SATAN, THE ACCUSER AND ENEMY OF OUR SOUL

SPIRITUAL WARFARE:
SATAN, THE ACCUSER AND ENEMY OF OUR SOUL

Introduction:

• Why would a man gun down four other men, whose vocation it was to dedicate their lives to serving and protecting the defenseless? His own father called him a devil?
• Why would a father murder his seventeen year old daughter in cold blood?
• Why do degenerate men roam playgrounds and public swimming pools where they might gratify their voyeurism and commit unspeakable crimes against innocent children?
• Why do nations go to war?
• Why did the holocaust have to happen?

Does anyone here doubt that evil exists?

Evil is not just a force, it’s not just a psychosis, or a dysfunction- evil is a person; the bible calls him Satan, the devil. Satan is a real person; he occupies time and space and is active in the unfolding of history and of current events.

Today, as we kick off our spiritual warfare emphasis month, I first of all want to look at who the source of that warfare is: he is known variously as the Prince of the Air, the Adversary, the Great Red Dragon, the Lord of the Flies, the old serpent, the Ruler of Darkness, the god of this world, the spirit that works in the children of disobedience, the Tempter, the Father of Lies, the accuser of the brethren, the enemy of our souls…. Satan!

I want us to look at three aspect of this creature: His Dawn- that is his origin; his dominion, and finally his Destiny. This Sunday I will focus on his Dawn and then next Sunday I will look at his dominion and destiny and suggest how we might resist and overcome the fiery darts of Satan.

I. His Dawn
Let us be mindful of the fact that Satan is a created being. He is not the spirit brother of Jesus, he is not eternal, he is not the negative to counterbalance God’s positive, he is not all knowing, he is not all powerful, he is not omnipresent. Too often Christians compliment the devil by assigning to him the attributes of God.

Satan, like all demons is just an angel! A fallen angel.

Angels are popular in our culture aren’t they? We see them every where worshipped… but the cutesy made in China shrink wrapped angels that are commodified for mass consumption are NOT the angels of the bible.

If we were to encounter a real angel in its true form, here today… we would become paralyzed with fear and fall to the ground. And that’s a normal response to a good angel; how much more a demon- who is a fallen angel and evil? I think Hollywood does a better job of accurately portraying the horror of demons than it does angels.

Maybe it’s easier for Hollywood to depict what they know- i.e. demons- as opposed to what they do not- namely angels.

At some point in time or before time, certain angels revolted against God and His loyal angels. They were led by Lucifer, the son of the morning star (Isaiah 14:12) whom we also call Satan. The angels have been battling ever since. And we humans have become hostages of Satan and pawns in that battle. We are his human shields because he knows how much God loves us and that makes Satan hate us even more. He is consumed with hatred for God and for those who are created in his image. We are constant reminders of the father, constant reminders of His love for us.

To appreciate this battle we need to be aware of him who leads the enemy; let’s look first at his dawn, his origin. Turn to Ezekiel 28:12-17.

Isaiah says it this way:
12 "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! 13 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; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' Isaiah 14:12-14

There is a lot of mystery surrounding the origins and fall of Satan, but Ezekiel rolls back the mist just a bit to give us a peek of the dawn and origin of evil.

First of all v. 12, notice that God made Satan to be perfect- he was the “seal of perfection, full of wisdom and beauty.” He was the son of the morning star. This is an act of love.

God did not create the devil in the wicked state that we now find him. Satan exercised his free-will, he chose evil and caused iniquity to be found in him. And because of that he is constrained from ever choosing to do good again. Just as he was once the archetype of beauty, he is now the archetype of evil, his beauty has been eternally disfigured.

Second so that there can be no confusion as to the identity of who is being spoken of here v. 13 places him in the scene of the crime- he was in the garden of Eden, he was the serpent who tempted Eve. In fact he tempted her with the very thing that caused his own fall- he told her she could be like God. Don’t miss that he meant to cause our fall.

Third, I don’t know if this means anything, it’s certainly not an indictment against music or musicians; but Satan was a worship leader. In fact, he led the worship of God- that was God’s purpose in creating Him. I think that Satan uses his musical ability to his own ends even to this day- just watch MTV.

They say that “when Satan fell he landed in the choir.” I think that the wars over worship style have less to do with style and more to do with pride which is the chief tool that Satan uses to divide churches.

Finally, (v. 15) he was perfect in all his ways until iniquity was found in him. What was that iniquity? P-R-I-D-E. Verse 17 says that his heart was lifted up because of his beauty. In other words, he looked in the mirror one day and said, “Everyone come see how good I look!” And some of the angels came and looked and were captivated by him.

Satan says to himself in Isaiah 14, “I will ascend to heaven and I will establish my throne above God.” O Boy this guy had a huge ego problem, but we find people today who try to set themselves over God. Some people claim to be God, or they make gods out of ordinary things. The whole New Age movement has replaced God as the center of all things spiritual and enthroned man and sometimes animals or trees. Satan is the originator of that doctrine.

Professing to be wise Satan… and mankind after him, have become fools; they’ve exchanged the truth for a lie… worshipped created things over the creator. That is how insidious and how pervasive Satan’s fall has been on creation and mankind. His rebellion is ultimately the root of all human suffering, every murder, every rape, every war, every tsunami, every holocaust, every plague, and every disease that has ensued. And for the most part, mankind has readily been his eager pawns in the battle against good.

That puts the Cross into clearer perspective doesn’t it? Jesus emptied himself and became a man- not an angel- he died for the sins of men, not of Satan, there is no redemption for Satan and demons, no atonement for their sins to be made and so they wage their cruel war on the backs of human misery and affliction doing everything in their power prevent the gospel from having its effect on the souls of men and women.

There we have it, the dawn of Satan, the origins of evil wrapped up in the conceit of one petty being who considered himself to be greater than God because of his beauty, which could only ever have been a reflection of the greater beauty of God.

But, as they say, pride comes before fall. Pride is the beginning of sin and evil. Pride is the reason that people love money, that they will kill just to possess it. Pride is the reason that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit; it’s the reason that Cane killed Abel, it’s the reason that men try to build towers to heaven and to ascend on man made religion that exalts self rather than the religion of Jesus that denies self.

Your pride is Satan’s foot in the door to your life. When the bible talks about mortifying the flesh it means putting an end to our pride- putting it to death- crucifying our arrogant selfishness. If we are going to have victory over Satan in Gateway we need to swallow our prides and repent and learn to walk in humility.

Satan is a loser. If you want to be a loser, be proud and follow him. But sooner or later it will back fire on you. It will lead to misery.

Otherwise, renounce him, confess that you are a sinner and prone to do evil, prone to pride. Ask God to open the eyes of your heart, to give understanding of Spiritual things. Ask him to forgive you, to give you his Holy Spirit and to set you free from pride and Satan’s rule over your life. “The Truth shall set you free;” and “where the Sprit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”