“13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
(awaiting revision)
Some lions develop a taste for human flesh. In 1898, two such lions hunted railway workers in Kenya. Some say these two lions, named “The Ghost” and “The Darkness”, killed as many as 35 people. Others say they killed 135.
Imagine that one of these man-killers found his way into Fellowship Village. The residents hear strange knocking sounds at night. The maintenance man tries to find the source of the knocking, but everything seems to be in fine working order. Then one morning all the residents, except for one, are woken by the blood curdling scream of a young woman. She has gone in to check on a resident who will never wake up again.
If you are born of the Spirit, such a situation shouldn’t sound strange to you. “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
The administration of Fellowship Village would doubtlessly take that lion very seriously. They would call the police when they found that poor woman’s body. The sad fact is that the world does not take a prowling lion seriously. Even as we see men, women, and children devoured by Satan on a daily basis, the world goes on as if nothing is amiss. The world is the hunting ground of Satan and the world finds nothing strange about this situation.
The devil will have you unless Jesus does. That is the claim of this sermon: the devil will have you unless Jesus does.
We will see this in two points. First: the works of the devil. Second: Christ’s counter-attack. First: the works of the devil. Second: Christ’s counter-attack.
First: the devil. Before we study the temptations of the devil next week, we need to come to terms with the reality of the devil, or, “the evil one,” as Jesus calls him in verse 13.
Charles Baudelaire is right, “The devil’s finest trick is to persuade you that he does not exist.” Do you believe the devil exists? Now you might know the Scriptures, you might be able to tell me that the devil first shows up in Genesis 3 to deceive Eve, that he tried to pressure Job into denying God, that he tempted Jesus in the wilderness, and that he is pictured as a dragon in the book of Revelation. You can know all that and still live as if the devil didn’t exist.
If you are a Christian, when is the last time you took Satan seriously? If all your thoughts were transcribed, how far back would someone have to go to find a reference to the devil? When was the last time you wondered if Satan had anything to do with your life? When was the last time you wondered if Satan had anything to do with what you see on the news? Do you live your life with little to no awareness of the demonic? “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
Andrew Delbanco doesn’t believe there is a God, but he wishes that people took Satan seriously. Delbanco is a professor of humanities at Columbia University. His 1996 book, The Death of Satan: How Americans Have Lost the Sense of Evil,laments our nation’s indifference to the devil.
Delbanco spoke about this topic very publicly on September 12, 2001, the day after 9/11. Journalist Bill Moyers asked Delbanco if he believed in evil. Delbanco responded, “I don’t see how anyone can have experienced even indirectly as you and I sitting here have the events of the last day and not take seriously the existence of evil. One of the things that a number of writers have said about the devil — some people believe in him as a literal being, some people believe in him as a metaphor or an image or a representation of these dark, human capacities — one thing that a number of writers have said is that the cleverest trick of the devil is to convince people that he does not exist. We saw evil yesterday. We have to confront it. We have to face it.”
Moyers asked him if 9/11 might shock Americans back into believing in evil. Delbanco answered, “We don’t want to acknowledge it. We want to explain it away. We want to find extenuation for it. In a modern world we mostly live in a place where the terrible suffering of the world seems far away-abstract and unreal and we can somehow imagine that it hasn’t anything to do with us. It came home yesterday. I think a lot of people in this city and in this country are searching their souls.”
Delbanco is not a Christian. He has no religious convictions. He made that clear when he wrote that, “[religious] belief is really not an option for thinking people today.” And yet he thinks the nation would be very wise to take the devil very seriously. The handiwork of the devil is obvious to a man who will not allow himself to believe in the devil. That is part of the modern mindset. It starts by saying what it will not believe regardless of the evidence. ‘There cannot be a God and therefore there is no evidence for God. Miracles cannot happen and therefore they do not happen. The church is a merely human institution and therefore there is nothing good there that I can’t find elsewhere.’ They start by declaring their assumptions and then examine the evidence.
There is plenty of evidence for the devil in this world. If you refuse to acknowledge the demonic, make sense of the evil that exists in this world. I would love to hear your explanation of the caste system in India without reference to the demonic. Explain to me why a Hindu mother allows her daughter to die rather than take her to the doctor just because the doctor belongs to a lower caste. Or make sense of why the population of this nation is indifferent to the fact that human beings are trafficked as sex slaves at the truck stations where you and I stop to eat. Make sense of why it is so hard to convince people that Jesus is glorious, that obeying his commandments is life-giving, and that sin is madness. The handiwork of Satan is not hard to find if you look.
I hope you agree that Satan exists, but the idea of a literal being of evil is not unique to Christianity. Muslims believe in such a figure. Buddhists believe in an evil one. Satanists have their own doctrines of Satan. So, you believe Satan exists. What do you believe about him?
Do you believe what the Bible tells you about Satan? If so, why? Why do you believe what the Bible tells you about Satan as opposed to what the Buddhist sutras tell you about the evil one? Why do you believe what the Bible tells you about Satan instead of what a Satanist would tell you about Satan?
What I am trying to ask is, ‘do you believe any of this is real or do you just think you believe this because you haven’t heard anything else yet?’ Are you a Christian because you think know this is real or are you a Christian simply because you grew up this way? If you grew up Buddhist, do think you could understand the evil one by reading their Scriptures? They disagree with what the Bible says about Satan. Who is right? If you think Satan is real, you will care about the answer to that question. If you don’t care if Satan is real, you won’t care about the answer to that question. If you don’t think any of this is real, you can listen to what I am saying with interest or disinterest and go home happy that you’ve done your Sunday duty. If that is you, I beg you to wake up. God is speaking to you. His Son tells you to pray because you might be devoured by Satan.
So, who is Satan? Imagine that you just found out that someone is actively seeking your destruction, which Satan is. I imagine that you would want all the information you could get on that enemy. Here are three truths about the enemy of your soul.
First, Satan was an angel. That means he has limited power. God is all powerful. Satan is not. God is all knowing. Satan is not. God knows the future. Satan does not. God knows your thoughts. We have no reason to believe that Satan does. No one created God. Satan was created. God brought him into this life and He will bring him out of it.
Second, Satan is a fallen angel. God created him sinless, but Satan chose to sin. He is the father of sin just as he is the father of lies. Sin came from somewhere. It came from Satan.
God didn’t create Satan defective. Satan made himself that way. Many scholars think Isaiah described the story in chapter 14, ‘You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God…” But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.’
Peter reminds us that there was angelic rebellion in heaven and God damned the guilty angels; “God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell.” Satan is the head of these angels whom are now called demons.
You might find this talk of the demonic troubling, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. We live in a very materialist age, meaning that people find it hard to believe in what they cannot see. If you doubt the demonic, explain to me what motivates a man to strap an explosive to a little girl for a terrorist attack on an unsuspecting restaurant? Do you think you can account for that by looking at that man’s philosophy and politics? Don’t be naïve. “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
First, Satan was an angel. Second, Satan is a fallen angel. Third, Satan wants to be God and he wants what belongs to God alone. After God created us, creation was complete, and God said that it was very good. It is no coincidence that we Satan appear in the next chapter. CS Lewis is right, “There is no neutral ground in the universe. Every square inch, every split second is claimed by God, and counterclaimed by Satan.”
Satan wants the worship that belongs to God alone. Satan wants the fear that belongs to God alone. Satan wants the loyalty that belongs to God alone. The book of Revelation shows us Satan perverting the things of God—the perverted Trinity of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet; the perverted city of God called Babylon; Satan wants to be God and he wants what belongs to God alone.
Do you think Satan wants you? Do you think he wants your worship? Do you think he wants your loyalty?
If you are not born of the Holy Spirit, he already has your loyalty. If you have not been crucified with Christ, you in the hands of the evil one. Don’t imagine that the population of this world is made up of Satanists who belong to Satan and Christians who belong to Christ and a great unclaimed mass of humanity sitting on the fence. The Holy Spirit was clear, if a person does not belong to Christ, they belong to Satan; “the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ.” If you do not belong to Christ, you belong to Satan. Jesus told the Pharisees that they belonged to Satan; “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires.”
If you don’t belong to Christ, you shouldn’t be surprised that you don’t believe you belong to Satan. Why would he want you to know the truth? His whole agenda depends on deception.
Only Jesus can rescue you from Satan. You cannot do it on your own. If you could escape Satan’s clutches by making a few moral modifications—being a bit nicer to your children, swearing less, giving some money to the Lions Club—if it were that easy, Jesus would never have come.
This world is so hopeless and Satan is so entrenched that God needed to invade in the flesh. “The reason the Son of God appeared,” John tells us, “was to destroy the works of the devil.”
That is very good news for Nixon and Madalyn this morning. These helpless babies were born into a world that is under the sway of Satan. Satan wants to have them. This man-eating lion has the smell of both of them. This morning Christ publicly put his sign on them. It is Greg and Brooklyn’s job to protect Nixon. They are no match for Satan, but Satan is no match for Christ. It is Nathan and Abbey’s job to keep Madalyn safe. They can’t keep her safe from Satan. Christ can. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”
Let’s see how Jesus destroys the work of the devil in our second point: Christ’s counter-attack. Satan’s attack on God’s handiwork began in the Garden of Eden. God promised a counter-attack; “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” This was the first announcement of the gospel—the good news that God would undo the work of Satan.
Satan has always hated this news. He hated Christ when he came to destroy his work. He hated Christ at Christmas. Revelation pictures the birth of Christ this way; “She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads… The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.” That is a picture of the demonic force behind Herod’s murder of the innocents in Bethlehem. We don’t often think about the demonic at Christmas, but it was fighting for its wicked life.
Satan’s attack continued throughout Jesus’ ministry. He twisted Jesus’ Father’s words against him in the wilderness. He fought dirty. He used Jesus’ friends against him. He entered Judas. He was behind Peter’s well-meaning cautions to Jesus. Gethsemane was spiritual warfare. What happened at the cross is not limited to what those Roman soldiers and weeping women could see.
John described Jesus’ work this way, “War broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.”
Even as Jesus was choosing his disciples, being tempted in the wilderness, giving the Sermon on the Mount, sharing the Last Supper, and dying on the cross, there was warfare unseen to the human eye. That shouldn’t surprise us. Do you think there is no warfare going on right now in this sanctuary? Do you think that Satan isn’t trying to blind minds in this room? He is desperately trying to avoid being exposed for what he is. He is trying to avoid being exposed because he has lost. He is trying to keep you from Jesus’ victory.
The victory belongs to Jesus, but you can join in. This is a bit like the story of David and Goliath. Jesus is David and Satan is Goliath. You are a soldier standing on the sidelines. He wins the victory, but you can join in.
You join in at the cross. You too can triumph over Satan. John writes, “the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.”
You triumph by the blood of the lamb. A good Buddhist tries his best to escape the evil one. He hasn’t, and he won’t. He might fight valiantly but he fights hopelessly. He can’t defeat Satan by meditation and merit. It took the cross of Christ to defeat Satan. You triumph by that cross.
Have you triumphed over the evil one? If so, you see the point of missions. You see the point of evangelism. This world is deceived by Satan. People are being mauled by a man-eater. I hope you haven’t been so anesthetized that you can no longer see the power of the kingdom of the gospel. When Jesus’ followers first announced this kingdom, Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” Jesus gave authority to his first disciples to overcome the evil one. He hasn’t taken that authority away.
Jesus wants Satan’s kingdom’s plundered. “No one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.” Jesus calls his church to storm the gates of hell. “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it.” Jesus wants us to do battle with the kingdom of darkness. “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” He has given us armor because he expects us to tangle with the forces of evil. “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
That is uncomfortable to consider and that’s part of why we don’t consider it. We don’t want to think about the demonic. We don’t want to think about storming the gates of hell. We don’t want to be involved with plundering Satan’s kingdom. We want lives that are predictable and comfortable and spiritual warfare is neither predictable nor comfortable. I see that temptation in myself. Do you see that temptation in yourself? Left unchecked, it leads to a Christianity that is so harmless and inoffensive that not even Satan could be harmed or offended by it. It is a Christianity that is about me and Satan will never oppose a kingdom that is all about me. He only opposes kingdoms that are about Jesus. Are you giving Satan any reason to oppose you? If not, he might already have you.
If you are giving Satan reason to oppose you, the you know how badly you need deliverance from the temptations we will study next week. If you are battling the evil one, you know that you need help.
If you are engaged in a life and death struggle with Satan, you also want some assurance that you’ve chosen the right side. Have you ever given any thought to what would happen if Satan were to defeat God? Imagine for a moment that Satan manages to outwit Christ. Imagine for a moment that evil manages to defeat God and His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Take a look around you in this world. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that you have chosen the wrong side. Can you imagine what Satan would do to an escapee like you?
God knows the stakes. That’s why He tells us that, “the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur,” and that he and his perversions will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” That is the conclusion of Jesus’ counter-attack.
If you think this is all a story, that is just a happy ending. If you know this to be reality, that is a promise to keep you strong in a world swayed by the evil one.
There is a man-eater on the prowl and he has a taste for your flesh. Take him seriously. Take his defeat and approaching destruction seriously. Amen.