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to bless our church and in Jesus name we pray, amen. All right, amen. We are in Isaiah chapter 14. And the title of my sermon this morning is the biography of Satan. The biography of Satan is a good Valentine's sermon, amen. Let's talk about Satan here. And I want to talk about some of the misconceptions that people have of the devil, misconceptions about Satan. And you guys are going to for sure learn something new today, okay. We're obviously going to talk about things that have obviously been stated and preached about and talked about that I preached on and talked about. But we're going to dig a little deeper this morning into who Satan is from the beginning all the way to his end. Now here in Isaiah chapter 14, we actually have God through the prophet Isaiah preaching against the king of Babylon, okay. And often what you'll see, especially in the Old Testament, is that God will address a specific king, a specific ruler, but then he'll kind of attribute some sort of satanic influence to him, you know. You have, we're going to look at Ezekiel 28 with the king of Tyrus and he's addressing a literal person, a literal king, but what the implication there is that he's also talking to Satan because of the fact that Satan is influencing this king, this particular person, this particular ruler, this particular king. And so although he's preaching at or addressing the king of Babylon, we're going to see, and it's pretty obvious, that he's also referring to Lucifer himself because of the fact that Lucifer is the one possessing this particular king to carry out wickedness and evil throughout the land. Look at verse 11 of Isaiah 14, it says, thy pomp is brought down to the grave and the noise of thy vials, the worm is spread under thee and the worms cover thee. Verse 12, how art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning, how art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nation. So even though he's addressing the king of Babylon, he gives a name here and that is Lucifer. Now a lot of the qualities and a lot of the condemnations that God has given to this particular king doesn't match up with the king, you understand. So it's obviously referring to the celestial being known as Satan, Lucifer, okay. And so that's what he's talking about there and you know throughout the years or throughout biblical history, you see that taking place where certain angels or certain demons are designated specific areas of the world. And this is not something that's only subject to the Bible, it's happening today as well, okay. Where you have rulers out there in this world who are being puppeteered, so to speak, by Satan, by his devils. The Bible talks about the principalities powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world, talks about this hierarchy of demons under the rule of Satan. And so we see that in the Old Testament, we see that even today. Now we're going to come back to Isaiah 14 in just a bit, but go to Ezekiel chapter 28, Ezekiel chapter 28. And I want to re-emphasize what it says in Isaiah 14 when it says, how art thou fallen from heaven O Lucifer. How did this happen? How did it take place? Now a lot of people will take Isaiah 14 and verse 12 where it says how art thou fallen and automatically assume that this is referring to the fall of Satan when he basically was cast out of heaven and came to the Garden of Eden. But that's actually not what's happened at all, okay. And I'm going to prove that from the Bible. There's going to be a time when Satan falls from heaven, but actually he's still there now. You say, what in the world? Are you serious? Yeah, Satan is still given access to aspects of heaven to come before the presence of God to accuse the brethren to God night and day. And he isn't officially cast out of heaven until Revelation chapter 12. Okay. And we'll look at that at the end of the sermon here. So he hasn't fallen yet as far as from heaven. Now we know he's a fallen angel in the sense of the fact that he's transgressed against God. He's a devil. He's Satan. He's that old serpent, but we're going to look in just a bit of how that actually plays out and carries out. Let's look at his creation first and foremost, okay. Look at Ezekiel chapter 28 in verse 12. It says in verse 12, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus. So he's referring to a literal person here, but then we're going to look at the demonic influence behind the king of Tyrus. And say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God, thou sealest up the sum full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. In other words, he's saying you're the grand total of wisdom. You have so much wisdom. You're beautiful. He says in verse 13, thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God. Now at this point, is he talking to the king of Tyrus? No. At this point, we obviously know that he's talking to Satan himself. Okay. Because we know based upon Genesis chapter three, that Satan, who's that serpent, that old serpent, the devil was in the garden of Eden in Genesis chapter number three. You understand? So he's transitioning here to talk about Satan. He says, thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God. I want you to notice, why was it that Satan or Lucifer was so beautiful? It says here, every precious stone was thy covering, the Sardis, Topaz, and the Diamond, the Beryl, the Onyx, and the Jasper, the Sapphire, the Emerald, the carbuncle, and gold. This guy's decked out. He's got a lot of ice. You know, he's bling blinging. He's the envy of every modern rapper right now. Right? I mean, this is, look at all these jewels and gold and diamonds and precious stones that he's covered with. Okay. It says the workmanship of thy tablets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou was created. So I want you to notice a couple of elements here. It says that he was full of wisdom. It says that he was beautiful. It says that he was covered with all of these precious stones. And it says that his tabards and his pipes were prepared when he was created, referring to his vocals, his ability to sing. So he was musical in a sense. Okay. God created him with an ability to sing beautifully and with these pipes, which by the way, would, would, you know, kind of help us to understand why there's so much wicked music in the world today. Right. And who's behind all of that. So it says in verse 14, notice this thou art the anointed cherub that covereth and I have set thee so. Thou was upon the holy mountain of God. Thou has walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. So a couple of things to notice here. Okay. Of course, we see that he was in the garden of Eden. It tells us that he was full of wisdom. He was beautiful. He, he was bling bling in. He had these pipes and these tabards. And the Bible says that he is the anointed cherub that covereth. I want you to remember that phrase for later on. It says in verse 15, thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise, they have filled the midst of thee with violence and thou has sin. Therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God. And I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty. Thou has corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness. I will cast thee to the ground. I will lay thee before kings that they may behold thee. So this is pretty interesting here because it talks about his creation. It talks about the fact that he's the cherub. He's covered. He's covering. He has all these stones and precious stones as a covering. He has these pipes and these tabards. He's full of wisdom. He is the grand total of all these things. He's probably one of the most beautiful celestial beings that God created during the creation period. Okay. Because God is basically bragging on his creation here. You understand? But the Bible tells us that iniquity was found in him and this is what people would commonly refer to as the fall of Satan. Now the question is this. When did this actually take place? When did he actually fall? When was iniquity found in him? Now go to Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter number 3. Now a lot of people, myself included for quite some time, thought that the casting out of Satan took place sometime prior to his appearing in Eden because the common story or the common narrative is that the reason he's in Eden is because he was cast out of heaven. He came. He possessed the serpent and then he deceived Eve and then you have the fall of man. Right? How many would say that's pretty much what I thought as well? How many would say that? Okay. That he was cast out of heaven, possessed the serpent, etc. etc. But here's the problem with this narrative here is that when God created everything in six days, he said it was very good. So everything was very good when he finished creating everything and when he when we said he created everything, you know, basically we're referring to all the animals, all of creation, all of the celestial bodies including that which is in heaven was created and in fact heaven was created on the first day. Right? You know in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth the Bible says. Okay. And so everything was very good. Well it wouldn't be very good if Satan is just roaming around, you know, the Garden of Eden as a fallen angel. You understand? And it says you're in Genesis 3. I'm going to read to you from Genesis 2 verse 1. It says, thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them and on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. Okay. So what happens in Genesis chapter 2? Well Genesis chapter 2, God talks about the tree of life and he also talks about the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Okay. And he basically commands Adam and Eve don't eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He can eat of every other tree of the garden. He has free reign to eat all the mangoes and the strawberries and whatever is there, you know, all the delicious fruits but there's only one tree that he was forbidden to touch and that was the tree of knowledge of good and evil because the day that he would do so he would basically die spiritually. Okay. Look at Genesis 3 verse 1. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. Now obviously when we look at that we say oh serpent that's bad because we know who the serpent is. We've read Revelation. It calls him the old serpent. Obviously Satan is obviously represented as a serpent. So we automatically read into the text and say at this point he's already bad. Okay. But it doesn't say that he was bad at this point. It just says now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. Now what does it mean to be subtle? Well a definition of subtlety would be cunning, you have discernment and subtlety can be used for good or for bad. We obviously see that Satan used his cunning subtlety to deceive Eve but the Bible also talks about in Proverbs chapter 1 that the word of God gives us subtlety and discretion. Like we're supposed to learn subtlety, discretion, wisdom, knowledge. These are all principles and virtues that God wants us to learn for that which is good. And you know obviously people can take good things and pervert them, right? Pervert knowledge, pervert subtlety, pervert discretion, etc. Let's read on. It says 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 hath said ye shall not eat of it neither shall you touch it lest he die. Now obviously she exaggerated a bit here. Okay. She basically added to the commandment because God never said don't touch it. He just said don't eat of it. Okay. He said don't eat it, don't touch it, lest ye 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 open and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil. And of course she eats of the fruit, she gives her husband, and here we are today. Okay. You know the rest is history. Okay. Now I submit to you that Lucifer did not become what we know as Satan until this point right here. So when the Bible says that the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, I don't believe he had fallen at that point. You say what in the world? I've never heard that before. Well I'll tell you why I don't believe that. Look at verse 14. You see if Satan had fallen prior to that there would have been a punishment distributed unto him but no punishment had been distributed to him because he had done nothing wrong at that point. It says in verse 13 verse 14 I'm sorry read from verse 13 and the Lord God said unto the woman what is this that thou has done and the woman said the serpent beguiled me and I did eat and the Lord said unto the serpent because thou has done this thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field and upon thy belly thou shall go and thus shall thou eat all the days of thy life and I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shall bruise his heel. This is when God gives the prophecy of Jesus Christ because the seed of the woman is referring to Jesus Christ who's going to come, he's going to bruise his head. Satan of course before that will bruise his heel at the cross. You understand? Now as I mentioned in verse number one this isn't painting Lucifer in a bad light at this point because it just simply means that he's subtle and I think what he's basically telling us here is that this creation known as Lucifer this cherub was more subtle than any beast of the field okay. Now I've always wondered why isn't Eve like kind of tripping out that this serpent is talking to her right? Anyone ever thought that? Like you know if I was in her position this never happened before if he would have spoke I would have said before I answer your question how in the world are you talking right? I always thought that was kind of strange because you only have about two examples in the bible of animals actually speaking one of them being here and then the other one with Balaam where his ass began to speak to him and he starts smiting his ass and all that and these are obviously miraculous things but let me explain something to you what I believe is actually taking place here okay because the bible refers to Satan as a cherub okay a cherub is a type of angel you know you think of angels or you know they're these human looking celestial beings with wings whereas the cherubims plural cherub singular is a celestial being that has like an anthropomorphic type of a structure it has basically like a it's like a man's body with the face of an animal you read revelation chapter four you read revelation chapter five you read Ezekiel one you read Ezekiel 10 you have these these these images of these cherubs and they look like animals they have a face of an ox they have a face of a lion they have a face of an eagle and the bible refers to them as beasts okay it's very much not like your mainstream angels of today okay you know people are always wanting to say no I want to see angels no if you see an angel you probably like wet your pants or something because there are a terrifying sight to look at I mean when you have this anthropomorphic thing with all these wings eyes before and behind and then it's it's it looks like it like a like an ox it's gonna freak you out that's a freaking looking image put that on top of your Christmas tree right so we know a couple things about cherubs cherubims is the fact that they're not like your mainstream angels they're not like these messengers that we typically see in the bible they're a little different okay a little terrifying to behold well satan is a cherub so based upon the description of the cherubims we would can safely assume that he was this anthropomorphic type of a creature that got created where he might have had a body of a man but a face of of some sort of beast now I preached this uh last year where I talked about Baphomet for example right Baphomet is like this anthropomorphic being and it's it's a symbol of satan satanism right and you know it has like the body of a human but it has the head of a goat and I've always thought well that's that is satan right that's referring to satan maybe satan because he's a cherub had the face of a goat but now I actually think that maybe that's just referring to just another type of devil now I'm looking at this and wondering maybe satan his anthropomorphic cherub type of likeness was actually a serpent and this is why the bible refers to him as a dragon or a serpent because god created him that way you understand so when it says the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field he's just describing lucifer and why is he more subtle because the bible says in ezekah 28 that he was full of wisdom he was the grand total he had he was filled with wisdom he was more subtle than most of the creation that god had made okay and so what we see there is the fact that possibly satan and obviously this is speculation but it's good to preach what the bible actually says and then give also our speculative opinion as well to kind of fill in the gaps and I'm not saying that this is 100 true I'm not dogmatic about this but I'm putting this forth because it's just fun to talk about sometimes things like this okay makes the bible exciting too amen so one a couple things that we can we can take away from this description of satan is the fact that he's a cherub and because he's a cherub he probably has these animal-like or beast-like qualities to him the reason why god refers to him as a serpent is probably because that's exactly what he looks like okay he didn't become a dragon he didn't become a serpent when he became satan he's just always been that way that's how he was created you understand now you say well then that okay that explains that but why was then he why was he in the garden then you know what I mean I think he was in the garden because maybe he was cast out of heaven and that's he just landed in the garden of eden because that's where humans are and he wanted to tempt them okay well here's the thing is that ezekah 28 just says thou wast in eden the garden of god and in that particular description it's not referring to him in a negative light because he's still bragging on his creation he said he was full of wisdom he was beautiful he was in the in eden the garden of god he was covered with all these precious stones and jewels he had these tablets and these pipes he was beautiful and then later on iniquity was found in him so i don't believe that satan fell from heaven and then came to the garden of eden because that's where adam and eve was i believe listen to this i believe that maybe satan or lucifer at that time had a particular task in eden you're like i don't know man this is kind of like you're going a little too far with these interpretations here you said why would you think that why would you think that satan had some sort of task or job there well here's the thing is that that's not a far-fetched idea because don't we see cherubs cherry bims in genesis chapter 3 in the garden of eden and what are they doing they're guarding what the tree of life they're covering the tree of life and then we have examples of cherry bims covering the arc of god and he says in ezekio 28 that was a cherub and that covereth because i have set thee so so i just think that maybe god placed cherubs cherry bims in the garden of eden for a specific task now obviously you know these cherry bims that were placed to guard the the the tree of life he did that after the fall of man because he didn't want them to touch it so he placed them there because he didn't want them to touch it he didn't have to do it before because there's no danger before so there's but there is one tree that was dangerous to touch which is a tree of knowledge of good and evil so that would require some sort of cherub to guard it which would potentially be lucifer himself i mean it i don't think it's a coincidence that genesis chapter 3 verse 1 has lucifer there and then he begins to tempt eve with eating the tree of knowledge of good and evil you understand so you say what's taking place then pastor me here you know do you believe in the book of enoch or something like that no i don't okay i'm extrapolating principles that we can potentially or conclusions that we could come to based upon the information that's in the text and i don't think it's far-fetched and if you have my voice is giving out on me by the way i'm losing i've been losing my voice over the last week so sorry if i crack a little bit you know there's information here that we could extrapolate this from and if you have a different interpretation that's fine i'm not dogmatic about this i'm just saying this is a potential interpretation here because this fills in a lot of the gaps that we wonder like why is he in the garden of eden why is you know why is he the cherub why is he a dragon why is he a serpent well these could be the potential reasons as to why so when was iniquity found in him well it was found in him when he say yea hath god said he exalted himself above all that is called god or that is worship which is what he's going to cause the anti-christ to do in the end times he said well how do you know that he exalted himself above all that is called god that is worship doesn't say that in genesis chapter three yeah in genesis chapter three it actually shows what he actually said but isaiah 14 shows what was in his heart that he wanted to exalt himself above all that is called god that is worship he wanted to exalt his throne above the heavens above the stars he wanted to be like gawk and so i believe what's taking place here if i may extrapolate a little bit of a speculation here is that lucifer was in charge of guarding the tree of life the tree of knowledge of good and evil that's what he was there for but instead he exercised his free will to tempt eve into eating of the tree thereby damning all of mankind okay now does this change anything no the whole world's still damned he's still out there you know walking about seeking whom he may devour he's still lucifer he's still satan he's still uh gonna go to hell he's still you know this this this fallen cherub so to speak this is basically just filling in the gaps to cause you to think a little bit and folks it's important that when we read the bible you know we don't just read genesis 3 and say well i already know the story i already know this story i've read it over and over again i've read it so many times already there's nothing new to learn no you know sometimes it's good to just slow down a little bit meditate upon god's word a little bit chew on the word of god a little bit and meditate upon and pray about it because god's word is so exhaustive okay and and you'll never learn everything there is to learn about god's word you understand now one thing that we can uh for sure say is that when satan transgressed iniquity was found in him he he was lifted up so to speak you know is that thereafter he obviously recruited a third of the angels of god to join in his rebellion against the lord okay because the bible tells us that in revelation chapter 12 you don't have to turn there but go with me if you would to go to job chapter number one if you would job chapter number one pretty interesting right revelation 12 verse 4 says this and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born he said well that doesn't really explain verse 14 where he curses the actual serpent itself well here's my opinion about that okay he said why does the serpent suffer for satan's actions well because it's god and you know god does whatever he wants he created that serpent he can make it he could punish it if he wants to but here's the thing now from here on out from that point forward the serpent always has a negative connotation attached to it in every culture in every culture a serpent always has a negative connotation he said well i know some cultures that like the serpent yeah and it's probably a wicked pagan nation it's probably some wicked religion out there that worships satan and that's why they like it okay but think about this okay let's let's talk about baphomet for example who is a cherub that has a body of a man but a face of a goat well goats in the bible don't have a good connotation attached to it and in fact they're they often picture what the unsaved because he separates the sheep from the goats understand but we see that he recruits a third of the angels in his rebellion and although in revelation 12 it says that he draws them from heaven and casts them into the earth i believe that basically he'd recruited them long before that and you say well how do you know that well because the bible records people being possessed with unclean spirits devils unclean spirits you know things that uh celestial beings of that nature they came from somewhere you understand and the bible talks about in matthew 25 verse 41 then shall he say unto them on the left depart from ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels so he obviously has a hierarchy of demonic beings that uh basically follow his command okay now after he after the whole garden of eden incident happens what happens after that well now satan is on a quest to destroy mankind we're talking about the history of satan the history of satan began in the garden of eden because he was probably given some sort of task to oversee the tree of life of good and evil knowledge of good and evil he sins against god and now he's officially damned for all of eternity he's reserved for the day of judgment and now he's on a quest to destroy mankind okay look at joe chapter 1 verse 6 now there was a day when the sons of god came to present themselves before the lord and satan came also among them now let me make a quick statement real quick when it says sons of god is referring to believers save people this is false teaching out there that the sons of god is referring to angels but unto which of the angels said he at any time thou are my son this they have i begotten thee the bible says in hebrew chapter 1 he never calls angels his sons they're his created beings they're his creation but it's not his sons okay the sons of god according to the bible according to john 112 is referring to safe people but as many as received him to them give you power to become the sons of god even unto them that believe on his name it's a specific title designated to the redeemed okay and so when it says that there was a day when the sons of god came to present themselves it's referring to the fact that these sons of god are in heaven also debunking the false doctrine of abraham's bosom because believers in the old testament when they died they didn't go to cal you know christian purgatory there's no such thing you know to be absent from the bodies to be present with the lord and we have an example here of people coming before the presence of god and the bible says that satan came also among them so another thing that we can extrapolate from this is the fact that satan still has access to heaven because the sons of god are coming before the presence of god and then you have satan also coming before the presence of the lord verse seven and the lord sentences saying that satan whence comest thou he said is is god bored he just wants to strike up a conversation with the devil you know how no he's he's telling him to give him to give an account satan does not have free reign in this world folks don't believe the hollywood movies out there they try to make it seem as though satan is so strong and he might have a chance against god it does not work that way at all he is on a short leash with god you understand and what we see is that he's coming to the presence of god because god's saying now where were you give me an account then satan answered the lord and said from going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it now this is something that angels do because the bible talks about angels ascending and descending from the earth to heaven because they have specific tasks we know the angels are ministering spirits sent forth to minister them who who shall be the heirs of of salvation the bible tells us we know that according to the bible children have specific angels designated to them so they have these tasks they're constantly working they're messengers of god well in like manner satan and his angels are also doing the same thing because satan is not original so what he does is he basically takes god's format and he just perverts it and makes it his own so he's going to and fro in the earth and of course we we understand according to the bible that he's seeking whom he may devour it says in verse eight and the lord said unto satan hast thou considered my servant joe that's a very powerful phrase because when he says i'm going to and fro in the earth he's not just saying like i like walking walks on the beach you know i'm trying to get my thousand steps in or something like that what he's saying is like i'm looking for someone to devour and that's why god says well have you considered my servant joe now that's one of the most amazing statements in the bible but it's probably also one of the most scariest phrases in the bible it's very honoring though is not for the god of the universe to say well have you considered my servant fill in the blank it's powerful that there is none like him in the earth man a perfect than an upright man one that feareth god and is cheweth evil so he's bragging on joe shows us that joe was such a godly man he's a man that we should strive for to be like unto right he says then satan answered the lord and said does joe fear god for not he's a he does he just fear for nothing has not thou made a hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side that was blessed the work of his hands and his substance is increased in the land another thing that i want to point out from this verse is that satan knew who joe was yeah he knew his credentials he knew who he was now what does that tell us satan knows who we are satan knows who believers are and you know whether satan and his minions the the forces of darkness recognize you if you're serving god now if you pose no threat you know you're not on his list if you pose no threat you're not soul winning you're not reading the bible you're not serving god you know peter i know paul know but who are you jesus i know paul i know but who are you it's kind of one of those things like i don't know who you are but he obviously knew who joe was he knew his credentials verse 11 put forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face so what is satan doing he's saying yeah you've blessed him you place a hedge about him you bless the work of his hands but i guarantee you if you're to touch everything that he has he will curse you to your face he will turn on you that's what he'll do verse 12 and the lord said unto satan behold all that he hath is in thy power only upon himself putting out forth thine hand so he said all right you can basically destroy his life but make sure you don't destroy him now if satan was really this autonomous person who just can do whatever he wants he would have been like no i'm going to kill him too but he doesn't have that authority to do that he needs permission from god to actually mess with you so god's like just don't touch him you can you can destroy everything else though so satan went so satan went from the presence of the lord and of course we know the story what happens is joe's life is basically destroyed his children die he loses all his substance and you know what everything that god said about joe was actually true he was a perfect and upright man and the bible says that that he didn't charge god foolishly even though these things came upon him and god bless his latter end more than his beginning because he was such a godly man now what does this tell us this tells us about satan about the history of satan the fact that what is he doing throughout history he's accusing the brethren before god he's accusing the brethren before god turn with you if you would to luke chapter 22 luke chapter 22 so he's going to and fro in all the earth seeking whom he may devour he goes before the presence of god to accuse you to the lord to try to get permission to destroy your life that's why when you go through a trial you should count it an honor amen when satan attacks you just say man the lord basically said hast thou considered my servant this isn't an isolated incident folks it's not like when satan attacks like you're like oh lord thank you so much for counting me worthy and god's like oh i didn't even he did that oh man yeah oh yeah yeah no he he knew he knows every time you're attacked in fact he allows it and now and here's another principle when you are going through a trial when you're going through a tribulation just know this it's because god believes in you think about that it's because he believes that you can make it through because if he in god's omniscience if he knew you're just a weakling they can't handle the pressure he would just tell satan no lay off they can't handle that because there's no no temptation taking you but such as is common to man but god is faithful who will with that temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it so the temptations that he brings into your life that he allows in your life is an indication that you are fortified and strong enough to withstand it that's why it sucks when christians quit when they go through a hard time that's why it's it's it's uh it's it's sad to see christians throw in the towel when they go through a trial why because the the fact that you're in the trial is an indication that god thinks you're strong enough to withstand it that god doesn't only think that god doesn't only think he knows and look most of us have been through a trial it's just like i feel like i just can't take it anymore i feel like i can't handle it this is my last day i can't do this anymore i can't hold on for another week but once you have that thought it basically means that you can't you're just you're just kind of like complaining you're just doing what we all would do which is whining we're just whining a little bit you understand but if you're still alive you're still handling it you know what that means it means you are strong enough to withstand the temptations of satan we need to we need to have a different perspective of trials we need to have a different perspective of tribulations and the attacks of satan and recognize that god is not forsaking us because you know sometimes we think that maybe god's not that strong if satan is just destroying my life right now maybe he maybe he's not going to deliver me but the fact that you're there is an indication that he will deliver you that he knows that you're strong enough to withstand it look at luke 22 verse 31 and the lord said unto simon the excuse me the lord said simon simon referring to peter listen to this behold satan hath desired to have you what does that mean that means satan came to god and said i want peter give me peter give me permission to go after peter now who's peter he's one of the 12 disciples 12 apostles but he's like the leader he's he's he always puts his foot in his mouth he's a zealous guy he loves the lord he's going to do some great exploits so he's kind of like a threat to satan because he's inspiring people he's leading people he's just kind of all all in just guns blazing kind of kind of a leader a disciple christian and satan's like all right i want to go toe to toe with him and so jesus comes to him and says satan desires to have you and he says that he may sift you as we just cut him down to size verse 32 but i have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not and when thou are converted strengthen thy brethren now let me ask you this does jesus always get his prayers answered yeah of course he does and you know what peter's not the only person that jesus has prayed for when satan desires to have someone he prays for us as well he's praying for the bible says that the bible says that he is our advocate my little children these things are not right unto you that you sin now but if any man sin we have an advocate with the father jesus christ the righteous that's what the bible says so he's advocating on our behalf romans chapter 8 tells us that he's praying for us so that our faith doesn't fail and let me just say this one day in your christian life this conversation will happen but just not audibly to you but satan is going to come before the throne of god and say i want this person this person is reading their bible they're leading their household they are soul winning they are living righteously they're turning others to righteousness they're making an impact let me let me go toe to toe with that person right there now for some of you this is like i'm never going to serve god then and you know there's some people that are like that there's some people are like well i rather just not serve god at all because i don't want to be attacked by satan and and to that i say then go home then go home because the christian life is a fight folks it's a battle it's spiritual warfare and if satan if god allows satan to attack you it should be counted in honor and a privilege that god would seem uh deem you worthy to be attacked by satan himself to desire you to sift you as wheat now peter failed right he denied the lord but we knew that he bounced back thereafter why because his faith ultimately did not fail turn with me if you would to matthew chapter number four so the history of satan is from the garden of eden but then he has this quest he has this agenda he has this campaign against mankind and why is he attacking mankind why does he hate mankind because of the fact that he wants to take mankind with him to hell and by the way devils and satan they all know they're going to hell this is why the devils would come to jesus during his ministry and say has thou come to torment us before the time because they know they're going to be tormented in hell one day but they're here to satan satan's agenda is to sift christians is to resist christians as well you're in matthew 4 but i'm gonna reach you from zechariah chapter 3 it says and he showed me joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the lord and satan standing at his right hand to resist him what does that mean to give him some pushback to stop him to hinder him so what's another reason why satan is here i'll tell you why to resist us to try to stop us from doing the work of god and look the christian life would be boring if there is no resistance this would be honest if every soul that we preached to got saved and there is no resistance whatsoever you know there is no false religions that we would have to go in and save people from and help people come to the saving knowledge of jesus christ you know that wouldn't necessarily be an exciting life here as a sinner who's saved by grace working to receive a crown and rewards in the life to come satan is here to resist us because he wants to hinder us this is where trials and obstacles and all these things come because satan is trying to stop us why the bible tells us that he has blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of christ was the image of god should shine unto them and our job is to be a godly christian to be a vessel and to honor me for the master's use so that we resist satan as well so as he's pushing back and he's pushing back and he's pushing back we resist as well so he's here to sift christians he's here to resist them he's here to tempt them as well look what the bible says in matthew 4 verse 1 this is one of the main events that we see in the life of satan is that he's coming to face off with jesus christ himself it says in verse number one then was jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights he was afterward and hungered and when the tempter came to him he said if thou be the son of god command that these stones be made bread now could jesus have done that of course he's the creator jesus made every single planet is in existence today in the universe he's created all the grains of sand that are on every beach of the world you don't think he could just create of course he can if you want to but what is satan doing he's tempting him but he answered and said it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of the proceed out of the mouth of god bam round one is done then the devil taketh him up into the holy city and said to him on a pinnacle of the temple if thou be the son of god cast thyself down for it is written he shall give his angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against the stone so now first he was appealing to his physical hunger now he's appealing to you know giving him power but jesus christ is the source of all power by the way verse 6 shows us that the devil knows the bible too right because he's quoting scripture what's the difference he's quoting it out of context just like every false prophet and false apostle does today so who cares if someone's using the king james bible out there if they're using it out of context they don't know any bible jesus sentence in verse 7 it is written again thou shall not tempt the lord thy god again the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them and saved them to him all these things will i give thee if thou will fall down and worship me then saith jesus unto him get thee hence satan for it is written thou shalt worship the lord thy god and him only shalt thou serve then the devil leaveth him and behold angels came and ministered unto them round two round three he just he whooped them the lord won so here's another thing that we can gather from this is verse eight is that you know the kingdoms of this world in a sense are given in the hands of satan yeah yeah so if the kingdoms of this world are given in the hands of satan that means the leaders of this world the vast majority of them are under the control of satan and i do this because they're like puppets well but maybe there's just one good one yeah maybe in some like island where like 10 people live or something but probably not likely and so this is a way that satan will tempt you and satan will tempt me as well he'll present these temptations in our life in order to cause us to fall and stumble the second face off that satan had with the creator was in luke 22 turn with me if you would to revelation chapter 12 revelation chapter 12 this is when satan possesses judas iscariot in order to betray jesus okay and of course he succeeds at that but it's so that the scriptures might be fulfilled the bible tells us and then lastly of course the last ness uh face off so to speak is when satan actually possesses the anti-christ in order to make war with the saints in the end times okay look at revelation chapter 12 and verse 7 so i'm not going to go through the entire timeline of end times bible prophecy i know when i say that i do i end up giving you the whole shebang but i'm not going to do that i'm going to fight the urge to do that here okay but what i will tell you is that at the end of the three and a half years the bible says that satan not satan the anti-christ the man of sin receives a deadly wound to the head and his deadly wound is healed and it's at that point when it's healed that he comes back to life and he's actually possessed by satan himself okay and this is when he proclaims himself to be god so when the anti-christ goes into the temple of god proclaiming himself to be god it's like him fulfilling what he wanted in the garden of eden when he exalted himself in his heart he's fulfilling he's carrying out the desire of his heart from genesis chapter 3 he's fulfilling that in the end times when he goes into the temple of god proclaiming himself to be god when he exalts himself above all that is called god that is worshiped okay now what's happening during this time okay well look at verse 7 it says there was war in heaven michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought and his angels and prevailed not neither was their place found any more in heaven so this is this huge brawl in heaven in the end times who provoked it i think it was michael and the archangels i believe the one who provoked the fight this war was michael and the archangels because it was time to cast them out permanently from heaven now although lucifer was a beautiful cherub michael the archangel is way stronger obviously and in fact you know we have i'm not covering all the angels that the bible talks about but there's some pretty gnarly angels in the bible who are very strong apollyon for example is probably one of the the most awesome angels in the bible okay just look up apollyon or abaddon and you'll see some of the stories he's basically the one responsible for plagues god made him just to plague the nations you know he you see him in in in exodus plaguing the the children of israel or excuse me plague in egypt you see him plaguing the children of israel as well you see him in revelation chapter 9 with the locust and i personally believe that he's responsible for like the bubonic plague all these plagues that carried out throughout history it was probably apollyon because that's what he's made for but you have here michael the archangel fighting against the dragon look what it says in verse 9 and the great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the devil and satan which deceiveth the whole world he was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him and i heard a lot this is like royal rumble or something wwf royal rumble wasn't there like a competition in those days where they had to kick them out like they would throw them out of the ring or something like that where's ulysses he's like a fan of that some of you know you don't want to speak up because you're embarrassed am i am i correct on my wwf terminology then yes royal rumble see i knew what i was talking about it's like you throw them out of the ring and then they're out well this is like the war royal rumble here okay michael the archangel just cast them all out it says in verse 10 and i heard a loud voice saying in heaven now has come salvation and strength in 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 loved not their lives unto the death therefore rejoice oh ye heavens and ye that dwell on them woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea for the devils come down unto you having great wrath because he knoweth he hath but a short time and this is actually what we see in uh the book of luke where jesus said i've seen i beheld satan as lightning fall from heaven he's actually referring to this particular thing right here because when he actually fells right here in revelation chapter 12 so he falls from heaven and what does he do he possesses the anti-christ and he knows he has but a short time what time is that 40 and two months because that's how much time he's given to reign here on this earth until the battle of armageddon now go to isaiah 14 and we'll finish there so of course satan is enjoying his new world order but is very short-lived only 40 and two months three and a half years and at the end of those three and a half years you have what's called the battle of armageddon in revelation chapter 19 when jesus christ himself comes on a white horse with his uh uh with his believers with us okay and they go to war with the anti-christ in his army now you know it wasn't much of a fight because jesus christ basically takes the false prophet and the anti-christ and he cast them into the lake of fire and then michael uh or if i'm not mistaken i'm sorry i think it was apollyon right he take apollyon take there he goes again apollyon he takes satan and he bounds him in the bottomless pit for a thousand years okay so he's bound for a thousand years after the thousand years are expired you have the great white throne judgment where the devil and his angels are cast into the lake of fire permanently now look at isaiah 14 because we'll often look at isaiah 14 when it says how art thou fallen o lucifer son of the morning how art thou fallen from heaven lucifer son of the morning as that's referring to something that took place in genesis chapter 3 but it's actually something that happened in revelation chapter 12 and more specifically is referring to what's going to take place in revelation chapter 20 with the great white throne judgment you say how do you know that look at verse 9 hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming it stirreth up the dead for thee even all the chief ones of the earth it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations all they shall speak and say unto thee art thou also become weak as we hey man art thou become like unto us what is this talking about it's referring to the kings who are in hell they're going to see lucifer there as well and they're like you just become just like us you're suffering the same punishment as us thy pomp is brought down to the grave the noise of thy vials the worm is spread under thee and the worms cover thee how art thou fallen from heaven o lucifer son of the morning how art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations for thou hast said in thine heart i will ascend into heaven i will exalt my throne above the stars of god i will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north i will ascend above the heights of the clouds i will be like the most high yet thou shall be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit they that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee and consider thee saying is this the man that made the earth to tremble that did shake the kingdoms that made the world as a wilderness and destroyed the cities thereof that opened not the house of its prisoners all the kings of the nations even all of them lie in glory everyone in his own house but thou are cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch and as the raiment of those that are slain thrust through with the sword that go down to the stones of the pit as a carcass trodden under feet powerful what is it showing it's showing us the spectrum he wanted to be exalt himself above the most high and god said i'm going to cast you down to the lowest hell he went from heaven an honorable position to the lowest hell why because god will not share his glory with no one he's not gonna he's not gonna permit that to happen but he will use it for his purpose what is it that we can learn from this particular sermon well you know you may think to yourself why preach a sermon on satan especially on valentine's day can we talk about the love of god why why why take so much time to talk about all these aspects of satan well you know there's a lot in the bible about satan and i didn't even cover i didn't even cover 25 of what the bible talks about in regards to satan but if there's so much in the bible about satan it means that god wants us to know about satan why because he's our adversary and there's so many stupid misconceptions out there about satan that christians buy into and it's for that reason they're losing the fight because you know what when you're in warfare you got to know your enemy you need to know the anatomy of your enemy and you got to know his motives his tactics his methods the bible says that we're not ignorant of his devices we need to know them why because he he's he wants to devour us he wants to devour our children he wants to devour our church he wants to devour the unsaved and he's not gonna he's not gonna go into this war lying down he's been doing this for thousands of years folks and by the way we should never view satan as like oh he's just a punk he's just like a whatever he doesn't have any power no satan is very powerful we should never bring a railing accusation about satan understand i'm not saying he needs to be respected but you know what the fact that god made him in such a way should require for us to be vigilant and not be careless about satan he's a dangerous dangerous celestial being that will basically go to war with us until the day that we die until the day that we die and so let's pray father we thank you so much for your word thank you for all the information that we that we learned today and we're so thankful that one day all this will come to an end lord that we have the millennial reign the new heaven the new earth where everything will go back to the garden of eden conditions pray god that you'd help us lord to be vigilant to be sober because of the fact that our adversary the devil walketh about seeking whom he may devour help us to resist him steadfastly to read the bible to pray to sowing to to to be in church to apply the preaching of god's word to do everything we can on our part to to be in this war and be as effective as we possibly can and lord uh when satan comes to you and and desires to have us may we be reminded of this particular sermon and i pray that you strengthen us