, but did you know that long before Satan was
cast out of heaven he was a worship leader, he was an angel
created by God. And yet his worship of God was compromised
by his pride and ego and arrogance. Lucifer, the son of
the morning became Satan the dark angel. He decided he wanted
something more. He began to worship himself and decided he
was too great, too big, too glorious for God and Lucifer
pushed back against the plan of God in his life and demanded to
go his own way, this is how the devil became the devil. Think
about this, when pride takes over your life any and every sin
is possible and ultimately that's when sin takes over in
our lives. We need the drink and then we begin to crave the high.
We think we deserve a vice or two, a sin or two in our lives.
We look at what we think we're gaining from our sin with
prideful arrogance and refuse to repent. We mistakenly believe
that these sins offer life and pleasure and of course the
opposite is true. There is pleasure in sin for a season but
ultimately sin leads to destruction and death and that's
why over and over again God says in his word, God is saying to
you in his spirit today, in your spirit, turn from your sin and
trust in me, that's repentance and faith. Turn from your sin
and trust in Jesus and Jesus alone as your savior. You know
Satan wants to sidetrack your and get you off the path in your
relationship with Jesus, but if you will trust in Christ, if you
will respond and repent of your sin you can experience victory
in your life and you can overcome every sin and
temptation. God wants us to live in freedom and fulfillment, not
bound down by the chains of our past or the shame of our sin. We
can live an abundant life filled with hope and promise and this
life is available when we begin laying down our sinful pride and
saying, "Lord I can't but you can." I ask you today to put
down your pride, turn from yourself and your sins and begin
to fully follow the Lord. Live in the holiness of Christ
through the power of the Holy Spirit and watch God use you as
a witness 'til the whole world hears.
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