Jan
18
Written by:
Dr. Bill Bennett
1/18/2012 10:39 AM
There is no more intriguing and beneficial study in my judgment than the History of Satan. In a day when many people deny the existence of Satan and others do not realize that he is much more than a “Pitchfork and a Pointy Tail,” the truth about Satan is especially needed. So please note with me seven Great Stages in the Life of Satan:
1. Satan: Pop Culture Image of Satan. It happens every Halloween. If you live in a community where there are children, you get trick or treaters dressed as witches, super heroes, demons and devils. The latter are outfitted with horns, a pointy tail, a pitchfork, and even red skin at times. This is pop culture’s most prevalent visual image.
2. Satan: His Original State - A glorious heavenly being of indescribable beauty, wisdom, music, etc. Let God speak in His Word: Ezek. 28:12-15, “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.”
a. Model of perfection
b. Full of wisdom
c. Full of beauty
d. Adored in Garden of Eden
e. Anointed as guarded cherub
f. Ordained by God
g. Walked among fiery stones
h. Blameless in his ways.
Isaiah 14 -
a. Wonderful music flowed from Satan.
b. Blessed with perfect beauty
c. Like the arch-angel
d. Wisdom whether to love or not love God
e. The angel was not only magnificent, but very important. He walked on the holy mountain with God.
3. Satan: His Fall from Heaven. Isaiah explains the motives behind Satan’s disobedience before God kicked him out of heaven. Isaiah 14:12-15, ““ How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘ I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.”
a. I will ascend into heaven
b. Exalt my throne above the stars
c. I will sit alone on the mountain of the congregation,
d. Will ascend to heights of the clouds
e. I WILL BE LIKE THE MOST HIGH. God’s punishment: “Thou shalt be brought to hell, to the sides of the pit.” (Isaiah 14:17)
A similar description of this fall is found in Ezek. 28:16-17, “In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and the guardian cherub drove you out from the midst of the stones of fire.
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.”
4. Satan: Our Deadly Adversary:
a. Zech. 3:1-2
b. Jesus - John 10:10
c. 1 Peter 5:8
d. Ephes. 6:12
e. 2 Cor. 11:4
5. Satan - Defeated in Life of Obedient Believer in The Present.
a. 1 John 3:8
b. 1 John 4:4b
c. Rev. 12:11
d. Ephes. 6:12ff
e. Defeated only by the right word to answer his accusations (Matthew 4:4; Deut. 8:3; 6:16, 13).
f. James 4:7 Luther, “I often laugh at Satan, and there is nothing which makes him so angry as when I attack him to his face, and tell him that through God (His Word) I am more than a match for him.
g. Luther’s famous hymn was written to proclaim victory over Satan and it says “ONE LITTLE WORD WILL FELL HIM” (dethrone) What did he mean?
6. Satan’s Ultimate Doom in The Future
a. First prophesized by God Himself speaking to the devil (Gen. 3:15
b. Col. 2;15
c. Cast into the bottomless pit 1000 years (Rev. 20:2)
d. Confined to the lake of fire for all eternity (Rev. 20:10).
7. TWO GREAT ERRORS TO AVOID REGARDING SATAN
a. To disbelieve his existence
b. To believe he has the power and will exert it to defeat you. In his renowned book, The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis says, “There are ERRORS into which our race can fall about the devil: One is to disbelieve he exists, two, to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in him.”
Questions and Answers:
1. Before the lesson today, what was your concept of Satan?
2. Do you really believe there is a personal devil?
3. Why do you believe this?
4. Has the devil ever assaulted you? If so, how?
5. Was Jesus assaulted by the devil and did He conquer him? How?
6. If Jesus conquered the devil by quoting the Word verbatim, do you believe we must use the same weapon of the word as it is written in the Bible to defeat him?
7. What would you say to a good Christian brother, who really loves Jesus and feels called to a special ministry, if he said to you, “Bill, the devil has been giving me and my wife a fit in recent days?”
8. Evangelist Billy Sunday used to look down and point down as he preached and hung over the banister in the pulpit and preach to Satan in hell. Was he Scriptural?
9. Simon Peter wrote, “Be sober and vigilant for your adversary the devil is walking about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour?” (1 Peter 5:8).
a. Was this statement by Peter autobiographical?
b. Is Satan always like a roaring lion or “an angel of light”? (2 Cor. 11:14).
10. Is it true that “The devil goes on every vacation, but he never takes one himself.”
11. Flip Wilson used to say, “The devil made me do it.” Does the devil make us do anything?
12. I visited a young lady who killed her baby. When I asked her why, she replied, “O I guess the old devil had me do it?” Did he?
13. Is this a good statement: “When the devil reminds you of your past, remind him of his future?”
14. Can you quote a verse of Scripture to Satan to show his horrible future?
15. The King James Version never uses the word “demon,” but the word “devils.” Example: James 2:19, “The devils believe and tremble.” The word translated “devils” is the Greek word daimonia, which means “demons.”
a. Why is it wrong to use the word devils in the plural?
b. Why did the King James translators use the word “devils” when there is only one devil? Because they believed that “demons” were little devils. Were they correct?
16. Why does the devil need “demons” as helpers?
17. Are the “demons” to the devil what the Holy Spirit is to Jesus?
18. Do you know a friend whom the devil is beating up?
19. If so, what should you say to him?
20. Before this lesson, were you permitting the devil to overcome you?
21. If so, will you begin to internalize God’s Word so you will have the weapon to defeat Him?
22. What happens if you marry a child of the devil?
Joke: What did the man in church say to the devil when he came at him with a pitchfork?
Painfully Personal:
1. If you are saved and the devil tells you are not, would be able to answer him with a definite Scripture?
2. How would you answer him, if he said, it is God’s will for me to marry my 25 year old secretary and ditch my 50 year old wife, and mother of my children?
3. Satan, “You’re too busy to pray and internalize the Word and God will understand.” Your reply.
4. Satan, “Pornography does not hurt anyone.” What would you say?
DID YOU KNOW THAT ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MINISTRIES OF MMM IS TO SHOW MEN HOW TO DEFEAT THE DEVIL?
James L. Garlow with Keith Wall, Heaven and the Afterlife, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Bethany House Publishers, 2009, p. 112.