Satan Falls like Lightning

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. Thirteen seconds in is when

I'm supposed to talk. You can write me, Mike, at nocompromiseradio .com. The new book,

King, is out. How the Sovereignty of God Changes Everything. By the way, if you bought that book, would you do an

Amazon review for me? That'd be nice. To get traction,

I guess you need Amazon reviews. I guess I have to pay for both. Like, to get traction on Facebook, you've got to promote it,

X, you've got to promote it, all these other things. I have a day job. This is my little side hustle,

No Compromise Radio Ministry. Even today, recording the show, it's on company time, it's on church time, and the way

I rationalize that is super simple. I'm talking about what

I'm going to preach on, and it helps me process, and so this is my sermon practice, this is my sermon review.

In the old days, by the way, I would go into the church building, into what you might call the sanctuary, where the services are held, and I would stand in the pulpit and preach.

Then the church got busier, the building had more visitors in it, and people, and helpers, and cleaners, and so then

I just preached in my study here, in my studio here, in my office here, and I would use a file cabinet.

It was about the same size as the pulpit, and I would put my notes up there and preach. Because it's one thing to see the notes that you're going to preach from, and it's another thing to actually listen to your words come out of your mouth, and you go, well,

I didn't explain that very well. I could explain that a lot better. The way I preach is it's not extemporaneous completely.

I have a Bible, and I have an iPad with notes on it, but the notes typically have the intro.

Most of the time I don't have the close, just the conclusions. I just have to figure it out as I go. It has the passages that I'm talking about, so I don't have to have my

Bible open and referencing, and going here and going there.

Every verse that I'll talk about is in my iPad. My notes, the good notes, goodnotes6 .0

is what I use. I usually have a backup PDF viewer as well, and I reboot the iPad the night before.

I saw someone preach, and his iPad didn't work, and he was not the regular preacher, and he fumbled and mumbled and bumbled.

It was a sight not to behold. And I'll have the purpose statement.

I'll have contextual passages there printed out, some quotes from people, some commentaries from people, and the delivery is fairly extemporaneous.

So I have the notes, but I don't really— it's definitely not manuscripted. It's as far away from that as probably possible without me just getting up there without anything in front of me.

And so today I have the sermon in front of me, Luke 10, verses 17 through 20, is going to be the passage

I'm preaching this coming Sunday. You probably won't hear this until I'd already preached that several weeks ago.

And I'm talking about joy. I'm talking about joy that you could have in spite of your own sin, in spite of what sin does in the culture, what it's done to your body, creation that's grown.

Can you have joy even though this is not heaven? Can you have joy even in trials?

Can you consider it all joy? Count it all joy. Is that possible?

And I think we know the answer to that is, it is possible, and actually it's commanded.

So last time we looked a little bit about the 70 who went out in Luke 10 preaching.

The kingdom of God is near. They said other things, but that was a good summary. Jesus was about ready to come to their town.

The away team, the advanced team, did what they needed to do. They were healing, and they were preaching, and they even came back, and they said, we can cast out demons, and they had great joy.

And so I talked a little bit about how we could have joy knowing that the Lord could use us. That was my practical application point, since everyone likes practical application.

I mean, the passage is about these men having joy that the power of Jesus was used to cast out demons.

So that's not really a big stretch when it comes to, oh, you can have joy in ministry.

That's no problem. You can have joy in ministry. Second, the

Nebraska in me wants to say secondly, second, you can have joy because Jesus is more powerful than Satan.

You can have joy, no matter what your circumstances are, you can have joy because Jesus is more powerful than Satan.

Hmm. Okay. What do you mean by that? And Jesus said to them,

Luke 10, 18, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Behold, I have given you, he's talking to the 70, the 72, authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.

Interesting. If I was a Bible student, and I am, if you are a Bible student, and you are, this is very fascinating.

I saw Satan fall like lightning. Now, Jesus did not say, tell me more.

Jesus did not say, I didn't tell you to do that. Jesus didn't say, you've over -exercised your authority.

The text, in verse 18, it says, and, so you're casting out demons, proclaiming, staying at people's houses, dust off feet of other people that have rejected you.

You've done that, and particularly when it comes to demons, casting out demons.

Of course, the king of all demons is, well, God is king over all, that's true, but I mean, the superintendent, as it were, the boss man of the demons is

Satan. And Jesus said, after they talked about demons being cast out, and I saw

Satan fall like lightning from heaven. When they come back,

Jesus, you're not going to believe this, demons are subject to us in your name. They know the pecking order, and the pecking order isn't, you know,

God and Satan are co -equals. No. He, basically, he shares their joy.

And I saw Satan fall like lightning. I saw the effects of that. I saw the results of what you were doing.

They are so happy to come back. And they, in their excitement, tell

Jesus all about it, and they have their joy. And I think he is rejoicing. I think he is happy.

I think he's thankful that they did that, and he said, while that was happening, I saw

Satan fall like lightning. I will give you something even more to rejoice over, something even greater to rejoice over, than having the demons subject to your name.

Here's something that's going on. As you did that, it was loosening

Satan's control over people, one by one.

You were sent out on this mission, and as you were doing things like casting out

Satan, I saw something that was happening. And, of course, it eventually will happen at the cross, where Satan's head will be crushed, and eventually, ultimately thrown into the lake of fire, of course.

Jesus is saying, you know what? I'm watching the control of Satan slip, person by person.

I'm watching what you're doing. I'm having joy over it, and I'm watching the success that you're having.

And there's something even greater than these demons. It's the master controller of all the demons and invisible powers.

He's being defeated. He's not more powerful than God. The 72 are preaching peace, preaching the kingdom, preaching the gospel, casting out demons.

And as they, the 72, were having the demons submit to them, and they were having authority over the demons, one demon after the next, after the next, suddenly, like lightning,

Jesus sees Satan fall. They were expelling the subordinates, one man said, and Jesus was noticing the chief of demons.

As Jesus is observing, and now rejoicing in, Satan's kingdom being destroyed, one person at a time.

Godet said, while you were expelling the subordinates, I, Jesus, was seeing the master fall. These B -teamers, these second -stringers, were doing what they needed to do, and they came back excited.

And if it was happening to me, and the Lord did that through me, I would as well. Power and authority in the name of the

Lord Jesus. And it says that Jesus said, yeah, I see that. Wonderful. I'd like you to be clapping.

Way to go. Good job, boys. I'm proud of you. And now, with the imperfect tense, to see, watching

Satan fall, over and over and over, the authority, the dominion, the power that Satan has as a father of lies, once people get saved, they see properly.

And Jesus says, I'm watching Satan fall. Now, this is not his original fall out of heaven,

Satan's fall out of heaven. This is not Satan's fall in the desert, where Jesus overcame temptation three times.

This is the context. Demons being cast out. Demons subject to us.

And Jesus is saying, yeah, I'm watching it. I'm watching what's going on. Over and over and over,

I can see it in the realm, the loosening of Satan's binding power in all those who would believe.

The demons are subject to us in your name. They obey us.

I think Jesus is glad. I think Jesus is rejoicing. He's not confronting them. He said,

I saw Satan fall like lightning. Yes, I see that. I see the effects of what you were doing. And ultimately,

I'm going to be having victory over Satan, death, burial, and resurrection.

And that great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and authority of his

Christ have come. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our

God, and they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb. The ultimate victory will happen.

And I'm just seeing a foretaste of that victory now. I see a sign of the ultimate victory.

I see a pledge of the ultimate victory. You have power over the hordes of the demons, and I'm watching that thing as well.

Calvin said this is like a symbolism of the ultimate defeat of Satan.

Kingdom is advancing. Calvin, he speaks of the effect of the gospel has already begun, namely the fall of Satan's tyranny as the

Word of God is preached. You think about Ephesians chapter 2 and how it talks about Satan and what he does.

Of course, we're going to keep seeing Satan fall like lightning if we could see with the eyes of Jesus, because at the death of Jesus, at the resurrection of Jesus, at the ascension of Jesus, at Pentecost, we're watching that.

The message goes from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the world, falling, falling, falling, falling.

Everything's starting. Jesus said, I see what you're doing, and now it's beginning. It's going to culminate at Calvary, but it's all happening one by one by one.

And then he says, Jesus does, in Luke 10, 19, Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.

So, my name is Mike Ebendroth. This is No Compromise Radio Ministry. Just to take a little break here, a little reset, while we...

You know, I don't have sponsors. Pat gets Reformation Heritage. He gets sponsors. I mean, he's the big shot.

I need... Where are my sponsors? Sponsored by the Institute for Thomas Aquinas.

It was interesting when I was in the... I can't remember the name of it anymore.

The La Correa, that's in Wittenberg. Something that's called...

It starts with an L, I think. Thomas Aquinas University there, where the popes are educated, sitting in that auditorium.

The worst part about it was, yeah, there were statues, that's true, but the sound quality was awful.

I thought, how... Maybe the ordinance, the candidates, the students, they don't understand what the person's saying about the seven sacraments, so that's what happens.

Jesus said, Behold, I've given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions. Now, certainly, protecting from serpents and scorpions, real serpents and real scorpions.

By the way, the Greek word for scorpion is scorpion. Same ending even, same pronunciation, scorpion.

I think there's some language that's going on here that should make us think of some metaphors and symbolic and not just literal serpents and literal scorpions.

It says, And nothing shall hurt you. I think, of course, you know, like with Paul and the snake in Acts 26,

I believe, didn't hurt him. So certainly real snakes and scorpions.

But nothing shall hurt you. I mean, until your job is done, not even Satan and his demons are going to hurt you.

You have my power to do things and now you have my protection to do things.

You are going to face dangers, and sometimes those dangers have symbolism behind them, like snakes and scorpions.

Like demonic opposition, snakes and scorpions.

You could study a snake as a symbol, you know, as a symbol for Satan. In Genesis 3, you can read 2

Corinthians 11, verse 3, But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived

Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

Here, nothing is going to harm you. You have authority, and you're going to make good on what

I have you go do. You can tread on the old serpent without fear, as one author said.

Another author said, In context of the statement, over all the power of the enemy, those creatures are figurative descriptions of Satan's kingdom of darkness.

However, as noted below, the promise was, in a sense, literally fulfilled in the life of the Apostle Paul. Remember, with the viper.

Treading on serpents. Now, for those of you that think, you know, the whole serpent thing, maybe.

But what about scorpions, symbolic of evil? Demon somehow, you know, affiliated.

Revelation 9. Revelation's 9? No. Psalms 2.

Psalm 2, Revelation 9. The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.

He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke, like the smoke of a great furnace.

And the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of the scorpions on earth.

They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their forehead.

They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them. And their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone.

And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

Revelation 9. Now, without talking about timing, when, where, what's going on, the one thing

I'll just say is from the ESV Study Bible. It says, Their strange composite appearance gives the impression of symbolism.

Therefore it seems that these invaders are not literal insects, but demonic spirits, with Satan as their leader, released to torment their worshippers who serve their king.

Thus their scorpion -like stings cannot inflict death, which would bring relief to their victims.

What's my point? My point is, I think there's more to the story than just real snakes and scorpions aren't going to bite you or sting you as you go on my advance team.

Because there's the tie -in directly to the verse before it. I saw Satan falling like lightning. And that should make us think of things.

That should make us think of the ultimate, the Messiah will bruise you on the head, stomping on them.

Stomping on him, rather, sorry. Nothing will injure you. It's more than a negative in the original language.

It's a negative, negative, negative. Nothing's going to stop it. Nothing's going to harm you.

Nothing, nothing, nothing. Now, I don't think anybody should say we're going to do snake handling based on these verses.

Mark 16 in these verses, of course, it doesn't have anything to do with that. For our time today, you can have joy knowing that Jesus has conquered

Satan and is more powerful. Satan is created. He's not the creator. The ultimate, infinite, uncreated source is the triune

God, source of everything. And Satan has limited power, delegated power to afflict

Job. He needs God's permission. Satan tries to attack

Jesus in the wilderness, and of course, Jesus is more powerful, and he overcomes him.

When you think about the ultimate victory of God over Satan, it shows us that while Satan is real, and we should be praying like Jesus taught us, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, that's probably the best translation,

Satan, that we can not be worried about Satan.

We know he exists, but we don't need to be worried because it says in Romans chapter 8, who shall bring any charge against God's elect?

That's the adversary, Satan. It's God who justifies. Who is to condemn?

Satan wants to condemn. Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Who, Satan, shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword?

As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

You are safe. You are protected. Satan can't get you. You are protected by the power of God through faith, 1

Peter chapter 1. Imagine if Satan was all -powerful. Imagine if Satan and God were equal.

Well, we can rejoice knowing that God is more powerful. God will protect us. God will rescue us.

God will see us to the end. Well, what else do we have?

The third reason to have joy is found in verse 20. I don't think I can get through it all the way, but I want us to just start.

Luke 10, 20. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

Wow. Rejoice that your names are written in heaven. The third reason you can have joy no matter what is that your name is written in heaven and you get to go to heaven, dear

Christian. Now, some have read this verse, and I think if you don't think about literary structures or figures of speech or any of that stuff, you might misread it as well.

Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you. I mean, they were rejoicing in that, and I thought

Jesus kind of went along with them. Hey, you were doing that, and I was watching Satan fall like lightning.

But rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Wasn't Jesus rejoicing with them?

I mean, now why this? There are figures of speech in the Bible, as you know.

As you study Bible interpretation, you could think about parallelism. You could think about hyperbole.

You could think about sarcasm. You could think about similes, metaphors.

Jesus sees his power through the disciples, and Satan's hordes are being subdued.

Jesus could see evidence of that in some way only he could. I've seen heaven,

Satan fall like lightning. Suddenly, one after another after another.

Now Jesus says, don't rejoice in this. He is using a figure of speech.

It's called a relative contrast in absolute terms. That moves me.

It's a literary device. Don't ultimately rejoice in your power over Satan's hordes.

Rejoice in this, ultimately. Maybe I'll give you a different illustration.

John 6, Jesus said, do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life.

Is Jesus saying we shouldn't work for food? Is he saying don't have a job?

Don't eat? No, no. He's saying there's something good, food, but there's something ultimate.

It's way better. It's more important. It's a literary device to make the reader say, you know what?

I see something greater. If I have to make a choice, I have to make this choice.

There's a priority here. There's a comparison, right? And it seems like a contradiction.

It seems like some kind of a negation of what he said earlier. You know what? Rejoice that you've got authority over demons, but there's something way, way, way, way better, right?

I'm comparing two things. There was something relative, but I'm doing it in an absolute way to force you to feel the weight of it all.

Give me liberty or give me death. It's the same thing. Absolute terms. The reason you should rejoice, the ultimate reason isn't because you're more powerful than Satan's demons, that you have authority over them.

Because, by the way, probably not intended here, but certainly true, Judas had power to cast out demons, and he's not even in heaven.

So there's a greater reason for joy. Demons are subject to you?

Wow. But what's a bigger wow is that you get to go to heaven. Your name's written in heaven.

You think back of Near Eastern days, the Book of Life and kings.

What do kings do? They keep a list of who's in their kingdom and censuses. Caesar Augustus, he issued a decree, a census taken in Luke chapter 2.

This tells me who's in my kingdom, tells me who I'm to protect, tells me that I'm going to remember that person, and for us, we go, you know what?

God knows us. God remembers us. We have the rights and privileges of heaven. He's guaranteed us eternal life.

He's never going to blot our name out of the book. And could we have any rejoicing if we weren't going to be going to heaven?

We'd not be able to rejoice at all. Knowing our doom is sure? No, not at all.

Did you know when the roll is called up yonder, you'll be there? When the trumpet of the

Lord shall sound and time shall be no more, and the morning breaks eternal, bright, and fair, when the saved of earth shall gather over all the other shore, and the roll is called up yonder.

Christian, you'll be there. Hey, that's even greater joy.

That's greater joy that my name's in the book. By the way, how's the name written in the book? Before all time began, your name was written in the book, and you were

God's elect, and God had His Spirit regenerate you and give you faith, and you believed in the Lord Jesus.

You don't get put in the book when you believe. You're put in the book before you believe, and if you're put in the book, you will believe.

We deserve hell. We get heaven. Name's written in the book of life. As a matter of fact, it says in Philippians 2 that these ladies that weren't getting along, their names are in the book of life.

Next verse, rejoice. And the Lord always, again, I say rejoice. So we've got lots of reasons to rejoice.

We can rejoice that the Lord uses us. We can rejoice that God is powerful, and we can rejoice that we are going to heaven.