Adversary. It's Article 22 in our confession of faith. The title is Satan. Let's pray and we'll begin. Our Father, we thank you for the blessed privilege to be here tonight. Thank you for each one who's been able to come. Pray for those that are sick and in distress. and could not be with us tonight, bless them in the places where they are, heal their bodies, and encourage them in the faith. We pray now that you will guide us, help us to speak clearly and distinctly. Lord, we pray that this lesson may honor your name and help the saint. Okay, so I'm gonna read from Genesis chapter three and verses one through six. And then we'll read the text of our confession and then talk about that. Genesis chapter three, verse one, now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw, that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes. And a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. Our confession says this about Satan. There is a literal being whose name is Satan, called the dragon, that old serpent, the devil. He is the prince of the power of the air, the god of this present world. He is the head of a great principality of fallen angels, and demonic spirit present in the world today. He was in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, tempted and deceived Eve so that she ate of the forbidden fruit from a tree of knowledge of good and evil. His work was destroyed at the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he still is permitted of God to go about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He shall be bound for a thousand years when Jesus Christ comes, be released temporarily at the end of that time, and ultimately receive his eternal punishment, being cast into the lake of fire, which burns with fire and brimstone, and we list the scriptures. The first scripture we listed, I read to you from Genesis chapter three. A couple of words about Satan. The name Satan doesn't appear until near the end of the books of history, only appearing one time And then, all of a sudden, a whole flood of times in the book of Job. The word devil is not found in the Old Testament. Satan is a created being. Created by God for God's own purpose. If we have any record of his beginning, it's found in Isaiah chapter 14 and Ezekiel 28. Well, let's look at what the scripture says about his name. In Revelation chapter 20, verses 1 through 3, we see four of his names. Revelation 20, verses one through three. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, there's four names together, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till a thousand years to be fulfilled. And after that, he must be loosed a little season. He's called the serpent and the Leviathan in Isaiah chapter 27 and verse 1. We read this. Isaiah 27, verse 1. In that day, the Lord with his sword and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan, the piercing serpent, even Leviathan, that crooked serpent, and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. In Ephesians 2, 2, he is called the prince of the power of the air. Let's read that. Wherein in time past ye walked, that is, you and I who are now Christians, we walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit, that tells us that Satan is a spirit, that now worketh in the children of disobedience. He's also called the God of this world in 2 Corinthians 4, verses 3 and 4. He's called the God of this world. Chapter 4, verse 3, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. We believe, the Bible teaches, that he is the head, he is the overseer, the leader of the principalities of fallen angels and demonic or unclean spirit that are in the world today. I don't know if you've ever considered this or not, but just I'll throw this in for free. Demonic spirits, thus subordinate to Satan, can and do take over the bodies of men and women and children and cause them to do things that they would not ordinarily do. And I think that's a lot of what we see today with all of the horrendous things that go on in our land and around the world. Part of, maybe a good portion of it, has to do with these demonic spirits. Now Ephesians chapter 6 verse 11 and 12 tells us about that. Here we're admonished to put on God's armor, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles or the devices of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers. against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Sometimes we think when we are in a battle and opposed to someone's deluded thoughts that we're fighting against that person, but that's not really true. When you try to contend for the faith and stand for the truth, you're actually contending with the principalities in power that oppose us. So it's not up to us to take the sword and the gun and try to do away with those people at all. We're better to cling to God's word and stay on our knees in prayer. That's the way we fight a battle. Now, this is nothing new, but I want you to notice the method that The devil uses to tempt people the way he tempted our Lord Jesus Christ. It's exactly the way he tempted Eve in the beginning. And it is the way that he tempts you and I and all that are in the world today. Now remember something. Temptation is not sin. It's only when you yield to that that it becomes Every one of us are tempted. You'd be lying if you said you weren't because we all are. Let's read the account of the temptation of Christ is found. We're going to read Luke chapter 4, 1 through 13. It's also found in Matthew 4, Mark 1, and here in Luke 4. The reason I read this is because of a particular statement That's in Luke's account. Let's begin with verse one, chapter four in Luke. And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being 40 days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing. And when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone, that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And the devil taking him up into a high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power For that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will, I give it. If thou therefore will worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan. For it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence. For it is written, he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee. And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering said unto him, it is said, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him. for a season. I think you can see this in The Temptation of Eve that we read earlier in Genesis chapter 3. First John 2.16 says, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. You know on that When the serpent came to Eve, you can almost put yourself there with Eve, there by herself in the garden. And he got her eye on the fruit of that tree. It was like, look at this. Doesn't that look good? It's the desire of the flesh, the appeal to the eyes. And she got thinking about that. And she saw the tree was good for food. Well, she might have been hungry. And she saw it was pleasant to the eyes, a beautiful look upon. And it was a tree desired to make one wise, the pride of life. So she took the fruit. Remember, Eve was deceived. The devil deceived her. He lied to her. The first line of the Bible we read tonight, thou shalt not surely die. He's a liar and the father of it. Now, the serpent was a tool that was used by Satan in the garden. I think the serpent, what he said to be one of the beasts of the field. He was more subtle than any beast of the field. And he was cursed to go on his belly afterward. Genesis 3, verses 13 through 15. Let's read that. Genesis 3, 13 through 15. And the Lord God said unto the woman, what is this thou hast done? And the woman said, the serpent begot me, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast in the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and thus shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed, that is the serpent's seed, and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and Dr. Bruce is healed. So Satan deceived Eve by guile from the external, something she could look at and see. But he can, the devil can and does enter in and possess persons as he did Judas. So Jesus had said that Judas was a devil. And the reason he was a devil is because he had that character. And the devil actually entered into him. We're told that in Luke chapter 22 and verse 3. Then entered Satan into Judas, surname is Keret, being of the number of the 12. There are, as I mentioned before, numerous accounts of persons possessed with demons and unclean spirits. in the New Testament. Now I'm not gonna get into that tonight because that's not the scope of this article of faith. It's just to show who the devil is, what he does, and those kinds of things. Suffice it to say, there are many of these inferior devils that do possess people. And some of them were delivered. We see a case in point, Mary Magdalene. of whom it said that Jesus cast out of her seven devils. She became an ardent follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. That means to me that no child of God can ever be possessed by one of these unclean spirits. Now, why is that? Because when you believe, you're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. And the Bible says, Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. He'd have to bind the strong man and then take his house. It's impossible, cannot be done. Now, as God's children, we're taught to resist the devil steadfast in the faith. Turn to James chapter four and verse seven. James chapter four and verse seven. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Now how do you resist the devil? The Pentecostals and a lot of other people would have us to rebuke the devil. I'm going to tell you in a minute why that's impossible, why you can't do that. You're right there close. Turn to 1 Peter 5, verses 8 and 9. And this shows us. 1 Peter 5, verse 8. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about, Seeking whom he may devour, whom resist, steadfast in the faith. What does that mean? Look, we probably say this a lot, but it's a truth, it's important. We become a child of God and we're baptized and we unite with the church. It's in the church and with the church that we grow and are strengthened in the Lord. Our attendance makes us faithful. Our prayer life makes us faithful. Our study of the scriptures makes us faithful. Our witness and our listening to the word makes us faithful. Keeping the ordinances makes us faithful. Being separated from the world makes us faithful. So we resist steadfast in the faith, all the things that the Lord has commanded us to do. We would, every bit of that would resist the devil. It's just, it's kind of like contending with the wicked. How do you do that? When you keep the law, you contend with the wicked man. You don't have to do it any other way. And that's the same way with keeping the faith with the Lord. Okay, I told you I was going to tell you why, that we cannot rebuke the dead. Some years ago, there was a couple came to the Bruin Park Church, and they didn't sit on the front seat, they sat on the second seat. I think somebody must have been sitting there, they would have sat on the front seat. And the woman said to me, She said, you're having trouble, preacher. You need to rebuke the devil. And I said, I will never do that. Not me. Not this preacher. He's bigger than I am. And the Lord has taught me not to do that. Now look at this. In Jude, verses eight and nine. Watch this. Talking about these people crept in and it brings us out. Juden, verses eight and nine, likewise also, these filthy dreamers defy on the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses. Now, we don't have any other record about that, but here's the archangel of God, doing combat with the devil over the body of Moses. You remember the Lord buried Moses. And I don't know what that was all about. But notice what it said. Michael durst not bring against him, the devil, a railing accusation, but said, the Lord rebuke thee. The Lord rebuke thee. Because the Lord has the power to do that. We don't. We don't have it. Our confession says that Satan's work was destroyed at the crucifixion of Christ, yet he still remains in the world doing his awful work until his determined end comes on him. Now turn please to Hebrews chapter two and verse 14. Hebrews chapter two and verse 14. Am I going too fast? All right, here we go. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, talking about Christ, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil. Now, 1 John chapter three and verse eight. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 8. He that committeth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. So when the Lord was crucified, he destroyed effectively the works of the devil. He's a beaten foe, and he's just waiting for the judgment to fall upon him. That has been assigned to him. Also in our confession, we said this, Satan shall be bound for a thousand years when Jesus Christ comes, be released temporarily at the end of that time, and ultimately receive his eternal punishment, being cast into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone. Let's read in Revelation chapter 20 and verses one through three. Revelation 20 verses one through three. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him 1,000 years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him that he should have seen the nations no more till 1,000 years should be fulfilled. And after that, he must be loose a little season. So this is the beginning of the millennial reign. The thousand years reign where the church reigns with Christ. Israel is a head nation in the world. The temple has been rebuilt. God himself sits in the temple. Christ is king over the earth. All of the unsaved have been removed and this glorious time began. Satan and his imps are not here to tempt anyone during that thousand years. Now, notice your opened at chapter 20, notice verse 7 through 10. And when a thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth. Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. Remember we've been studying about the millennium? When it starts, just saved people in their natural bodies, overseen by the church and spiritual bodies. These people are going to have kids. And evidently, there's a great, great number of those who are not saved. And so they're going to be gathered together. And they went up on the breadth of the earth and conquered the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city, and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever." Now, we've seen Satan, the dragon, that old serpent, the devil, has been on earth doing his work against God and man sets the creation and where Adam and Eve were in the garden. He was here. I believe that the scripture teaches that he is a kind of an overseer of the material realm of things here on the earth. He was present in the garden and we've already studied that. You remember how he accused Job before God and Told God, you built a hedge around him. Tear the hedge down. Let me at him, and he'll curse you to your face. Well, we know the story. That didn't work out. But he was there accusing. I don't see anywhere where any of that's ever changed. I believe the devil, though he's defeated at the cross, is still accusing us before the Father. That's one of the reasons why we need Christ there at the right hand. interceding for us before the Father. Well, thanks be to God. The day is coming very soon, brothers and sisters, that Satan will no longer have access to heaven, nor shall he ever accuse us before God again. Now turn to Revelation 12, and let's read verses seven Now keep this in mind as you turn to chapter 12, verse 7. From chapter 4 all the way through chapter 22 in Revelation, we are reading about things that must shortly come to pass. These things are future. Sometimes it refers back to something that happened in the past so we can understand it. but the action itself is future, and this is no different. So chapter 12, verses seven through 11. And there was a war in heaven, John said. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not, neither was their place found anymore in heaven. And the great dragon was cast down. That old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceived the whole world. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they love not their lives unto the death. Praise God. You know, the old devil's around, and he really tries to work us over, and he is working this world over. Thank God that we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit from us, and we are never going to be captured by him, but remember, he's going about as a roaring lion seeking to be made available. And who do the old lions, they look around when they go out to the herd and they see one that's out by himself or somebody that's crippled and that's the first guy they get. So stay strong, stay with the herd, stay with God's people. That way you're more equipped to stand against Satan.