Isaiah Lesson 24

And we're going to say good afternoon, this is Chinese proverb, a man with a watch knows what time it is, a man with two watches is never really sure. But we're going by my watch, I have 12 o 'clock, and so we'll go ahead and get started.

There is a, there's kind of a saying, keep your friends close, and Rich says end your enemies closer. Well, in this particular case, I'm not advocating that saying. We're going to spend the next 45 minutes talking about Satan, and I'm not asking you to keep him closer.

And as Rich says he's close enough, the reality is that Satan is on the prowl, that Satan is going to, is relentless. If we look to scripture, we can read a couple of things that we're, our battle is not against flesh and blood, it's against the principalities and the powers of evil, and we're told to put on spiritual armor, and that spiritual armor isn't going to do you any specific good if you decide to walk into some of the bad neighborhoods of Philadelphia at night.

It's not going to physically protect you, but it's going to give you a protection against something far greater, and that's Satan. We're in a section in Isaiah 14 that can be read in multiple ways, because quite frankly we're in the middle of the oracle against Babylon, and we are going to continue in that discussion, but this particular passage in verses 12 -15 appear to be theological didactic expressions of Satan, and there are a lot of other passages, there is a reason why this has been placed here, in the middle of this oracle and within this, we can talk about that in a while.

But the fact that it's there, and the fact that it's a significant teaching that we as believers need to understand and not be naive about, or much worse, believe that it's irrelevant, intentionally believing it's irrelevant.

For us to understand and to know about Satan is a beginning of understanding how he's going to go after you, and why it is so important to take on the spiritual armor and to surrender yourself to the sovereign support of God through the power of the Holy Spirit.

That's a huge introduction, we're going to look at a lot of passages, one of the first things we're going to do is we're going to find out scripturally who is this dude, Satan, and oh, by the way, a whole lot of other angels that fell along with him.

We'll talk about his nature and his characteristics, what is it about Satan that we should know, some of the impacts, the deeds that he's done, but then the good news, the limits that Satan has to abide by, and his eventual destiny.

So while we're going to start out with the scary news, we're eventually going to get into the good news. There's a commercial on, it's been around for a while, it's either three or four, they look like 20-somethings, and it's a dark, nasty night, and they appear to be being pursued by some nasty, nasty something, and they're looking for where to go, and there's a car that's running, and it's like, no, no, we can't go there, let's go in the shed, and they go in, and there's all these chainsaws, and sickles, and everything else, and it's scary.

Well, to understand Satan, it is advertising.

No, she said, what were they advertising? What were they advertising?

For a Texas Chainsaw Massacre? No. I think it was Geico. It was Geico.

Now, Barb, you understand that you have just done something that Jeff and I have not been able to do, as long as I have known Little Ricky, that's my nickname for you now, Little Ricky. As long as I've known Little Ricky, I have never had a question that he didn't already know the answer to.

We're going to be in Isaiah 14, but we'll be looking at other passages as well, so for those of you who are online with us, you have the notes. When we ask questions, and when we have dialogue, we'll try to repeat what's being said, because I do want, I would love your help in teaching this lesson from what Scripture has to say, but as far as reading the Scriptures, when you're online, you see what they are, you can find them, and read along with us.

Pastor Jeff, open us, please, with a prayer.

So Father, we come to you now in Jesus' name, and under the blood of Jesus, pleading that protection from the precious blood of the Lamb, Lord, we want no glory to go to the evil one. We pray, Lord, that you would fit us with the armor of God, that we would not be vulnerable to the attacks of the evil one, that we would be safe under your wings and kept by you, Lord, we pray that you would give us that shield of faith with which we can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

We pray that as we learn from your holy word, that we would have a more healthy awareness of what's going on, and also the ability to fight in the spiritual war, so help us now in Jesus' name, amen.

I'm going to pass out passages as we read, and some of the others are referenced, and I'll just speak to them, but first of all, the origin of Satan, I'm going to throw this out. What do we know, what do we understand about the origin of Satan?

Okay, Rich, Little Ricky has, he was Lucifer, the highest archangel. All right, now this is an important one, too, a created being and not eternal. When was he created? According to Kimberly and Little Ricky, we don't know for sure.

There is some implication, though, in some of the passages that maybe indicate that he was created during the creation sequence, which means that if you are a New Earth advocate, if you believe 24 hours, the days were 24 hours, if you go by that theology and if the teaching here is that Satan really was part of the creation story, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and then what goes on from there, but that would say that Satan's less than 7 ,000 years old.

He's done a lot in 7 ,000 years, to be sure. What else do we know about him? How did he rebel? That's a good answer, how did he rebel? What did he do? All right, Little Ricky, let somebody else go now.

He wanted to usurp power and was cast out of heaven. He wanted to be like God. He believed that that was his ability and his right to be like God. Let's read some of these in Sandy, Ezekiel 28, 11 to 19, and Kimberly, you're going to have Isaiah 14 ready.

These are two of the most significant teachings about the origins of Satan, so we'll take a little bit of time in those. So Sandy, Ezekiel 28, when you've got that ready.

You were in Eden, precious stone, 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.

You were the anointed chariot 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.

Okay, stop, and we'll go on from there. So this is the early stages. By the way, this would be potentially an indication that Lucifer was part of the creation story. We have things like, you were the anointed chariot who covers, and I placed you there on the holy mountain of God.

Could be an allusion to the earthly domain. It also says in verse 13, you were in Eden, the garden of God. The juxtaposition of those two could place the creation of Lucifer and of the angelic hosts somewhere in those six days.

Can't be proved one way or the other, but it's just a potential. All right, original descriptions from that section, from 11 to 15, the original descriptions and attributes, what do you see? Originally perfect, and Rich, that can create a tremendous theological debate.

Was he created with the capacity to rebel? And the answer has to be yes. The answer has to be yes. And again, on top of this, we have to put a confession and a profession of the eternal sovereignty of God.

So Lucifer created being. This was not something that happened and God wasn't aware it was going to happen. And it says here he was created with the seal of perfection. At least in my version, that's what it says in verse 12.

Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. The descriptions of who he is sounds like, well, at the end of the sixth day, God looked and he said it was good. It was very good. All right, what else do we see in here about Lucifer?

And what does that mean? What do you think, sir? I don't know. We will say this, that as the created being, he had a ministry, a design, a designated ministry that God ordained for him to be able to take part in.

And within his existence, there was a job description, for lack of better, that he would do and that would bring glory to God. It was not to bring glory to himself. This was who he was to be and how he was to take part.

He was a worship leader. He was a worship leader.

And the problem, as Rich says, was he was a worship leader and as a worship leader, the people that stand up here on Sundays and lead worship, their objective must always be that not only them, but everybody that sits out here is put in a position so that all the worship goes to God.

All the worship goes to God. It's actually a scary thing for a lot of evangelicals when we're singing. I have more of a resistance to do it. My bride does it more often than I do while we're singing and Pastor Jeff, you'll see the hand up while we're singing.

These are good things. It's like, these are not my thoughts. These are not my emotions. These are worship to God. That's how he was created to do. But as Rich said, it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough for Lucifer.

Now go ahead and continue on, if you would please, Sandy, through the end of the chapter, the end of the, through verse 19.

You are a sanctuary in the eyes of all who see. All who know you among the people are appalled at you. You have become terrible seeds to be forever.

In the beginning of the section she just read, it's kind of a description of this angelic being created, the worship leader, the covering cherub, in the abundance of your trade. There is a feeling that he's good at what he does, that as he's been challenged and charged and equipped, what is happening with him is actually doing the job.

But it's what happens after that. What happens? I perceive in this reading, and I'm reading between the lines, that here's Lucifer, who is in the very presence of God, a covering cherub, he has a job.

Perhaps he's a worship leader. Perhaps he has these talents and gifts, and he's doing them quite well. How does old Lucifer react to that situation? Self-abdorbed ego, pride, these are the unfortunate things that have happened.

And again, this is not something that catches God off guard, that God knows the beginning from the end, and it's within here. As we read the beginning of this, there were words in here like the seal of perfection.

There were words in here like full of wisdom and perfect and beauty being placed on the very mountain of God. And then when we go in the middle of 16, I have cast you out as profane. So this very character that was given to him for very specific purposes and in very specific blessings has become completely corrupted, and it's now profane.

And then it says in verse 17, your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. The very gifts that God gave to him became the very source of vanity, pride, ego. You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.

Now I'm going to read into that that God created Satan with the capacity to not only know, but wisdom to use that knowledge. And we can see that now as we see what is Satan doing in creation. He is not omnipotent, but he learns real fast so that if he finds a weakness, he learns real fast and he probably, well, we do know this because it says in James that Satan believes.

What's the rest of that verse? You're so close. You are so close. Satan believes and shudders. You guys work together. You're a good team. God created Lucifer with the capacity to know and to understand and wisdom, but it says you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.

And so he has taken into himself a I'm all that attitude. And even the things that God gave him as gifts now become a source. That's an amazing reality. A third of the angels accepted this lie and went with them.

Yeah, Christina. There is a power corrupts absolute power, corrupts absolutely. And then there's the reality there's there's there's a very famous sports figure that had it all a success following good looks, a beautiful wife.

Only one wife wasn't enough for him. He had to have a fair upon a fair upon a fair and the dominoes started started to fall. Lucifer had it all that that God could give to him. And to your point, he was created this way, but he turned it around because of because.

Of his disobedience. I see an illustration of what Lucifer, like Adolf Hitler, he said, you're the master race. You're the chosen people. You're chosen angels. You're going to be great. Follow me. Yeah.

Here's another. Here's another view of that. Somebody had come. He's a liar. Yes, he is. Absolutely. And that's why he gets this following. Think about this. What percent of humanity bought into his lie?

One hundred percent. One hundred percent of humanity bought into his lie. And it's only by the particular grace of God calling you and regenerating your heart and turning that heart of clay into malleable soil that that could be receptive to the seed of the gospel.

It's only because of that. But one hundred percent of humanity believed the lie. What percent of angels believed the lie? Not all. That's another. Think about that. Two thirds of the angels held true.

We think about a third of the angels that accepted the lie, but boy, praise God. Two thirds of the angels stayed true. And those two thirds of the angels that stayed true are used by God in some amazing ways to protect humanity and to serve humanity in times of attack by Satan and these others.

So that's just another thought. We think about the third, but wow, how amazing that the other two thirds stayed true. Two out of three, right? Two out of three stayed true. Man, I'm not going political.

The ultimate end for Satan in this passage is he is actually recognized and despised. The evidence that we see on earth that we see humanity, we see segments of humanity that don't seem to despise him, is really a testament to the depths of the depravity and the deceit of Satan, because who he is is known and who God is is known, but Satan can blind the eyes of humanity to truth, and we see that.

Isaiah 14, Kimberly? This is one of the two strong didactic teachings we know about Satan. Fallen from heaven, oh day star, son of the dawn. Now, by the way, this is the most clear proof that the fall of Satan occurs somewhere in the six days of creation.

I can't give you chapter and verse that proves that the angelic hosts were created during the six days of creation, but it says here, you were cut down to the ground and that you were sent down to earth.

There had to have been earth for him to be sent down to. So the fall does not occur. So whether Lucifer is more than 7 ,000 years old, we can debate that, but Satan, maybe he's a couple of days older than man, maybe not, we don't know.

Was he during those six days even before man was created? We don't know. It does say that he was in the Garden of Eden. Maybe it was after those six days while man was experiencing really great fellowship with God.

We honestly don't know, but I want you to observe in verses 13 and 14 how often I will. I will ascend to heaven. I will set my throne. I will sit on the Mount of Assembly. I will ascend above the heights.

I, and here's the worst of them all. I will make myself like the Most High. And that's basically, that is the profession that is the root of Satan's dialogue with Eve. If you think about it, Adam and Eve were given full reign and they were told, eat of any tree that you want, except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And the challenge was, well, why is God holding that one back from you? Rich? Big Ricky. That's very well said, Rick, because then when you get into verse 15, after all of these I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, comes the sovereignty of God.

But you are, I don't care how loud and often that lie is proclaimed, it's not true. And then eventually the sovereignty of God comes in and he says, but you are, and you know why? I'm God and you are a pretender.

And you're, and you're not, you are a pretender. Second Peter 2 .4 is going to tell us that there originally were angels and that God did not spare even the angels when they sinned. The picture there is that although God created the angelic realm and gave them this amazing opportunity to be very much, think about what it would be like to be Isaiah in Isaiah chapter six.

What happens to Isaiah in chapter six? Anybody remember? He's on the boat. I'm sorry? He's on the boat. He's on the boat. Yes, that's what he reacts. But what happens to him? He takes a trip. He does.

He takes a trip to the very throne room of God. We don't know how, whether this is a vision. I tend to think that the scripture indicates that somehow he was actually placed in the very throne room of God.

At that moment he was given a physical body that could place him in the very throne room of God. Who did he see? He saw Jesus. Who else did he see? Seraphim. There were angels surrounding him, praising him, singing to him.

We go into some of these pictures in Revelation where you have the throne room of God and there are angels singing, Hosanna, Hosanna, holy, holy. These angels are given such unfettered ability to have fellowship with God that we can only taste.

We can only taste because as long as we're here on earth, we may be born again and we may be made a new creation, but we still have the vestiges of the old flesh and there is this process of sanctification that will continue through our life to the point that there are obstacles because of our sin that these angels who said no to the lie of Satan, they just are right there in the very presence of God.

Luke 10, 18 is going to say, I saw Satan fall from heaven. I saw Satan. And Jude 6, although originally in their designated domain, there is preserved for the angels the bonds of judgment. The big picture of Satan, a created being, created in perfectness, created to have this intimate fellowship with God, created to worship him, to praise him, given wisdom and knowledge, but the pride and the ego and even their own successful ministry gets in the way and they say, I will make myself like the most high.

How many of you guys want to go along with me? I find that to be fascinating. Not only was he arrogant enough to despise God's beauty and to deny his rightful place, but he even had the arrogance to say, how many will go along with me?

Matthew 5, it talks about the truth of the gospel and it says, but as many as preach and proclaim truth, they are great in the kingdom of heaven. But woe to those who not only don't believe it, but encourage others to go along with them.

And one of Satan's powers is the power of persuasion to get the unbeliever to accept the lie and then to get the unbeliever to get others to go along with him. And that's a huge part of him. But Satan has stored up for him bonds in judgment.

Crafty. Here's a thought for you, especially for those of you like me who don't like snakes. Before the fall, I don't think Adam and Eve had any problem with snakes. He'd even talk, yeah, that kind of blows your mind.

And this was not like Mr. Red or Balaam's donkey, is that who it was? Yeah. All right. So the nature and characteristics of Satan can be kind of summarized by saying that he works in the hearts of man, of mankind.

And within the very minds to deceive us and to lead us to believe things that can't be. He wants our devotion to be taken away from God. If you go back into scripture, what is it that God really, really desired of his people?

He wanted their hearts. He gave them sacraments. He gave them commandments. And he tells them, if you obey me, these are my blessings. If you don't, these are my cursings. But at the end of the day, he always wanted their hearts.

And so that's Satan's first target, is your heart, is to turn your heart from accepting the sovereignty of God. And beyond that, to change and to corrupt your mind. He is a relentless pursuer. I've said it and I'll say it again, Satan is not omniscient.

So don't be afraid that Satan knows everything, because he doesn't, but he has an amazing memory bank. And he's got a great spy network. And I don't think Satan has Alzheimer's. Was talking to some friends, we like to watch old shows.

We get them on DVD out of the library and we enjoy watching them. But there's going to be a point in time where I will never see a rerun again, because I don't remember seeing them the first time. Satan's not going to forget when he gets a chance and he sees an opening and he goes after it and he finds success.

He doesn't forget. First Corinthians 11 .3, I'm going to speak to some of these just for time. First Corinthians 11 .3, that also, thank you. Second Corinthians 11 .3, is Satan is, he is driven to lead mankind away from devotion to God.

This is true of the heart of the non-believer, clearly true of the heart of the non-believer. But that verse doesn't limit itself. My brothers and sisters who love God, that is still Satan's desire, is to drive your heart away from devotion to Christ.

And it's going to look different in everybody's life, but Satan finds that thing that you find important and significant and will want to get you onto that thing. Turn it into your idol, 1986. I was living up here in New Jersey, Sandy was still in Massachusetts.

We were in the middle of the move and my beloved Chicago Bears were going to the Super Bowl that Sunday. The Bears. I'm going to be very honest with you, I don't remember anything about that church service because my mind was elsewhere.

It can be different for everybody. It can be different for everybody. In Galatians 4, Satan is very successful at turning mankind into slaves of what I call not God. We are slaves to sin. We are slaves to not God.

And prior to regeneration and salvation, we really don't have any power over it. We are just slaves. After you have been regenerated, after you have been saved, you are a new creation and you are not a slave to not God.

But go back to 2 Corinthians 11 .3 and that Satan will continue to find ways to distract you from what you should be pursuing. You're no longer a slave, but you're still vulnerable because of the vestiges of the flesh.

2 Corinthians 4 .4 is an explanation of why it is so hard to take the gospel truth to your unbelieving relative, friend, or neighbor. Why is it so hard to be able to express the truth of the gospel to the unbeliever?

Little Ricky says Satan has blinded their eyes. That's right out of 1 Corinthians 4 .4. The reality of who God is, is there. Psalm 19. How does Psalm 19 start out? Anybody know that? The heavens declare the glory of God.

The firmament shows his handiwork. This perception is not limited to believers. This is general revelation that is given to all mankind so that who he is is made evident for Romans 1, is made evident to everybody so nobody is without excuse.

His very essence is there, but being able to see it and to understand the meaning of it is blinded by Satan. So that although you can see the heavens, you can see the firmament, you can perceive the wonders of a newborn child, Satan blinds the meaning of it to where it's okay to kill that child while it's still in the mother's womb.

Just total blindness. Ephesians 2 starts out by explaining things, and you have he quickened who are dead in your trespasses and sins, walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, following what he has to say.

Satan has an office that God allows him to hold today. What is his position that God allows today? The ruler of this world. When we go into the garden after 40 days of fasting, Satan attempts to draw Jesus away from what he needs to do.

Which by the way, is always Satan's ultimate ulterior motive is to stop the progress towards the cross. He knows from Genesis chapter 3 that he's doomed to be defeated, and so he has tried over and over and over again to stop this march towards the Messiah, and so now in the garden.

And the third temptation, he takes him up on the mountain and he says, what does he show him? All the kingdoms of the world. And what does he tell Jesus? All right, little Ricky, you've got to let somebody else answer.

But you're right. He said, if you bow down and worship me, I will give you these kingdoms. Jesus didn't say they're not yours to give. He didn't say that because as the prince of the power of the air, as the ruler of this world, he has power in these dominions.

Now his authority is limited. He can only go so far, and his rule has got a time limit to it. It's going to end, but we need to be aware that he has this. John 8 .44, it's already been said, he is the father of unbelievers, and he leads those who follow him into murder and into untruth.

If you hitch your wagon to his team of horses, that's where he's going to lead you, and that's where he's going to take you. Because 1 John 3 .8 says that he was a sinner from the beginning. That's who he was.

That's the very nature of him. Please, Rich. Yeah, this is an interesting question. How much do you think Satan really understood his own self-proclamation, I will make myself like the Most High? How much of that do you think he really understood?

See, if he makes himself like the Most High, he's eternal. He could be that deceived. He could be that self-deceived. He could be that self-deceived. But you're right. Yeah, Laurie? Pride. Pride does deceive you.

Satan desires in the impact and the deceits that we, that our devotion that rightly belongs to God will be given to him, and that is the fulfillment of his self-proclamation. So he's the deceiver. He is the source of all false worship.

Any pagan worship, any false religion has its source and its roots, thank you, Laurie, in Satan, and it does. And because man has this propensity to try to figure things out, okay, so Satan says, all right, let's try humanism as a religion.

See, it doesn't even have to be overt, I'm taking my devotion to this small g, God. I will make science my religion. Anything that takes your devotion away from God is a win for him. He wants us to deny the sovereignty of God.

So even if you state, I believe in God, and even if you can quote scriptures, and even if you attend church, if Satan can get you in your heart and who you are to in some way deny the sovereignty of God, he's won.

Because if God isn't sovereign, he's not God. If what you're worshiping is a God that is not sovereign, you are worshiping a lot, which has its genesis back into Satan. I want to go to Job and think about Job for a minute, the first chapter.

As we go into Job, we see unfolding before us the angelic realm presenting themselves before God. And amongst them is Satan. That one just totally blows my mind, that Satan, who has been expelled from heaven, still has the opportunity to get to have an audience with God.

But he does. And we know that he stands there accusing and telling lies. So here's the picture. We have Satan in front of God, and God says, have you considered my servant Job? There is none like him.

And Satan says, yeah, but let me go after him, and we'll see. He will curse you. And so God says, you can go this far. And Job holds true, and God says, did you see how he pulled? This is my paraphrase.

Did you see how he pulled true? So he says, yeah, but you didn't let me touch his body. Let me go after his body. And God says, OK, but you can only go this far. And the tests continue, and all of these things.

Do you see what's happening is that Satan is relentless. He will continue to increase the heat. He will continue to increase the heat. Except what? I'm sorry? He won't kill him. Why won't he? Why can't he kill him?

God said, no, you can't go that far. Satan is under the authority of the sovereign God. Even though he denies it, Satan can only go where God allows him to go, the sovereignty of God. He is on God's leash.

Fortunately, there's going to be a point in time where God's going to let that leash go as he throws him into the lake of fire. And there will be no more leash back to God. In Revelation 9 chapter 9 verses 1 to 5 is an intriguing passage.

It's in the middle of the trumpets. In fact, it's the fifth trumpet. And on the fifth trumpet, an angel is brought down with the key to the abyss. And out of the abyss, it's described as these nasty scorpions and locusts and stuff like that.

What we have coming out here are a certain host of angels that are so wicked that they've actually been confined until this fifth trumpet. So this tells me that there are some angels worse than others.

But these are coming out. Their nose has been out of joint because for thousands of years, they've been bent up. But they come out. But did you notice, even they have a limit to their power. They can't kill.

Even they have a limit to the power. But then eventually, Satan gets locked up for 1 ,000 years. But then after the 1 ,000 years, he gets one more try. And he still deceives people. Satan's impact on Earth is to draw people.

The limits to Satan are many. There's a couple that I want to highlight. I see we're really out of time. James 4, 7, resist the devil and why will he flee? Why will he flee? Bob, because you're a dude.

Why is he fleeing? Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. My brothers and sisters, you are being attacked by Satan. And you recognize you're being attacked by Satan. You can do one of a few things.

One of them I call throw up a Nehemiah dart. That says that you're in the midst of the combat. Throw darts up to God and say, help God, help God. But another is, in the name of Jesus Christ, go away. Be gone.

Yeah. You see, the devil believes and he shudders. And he shudders because he knows that God is greater. And he can't stand up against him. The destiny of Satan, ultimately this lake of fire for eternity and eternity.

I want you to be aware of who he is and how significant he is. But I want you to be confident as believers. Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. You have an advocate. Pastor Jeff has been talking in Hebrews, defending you in front of the throne of God.

And you have the Holy Spirit giving you the power so that whatever the temptation is, you have the way of escape. He has provided it.

And you are loved. Time to pray. Pastor? All right. So Father, thank you so much that you are God and that you do have that leash that your sovereignty is never threatened by the enemy. You are God and you alone.

So we look to you. We're not afraid of the enemy because we know that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. So Lord, we call on the name of Jesus now asking that you would send us forth under your protection.

Lord, that you would also send us to take ground, God. That we would advance without fear. Give us boldness, Lord. We know that we do have this enemy like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. But we also know that we have you.

And you, the true king, lion of Judah, are far greater. So we have nothing to fear. So we pray, Lord, that you would send us out fearless and bold and courageous to preach the name that is above every name, the name of Jesus.

Amen.