Satan: Not a Threat

“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.

Very strong, specific language to be talking about a human

Eternal backdrop, cosmic language.

I will ascend to the Heavens

I will set up my throne

I will sit on the mount of gods’ assembly

I will ascend above the highest clouds

I will make myself like the Most High

These 5 things seem distant, but they aren’t. They are remarkably similar to another story about mankind: Tower of Babel ().

They want to ascend to Heaven. They want to be above. They want to be most important. Most High. They want to be like God.

Like God. Who else wanted to be like God? Adam and Eve were deceived by Satan. They were blinded by allowing pride to take root ()

SO, to understand Satan, we need to take a moment to understand all of evil.

Evil

Satan is Evil. Absolutely.

Reference

But, so are our hearts.

REf

If no demon activity ever presented itself in your life, do you think you would still make mistakes? Would you still wander away from God at times?

The reality is that we don’t need anyone’s help to fall on our faces and turn away from God.

Man’s responsibility

Christian responsibility

Notice how Satan is condemned, demons are exorcised, but Christian’s are told to act.

Ref

As Christians, our understanding of demon activity and satanic power is:

All of it has been defeated in Jesus

We are sustainable to attack when our weaknesses in the faith allow it

Breastplate of righteousness having a hole

Grudem

Origin

Satan as the Head

The Activity of Satan and Demons

Satan Originated Sin

Oppose/ Destroy Works of God

Limited by God and Limited Power

Differing stages of Demonic Activity

Jesus

Millennium

Final Judgment

Us and Demons

Demons in the world today

Some Evil, Not All

“Demon Possessions”

Jesus Gives Us Power over Demons

Intro

What in the world does this mean???

Excited because people don’t know.

Concerned because people don’t understand.

Careful because the Bible speaks specifically.

Respectful because the Bible speaks intentionally.

So, lets be all of these things together. How can we do that? Talk about what you know and why.

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Information Placement

You don’t need to necessarily know this information if you don’t know where to put it.

You don’t need to necessarily know this information if you don’t know where to put it. You need to have an understanding of who Satan is, what Satan does, and why Satan does those things for these facts to mean anything.

People focus too much.

Understand who Satan is, what Satan does, and why

Understand God

Understand humans, yourself.

We need a box, with files in it. The files need to be labelled. We need to put them in order, and know why. Then we can start filling them with information that will round it out.

1. Characters

God

He is the Creator. He is the Almighty one. He is Good. He is Love. He created you and me and Heaven and Earth and animals and angels.

He is the Creator. He is the Almighty one. He is Good. He is Love.

He created you and me and Heaven and Earth and animals and angels.

Designed and built to glorify God, bring Him honor with our existence.

But we mess up. We sin. When we sin, we are guilty. And that is where we sit.

Satan

played a role in our mess up. He was guilty first.

He was designed for a similar purpose as us, but left his post to claim that he was greater than God. He tried to ascend, but he fell. When he fell he came to us and we listened.

played a role in that. He was guilty first. He was designed for a similar purpose as us, but left his post to claim that he was greater than God. He tried to ascend, but he fell. When he fell he came to us and we listened. Adam and Eve were deceived because the desires of their hearts. Today, we still fall into the same trap.

Adam and Eve were deceived because the desires of their hearts. Today, we still fall into the same trap.

Jesus

He came here. He came because God loved the world, and we all know the story. He lived perfectly, died and came back to life.

We focus on the coming back to life as connecting directly to His power over Satan and demons. Which isn’t wrong. He is showing that death can’t hold him. The sting of evil is gone. Jesus is in charge.

But the living perfectly is really important here. Jesus was tempted by the Devil. One of the 22 names of Satan is the Tempter. Jesus didn’t sin though. And from that point on, Jesus proved his power over Satan. He had “bound up the strong man” in a way that the Devil had no control.

But the living perfectly is really important here.

Jesus was tempted by the Devil BEFORE His ministry. Power established.

One of the 22 names of Satan is the Tempter. Jesus didn’t sin though.

And from that point on, Jesus proved his power over Satan. He had “bound up the strong man” in a way that the Devil had no control.

When the disciples come back to Jesus he says “I saw Satan fall like a lightning from heaven” ().

I think this is talking about how Jesus had been perfect and not sinned, taking away any power Satan had.

Satan So Far

How Satan and demons operates has changed throughout history.

There were demons and Satan was at work (Job)

It was common for false religions to have their basis as to worship “demons”

Not any exorcisms. Just dealing with it.

Jesus/NT

The NT and Jesus have many examples of demons

Sicknesses, insanity, physical infirmaries, blindness- Not all the time are these caused by demons, but they were some of the time apparently.

Many examples of being cast out.

Today, we are still dealing with this same reality of demonic presence.+Holy Spirit

Millennium

We know how this all ends. God wins.

There will be a time when Satan is locked up and in that 1000 years there will still be sin because of the sin in our hearts.

But, the battle is already over. ()

Satan’s powers

Where does any of this find me and you?

Well, we know the feeling of sin and evil that comes from either our hearts or the hearts of others.

We all have felt guilt, shame, anxiety, fear, hurt

Maybe some of us have kept secrets, hurt others, know what abuse is like, battle thoughts and feelings that are overwhlemingly strong.

That is evil. That is the battle.

That is the battle.

Satanic and demonic powers are not just this, they are more.

Satan’s powers

2. Satan has limited potential

He can influence, hurt, even kill people. But not without allowance from God.

He has the resources of earth, the allegiance of some people on earth.

He could never be God.

3. Satan has limited power

He can’t see the future, he is not all powerful, he is not rightly in control of anything.

He is the King of this world

He is called the prince of the powers of the air, or this earth.

— If you are not with Jesus you are with Satan.

If you are not with Jesus you are with Satan.

He has

He has already been defeated- he is just running out the clock.

Files

Where does any of this find me and you?

Well, we know the feeling of sin and evil that comes from either our hearts or the hearts of others.

It can feel like his power is pretty strong though, right?

We all have felt guilt, shame, anxiety, fear, hurt

Maybe some of us have kept secrets, hurt others, know what abuse is like, battle thoughts and feelings that are overwhelmingly strong.

That is evil. That is the battle.

These may be what demons use to distract and hurt you.

But they may be your own sin raging against the Spirit.

Satanic and demonic powers are not the reason you are separated from God

They will infect the wound you already have and push in on you to try to destroy God’s work

God won’t take “The devil made me do it” as an excuse on judgement day.

Satan So Far

The Bible gives us some info about what to expect

There were demons and Satan was at work (Job)

It was common for false religions to have their basis as to worship “demons”

REF

Jesus/NT

The NT and Jesus have many examples of demons

Sicknesses, insanity, physical infirmaries, blindness- Not all the time are these caused by demons, but they were some of the time apparently.

Today, we are still dealing with this same reality.

Millennium

We know how this all ends. God wins.

There will be a time when Satan is locked up and in that 1000 years there will still be sin because of the sin in our hearts.

But, the battle is already over. ()

Satan and Us

What does any of this mean to me and you?

We could talk about ancient practices and individual circumstances of exorcisms.

I don’t really care what first century Jews thought about demons.

I don’t really care what some people today think about Satan.

(He is powerful or can give special things)

I care what the Bible teaches followers of Jesus to do with the truth it give us.

What do we do now?

When sin and suffering comes the Bible doesn’t say to FIGHT DEMONS it says to OBEY JESUS

Jesus, Peter, and Paul all expelled demons from people but when an issue came up they told people to repent.

Don’t give Satan a foothold. Kill sin. Be holy. Pursue God. Chase righteousness.

They never said “Go rebuke the spirit of laziness” they said “don’t be lazy, work hard”

They never said “fight the demon of anger or lust or bitterness” they said “be slow to anger and quick to forgive, put to death the lustful desires, be compassionate and loving”

While those demons may be very real and actually attacking you- if you are walking in the Spirit and armoring yourself with His protection then you should never fear.

Even if God allows them an affect on you, you can still trust Him. (Job)

Satan has nothing over Christians.

His main tool is deception and this is what he wants to deceive you on

God has defeated the devil through the work of Jesus in the power of the Spirit.

Now, as we live in the Spirit we are free from any fear of Satan and his demons.

Anything demonic we experience when walking in the Spirit can be prayed about and trusted to God as a way to glorify Him better.

CHALLENGE

Foothold/hole- What is the foothold that you allow satan to have? What is the hole in your protection of righteousness?

Power/deceived- Satan doesn’t have power over you. Where have you allowed him to deceive you into thinking he does?

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