We're in the last major section in our study of Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus. And it is indeed a major section, a major section that is all about a very important subject, and that is the subject of spiritual warfare. I have to confess to you that I'm still quite overwhelmed with all that is here. It'll take us a while to get rolling on this, but if you would find your place there, In Ephesians chapter six, we're going to jump back in today and trust the spirit of God to teach us a few more things about this great section. Um, would you bow with me for a word of prayer? Father, I suppose we're mindful more than on other days. Lord, as we study this section on spiritual warfare, we're mindful of the enemy and his desire to hinder and, um, thwart, the comprehension of this truth. And so Lord, we pray that you would protect us from him, that you would unravel his schemes and plots and strategies. And Father, that you would illuminate our minds, that you would supernaturally set aside the distractions in all of our minds and give us that ability, Father, by your spirit who lives within us to focus and concentrate and comprehend the truth of the word of God. Illuminate our minds today and change our lives for your glory. Thank you for this group of people. We do pray father this morning for the ones who are not able to be with us today. Keep them safe, refresh them and bring them back Lord again next Lord's day. So father, we commit our time to you now, praying these things, asking your spirit to guide us and teach us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. While you're there in Ephesians chapter six, we're looking at verses 10 through 20. Let me give you the breakdown in the first four verses. That's the section that we're currently working on. We have what we're referring to as the believer's call to battle. It'll be a little while, but when we get to the next four verses, we're going to start working down through a section that I'm going to call the believer's defensive strategy. That section, those next four verses are all about, of course, the full armor of God. And when we get there, we will just take those pieces of armor one by one and study down through, try to understand everything we can, about how they work and what they accomplish in our lives. And then when we get to the final three verses, Paul will explain the believers offensive strategy in this war. And very interestingly, that offensive strategy is all about what? It's all about prayer. And so that's kind of a, a, a breakdown of what's to come. If you're there in Ephesians chapter six, I'm going to read just the first four verses. this morning that comprised the believers call to battle. As I've said to you before, this is a wake up call for us on this subject. I think I've mentioned this at least a couple of times over the past weeks of study. There are multitudes of Christians out there today who are defeated in this war every day by the mere fact that they're oblivious to it. Christians go on about their daily lives, completely unaware of the fact that they are in a war. And why is that? Well, I don't know. There are lots of reasons. We'll probably talk about lots of those reasons in the days ahead as we continue to unfold this truth. But let me just lay some things out here real quick this morning because of superficiality in our churches. I think that's a large part of it because of shallowness and their understanding of the word of God, because this enemy that we're talking about is invisible. We can't see him with our physical eyes and because they do not know how to see those unseen things with the eyes of faith. These folks I'm talking about don't even know they're in a war and because they don't know they're in a war, they lose by default every single day. Paul knows about this problem as it pertains to this war. And so what does he do? He begins his teaching on this subject with a wake up call. This is the believers call to battle in these first four verses of our text. Pick up with me in verse 10. As I've said before, this is Paul blowing the bugle, if you will, with everything we've learned in this book behind us now about what it means to be a Christian and how to walk the worthy Christian walk. Notice what Paul says in verse 10. Finally, There's one more thing Paul says, finally, there's one more thing you need to know. If you're going to make all of this stuff work in your life as a believer, there's one more major subject that we need to deal with and talk about here, or here's what's going to happen. If we miss this subject, you are going to find yourself on the sidelines before you even get started with all of that other wonderful stuff that we've learned. Pick up with me in verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day and having done everything to stand firm. There's our text and here's what we've done with it. We've broken this call to battle down into five sub points for the sake of our study. Let me give them to you. Last time we talked about the preparation for battle in verse 10. And the question there is, what does a Christian need to do in order to get ready for the battles in this invisible Lord, a war? And what the answer to that question is, is this be strong in the Lord, Paul says, and in the strength of his might. And how do we do that? Well, if you recall, I gave you three answers to that question last week. Let me remind you of them. If you're going to be strong in the Lord, you need to be in the Lord, number one. That means that you need to be a true Christian. That means that you need to be a real Christian. If you're going to be strong in the Lord, you need to be in the Lord. And that's the way Christianity is defined in this book of Ephesians, isn't it? To be a Christian according to this book is to be in Christ. It's to be in the Lord. It's to be in him. That's a recurring theme in this book. And so here's the point until you are in him, you're not even in this war. And so that's number one. Number two, You need to know your own weakness. If you're going to be strong in the Lord, you need to know your own weakness so that you will be relying on his strength. Remember what Paul said? There's that principle that we talked about. When I am weak, then I am strong. Doesn't make any sense to the world. but it made a whole lot of sense to Paul. He understood it. When I'm weak, then I am strong. If you think that you can do it, then you will not be relying 100% on his strength. And let me tell you right now that if you're not relying 100% on his strength, you will be defeated by this enemy. Listen, we're going to learn. We're going to begin to meet the enemy today and learn a little bit about him today. And when you begin to understand what the word of God says about this enemy, you will understand very clearly. that you are no match for him at all and that your only path to victory is going to be the one that we just learned about in verse 10. You will need to what? Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. And so in order to be prepared, uh, three things, you will need to be in the Lord. Number one, you will need to know your own weakness. Number two, and then we finished with this one. Number three, you will need to know the Lord's strength. You need to be in the Lord, know your own weakness and you know the Lord's strength. What are we talking about here? We're talking about the omnipotence of God. If you want to be strong in the Lord, you will need to be a student of the scriptures. And if you're a student of the scriptures, you will understand what the Bible says about the omnipotence of God. He is all powerful. He has all the power there is to have. And then in addition to that, I would even say further say that you will need to be one who has experienced that resurrection power working in and through your life. All of that's involved in being strong in the Lord. There's a verse that I'll probably quote for you a hundred more times before we're done with this study. It's what the apostle John said in first John four, four, listen to this and you'll have it memorized. I'm sure if you don't already, you are from God, little children and have overcome them because, and here now is the key to victory in this war because greater is he, there's a little chorus like that. We probably ought to find it and sing it. Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. That's the key to victory in this war, isn't it? greater is he who is the one who is in you. The Holy Spirit of God lives within you. Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. Never, never forget that as you wage this war. Well, from the preparation, that's the preparation. Verse 10, we're ready to move on to new material this morning. And oh, is there, New material, always new material. So much material here. As I said a little while ago, it's overwhelming. Let's go on and we'll get a little bit more. I guess we do that. We eat this like an elephant, right? One bite at a time. That's what we have to do. Let's move on a little bit and we'll take another bite. Let's go on this morning now to the provision that God has made for this war at the beginning of verse 11. Notice what it says. What is God's provision? put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm. And I know there's another phrase there in verse 11, but we'll leave that one out for right now. We'll pick it up in a little while. So I began to think about this provision that God has made for us to be victorious in the battles of this war. And by the way, it's a provision that he only introduces us to here in verse 11. But as I began to think about this provision, I was reminded of something that Peter said, in second Peter chapter one and verse three. Do you remember what Peter said? Peter said there that God has granted to us through his word, everything we need pertaining to life and godliness. Isn't that a blessing? Isn't that a great thing? Everything we need. What does that mean? It means that everything we need to know folks in order to be saved is where? In this word of God and everything we need to know then to live this earthly portion of our Christian lives for the glory of God. is in the word for everything. Mark this, I've said it before, but it's true. And it's a wonderful blessing for everything that God ever calls you and me to do. He will always provide the necessary resources to do it. And such as the case here, this sixth chapter of Ephesians now is no exception to that, but we've been called to battle as soldiers. And here now are the provisions for that. Um, Paul tells us two things. Note in verse 11 about, those provisions. The first part of this verse, he tells us what God's provision is and he tells us what that provision will do for us if we use it. And so let's look at those two things real quick here. And then as I said, we're actually going to move on to the enemy here today. The provision God has made for those of us who are the soldiers in this war is referred to here in verse 11 as what? the full armor of God, the full armor of God. Now you'll notice that we're not given any details about that armor here in verse 11. But not to worry. The details are coming. When we get to verse 14, Paul just introduces it here. He just mentions it here. And then when we get to verse 14, in fact, look at verse 13 for a minute, you'll notice that, In verse 13, he mentions the full armor of God again, and then beginning in verse 14, he's gonna go into a full and very detailed description of every single piece of that armor, and we will as well when we get there. There are only two things. Like I said, we're just introduced to it here, and so there are really only two things that we need to note about the armor at this point in our study. Number one, I want you to note Paul's emphasis on the word full. I think I probably mentioned this to you before, but I'll mention it again now. Note that word full. The various pieces of armor all have very specific functions and we're going to see that and we're going to talk about that. But as we look at this word full, it's quite obvious that none of them are meant to work in isolation from all of the other ones, right? Wouldn't that be a sound conclusion here? The armor comes How much of it are you put on? You're put on the full armor of God. It comes in a set. It comes in a complete set with the implication of that word full here being that everything is needed to get the job done. You need the whole set. You need to put on the full armor of God. And then notice that other part, Paul's emphasis on our responsibility in this. The call to us in verse 11 is what? To put on the full armor of God. And then in verse 13, notice that he'll reiterate that command again in a bit different way. They're saying that we need to take up the full armor of God. The verb put on, I'll just make a quick comment about it here. The verb put on in verse 11 carries the idea that we are to put this armor on once and for all. The idea being that it's not something that you put on and take it off and put it on and take it off. It's not like that. You put it on and you leave it on. Why? Because the battle we're talking about is a battle that is raging 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Now, a little disclaimer that we'll elaborate on on another day. Certainly as we will see in the weeks ahead, there are certain pieces of this armor that you will take up and put back down, take up and put back down. But insofar as the armor that you wear is concerned, let's mark that. Insofar as the armor that you wear is concerned, that stays on. And again, as I said, we'll postpone any further discussion of all of those details about the armor. for later on when we get there in verse 14. For now, just understand that God has provided this armor for you. It's essential for you in this war and you have a responsibility to put it on. Does no good if you don't put it on. Will not work unless you put it on. You have to put it on. The other thing Paul tells us here, and I really want to emphasize this. The other thing Paul tells us here in verse 11 about God's provision is what it will do for us if we use it. If you put that armor on like he says to do, What's it going to do for you? Put on the full armor of God. Paul says, why? Notice what it says. So that, so that as a purpose clause, so that you may be able to what stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Can I stop right here long enough to have you mark something in our study of the subject that I think is critically important in for you to understand in this day in which we live, mark this, Defeating this enemy folks is not our responsibility. Defeating this enemy is not our responsibility. If only somebody would tell those people on TUTBN that, right? Defeating this enemy is not our, we are never, check me, tell me if you think I'm wrong. We are never anywhere in the scripture called upon to defeat this enemy. And why do you suppose that is? We are not called upon to defeat this enemy, folks, because Christ has already defeated this enemy. And so what are we to do? What is our responsibility? I just read it for you. What are we to do? We are to stand firm. And what does it mean to stand firm? You know what it means to stand firm. It means to stand firm, right? If you want a lexicon definition, I'll give it to you. Stand firm, when used in a military sense like it is here, means to hold a critical position while under attack. To stand firm means to stand immovable and firm in one place with the armor in position. That's what it means to stand firm. Now, I know that that doesn't sound very heroic. I understand that. but that's what we're told to do. That's what we're told. If that is our responsibility in this war, in the battles in this war, it is to stand firm. Would you mark this? You are never anywhere told to rush the devil nowhere in the word of God. Are you ever told to, you know, pounce on the devil or tackle the devil? Um, nor does the Bible ever call on you to go out, hunting for the devil or looking for the devil and nowhere does the Bible ever give you permission. Please, please, please understand that the Bible never gives you permission to start talking with the devil. It is so foolish. You are never to start talking with the devil or demons or to rebuke the devil or demons or bind them or shout orders at them or all of these foolish things that you can see at any given Sunday morning on TV. If you're a believer living for the glory of God, Let me assure you of something. The devil will find you. You don't have to look. He will find you. And when the devil and his demons find you, here are your instructions. Clear and simple in the word of God. I just read them for you. You're to be prepared. You're to be in Christ. You're to be trusting in his strength and you're to have your armor on at which point you're simply told to do what? Stand firm. Stand firm. Let me give you, let me support that with a couple more verses. James said in James four, seven to resist the devil. There's no heroic stuff there either. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. And Peter gave the same advice in first Peter five, eight and nine. See this whole idea of you wrestling with the devil is foolish. Anyway, he will chew you up and spit you out. We're going to talk about his strength one day in the future. but that whole idea is just absolutely ridiculous. Listen to what Peter said in first Peter five, eight and nine. And I think we'll come back here you know, and look at this from several different angles before this study is done. But this is a key section or passage on this. Peter said, be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil prowls about like a roaring lion. You ever messed with a lion? That's what Peter likens the devil to a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. But listen now, what Peter says, put them in a headlock, right? No, that's not what Peter says. Resist him, resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brother and who are in the world. Listen, folks, where do we get our understanding about how to live the Christian life? The word of God, right? That's where we go. The Bible is where we get our information, not from all of this nonsense that you see on TV. Please, please, please understand that our instructions come from the word of God and that's what they are. Stand firm, resist the devil and he will flee from you. And so here's what we understand now so far from Ephesians 6, 10 and from the beginning of verse 11, whenever Satan is dealt with biblically and successfully, it will always involve two things. It will involve the strength of the Lord. Number one, and it will involve the armor in place. Number two. Okay. So keep those things in mind. And, and, uh, then, uh, someday in the future, we're going to get through some other stuff here, but then we'll come back as Paul comes back and really, um, unfolds the truth in the details about that armor. So that's all coming up for right now for the rest of our time. I want to switch gears now and I want to open up a big subject. I want to focus your attention now on that phrase at the very end of verse 11 where we meet the enemy for the first time in his passage. If we're talking about how to be soldiers in a war, that becomes a pretty major subject, doesn't it? The enemy. We've talked about the preparation, talked about God's provision. We're gonna talk more about his provision later. Right now I want to zero in on the enemy. And I'm going to tell you right now that we're not going to finish talking about the enemy today and we're probably not going to finish talking about it next. Well, no, next week I won't be talking at all, but for the next few weeks we'll be talking about this enemy. We need to be prepared. Notice what it says. We need to be prepared and we need to have the armor on so that we will be able to stand firm. Paul says, notice this next phrase now against the schemes of the devil. I've been thinking about schemes over this past couple of weeks, the schemes of the devil. Um, it's, it's mind boggling to think about what he does, what hopefully we'll be able to, hopefully I'll be able to, to explain it in a way that it makes sense to you. But, um, it's a huge subject, these schemes of the devil. But for right now, uh, we need to talk about the devil. We've been introduced to the enemy right now. We're in a spiritual battle and the enemy is the devil who is also known in scripture as Satan. And so now we have a very important $64,000 question, if you will, out on the table that needs an answer, desperately needs an answer for the soldiers in this war. What do we know about the devil? What do we know about the devil? When you're in a battle, um, there's always a great advantage to be gained, of course, in knowing as much about the enemy as you can possibly know. And so, And so we have, um, this question that can be broken down into sub questions. Who is the devil? Where did he come from? How does he think, how does he work? How much power does he have? What are his available resources? And on and on and on go the questions like that. Um, I'm thankful to report to you this morning that the answers to those questions are all there for us to glean from the word of God that we hold in our hands. So much so in fact, that as I said, it will probably take us several weeks to get through it all. but I'm not in a hurry. If you're not in a hurry, we want to understand what the Bible says. You know, when we're, when, when God has done with us here, he's going to call us to come and be with him. And Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I will come again to receive, you know, when he goes, we're going to go right. And in the meantime, we're going to study his word. And so right now we have a whole bunch of information that we need to work through to answer the question. What do we know about the devil? Now I've tried to do my homework and, And I've gathered this biblical information on the devil into five major categories for you. Let me give them to you. And so you'll know where we're going. And, and then we'll back up to the, to work on the first one today. What are these categories? What do we know about the devil? Well, here are the categories that I have for you that we'll work through in the next two, three, four or five weeks, whatever it takes us. This morning, we're going to talk about his origin. I want to talk with you today about the devil's origin. where did he come from and how was it that we ended up in this war that we're obviously in? Where did he come from? How did we end up in this war? Very important foundational stuff from there. We'll move on next week to a discussion of his many names. and what they all mean. I'll probably miss some as I work down through it, but that's all right. Whatever I miss, we'll pick up somewhere else along the way. I can assure you that. But I have a list of his names that I want to work through and all of his names have meanings. And every time we look at a name and understand a little bit about what that name means, what have we done? We've learned a little bit more about the enemy. Number three, we'll have a little bit of a discussion about his strength. Very important. As I said a minute ago, against the backdrop of this foolishness that goes on on TBN today, the devil is you are no match for the devil. Believe me, you are no match for the devil. And it's absolutely utterly ridiculous and foolish for anybody to think they can wrangle with a demon. It is so stupid. And the word of God will make that clear. He is a prowling lion folks, and he will devour you quickly. You are no match for the devil. And so we need to establish that for category number four, I want to talk about the devil's activities. Some of the many things he typically does as our enemy in this war, what are the tools he has in his bag? What are the various things that he does and always does or usually does or typically does as he, as he, Uh, and which moves us to the final category then would be his schemes. He takes all of these tools and then he puts them all together and crafts and devises these schemes. And so for a fifth and final category, then we'll zero in on that word. right there at the end of verse 11 and talk about the devil's schemes. And so that's a pretty aggressive agenda, wouldn't you say, for the weeks ahead, but that's where we're going. The devil is a schemer. He devises very sophisticated plots and strategies and schemes. You need to be aware of that as a good soldier of the cross. And so again, that's where we're going in the weeks ahead as we discuss this enemy, who is the devil. Go back with me now to category number one for today, I want to talk with you today about the devil's origin. Um, Paul just, uh, introduced us to the devil by name, called him the devil, uh, introduced us to our enemy, an individual he refers to as the devil, an individual who in this very context, uh, read the four verses this morning, an individual who in this context works along with a highly organized host of rulers, powers, world forces, and spiritual forces to oppose. All right, listen now, the devil and his demons work together to oppose the will of God, the word of God, the plan of God, the purposes of God, and the people of God. That's what we're up against. And so the first question for us that needs an answer today is, Where did he and all of them come from? And I know that many of you already know about this, but we need to ask the question, where did he and all of them come from? And how did we end up in this spiritual war that we are very obviously in this, this information that I want to share with you today, whether you know it already or not, doesn't matter. It's foundational stuff that every Christian needs to know and understand. It's critical as a believer in Jesus Christ, you need to know the answers to those questions that I just posed because until you do, here's how important it is. Until you do, your faith in God will not be complete. I know that's a major statement, but I believe it's true. Until you understand this whole thing, your faith in God will not be complete. You will not be able to understand why the world is the way it is. You will not be able to understand why lost men and women are the way they are, nor will you be able to understand, the incredible significance of your salvation. This whole picture that I want to paint for you today from the scriptures is that important. All of those things I just mentioned depend on an understanding of this great spiritual conflict that exists between God and the devil. And so that's what we want to talk about today. And having said that now, you might be shocked to know, that a growing number of professing, or you might be shocked to know what a growing number of professing Christians think about this subject today. You know what the tragic and prevailing view on this subject of the devil is, even among evangelical Christians today? They don't even believe that he exists. They really don't. I mean, it would shock you if you were to take a survey. They don't even believe he exists. The devil for many of them, even in our evangelical churches today, is that the devil is just a fairy tale. He's just that fictional guy that they like to, uh, tell jokes about, you know, the guy, the little guy with the red suit and the pitchfork and the horns, you know, that guy, like the one you see the Halloween costumes and all of that. That's what they, that's their concept of the devil. You see it, their worldly wisdom, The world has made great inroads into the church today. A vast majority of evangelical Christians think in a very, very worldly way and not a biblical way today. And in their worldly wisdom, they will actually sneer sometimes at any mention of the devil or demons. Certainly no rational, intelligent person would ever really believe in something as silly as the devil, would they? Well, Can I say to you that that's exactly what the devil would like for you to believe about him? That's what all unbelievers believe about him. And tragically, that's what even a growing number of professing Christians are believing about him today, that he doesn't even exist. But let me tell you something, folks, he is not going to pull that one over on us. He is not going to be able to pull that one over on us because, um, I am so thankful for all of you, by the way, even those ones that aren't here today. We got like a, like a nice intimate little group here today, don't we? I am so thankful for all of you and I'm thankful for all of the folks who aren't here today as well because you are folks who know and love the scriptures. You love the word of God. Uh, the devil is not going to pull that one over on this wonderful little group of folks here today because we believe that the Bible is the word of God. And in that word, folks, the truth about this devil, has been revealed. Aren't you glad for that? Um, we have an inspired book that exposes the devil and I want to take you to that book now to answer the questions that I posed a little while ago. Um, where did the devil come from? Where did his demons come from and how did we end up in this spiritual war that we're in? That's the, that's the story I want you to understand the answers to or the questions I want you to understand the answers to today. As you can see by your notes, um, I have quite an aggressive agenda. But here we go. As you can see by your notes, I'm going to unfold for you a sequence of events today by landing on 10 bullet points that I hope will provide you with a logical, clear and logical flow of thought. And I'll tell you up front that certainly there's much more that could be said under each one of these points than I will have time to say for sure. But hopefully I'll be able to say enough to at least give you the, you know, the big picture here and the flow of this thing, which will serve as a foundation for the rest of our study. And so let's go one through 10 bullet points to kind of just guide our thoughts. As a starting point, we'll go all the way back into eternity past and say this now as bullet point number one, keep in mind, where did we go? We went way back into eternity past as far as we can go. The clear implication of scripture is that somewhere way back there in eternity past. And when I'm talking eternity past and I'm talking even before the world as we know it was created, right? God is eternal. He always existed, right? Somewhere way back, even before the world, as we know it was created, the implication of scripture is, is that God created a host of angelic beings for his own sovereign purposes. Angels were created way before Adam and Eve. God created way back in eternity past a host of angelic beings for his own purposes. And let's just talk about that eternal concept a minute. God of course is eternal, right? Holy, Holy, Holy. We sang about him today. God is eternal, which means that he had no beginning or no end. We are not eternal. We're going to live forever. We have an end, but we had a beginning. God had no beginning or no end. And, uh, you can roll that around in your human mind as long as you want. You're not going to get it. Okay. I'll just tell you right now, you will not get it. Our human minds can't understand that, but that's what the Bible says. God is eternal. No beginning, no end. Uh, we go to Genesis one, one, and what does it say in the beginning? God, right? Um, the Bible begins with God. We don't have the capacity to understand an eternal being with our finite human minds, but we do believe it and accepted by faith because that's what the Bible says about the infinite God. He is eternal. And again, now we start out by saying that somewhere way back there in eternity past, he created a host of angelic beings to serve him and worship him and carry out his bequests. There were various divisions and ranks among the angels that God created, some of which we'll get to and talk about in verse 12. the verses that I read in Ephesians six for you today. But for now, just understand one thing about these angelic hosts that God created in eternity past. There were many of them to put that into terms of revelation five 11 we could say it this way. How many of them were there? There were myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands of them, which is simply the Bible's way of communicating a number that is too big for us to comprehend. myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands of angelic beings. Also understand right here that these angels that God created, these myriads and myriads and thousands and thousands of angels were absolutely perfect as created. Perfect and complete as created. And so we move on now to a second bullet point. See, that'll go pretty good, at least for now. We move on to a second bullet point now. Would you please understand as we do, that the devil was originally one of these angels. Okay. And so now we already have the answer to one of our questions. What was his origin? That was his origin. Um, that's where he came from. The devil was originally one of these and angelic hosts or angelic beings rather than God had created. And we understand that now from two, prophetic texts that I'm going to read for you here in a minute. We have to read these one from Ezekiel and one from Isaiah. And I'm going to read them for you. But before I read them, before I read those prophetic texts, I need to give you just a little bit of explanation about what's going on in these prophetic texts. There is a primary sense in which the Ezekiel text pertains to the King of Tyre. Okay. And there is a primary sense in which the Isaiah passage pertains to Babylon. Quite sure that we have talked about this before, probably more than once, but be reminded again this morning that it's quite common for prophetic passages to have both a primary and a secondary meaning. Primary and a secondary meaning. There's often something going on in the immediate context that is meant to be a picture of something else, something bigger, something maybe later, and such as the case here. I'll give you one quick example of something we've seen at Easter time. If you recall, we studied through for a number of weeks there, Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost and Acts chapter two. Do you remember that? And in that sermon, maybe you remember that Peter quoted from David. in Psalm 168, but you remember there was something unique about that. Um, he quoted from David in Psalm 168, but David in that Psalm was not speaking as David. David in that Psalm was speaking as Christ. You remember that? So, so I guess what I'm just trying to illustrate for you is that this kind of stuff happens typically with prophetic, uh, literature in the scriptures. There are many other examples that I could cite if I wanted to take the time, but please understand again that there is in prophecy often this dual fulfillment and dual meaning. And with that in mind, now turn, if you would please, to Ezekiel 28. Let's get these out on the table and follow as I read verses 12 to 19. Ezekiel 28 verses 12 to 19. This is the first one. In the forefront here, as I said a minute ago, we have the King of Tyre, but the evil power behind the King of Tyre is this beautiful angel we know of as Lucifer. who ultimately became the devil. And all I'm going to pretty much do is just read these texts. So pick up with me now in verse 12 and understand this to be a description of the devil. Son of man, take up a lamentation over the King of Tyre and say to him, thus says the Lord God, you had the seal of perfection, right? This angel was beautiful and perfect, full of wisdom and in perfect beauty. That was this beautiful angel before his rebellion. You were in Eden. That's an interesting insight. The garden of God, every precious stone was your covering. The ruby, the topaz, the diamond and the diamond, the barrel, the onyx and the Jasper, the lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets was in you. On the day that you were created, they were prepared. It goes on to verse 14. You were the anointed cherub who covers and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. By the abundance of your trade, you were internally filled with violence and you sinned. Therefore I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God and I have destroyed you. Oh, covering cherub from the midst of the stones of fire, your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I put you before Kings that they may see you by the multitude of your iniquities and the unrighteousness of your trade. you profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you. It has consumed you and I have turned you to ashes on the earth and the eyes of all who see you, all who know you among the peoples are appalled at you. You have become terrified and you will cease to be forever." And so there we have one of the passages. Wish I could spend more time there, but let's go on. We need to look at the next one. The next one is Isaiah chapter 14. And as you find your place over there at Isaiah 14, pick up with me in verse 12, down to verse 17. This is yet another passage that describes the fall of Lucifer, which by the way, is a word that appears in the King James Bible. It doesn't appear in the NASB. In the NASB it says star of the morning. That's what Lucifer means. And here's what it says now, beginning in verse 12, Isaiah 14, 12, how you have fallen from heaven. Oh, star of the morning, son of the dawn, you have been cut down to the earth. You who have weakened the nations, but you said in your heart and here now, all of you have heard about this and probably heard sermons preached on this here. Now we have the five I wills of Satan, right? Um, He wasn't sad of these five I wills that reveal his great sin of pride. He wasn't satisfied with being the most beautiful and most powerful angel anymore. He wanted to be like God himself and so all filled up with himself. He said, I will five times in a row. Let me read them for you. I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God and I will sit on the Mount of the assembly in the recesses of the North. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high. Nevertheless, you will be thrust down to show all the word of God says in verse 15 to the recesses of the pit. Those who see you will gaze at you. They will ponder over you saying, is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world like a wilderness and overthrew its cities, who did not allow his prisoners to go home. And so there are the two texts, the prophetic texts. So now we know, where the devil came from. Now we know what his origin was. And now we know from these texts, what happened to him. Let's go on. So much more could be said about all of those, but those are the prophetic texts that give us this information. We need to know about the origin of the devil for bullet point. Number three, would you write down the fact that there was what we could rightly call this morning, a pre cosmic fall. right down to fact that there was what we could rightly call a pre-cosmic fall. There was a fall, folks, before this world as we know it existed. There was a fall before the fall. There was a fall before the one that took place in the Garden of Eden, and it's the one we just read about in two Old Testament texts. Lucifer, this most beautiful and powerful angel who was created perfectly and with a free will, by the way, chose to exercise that will and rebellion against God. And if you want a heavy thought, a big thought, let me just throw one out here for you to chew on right now. Lucifer did not have a fallen sinful nature like men do who are born into this world today. He, Lucifer was not a slave to sin like you and I are when we're born into this world. And therefore he did have at this time a free will, in the full sense of what it means to have a free will. And so far as men are concerned, Adam and Eve are the only ones who ever had a free will in the likeness of the angels free will. And they only had that free will like that prior to their fall as recorded in Genesis chapter three. And if you will just hold that big thought for right now, we'll pick it up and talk a little bit more about it later on as it comes up in another point. But for right now, I just want to throw it out there. But for right now, uh, we just need to note and mark Lucifer's rebellion. Uh, Lucifer, even apart from a fallen sinful nature, got filled up with pride and rebelled against God. And as these prophetic texts have both indicated as a result of that rebellion, he got thrown out of heaven. He got thrown down from heaven, at which point he became known. as Satan, which means adversary or accuser. That's one of his names that we'll talk about next time. Now it is interesting to note, just a side note I'll throw in here. It is interesting to note while we're on this subject that according to Luke 10, the pre-incarnate Christ was a witness to that fall. Jesus Christ was there. He saw it happen and he said in Luke 10, 18 to the 70 who had been sent out with the gospel, I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. The pre-incarnate Christ was a witness to this fall. And then, um, and I'm going to go off on a little bit of a rabbit trail right now, but it's not too much of a rabbit trail. It's just a big rabbit trail. Um, there's one more thing that I want to say before we leave this, this, uh, this truth about Satan's fall. Before we go on to point number four, because I believe that God wants us to think about things like this, before we go on to bullet point number four, on the flow of our study today, can I say a word or two, maybe three or four, about why God allowed Lucifer to sin and fall? Have you ever thought about deep stuff like that? You know, why did God allow this to happen? I mean, what's up with that anyway? Why did he allow this to happen? Why did God let Lucifer fall? That's always been a perplexing question for men, one that they grapple with. And there is, of course, I will tell you right up front that there is, of course, a very real sense in which we don't know the answer to that question. And so that's a good starting point for us. Because God is sovereign, he can do whatever he wants to do, right? And he can allow to happen whatever he wants to allow to happen. He doesn't have to give us any answers about any of that. He is God. This is what happened according to his words as recorded, as breathed out of his own mouth and this book that is his word. But that having been said now, I'm not going to spend, you know, a half an hour on this, but that having been said now, there are at least a couple of reasons. that have been postulated by theologians, men who are way smarter than me that have been postulated down through the years by theologians that are at least worthy enough for me to throw them out here and mention them to you today. As we think about this grappling question, why did God allow Lucifer to fall? Number one, how about this? Number one, it has been said that God allowed this to happen. He created the angels with a free will and with the potential for something like this to happen so that the love and the adoration and the worship for him that would come from the other angels who didn't rebel against him would have a special character about it, a uniqueness about it, a precious value to it that it otherwise couldn't have. Does that make sense to you? The idea being that there's always going to be something more special and unique about a kind of love that would come to you from someone who has the option of not loving you. Does that make sense? Versus the kind of love that would come from, let's say a robot who has been programmed to love you. Does that make sense? That makes a little bit of sense to me. Um, that has been postulated, um, by the theologians as one possible reason as to why God may have allowed Lucifer to fall and for man to fall for that matter. But let me give you another one and the other one, The other one is one of those, one of those reasons that will have a tendency to raise the hair on the back of your necks. But I'm going to say it anyway. The other reason is one that many people have a very, very hard time with, but it has to be mentioned here because the word of God clearly sets it forth concerning this whole matter of the fairness of divine election. And that's really what we're talking about, right? God choosing one to love him and one not, right? That's what we're talking about. Uh, people have such a hard time with that. I talk with them and you do, you talk with them concerning this whole matter of the fairness of divine election. That is the idea of God choosing some to be saved, some not to be the idea of God choosing some who would love him and others who would hate him concerning all of that. Paul deals with that by the way, in Romans chapter nine, would you turn there? Paul deals with that issue and he deals with it by setting forth, uh, by setting up a dialogue with an imaginary opponent. That's a, That's a technique that Paul uses often in his letters. He, he creates, he gets into a dialogue with an imaginary opponent that he knows will ask the questions that are on people's minds. And that's exactly what's happening here. If you're, when you get there to Romans chapter nine, I want you to pick up with me in verse 13. And, and if you think this is going to give you any warm fuzzies, forget about it right now. It's not, I'll tell you that right up front. It's not, here's what it says in verse 13. I'm quoting the words of God now from the book of Malachi. Here's what it says. Just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. Where do we go with that? Who said that? God said that. Jacob I love, but Esau I hated. Whether we like it or not, folks, that's what God said. So our responsibility is to deal with it. That's what he said. Jacob I love, but Esau I hated. And so Paul knows how we're going to respond to that. And so he sets up this imaginary opponent and guess what the imaginary opponent says? Maybe the same thing you're saying right now. That's not fair. That is not fair, right? Paul's imaginary opponent is screaming that. And so Paul answers that opponent in verse 14. What should we say then? There is no injustice with God is there. May it never be may get a toe. No, no, no. And a thousand times. No is what that means. And so you don't want Paul's Paul's hands. Paul answers that question with another question saying, my friend, you are really accusing God of being unfair. Are you, you want, you want to rethink that? Is that what you're saying? Are you accusing God of being unfair? Perish the thought that God would ever be unfair, Paul says. And then he went on to explain this further. by quoting what God had already said to Moses about this and what God had already said to Pharaoh about this. And let me read it for you. Verse 15, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it, so then what? So then salvation, Mark this folks, this is so clear. Remember we teach that God is sovereign in salvation, right? Would you look at this? So then it, that is salvation, does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. That's what it depends on. That's why the tax gatherer beat his breast and said, God be merciful to me, the sinner. That's why he said that. It doesn't depend on the man's will or the man's efforts. It depends on God who has mercy. And then he moves to Pharaoh for the scripture says to Pharaoh, and here now is the real tough one for us. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose, I raised you up to demonstrate my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. So then he has mercy on whom he desires and he hardens who he desires. You will say to me then, and here's the imaginary opponent again, you will say to me then, why does he still find fault for who resists as well? And you know what that question is. Let me reword it for you. How, how can that unbeliever be held accountable when after all he just doesn't happen to be one of the chosen ones, right? He's not one of the children. How could he possibly be held accountable? You know what the answer to that is? verse 20 on the contrary, who are you? Oh man, who answers back to God? In other words, sit down and shut up, sit down and shut up. Um, the mold, the thing molded will not say to the molder, why did you make me like this? Will it, or does not the Potter have a right over the clay? Think about this picture. Does not the potter have a right over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience, vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. And we'll just stop right there. It's all that we can take for one day, right? That's tough stuff. That's tough stuff. That's what the word of God says. He is the potter. He is the potter. He can do whatever he wants with the clay. This is a very difficult one for us to swallow. I admit, but the second reason as to why God allowed Lucifer to rebel and fail according to this text, listen, it's so that God would have a way to put one of his attributes on display that would otherwise have no way to be displayed. That's not going to give any of us warm, fuzzy feelings, but that's what the word of God says. Lucifer, right along with all the angels, right along with all the men, who have followed him and who will be in hell with him forever. Provide God with a way to put his wrath on display and thus complete his self revelation for his own glory. And I can assure you that all of those men who are in that camp, we don't have any business knowing about that. We just take the gospel to everyone, right? That's what we do. We don't know about that. That's his business. But the fact of the matter is those ones who will spend eternity in hell will have, will have no, no feelings toward God at all about this. None whatsoever. They're hard. They're hard and they're cold and they will be God haters all the way to hell. You can be sure of that. And so that's what the Bible says. And so tough as that is, my job is to teach you the scriptures, what the word of God says about these things. Why did God allow Lucifer to fall? Well, there's a couple of couple of reasons that are, that are grounded in the truth. And so as we're introduced to the devil in Ephesians 6, 11, we understand it to be originally an angel who rebelled against God and was thrown out of heaven. Let's go on. We made it. Let's go on to point number four and understand that when he fell, all right, here's the next thing that you need to mark down. When he fell, he had successfully convinced one third of the people of Israel, the angels to rebel along with him. And so, um, when he fell, one third of the angels fell with him and you say, well, how many is that? Well, if we don't know how many there were to begin with, we don't know how many a third is. Right. Um, but what we do know is that one third of myriads and myriads and thousands of thousands is a lot, right? A third of these angels, that many fell with him. And so realize what we're up against. A third of that many angels became fallen angels, became demons who are invisible and working with the devil, Satan, the Prince of the power of the air against you and against me and against the plans and the purposes of God. It's a huge force of very, very powerful, angelic, originally angelic beings. Just to emphasize that number. Do you remember that account in the new Testament in, uh, in Mark five and Luke eight, the Gadarene demoniac. Remember that guy, that demon possessed guy that was living in the cemetery and Jesus went and healed him and, and, and, and cast that demon out of that man. And the demon possessed man, Jesus asked him rather, it says in Luke eight 30, what is your name? Remember what he said? He said, legion for many demons had entered him. legions. There are legions and legions, myriads of myriads and thousands and thousands of demons. As a fifth point in your notes today, let's understand that we have now, all right, Satan fell, a third of the angels fell with him. And so what do we have now? All right, now what we have, it's not just one individual. Now we have all within the permissive will of a sovereign God, a whole anti-God kingdom of evil. It's huge. We have an anti-God kingdom of evil. And Satan is, of course, we know according to scripture, the God of this world, right? The ruler of this present world system. We'll talk about all of that stuff as it comes up. But he now, along with all of this host of demons, a third of these fallen angels, uh, he is now presiding over a, an entire anti-God kingdom of evil, uh, that God allowed this to happen. And his sovereignty is pretty clear from what the devil said to Jesus while he was being tempted in the wilderness. Luke four, six. And the devil said to him, that is Christ. I will give you all this domain and its glory for it has been handed over to me. And I give it to whomever I wish he's operating within a permissive will of God and under the sovereignty of God. But that, that this world has been handed over to him. Once again, this only happened. The devil is the present ruler of this world only because God for his own sovereign purposes has allowed it to happen. The devil presides over a kingdom of evil and a host of demons who are all fallen angels as he is a fallen angel. And please understand now again that this kingdom of evil was all in place before the world as we know it was created. We don't know the exact timing on any of this. We don't. But what we do know is that this kingdom of evil was already in place before God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the garden. Perhaps recall from earlier this morning, when I read that prophetic text from Ezekiel 28, I think I even verbally underscored it for you. Lucifer was there in Eden, in the garden of God. It says in verse 13, and now I'm going to pick up the pace a little bit. As we talk about the rest of these things, because, and I can, because the rest of these things are all things that we have talked about more recently in our study of Ephesians under bullet point number six, uh, write down the creation of man. Okay. The creation of man, God created them. You know about this? God created Adam, uh, out of dust from the ground. He created Eve out of Adam's ribs. We've talked about that. All of that in Genesis two, just recently, Most recently, while we were talking about the marriage relationship, do you remember I took you back and we looked at all of this in detail under bullet point number six, understand that the world as we now know it has been now created along with man to woman, the animals and so forth. And once again, like it was with the previous creation of the angelic beings, everything is perfect, right? It's all good. And that's why that garden is often referred to as paradise. It says this in the very last verse, of Genesis one, God saw all that he had made and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day when God says, good, he doesn't mean good, better, best. He means good is good. Okay. Everything was good. Creation is now here under point number seven. Let's understand that as soon as God created this perfect paradise, the devil and his kingdom of evil determined to destroy it. As soon as this beautiful, good, thing was done, created the devil determined to destroy it. And here now we have the beginning of this war that we're in. This is the beginning of this war out of his hatred for God. The devil determined in his heart to destroy everything good that God had created. And it's been that way folks ever since in this unending war. Give you another example from later on. You remember later on in the new Testament, remember when Jesus said what he said in Matthew 16, 18 to Peter, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Why did Jesus say that? Why did he add that last part? He added that last part. that the gates of hell wouldn't prevail against it because he knew that they would be attempting or trying to do that. He added that last part because he understood this enemy, uh, that is our enemy. And he understood this enemy's goal to destroy everything good that God is doing and building and creating. And listen, you need to understand that. And I need to understand that as well, as we live this Christian life and serve our Lord and master, everything we do, literally everything we do, for the glory of God is going to meet with this opposition because we are in this war. It's real. It's like, wake up, hear the wake up call. That's what this first, these first four verses is all about. And understand now also that where did this war begin? Way back there. way back there in eternity past. Evil didn't begin in Eden, folks. Evil was already here when Eden was created and the devil now devised a plan to ruin it all. He's a schemer. And what is his first scheme? We're going to talk about his schemes. I keep thinking every time I think of one, I jot it down on a note so hopefully I can develop that thought and share them with you someday. But he's a schemer. His first scheme is this one that took place right there. and the garden of Eden. We've talked about it before. All of the details of that. Remember how it unfolded. We'll probably go back and look at it again sometime. What did he do? He disguised himself as a serpent and the rest of it is history, isn't it? Well known history is recorded for us in Genesis chapter three. Let's move on under bullet point number eight and the flow of this thought today, right down the fall of man, the fall of man after a pre cosmic fall, in the establishment of an anti-God kingdom of evil. We now have by the devil's design another fall, this time the fall of man. And again, you know the story well. We've talked about it many times as we've worked our way through the chapters of Ephesians. The tempter, what did he do? He bypassed the spiritual head, which was Adam. And he went straight to the woman with his crafty, subtle eyes, He convinced her to eat a piece of fruit from the forbidden tree. She gave it to her husband. He ate as well, plunging the entire human race into sin and a perpetual state of fallenness. All the details of the curse followed there in the middle of Genesis three details of which we have talked about many, many times over as we've studied through this book, you know, about all the details of the curse this morning under bullet point number nine. Now, And we're getting near the end under bullet point number nine this morning. I want to focus your attention on just one consequence of that horrible fall. And it's maybe one that we haven't capitalized on so much in the past. I want to focus your mind on one consequence of the fall. I said to you a little while ago that I would pick up a thought that I threw out. Here's the time I'm going to do that. I said a little while ago that the angels were all created in perfection and with a free will. Right? And I also mentioned to you that among men, Adam was the only one who ever had a free will in the likeness of the angels free will. Would you understand now under bullet point number nine, that when Adam sinned, he lost among many other things, He lost among many other things, that free will for himself and for all of his descendants. And when I say that, when I say that, I know very well about all those folks in the evangelical church today who would radically disagree with me and protest what I just said. There are lots of professing Christians today who want absolutely nothing to do with the sovereignty of God and a doctrine, of divine election. These folks are all about the free will of man. They want to be the ones who do the choosing insofar as salvation is concerned, and they also want to maintain their ability as evangelists to persuade lost people to make that decision for Christ as they so often call it. If I can be convincing enough to persuade you, you as an unbeliever can exercise your own will and make a decision for Christ. That's the false premise upon which they operate. Let me tell you now what the fatal problem with that very common theory is. It does not square with the word of God at all. That is simply not how the Bible says that salvation takes place. And we, we in this little group, we have seen that truth, folks. We have seen that truth illustrated, haven't we? time and time and time and time again, right here in this book of Ephesians. Do we deny human will? No, we do not. We understand that. Yes, human will does come into play, but let me say it again. Human will comes into play only after God sovereignly gives that spiritually dead individual life. Only after God makes you alive together with Christ, does he then produce in you the repentance and the faith that are those necessary human responses. Joe and I were talking about this this morning, you know. If you start with a clear teaching of divine election in the scriptures and then you move to the free will, um, there is a reasonable way that we can fit that back into the package. But if you start over here ignoring, uh, the election doctrine and you just land on that free will, and then you go back over here and have to deal with these election versus there's nothing you can do with them other than get mad and get angry and reject it and start tearing pages out of your Bible. That's all you can do. If you start here, you can go there, you can make this thing work. And admittedly, these are things that we can't fully comprehend, right? We admit that, but that's the only way you're ever going to make any sense out of it. Yes, human will does come into play, but only after God sovereignly makes that dead person alive and then produces in them those necessary human responses. And what do I keep saying when, whenever we talk about this at the end of the day, folks, who does what God does it all. And so far as our salvation is concerned. And prior to that, Now let me get back to what I was saying prior to that, that unbelieving man as a result of the fall, right? We're talking about this dead man now, spiritually dead man, unbeliever prior to that, that unbelieving man as a result of the fall is completely and totally unable to make that decision. Can't do it because of what I just said a minute ago, what happened? He lost his free will when Adam sinned. And let me give you two quick verses to support that. You remember, of course, that vivid description of unbelieving man and Ephesians two, one to three, we go there often. Paul told us there that before salvation, we were all what spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins. We were all under the dominion of Satan and his world system. And we were all by nature, children of wrath. What is the end result of that? You were not free as an unbeliever. You were not free. You were a slave. You were in bondage. And then here's, this one is so clear. There's Romans chapter six that also affirms this truth about fallen man, unredeemed man, defining what it means to be a Christian. Paul says this in Romans six, six, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. Now let me ask you a question. When you become a Christian, Paul says you're no longer a slave to sin. And so what's the, what's the clear implication of that? When you become a Christian, you're no longer a slave to sin. It's the implication of that. Before salvation, you were a slave to sin. What does that mean? It means that as an unbeliever, you don't have a free will insofar as choosing to love and serve and worship and obey. God is concerned because you are enslaved to the devil and his anti God world system. And that's why it says what it says in Romans eight, eight. Um, those who are in the flash can not please God, it's impossible. It cannot happen. Is there any help? You say, is there any help for this fallen enslaved individual? Is there any way for fallen man to be restored? Is there any way for fallen man to be set free from his slavery to sin and to Satan? And once again, have the potential and capacity to worship and obey and glorify and honor God. I'm very happy to report to you that there is a way and it's, but it's all bound up. It's all bound up. in those two words that I know you have underlined in your Bibles at the beginning of Ephesians 2, 4. You know what those two words are? But God. It's all bound up in those two words. But God. That's the hope for fallen man who is lost and enslaved to sin. But God. The only hope for a lost, fallen man, an unredeemed man who has lost his free will and so far as choosing salvation is concerned is Mark this divine intervention. Divine intervention is his only help. Under bullet point number 10 this morning, would you please write these words? Salvation is the only way out of this thing. Salvation is the only way out. The sovereign God must intervene. And aren't you glad that he did? I'm so thankful that he did. I'm so thankful that I don't have to be my own savior, that God chose me and redeemed me. called me out and made me alive together with Christ. The gospel salvation is the only way out. The sovereign God must intervene with the gospel, which is the power of God folks for salvation to everyone who believes Romans one 16 it's only the gospel believe that will set a man or a woman free from the bondage of sin and death. And those, and those are the very, terms. In fact, that Jesus used to explain the apostle Paul's ministry assignment to him when he saved him on the road to Damascus. I found this quite interesting. Those are the terms that Jesus used. I'm sending you to these lost people. Jesus Christ said to Paul and act 16 18 listen to this to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God. How's that for a way of describing salvation? This is your ministry, Paul. I'm sending you to these lost people to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in me. Salvation, beloved, transfers your citizenship, frees you from your former slavery. Colossians 1 13 describes it as a rescue. He rescued us for he that is Christ rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. Now I'll say again, what I said before, certainly all of these things are things that are all of these 10 bullet points. Much more could be said under each one. Uh, they could have all been explained with much greater detail, but there you have at least a very brief sketch. I hope you, I hope you have the big picture, a brief sketch of where this devil and his host of demons came from, uh, that Paul has just introduced us to in Ephesians six 11 and why we're in this vicious spiritual war that we're in. That's the foundation upon which this whole thing is built. As I said earlier today, I'll say again in closing, it's important. It's only with an understanding of this truth in the back of your mind that you will be able to make any sense out of history, past history, present in history, future. We all have at least a rough idea now of how the devil and his demons came to be. As we continue to study this text and Ephesians, we're going to come to a pretty clear understanding of, how they are still operating in the world today. Um, how about if I close this morning with a little insight into the devil's future? That's good for us to know too. A revelation 2010 described Satan's end and the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are also, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. He's running. He's running wild right now. He's free to do his thing right now while God and God is allowing him to do that while he is completing his plan of redemption. But that is his end. He's going to be one day ultimately thrown into the lake of fire forever and ever and ever. There's still quite a bit more. We're still just scratching the surface of this subject. There's still lots and lots more for us yet to learn in the word of God about this devil who is the avowed enemy of God and the avowed enemy of our souls. And so we'll pick it up next time as I promised with a, a look at some of his names. That'll be our topic for two weeks from today. Let's pray. Father, we've only scratched the surface today on a lot of very deep and important subjects. I just pray that somehow you would pull it all together for us and use it father as fuel for meditation, expanded in all of our minds beyond what we were able to today. Uh, and from there, God, we pray that you would then go on to make those life changing connections for us all between the truth of your word and the many things we see happening in the world all around us every day. We don't want to be ignorant of the devil schemes father and we thank you that we don't have to be. Thank you for exposing him so thoroughly on the pages of your word. Continue to teach us as we continue to study in the days ahead. All for your glory. Change us father for your glory as we do. We pray all of these things. Thank you for this opportunity, this Lord's day for time together with your people and your word. We love you and thank you and praise you in Jesus name. Amen.