Thank you, Juanita. That was lovely. I don't
know where he came up with that setting, but
we appreciate it. Hope you can find it again.
What are those, bells? Is that what those are?
What do you call that? Oh, it's just magic. Is
that it? Tonight we're going to continue the
series on our adversary, the devil. Last week
we saw in the Word of God that the devil is personal.
He is not an influence or a force only, but that
he is a personal being who has intelligence,
emotions, and will. We have seen that he is very
active in the world. He is not silent, he is
not impotent, but in fact is very involved in
all the affairs of the world around us, and he
is involved in our lives. We saw, too, regarding
the devil's origin, that he is of that type of
angelic creature that is called cherubim. He
is a cherub. He is called the anointed cherub
originally, and we saw that he was apparently
created for the purpose of guarding or covering
the very throne of God. But pride entered into
his heart, and he desired to be God himself.
And as a result of that pride, he was banished
from heaven and became not some beautiful angelic
creature, but became a beast, even a devouring,
roaring lion that walks about and stalks believers
on the earth, according to 1 Peter chapter 5.
Tonight we want to talk about the nature of this
beast. Before we do that, though, I think it
might be helpful if we quickly note five contrasts
between him and God. Sometimes I wonder if we
don't picture the devil and God as being rather
equal and in a wrestling match, so to speak,
and it's yet undetermined as to who is going
to win. Nothing could be further from the truth.
There are five distinct contrasts that I want
to point out between the devil and God. The first
place, the devil is created. God is the creator.
And so his power is infinitely more than this
created being that we call the devil. He is a
created spirit. The second contrast I want to
point out follows after that. He is a spirit.
In other words, he does not have a body of flesh
and bone as we have. Jesus describes spirit as
being that, Luke 24, 39. So he is a spirit, but
he is not omnipresent as God is. In other words,
he can only be in one place at one time, whereas
God is everywhere present constantly. You say,
but how does the devil then get around to tempt
everybody so quick? In fact, how do two people
experience temptation at the same time if the
devil can only be one place at one time? Well,
that's because the devil has a host of angelic
beings that fell with him called demons. We're
going to talk about those on one Sunday night
coming up soon. And it is through them that most
of us face temptation. As a matter of fact, I
would... conjecture that most of us, indeed I
would say all of us, have never experienced temptation
directly of the devil. Rather, the temptations
that we face, the difficulties that we face,
come from some of the beings that are of lesser
power in his governmental structure in the realm
of darkness. Satan himself can only be one place
at a time, and so therefore I'm sure that he
must reserve himself for those particularly important
or powerful people in the world that he may influence.
So he is a spirit, but he is not omnipresent.
That's a second contrast between him and God.
Third, he is very powerful. In Jude 6, we see,
in fact, that he is so powerful that Michael,
the archangel, would not directly rail against
him, but rather invoke the Lord's name and said,
The Lord rebuke you. And so he is very powerful,
but he is not omnipotent. All powerful as God
is. All power is God's. Satan has the power that
has been given him by his creator, God. A fourth
contrast is this, that he has great knowledge.
Now he has that because of his being in the spirit
world, but also because of his... now thousands
of years of experience in dealing with mankind.
He is very knowledgeable, but he is not omniscient.
He does not have all knowledge. Only God has
that. For example, Satan does not know the future,
except to the extent that any of us may know
the future, for only God knows what will happen.
He is able to read the Bible. He knows the revelation
of God, as you and I know it, are able to read
it. And he has knowledge of the future only to
that extent, and to the extent that he himself
has a plan, a course for this age to follow.
But he does not know the actual events that will
take place beyond what God, who is omniscient,
has already revealed. And then a fifth contrast
is that he is, in fact, a ruler, and he is called
the prince. of this world, the prince of the
power of the air. He is a ruler, but he is not
sovereign. He is not sovereign. He is chained
to the limitations of God's purpose. God has
established the boundary for him, and beyond
that he may not go. Within that sphere that God
has assigned him, he is a ruler. and is able
to express his rule, his government. But he is
limited to what God has assigned to him. He is
not sovereign as God is. So we are dealing with
a limited creature as to his activities and his
abilities. But our thinking tonight regards his
nature. What characterizes the devil as to his
essential disposition? What kind of a being is
he anyway? I want to answer that question by
three characteristics of the devil. It is important
to understand the nature of this angelic beast
that we battle. For only as we understand his
nature can we then discern his true motives and
goals in our lives. So it's important for us
to understand something about his nature. Number
one. He is a murderer. Turn with me to the Gospel
of John, chapter 8. We have here the words of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is speaking to the
religious leaders of the Jews who, knowing who
he was, nonetheless rejected him. And for that,
he sharply denounces them. Now, in verse 44,
he says, and we're breaking into the middle of
the conversation here, you are of your father,
the devil, and you want to do the desires of
your father. Now, what did they want to do with
Jesus? What desire did they have? That's the
question. Well, he goes on to explain. He was
a murderer from the beginning. In other words,
what they really wanted to do was to murder Jesus.
And we see this clearly later in the Gospel of
John, that they sought how they might put him
to death. Murder was in their hearts, and Jesus
said to them, You are thus showing the characteristics
of your spiritual father, the devil, because
he is a murderer. Through temptation, Satan made
death the experience of our parents, Adam and
Eve. and the experience of us, their children.
Although it was Adam, for sure, who was responsible
for sin, nonetheless, it was Satan who was the
channel by which temptation came and sin entered,
and that was followed by God's judgment of death.
It was Satan who instigated the first murder,
and that, of course, was the murder of Abel.
by his brother Cain. Now we don't have that said,
that Satan was involved in that back in the book
of Genesis. But if you turn to the other end
of the Bible, to 1 John chapter 3, we see this
implicated. 1 John chapter 3, verse 11. For this
is the message which you have heard from the
beginning, that we should love one another, not
as Cain. who was of the evil one and slew his
brother. And so Cain found his life source in
the evil one. And it was as the evil one put
the thought in his mind that he decided to murder
his brother. A murderer. And down through the
years, he has persistently proved that to be
true. A couple of examples. In the first place,
he has sought time and time again to murder the
Jew as a nation. He sought to do that through
Pharaoh in ancient Egypt. It was his desire to
destroy the nation of the Jews. Of course, he
failed. Again, we see it in biblical history
in the person of Haman. in fourth century Persia,
when he devised a plot by which all of the Jews
in Persia would be destroyed and killed. And
yet through the valor of Esther and her uncle
Mordecai, the nation was not only saved, but
obtained a great victory in the name of God.
We have modern examples of Satan working to destroy
the Jew, including Hitler. of the generation
of some of us. And we see the same thoughts expressed
today in people like Gaddafi in Libya, who I
personally believe is, if he's not insane, is
a demon -possessed man. He desires to destroy
the Jew, and he, along with many of his Arab
brothers, desire the same thing. They're simply
expressing... what is in Satan's heart for the
destruction of the Jewish people. He desires
to murder the Jew. But more specifically, Satan,
as another example, sought to kill the Lord Jesus
Christ, not just because he was a Jew, but because
he was the Jewish Messiah. Turn to the book of
Matthew, chapter 2, and we see this familiar
story of King Herod. It was in Herod's heart.
that the babies in Bethlehem should be destroyed.
Verse 16. Then when Herod saw that he had been
tricked by the Magi, he became very enraged and
sent and slew all the male children who were
in Bethlehem and in all its environs from two
years old and under. according to the time which
he had ascertained from the Magi. Then that which
was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled,
and Jeremiah prophesied the women of Ramah weeping
because their children were no more. We see Herod
carrying out here what Satan desired to do, and
that was to destroy the Lord Jesus Christ. If
you turn to the Gospel of Mark, we see another
example. And again, Satan is not directly mentioned,
but he's implicated in what is said. Mark chapter
4, verse 35. And on that day when evening had
come, he said to them, his disciples, let us
go over to the other side. And leaving the multitude,
they took him along with them just as he was
in the boat. And other boats were with him. And
there arose a fierce gale of wind. And the waves
were breaking over the boat so much that the
boat was already filling up, and he himself was
in the stern, asleep on the cushion. That's quite
a picture, isn't it? In the midst of the storm,
Jesus slept. Of exhaustion, humanly, yes, but
as well because he was resting in the promises
of his heavenly Father. in his safekeeping. I
don't know what your storm may be tonight, but
you too can rest comfortably in the hands of
your heavenly Father. But it goes on to say,
They awoke him and said to him, Teacher, don't
you care that we're perishing? And being aroused,
he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Hush,
be still. And the wind died down and it became
perfectly calm. It is true the storms... still
arise quickly on the Sea of Galilee because of
coming off of Mount Hermon to the north. And
that is undoubtedly what happened on that evening.
And yet the language here suggests that there's
something more than the average storm that came
upon that sea. And Jesus, in speaking, spoke
to the wind and to the sea and said, Be silent,
be muzzled. That's literally what he says. Be
silent. Bemuzzled. And it says that he rebuked
the wind. He rebuked the wind? Why did he do
that? Well, it's suggested that it's because
this storm was of satanic origin. Satan was involved
in this storm, whipping it up in order to attempt
a destruction of Jesus. And yet Jesus rebuked
the wind. And Satan, who was involved behind
the scenes, and said, be silent, be muzzled.
And that term, be muzzled, is what you would
say to a fierce beast or to a dog, perhaps. Be
muzzled is to slip something over the mouth so
it's unable to bite. And so that's what Jesus
did in that case to his enemy. And so Satan sought
to kill the Lord Jesus Christ. He sought on several
other occasions to do the same thing. According
to Hebrews chapter 2, there is some sense in
which Satan exercised the power of death. And
the reason that Jesus came into the world and
identified with us in our flesh and blood was
so that he might render inoperative Satan in
his employment of the power of death. I don't
take that to mean that Satan could, of his own
volition, take the life of anyone he wanted to,
but Satan was in some sense able to employ the
power of death. But Jesus came and took that
power from him. Since our enemy is the fountainhead
of all murder, needless to say, we ought to avoid
any association with it. You say, well, I mean,
there's nothing easier for me than to say that
I've avoided murder. Well, is that so? Turn over
to 1 John 3, verse 15 a moment. Sal, I've never
killed anybody. I mean, I felt like it. Ah, is
that right? In 1 John 3, 15, it says, everyone
who hates his brother is a, what? Is a murderer.
My friend, you do not have to take out a gun
and pull the trigger to be a murderer. You don't
have to take a knife and stab someone to kill
another person. The Bible says that if you as
a Christian hate your brother, you have murdered
him. You are guilty of murder before God. Thus
will you see with me tonight the terrible sin
of hatred in our lives. When we allow that terrible
malignity toward another person to fester and
build up and become hatred. That is murder. And
it's of the devil. He is a murderer and has been
from the beginning. You say, well, that's not
my problem. I don't hate anybody. Well, then
turn back to Proverbs chapter 18 a moment. Let
me show you another verse. Proverbs chapter 18
and verse 21. are in the power of the tongue.
And those who love it will eat its fruit. You
know what he's saying here? With your tongue,
you can either build up another person and give
them life, or you can kill them by your gossip.
In other words, gossip is murdering another person's
reputation. You can't hurt his character, but
you can destroy his reputation. And so if any
of us are involved in the sin of gossip, that
is the same as murder as far as God is concerned.
That is using the power of the tongue for death
to kill. And he warns, look, he warns that those
who exercise it that way will eat its fruit.
It will come back. It will come back and get
you. Gossip is of the devil, and it's one way
that we murder. God forbid that we should be
involved in that heinous sin. In whatever form
it takes, however cleverly we may disguise our
little remarks or our passing along of some information,
God help us to stay away from gossip. You say,
well, I've never been a gossip. I've never hated
anybody. Well, turn with me to Matthew chapter
5. We don't want to stop yet. If we haven't gotten
you yet, we might get you now. Matthew 5, verse
20. Jesus says, I say to you that unless your
righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and
Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of
heaven. In order to enter the kingdom of heaven,
our righteousness has to surpass that of the
scribes and Pharisees. What kind of righteousness
did they have? An external righteousness. A righteousness
that was outside of themselves, one that they
could build up and pretend. Hypocrisy. The point
Jesus is making is this, that if we're going
to enter the kingdom of heaven, there has to
be true righteousness, inner righteousness. And
so he goes on to talk about that. He says, you've
heard that the ancients were told, you shall
not commit murder. And whoever commits murder
shall be liable to the court. We say, I've never
committed murder. But Jesus says, everyone who
is angry with his brother shall be guilty before
the court. Whoever shall say to his brother,
Racha, shall be guilty before the Supreme Court.
The word Racha was a term of derision. We might
say today, empty -headed. You stupid idiot. That
kind of talk, when aimed at a person, is murdering
them because it comes out of anger. He goes on
to say, and whoever shall say, you fool, shall
be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell in
the Gehenna. Now, the Bible calls some people
fools. There are legitimate fools. The point
here is that when we use that as a term, In anger,
to strike out at someone, that is a weapon that
commits murder. So with the tongue, dear people,
we can't commit murder. And with a heart of anger,
we murder. And with hatred, we murder. Therefore,
let us eschew murder, because Satan is the source
of it. Let me move ahead to a second characteristic
of our enemy. The nature of this beast is not
only that he is a murderer, but let's go back
to John chapter 8, verse 44, and finish the verse,
and we'll see as well that he is a liar. Jesus
said he was a murderer from the beginning and
does not stand in the truth because there is
no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, literally
it says the lie, he speaks from his own nature,
for he is a liar and the father of lies. And
so we see that Satan is a liar. He is never truthful.
Satan is a deceiver. Mark this in your mind,
that whereas Satan gets his thousands, by the
outright worship of evil, for example, in the
occult. He claims his millions through the deceitful
lies of good works, religion, and humanistic
philosophy, etc., etc., etc. He does his greatest
work in the lie, in convincing people that if
they're sincere enough, whatever they believe,
they'll go to heaven. And convincing them that
they can pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.
That there is a spark of divineness, of divinity
or good in all of us, which if fanned will enable
us to be like God. And on and on it goes. In
the jargon of liberal theology and humanistic
philosophy, Satan's lies. For every person who
goes to hell because he's worshipped the occult,
the outright worship of evil. There are thousands
upon thousands who go to hell because they've
been deceived by Satan's lies, his religious
lies. Some of his lies are encapsulated in the
event of Genesis chapter 3 where we see him lying.
In fact, it would be good for us to go back there
and just quickly look at this. We're not going
to spend any time here. But it says in Genesis
3, 1, Now the serpent was more crafty than any
beast of the field which the Lord God had made.
Notice that he was crafty. Not necessarily a
bad thought here at that point. It means he was
clever. And he, the serpent, said to the woman,
Indeed, has God said you shall not eat from any
tree of the garden? Now we know that that was
Satan speaking through the serpent. I want you
to notice here the beginning of Satan's lying
to mankind. It's not an outright lie at this
point. Rather, it is a tantalizing suggestion
that God is not really being good to you. God
is being too restrictive for you. God is holding
back something that you really have a right to
experience. He says, indeed, has God said you
shall not eat from any tree of the garden? Actually,
God had not said that at all, had he? Back in
chapter 2, verse 16, the Lord God commanded the
man, saying, from any tree of the garden you
may eat freely. But from the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil you shall not eat. So God had
actually been very liberal and generous and said,
take it all, but just stay away from that one
tree. And Satan comes and reverses and says,
God isn't letting you eat from anything in the
garden? Any of those trees? Indeed. Well, the
woman responds to him. And then Satan, in verse
4, makes another statement to the woman. You
surely shall not die. Now there, my friend, is
an outright lie. Not a tantalizing suggestion
of God withholding something, but a clear contradiction
of what God had said. What Satan is really saying
here is that God is wrong. He is in error. You
will not die. That is a lie. And then again in
verse 5, he says, For God knows. that in the
day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened,
and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
And so here he espouses the lie that man can
throw off God, and not only that, can actually
become his own deity. And my friend, right here,
right here we have the seed of humanism. This
is it. Humanism, though it is a new... philosophy
to some people, has been around since our forefathers
in the Garden of Eden. That is that man can be
as God and can be worshipped, can worship himself.
So Satan is a liar. He always has been. He always
will be. He will never, ever tell the truth.
Even when he quotes Scripture, as he did to the
Lord Jesus Christ, he did not quote it accurately,
did he? Now, we have a number of New Testament
warnings regarding his lies. Let's just look
at two or three of them. One is found in 1 Timothy
chapter 4. Oh, this is something. Boy, does it
speak to our day. But the Spirit explicitly says,
1 Timothy 4 .1, that in later times some will
fall away, apostatize from the faith, paying
attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines
of demons by means of the hypocrisy of liars,
seared in their own conscience. In other words,
behind the false teaching and the cults and all
the isms that seem to be exploding in our day.
There is satanic activity. There are demons involved
who are promulgating these false ideas and religions.
In some cases, outright falsehood with nothing
in relation to the truth of God. Perhaps the
most dangerous demonic doctrines are those that
take a little bit of the truth and then mix with
it the error of Satan. So that we have the so
-called Christian cults of Mormonism, Jehovah's
Witness, Seventh -day Adventism, and on it goes.
So that we have a mixture of some things from
the Bible and some things that are of Satan.
We are to be aware of this fact that in the last
days there will be this explosion. The Word of
God, the Spirit explicitly says that this will
take place. Now you say, but some of these things
sound so good. Listen, you can turn on your television
and you can see some very powerful, charismatic
type personalities which use flowing... gracious,
lovely words, but which actually either say nothing
or which subtly teach error. 2 Corinthians chapter
11 warns us regarding Satan and his apostles
that they can appear to be angels of light. Verse
13, 2 Corinthians 11. For such men are false
apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves
as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even
Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
Therefore, it is not surprising. if his servants
also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness,
whose end shall be according to their deeds.
And so don't be surprised when Reverend Dr. So
-and -so stands up on television and espouses
this certain line, which is a mixture of truth
and falsehood, or perhaps outright falsehood,
and does it in the name of his church or some
denomination. Don't be surprised at that, because
God tells us that even Satan is able to appear
as an angel of light, a being of beauty to attract.
He is able to express himself in a manner that
is contrary to his true nature. When you see
a picture, or I should say a depiction of Satan,
what do you usually see? You see him. Ugly, distorted
kind of being, maybe with that long tail and
hooves, horns on his head, terrible grimace on
his face. Not the kind of a person that you'd
ever want to have anything to do with. Believe
me, Satan never appears that way. He's much too
clever for that. Rather, he comes as a beautiful
angel of light. It is in contradiction of what
he really is. He's a liar, he's darkness, but
he comes appearing that way in order to ensnare
the souls of men. And so do his teachers. And
someday this is all going to come to a head in
the person of Antichrist and his partner that
the Bible calls the false prophet. It will be
amazing, I'm sure, in that day, and I don't expect
to be around to watch it because I expect the
rapture to occur before the tribulation. But
it will be amazing, I'm sure, to see all of the
people who in the name of Christianity in that
day will follow after Antichrist. And you know
why? Because they're going to look and they're
going to see, well, in the first place, he's
going to claim to be the Christ. He's going to
say he is. Well, now, if he says it, it must
be true, huh? But not only that, he has miracles
to show. And he is able to do these great signs
and wonders, proving that he is the Christ. You
say, well, now, where do you get all that? Well,
I get it from 2 Thessalonians 2, where the apostle
talks about the coming of this one that he calls
the lawless one. 2 Thessalonians 2. He says,
then that lawless one will be revealed whom the
Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth and
bring to an end by the appearance of his coming,
that is, the one whose coming is in accord with
the activity of Satan, with all power and signs
and false wonders. Do you notice that? He comes
in accord with the activity of Satan, not the
Holy Spirit. and with all power and signs and
false wonders, and with all the deception of
wickedness for those who are perishing. My friend,
just because you see a miracle or an apparent
miracle, do not automatically assume, therefore,
this is of God, because Satan is a miracle worker
too. And when he brings on that... final puppet
of his, Antichrist, there are going to be so
many miracles and wonders and signs that the
whole of the world will follow after him and
proclaim, in fact, that he is God come in the
flesh. And it'll all be a lie. Satan's masterpiece
of deceit. So he's a liar. Our time is gone.
We don't have time to get to point number three.
Perhaps we will be able to take that up the next
time we meet as we talk about the nature of the
beast that we battle. One time, Martin Luther,
who wrote the hymn we began with tonight, was
asked how he overcame the devil. Well, he said,
when he comes knocking upon the door of my heart
and asks who lives here, The dear Lord Jesus
goes to the door and says, Martin Luther used
to live here, but he's moved out now, and I live
here. And the devil, seeing the nail prints in
his hands and the pierced side, takes flight
immediately. Well, that was Martin Luther's answer.
You and I battle a fiend, a beast of a personality,
who is a murderer and a liar. that we do not
have to fear him. We should respect his power
and be cautious of him, but we do not have to
be afraid of him, because greater is he who is
in us than he who is in the world. We sang that
chorus last week, but tonight I'd like for us
to sing the chorus of 457. It's too bad Mel Johnson
isn't here tonight to lead this. We are more
than conquerors through him. that loved us so.
That is his theme song on Tips for Teens. But
in his absence, I'll have to do it. 457. Let's
stand together and sing, shall we? We are more
than conquerors through him who loves us. Sing
it together. We are more than conquerors. Through
him that loved us all The Christ who lives within
us Is the greatest power we know He will fight
beside us Though the enemy be great Who can stand
against us He's the captain of... Father, because
our enemy is characterized by murder and lies,
we would avoid any association with hatred, anger,
and gossip, with deceit, hypocrisy, and lying.
We pray that wherein we may be like him. that
you will immediately bring that area of our lives
under the spotlight of your holiness so that
we may give no foothold to the enemy. And I pray,
Father, that we may rather be characterized in
our lives by love, genuine, holy love, and by
truth, by truth. To that end, I pray that you
will arm us as we battle against this beast.
And we pray that this week in our lives and through
our lives, the Lord Jesus Christ will be glorified.
For he is the one who is our conqueror, and in
him the victory is already ours. We thank you
for that. Amen.