“We live in the most brutal century in human history, but instead of stepping forward to take the credit, the devil has rendered himself invisible. The very notion of evil seems incompatible with modern life, from which the ideas of transgression and the accountable-self are fast receding.” Andrew DelBanco wrote those words in 1995. It’s fair to say that the ideas of transgression and the accountable-self have receded a good deal in our culture since then. DelBanco didn’t write those words from a position of faith in Christ; DelBanco is a non-observant Jew. DelBanco wrote those words and the book The Death of Satan because he has eyes to see the handiwork of Satan. Now he doesn’t believe that Satan exists, but he is brave enough to admit that he, and our culture, have no categories to explain what he sees. He has no categories to explain Satan but yet he sees his fingerprints everywhere.
DelBanco was right to say that Satan has rendered himself invisible to the modern world; evil abounds, and Satan yet is unnamed. That is the case in homes across this nation and world, universities across this nation and world, and news outlets across this nation and world. We see it and have no categories to understand it. That’s terrifying, but in a way it shouldn’t surprise us that Satan is unnamed in the world.
What should surprise us is that he is all but unnamed in the church. When I first came to this church we studied the Lord’s Prayer at length. I chose that because unless we pray all else is in vain. We spent seven out of those seventeen weeks in the Lord’s Prayer on the clause, “deliver us from evil,” because I realized that Satan was all but invisible to me, and I thought that perhaps he was all but invisible to you too. I walk through most of my days as if there were not a prowling lion looking for someone to devour.
That is incredibly foolish, but we live in a very foolish age. The hope tonight is that we are less foolish when we leave this sanctuary than we were when we entered. We will study Satan in two points. First: the devil. Second: destroying the works of the devil.
First: the devil. Scripture uses many names and titles for the devil. He is Satan, which means “adversary” or “accuser.” He is “the prince of the power of the air.” He is the “ruler of this world.” He is Beelzebub, the prince of demons. He is Lucifer, a transliteration of the Hebrew word for “day star”, from a text we will study. He is the serpent. He is the dragon, which is a throwback to the serpent in Genesis 3. He is the evil one.
Satan is not equal to God. Many religions are dualistic, meaning that they believe that there have always been two opposing forces—good and evil. Christianity is not one of those religions. We believe that God was, is, and always will be infinitely supreme and that evil is a parasitical invasion.
God created Satan; however, God did not create him as Satan. God created him good. Paul was right to say that, “everything created by God is good.” God created the one we call Satan as an angel and this angel chose to sin. There was an angelic rebellion against God. Peter tells us that, “God did not spare [these] angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment.” Jude tells us that, “[these] angels…did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling.” Satan is the chief of these fallen angels.
Some think that Isaiah 14 makes reference to this angelic fall. This chapter is about the king of Babylon, but many think that Isaiah was also talking about the evil behind Babylon; ‘How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star [or Lucifer], 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.’
Satan fell from glory because of his rebellious sin. Satan was the originator of sin. He introduced sin into the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve didn’t come up with the idea to rebel against God. It was suggested by Satan. As John tells us, “the devil has been sinning from the beginning.”
Satan tempted Adam and Eve in order to steal, kill, and destroy. That three-fold description comes from Jesus’ description of this thief in John 10, “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” Satan steals. Satan wants what God has. God receives worship. Satan wants worship. The book of Revelation shows you that in the form of the dragon, the beast, and false prophet who are the Satanic imitation of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Revelation 13 tells us that the people ‘worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”’
God has worship. Satan wants worship. God made a world. Satan wants a world. God made humans. Satan wants humans. You see that in 2 Corinthians 4:4, “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.” Satan wants the people, the world, and the worship that belong to God and so he steals.
Satan comes to steal. He also comes to kill. Satan told Adam and Eve that they would not surely die if they ate from the tree because he wanted them to eat from that tree and die. Satan hated Adam and Eve. He hates you. He wants you to die. You might be thinking, “why? I never did anything to him.” Well, what did Ted Bundy’s victims ever do to Ted Bundy? Nothing. He was a serial killer; he took delight in killing. Satan kills because he delights in killing. Peter knew what he was talking about when he said, “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
Now if we knew that someone living in Inwood was a serial killer, I imagine that would change the way that we parent. I imagine that we would change the way that we live. Satan is at work. Make those changes.
Satan comes to steal. He comes to kill. He comes to destroy. Just look what he destroyed in the beginning. Before they listened to Satan, Adam and Eve were naked and knew no shame. After they listened to Satan, Adam and Eve lived in blame and shame. The innocence they enjoyed was destroyed. Before they listened to Satan, Adam and Eve walked with God. After they listened to Satan, Adam and Eve ran from God. The righteousness they enjoyed was destroyed. Look at the world around you and recognize what Satan has destroyed. Compare it with what ought to be and recognize his handiwork.
Now Satan won’t tell you that he comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He lies. As Jesus said, “When [Satan] lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” Of course, Satan’s lies never sound like lies. As Paul put it, “Satan… masquerades as an angel of light.” Satan’s lies include enough half-truths to make them sound reasonable and even righteous, but, as JI Packer put it, “A half-truth masquerading as a whole truth becomes a complete untruth.” Satan’s lies are crafty and varied, but they are, in the end, completely untrue. As Jesus said, “there is no truth in him.”
Satan’s lies are intended to blind you. He blinded Adam and Eve to the fact that their decision would end in death. He is still blinding people to the fact that their decisions will end in death; “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.”
Now we humans are a rather prideful bunch and so we arrogantly think that we can deal with Satan. We tend to think that we would have done better than Adam and Eve did, which is strange given all the evidence our lives present to the contrary. None of us would have done better than Adam and Eve. Our minds are distorted by sin. Theirs weren’t. We are, by nature, unrighteous. They were, by nature, righteous. To think that you could do better than Adam and Eve is simply to fall into another one of the devil’s lies.
Satan is far beyond your ability to handle. As Jude tells us, ‘even the archangel Michael… did not himself dare to condemn [the devil] for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”’ If you think you can deal with Satan by your own wits and power, the angels shake their heads at your arrogance.
No one who is currently hearing my voice is sufficiently mindful of the power or intentions of Satan. None of us is sufficiently concerned about Satan. None of us hates Satan as we ought. We Christians are uncomfortable with that word “hate” but Paul was clear, “hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” The evil one is uniquely worthy of hate. If we can’t muster hate for the evil one, we’ve got some soul searching to do. I do. I’ve found this sermon difficult to write because I don’t hate the devil as I ought. I don’t consistently take him seriously enough to functionally hate him, and I find that terrifying. It’s like I’m in the ring with Mike Tyson without the good sense to think that he might be getting ready to punch me. It’s the height of naivete. It’s the blinding power of the Satanic at work in real time. The fact that we don’t hate Satan as we ought is a sign that Satan is at work.
We’ve seen that we can’t defeat Satan. So, what is to be done? That’s our second point: destroying the works of the devil. God destroys the works of the devil. The first way that God destroys the works of the devil is by overriding Satan’s intentions. You see this in the book of Job. Early in the book of Job, we overhear a conversation between God and Satan. God asks Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Satan asks for permission to have his way with Job. God, in part, grants that request. Now the devil carried out his own intentions for Job. He came to steal, kill, and destroy. God overrode Satan’s intentions for His own purposes in Job’s life and in the lives of all who read that book. He destroyed the works of the devil by overriding them.
You see the same in the life of David. 2 Samuel 24 tells us that, ‘the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”’ The parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 21 reads, “Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.” Who incited David to start that census—God or Satan? Yes. Satan had his intentions. God had His intentions. Guess whose intentions prevailed?
You see the same with Judas. When Jesus told his disciples that one of them would betray him, they all asked, “who?” Jesus said, ‘“It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him.’ So the betrayal was Satan’s plan. He wanted to steal, kill, and destroy. A few weeks later, Peter could say that “Jesus [was] delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” So who planned the death of Jesus—Satan or God? Yes. Satan had his intentions. God had His. Guess whose intentions prevailed?
God destroys the works of the devil by overriding them. He also destroys them by way of His Son. As John wrote, “the reason the Son of God came was to destroy the works of the devil.” In the Garden, God told Satan that, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Jesus came to crush Satan’s head. The book of Revelation describes the conflict between these two in violent terms. You can think of what you are about to hear as a glimpse behind the spiritual veil. This is what the cross and resurrection looked like from the angelic/demonic perspective, ‘the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” That is the power of the cross over Satan.
Jesus described his own ministry as plundering Satan’s house. When the Pharisees accused him of being in league with the devil, Jesus said, “how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.” Satan is the strong man. This world is his house. We are the goods that Jesus has plundered and is plundering from Satan’s house.
Jesus continues to plunder Satan’s house through his disciples. Early in his ministry, Jesus set out seventy-two disciples to proclaim the kingdom of God. When they returned, he said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.” It is no mistake that Jesus spoke of treading on serpents. That is the language of crushing Satan’s head. That’s the same language with which the book of Romans closes, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”
Every woman who hasn’t conquered by the blood of the lamb is being devoured by Satan. Every woman who has conquered by the blood of the lamb is treading on serpents and will crush Satan under her feet. Those two options describe the two possible conditions of each person who has ever lived and the difference between them is stark. It is either Satan’s foot on you neck or your foot on Satan’s neck. It can only be your foot on Satan’s neck because God grew feet. A baby’s feet can be distinguished six weeks after fertilization. The incarnation followed the same timeline. The Son of God took on feet to crush Satan under his feet and under your feet.
We see this final crushing in the book of Revelation. The dragon, Satan, gathers his full force for the final conflict. “[Satan and his forces who numbered like the sand of the sea] marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them.” On a scale of zero to ten, zero being no effort and ten being complete effort, how does it seem that final fight with Satan required from God?
If you think that you are a match for the devil, you don’t understand yourself. If you think that the devil is a match for God, you don’t understand God. Psalm 115:3 is true, “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever He pleases.”
What will please God is to destroy Satan; Revelation 20:10, “and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” You and I don’t hate Satan as we ought. God does. It is good that you praise God for His love. You also ought to praise Him for His hate. He hates the father of lies. He hates your accuser. He hates the evil one. If that makes you uncomfortable, reconsider your comfort zones. “Hate what is evil. Cling to what is good.” Hate Satan. Cling to Jesus. Amen.
“1 Timothy 4:4, “everything created by God is good.”
2 Peter 2:4, “God did not spare [these] angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment.”
Jude 1:6, “[these] angels…did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling.”
Isaiah 14:12-15, ‘How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star [or Lucifer], 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.’
1 John 3:8, “the devil has been sinning from the beginning.”
John 10:10, “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.”
Revelation 13:4, ‘worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”’
2 Corinthians 4:4, “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.”
1 Peter 5:8, “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
John 8:44, “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
2 Corinthians 11:14, “Satan… masquerades as an angel of light.”
Jude 1:9, ‘even the archangel Michael… did not himself dare to condemn [the devil] for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”’
Romans 12:9, “Hate what is evil. Cling to what is good.”
2 Samuel 24:1, ‘the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”’
1 Chronicles 21:1, “Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.”
John 13:26-27, ‘“It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him.”’
Acts 2:23, “Jesus [was] delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.”
1 John 3:8, “the reason the Son of God came was to destroy the works of the devil.”
Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Revelation 12:9-11, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
Matthew 12:29, “how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.”
Luke 10:18-19, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.”
Romans 16:20, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”
Revelation 20:9-10, “they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.””