The Sore Loser

If you have your Bibles, turn to Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Ephesians chapter 6, at the end of World War II,

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

there was an unusual period that followed.

The bombs had been dropped, Japan had surrendered,

a treaty had been signed, and the Pacific was at peace

in most places.

However, on the islands of the Pacific,

there were pockets of battles that were still raging.

The outcome of the war had been determined,

but some of the Japanese fighting units hadn't heard of that.

For those who hadn't heard of it and the opposition,

nothing seemed to have changed.

The battle was just as real for them.

They were still hiding in hopes of conquering

through guerrilla warfare.

The outcome had been settled,

but too many died after the victory.

had been obtained.

That historic picture is an illustration

of what we're experiencing today

in the spiritual climate in which we live.

Since the death and resurrection of Christ,

the war, the spiritual war has been won,

but battles continue to be fought.

The outcome's settled, yet guerrilla warfare

from the enemy continues on,

just as real as before,

and it's a spiritual war of terror

with landmines and booby traps.

The enemy will hit you when you do not expect it.

It's a full-blown war,

but surprisingly,

I want you to hear me,

it's not with other people.

It's not with political parties.

It's not with deviant ideologies.

All of that stuff is evidence

of something much larger,

much bigger than that.

And I want you to see today

what all that's about.

I'm going to begin in Ephesians 6,

Ephesians 6:11–12

verse 11 through 12,

because it's just a statement

of what we're dealing with.

It says,

put on the whole armor of God

that you may be able to stand

against the schemes of the devil.

This is the verse.

For we don't wrestle

against flesh and blood,

but against the rulers,

against the authorities,

against the cosmic powers

over this present darkness,

against the spiritual forces of evil

in the heavenly places.

I believe that we need to understand

this war that we're in.

I want you to understand

the war where it started.

I want you to understand

what in the world's going on now

and where all this is going.

And so to begin that,

I want to first look

at the origin of Satan.

There's no particular passage

that tells us

the whole story of Satan.

However, when you check

the landscape of Scripture,

it becomes quite clear

what is going on.

And a great summary

of the origin of Satan

is in Revelation 12,

Revelation 12:7–9

verse 7 through 9.

And it says in Revelation 7 through 9,

Now war arose in heaven,

Michael and his angels

fighting against the dragon.

And the dragon and his angels

fought back,

but he was defeated

and there was no longer

any place for him in heaven.

And the great dragon

was thrown down,

that ancient serpent

who is called the devil

and Satan,

the deceiver of the whole world.

He was thrown down

to the earth

and his angels

were thrown down with him.

So he was an angel.

Job chapter 1, verse 6

Job 1:6

calls him one of the sons of God,

which is a reference to,

an Old Testament reference

to angels.

Jesus referred to him

as an angel

in Matthew 25, verse 41.

Matthew 25:41

And this Scripture tells us

that he wanted to replace God

in heaven.

He caused havoc in heaven

wanting to replace God.

He wanted to receive

all the beauty,

all the glory,

all the wisdom

and power of God.

Revelation 12 also tells us

kind of cryptically

that he took a third

of the angels with him

and those angels

would now be called demons.

There's more about that

in prophecy

in Isaiah chapter 14.

Isaiah 14 · chapter mention

And Isaiah chapter 14

Isaiah 14 · chapter mention

in its first audience context

speaks of an earthly king,

the king of Babylon.

But if you know anything

about Babylon,

you know that Babylon

is a symbol

of Satan's empire on earth.

And the parallel of that

cannot be mistaken.

As this king's life

is described,

it becomes a window

of this true spiritual force

that is behind him.

Isaiah chapter 14,

Isaiah 14:12–15

verse 12 through 15

says this,

Oh, you are fallen from heaven,

oh, day star, son of dawn,

how you are cut down

to the ground,

you who laid the nations low.

You said in your heart,

I will ascend to heaven

above the stars of God,

I will set my throne on high,

I will sit on the mount

of assembly

in the far reaches

of the north,

I will ascend above

the heights of the clouds,

I will make myself

like the most high,

but you're brought down

to Sheol,

to the far reaches

of the pit.

That's Isaiah speaking of it.

Ezekiel speaks of it as well.

And Ezekiel's a tough book now.

I mean,

it is filled with

grandiose imagery,

detailed and weird

kind of prophecies.

It's filled with

apocalyptic literature,

which has a lot of symbolic

and image-filled

type of writing going on.

And I want you to notice

what happens

when Ezekiel warns

the king of Tyre.

Tyre was an enemy

of Israel,

and he warns that king,

and I believe you'll quickly see

that this king is a mere puppet

for the evil one himself.

He serves as a window

to the true spiritual force

behind him.

Like much of prophecy,

there's, I guess,

what you'd call

the first audience meaning,

which means that he's speaking

to the king of Tyre,

like Isaiah was speaking

to the king of Babylon.

But then in an inspirational sense,

through the Holy Spirit of God,

it speaks to much more than that.

There's a then and now

in prophecy.

Speaks to the audience

at the time,

and then it continues

to speak throughout history.

And you see both

of those things

kind of come together

in both of these passages.

Ezekiel 28, 12 through 19

says this.

Remember, he's talking

to a king,

but I want you to listen

to what he says.

Son of man,

raise a lamentation

over the king of Tyre,

and say to him,

thus says the Lord,

you were the signet

of perfection,

full of wisdom

and perfect in beauty.

You'll see that

we're talking about Satan here,

but the point of that

is perfect in beauty.

Satan is attractive.

Be warned, he's attractive.

You were in Eden,

the garden of God.

Now listen,

the king of Tyre

was not in Eden,

the garden of God,

but Satan was.

So you see

the double parallel there.

Every precious stone

was your covering,

and it goes on

to mention nine jewels,

I believe,

all of which

I'm pretty sure

are part of that description

of heaven

that mentions

12 different jewels.

So in other words,

he's saying he's heavenly.

You were anointed

guardian cherub.

No earthly king

is an angel,

and a cherub,

also called cherubim,

which is the plural form

of cherub,

was the inner circle

of angels,

those closest to the Father,

guarding his holiness.

It's the cherubim

that are the angel images

that were on the Ark

of the Covenant

in the Holy of Holies,

the innermost holy chamber

of the temple.

He goes on to say,

I placed you,

you were on the holy mountain

of God,

in the midst of the stones

of fire you walked.

Zachariah speaks of how

God protects us

through a wall of fire,

and so this is related

to that kind of talk.

You were blameless

in your ways

from the day you were created

till unrighteousness

was found in you.

In the abundance

of your trade,

you were filled with violence

in your midst,

and you sinned.

So I cast you

as a profane thing

from the mountain of God,

and I destroyed you,

O guardian cherub,

from the midst

of the stones of fire.

Your heart was proud

because of your beauty.

You corrupt your wisdom

for the sake of your splendor.

I cast you to the ground.

I exposed you before kings

to feast their eyes on you

by the multitude

of your iniquities.

In the unrighteousness

of your trade,

you profane your sanctuaries.

So I brought fire

out of from your mist.

It consumed you,

and I turned you

to ashes on the earth

in the sight

of all who saw you.

All who know you

among the peoples

are appalled at you.

You've come to a dreadful end

and shall be no more forever.

In other words,

he was a top angel,

one of the cherubim,

and placed on the pinnacle

among them.

He was in the glory of heaven,

and he was righteous

at first.

And then pride took over.

Why?

Because of his beauty.

After pride,

violence followed.

Sin took over,

and God cast him out.

Now, listen,

if all that seems wild

and willy to you,

it should,

because it is.

But it's true.

And that's where

all this began.

But more than just the origin,

more than where it all began,

I want you to also see

what in the world's going on.

And that's in the effort

of Satan.

Because we can see

the origins of his efforts

here as well,

because his efforts

are led by pride.

We'll just go back

to Isaiah chapter 14.

Isaiah 14 · chapter mention

It mentions five

I wills of Satan

in Isaiah 14.

I will ascend

to heaven

above the stars

of God.

In other words,

he wanted to be equal

with God.

Reach his level.

And by the way,

stars there,

metaphorically,

is often spoken of,

it often speaks

of angels

in prophecy.

And so what he's saying

is,

I will ascend to heaven

above the other angels

of God.

He wanted to be equal

with God.

He goes on to say,

I'll set my throne

on high.

He wanted to be number one.

He goes on to say,

I want to sit

on the mount of assembly.

That's the authoritative

position.

I want to ascend

to the heights

of the clouds.

The clouds represent

God's glory.

He wanted the glory

that only comes to God.

He goes on to say,

I'll make myself

the most high.

How obvious is that?

That's his goal.

He wants to replace God.

He wants to receive

all the beauty,

the glory,

the wisdom,

the power of God.

I'll tell you

what his effort is.

He wants to dethrone God.

Now,

he can't take

the place of God.

He can't defeat God.

If he thought he could

in his heavenly conflict,

he knows better now.

The cross changed everything.

The war's been won.

So now he knows that.

So he will try to

take the place of God

in individual lives.

Now,

how does he do that?

He tries to convince us

to be our own God.

He tries to convince us

to rule our own lives

or to be like God.

That was his strategy

in the garden.

Still strategy today.

It's all about pride.

Every sin,

no matter what it is

that we involve ourselves in,

comes from the base

of pride.

You know why?

Because sin is putting

yourself before God.

Saying that your judgment

is better than God's judgment.

It was prideful rebellion

that marked his fall

and he still prides himself

on filling us up

with pride

and rebelling against God.

He wants to dethrone God

in our lives.

Second,

he wants us to think

that he's equal with God.

Now,

I want you to hear me

because I'll refer to this often,

but I'm not going to talk

about it a whole lot.

But you'll see it.

He is not equal with God.

He was created.

He was the head angel

that rebelled.

He is not God's counterpart.

When you say,

you know,

I feel God on this shoulder

and Satan on it

and they both tell me

I don't know what it is.

They're not equal.

They're not equal.

God is omnipotent.

It means he's all-powerful.

God's omniscient.

It means he's all-knowing.

God's infinite.

He's limitless.

Satan knows a lot,

but he don't know all.

He has power,

but he's not like God.

He's not limitless.

God put limitations on him.

As a matter of fact,

the book of Job tells us

about the limitations

that God puts on him

because we see Satan

ask God to prove

that Job is a fake.

He asked him if he could prove it

and God allowed him

to disrupt the world of Job

but told him,

don't touch his health.

And so Job endured horror,

horror,

the worst nightmare

you can imagine.

But he didn't get sick

and he held fast

to his faith in the Lord

and Satan came back to God.

Job tells us this.

Satan came back to God

and said,

let me hit his health

and if I hit his health,

he'll turn his back on you.

And so God let him hit his health.

He became very sick

and Job stayed,

just stayed faithful.

He proved he was faithful.

Now, let me just say,

I don't know why

God allows Satan

to do what he does.

I don't understand it.

I don't.

But this I know

that you can rest in.

God uses our struggles

to build our faith.

If you never had a struggle,

you'd never build faith.

God uses our struggles

to build faith.

Second thing is,

nothing comes

that God has not allowed.

Now, there's a lot

we don't understand.

And by the way,

if you're one that says,

you know,

when I get to heaven,

I'm going to ask God,

I don't think you are.

I don't think you will.

I think you'll be so amazed

in his presence

that your questions

will be answered.

You'll see it all

in a different light.

You can beg to differ,

you've got a right to be wrong.

But I don't think you'll ask.

Nothing comes

that God has not allowed.

Satan

is not an equal counterpart.

Job teaches us

he had to ask.

He had to ask

to do anything.

In other words,

he's on a leash

firmly held

by the hand of God.

So he wants to dethrone God.

He wants us to think

that he's equal with God.

But he also wants

to corrupt us.

And I'll share with you

more about how he will

in coming days,

but I just want you

to see the origin of this.

In Ezekiel 28, verse 16,

Ezekiel 28:16

he says,

by the multitude

of your iniquities

and the unrighteousness

of your trade,

you profaned your sanctuaries.

Now let's think about this

a minute.

Your sanctuaries.

What is his sanctuaries?

Well, listen,

I know what we call this room,

but I want to be clear

about something.

This is not a sanctuary

in a scriptural sense.

Because scripture tells us

if you're a child of God,

you are a temple

of the Holy Spirit.

That's in 1 Corinthians 6, 19.

Because God dwells in us,

we're sanctuaries

in the Lord.

And Satan prides himself

on profaning us.

The significance

of this building is

that the saints of God,

that God lives within,

come together

for one purpose,

and that's to uplift

the name of Christ,

where two or three or more

are gathered in his name.

There he is

in the midst of it.

But listen,

we didn't come into this room

to get in the presence of God.

If you're a child of God,

he came in with you.

And so we have the opportunity

to worship with him alone.

We also have the opportunity

to do corporately.

Both of them are scriptural.

Both of them are required by God.

Now, but understand,

let's take it a step further.

If Christians are sanctuaries,

temples of the Holy Spirit of God,

what are those people housing

that don't have Christ?

The devil is having a way

profaning his sanctuaries.

And his effort is not aimed at us.

It's aimed at Christ.

I've told you that before,

but I want you to get that.

It's aimed at Christ.

And if people can be hindered

from coming to Christ,

Satan wins a battle.

If Christians are hindered

from walking with Christ,

Satan wins a battle.

He's lost the war.

Let's just make sure

we win the battles.

Because he'll war on us

as long as he can.

You need to understand

where it began,

the origin of Satan.

You need to understand

what in the world's going on now,

the efforts of Satan.

But I also want you to see

where all this is going.

And that's the ruin of Satan.

Let's go back to Ezekiel 28 again.

He prophesies of what's going to happen.

He says,

By the multitude of your iniquities

and the unrighteousness of your trade,

you profane your sanctuary.

So I brought fire

from out of your mist.

It consumed you,

and I turned you

to the ashes on the earth

inside of all who saw you.

What this speaks of

is the future demise of Satan

as if it's already happened

because friend is settled.

Satan's already defeated,

and he knows it.

I want you to understand

what's going on.

I want you to think about

something for a minute, okay?

If your team is playing a sport,

it's football season,

so forgive my football illustrations,

but I lean on them pretty heavy, okay?

Your team is winning,

and the losing team

gets tired of losing,

and they get angry about it.

And they realize

they're not going to win.

There's no way

they can come back.

An old boy's been running

on them all night,

and they're tired of that.

Some old boy's been

hitting on them all night,

and they're tired of that.

And so that coach

grabs some scrub

by the shoulder

and says,

listen,

you see that kid out there?

Knock him out.

Take him out now.

Go in there

and get him out of the game.

Grab somebody else.

Get him.

Get him out of the game.

That ain't the way

you play the game.

That's dirty,

and it's wrong,

and that's not the way

you play the game.

That's exactly

what Satan's doing now.

That's exactly

what he's doing.

He just wants

to take you out.

That's what he wants to do.

Just not make,

if you're a child of God,

he wants to not

make you productive

for the Lord.

And if you can just

sit on the sideline

for the rest of your life,

he can't take your salvation,

but you're not going

to tell anybody else

about it.

You're not going

to live it out

before others.

God's not going

to use you

to reach others.

And so he's,

he's one half

his battle with you

because he can't

have his soul.

So he'll just try

his best to take your life

and what it's for

for the Lord.

And if you're here

this morning

and there's never

been a time

when you've asked

the Lord Jesus

to forgive you

of your sins,

to come into your life

and to change you

and to save you,

I want you to know

all that hell

don't want you to do it.

And they'll fight you

for everything they can

because they want you so.

They're not after you,

they're after Christ.

They want to make him

look bad

so if they can keep you

from committing

your life to Christ,

Christian,

if they can keep you

from committing

your life to Christ,

then they've won the battle.

And all they're doing

is just sending

dirty players out

to just make a mess

until the game's over.

That's all,

that's all they're doing.

So it's not a game.

This is what Jesus said.

And I just hope and pray

because as I was preaching

this a little while ago,

it just,

it just all came to light

while I was standing here.

So I'm going to try

to be a hold of myself.

But John 10, 10 says this.

I want you to listen

to what Christ says.

The thief comes

only to steal

and to kill

and to destroy.

I've come that you

might have life

and have it more abundantly.

Killing,

stealing

and destroying

is what Satan does.

So

what happens

when difficulty comes

and people start

looting stores

or what happens

when they just walk

in a store,

a mass burglary

in the middle of the day

and just start

yanking iPhones

off the shelf

and just taking them out

and people just

watching them do it,

just taking what's not theirs

and just do what they want to do.

That's the evil ones

what that is.

That's the evil one.

What about when people

just want to burn

something down

or paint all over

a monument

or do whatever?

Why in the world?

What about their cause?

It ain't got nothing

to do with their cause.

It's the evil one

doing that mess.

What about when

there's a drive-by?

What about when

somebody takes

a pop shot

at somebody?

A closet

coward

that shoots

when nobody sees.

What's that?

That's the evil one.

That's what he's doing.

He wants to steal

and kill

and to destroy.

We need to understand,

folks,

our battle's

not against

flesh and blood.

It's the evil one.

And he's raised

his head

and we've become

so self-confident

and so prideful

that I believe

I'm off script

and it's dangerous.

I believe

God's lifting

his hand on America.

He's dropping

his hedge of protection

and let us live

with what we live with.

And there was

no king in Israel

and everyone did

what was right

in his own eyes.

Check that out

in Kings.

See how that went

for him.

Okay?

I'm telling you

the evil one

is at work

killing

and stealing

and destroying

as much as he

possibly can

because he knows

his demise

is coming

so let's just

make a mess of it.

This is also

explained in the

curses in the

Garden of Eden.

The ancient serpent

as Revelation 12

calls him

lied to Eve

and Adam and Eve

into sin

and led Adam and Eve

into sin

and in that

he was cursed

and our present battle

with the enemy

was mentioned.

In Genesis chapter 3

Genesis 3:15

verse 15

it says

I will put enmity

between you

and the woman

and between your offspring

and her offspring

he shall bruise your head

and you shall bruise

his heel.

That is a prophecy

of the carnage

of the war

that began

when Satan

was cast

out of heaven

and like so much

of prophecy

it's a two-fold

prophecy.

It speaks of the

battles that began

the day

between humanity

and Satan

and it speaks

of the conclusion

of the war

through the cross

as well as

through the events

that are still to come.

With this sin

will come enmity

between man

and serpent.

Enmity

is a deep-seated

ill will

an ongoing

battle of hatred

is what that's

talking about

and that is

talking about

humans and serpents.

Okay?

To me that's

the first meaning.

I ate them.

But much more

importantly than that

this speaks

of the war

of the offspring

of woman

and the evil one.

Now I want to be

clear about something.

Satan has no offspring.

He did not

create the demons.

He's not equal

with God.

He didn't create

anything.

They were angels

remember

and now they're

fallen angels.

We call them demons.

They influence

people

into being

sinners

and then they

became the

children of the

influence of the

evil one.

And Satan

and his army

work hard

to draw us

and to draw

all as far

away from God

as possible.

Satan is

to use the term

used here.

He is biting

at our heels

and we too

often are

poisoned by it.

Satan has

way too much

influence on our

lives.

He wins way

too many battles

in our lives

but he knows

and this may be

why he wears

us down so

that he will

not win the war.

He knows that.

He'll bruise us.

He'll scar us.

He'll wound us.

He'll strike our heel.

However,

the passage

is much bigger

than that

because it also

speaks of

messianic prophecy.

It speaks of

what Christ will do

and it's kind of

odd the way

it says it here

because when it

says in

between you

and the woman

and between

your offspring

and her offspring

offspring,

that word for

offspring means

seed.

Literally in the

Hebrew it is

seed and

normally in

scripture

offspring or

literally seed

speaks of a

man.

Abraham's offspring

is often spoken

of and it's his

seed.

That's the word

that's used.

The man

provides the

seed,

the woman,

the egg

but here

it says

the seed

of a woman.

Why is that?

This is a

prophecy

of the

virgin born

Christ.

There was

no seed

of a man

in the

virgin born

Christ.

This is

the first

prophetic

proclamation

of the gospel

is what this

is.

Satan's

efforts are

rough on

us but

it's not

near as

strong and

rough as

it was on

Christ.

He was

hated by

religious leaders.

He was

mocked by

those that

followed him

days earlier.

He was

nearly beaten

to death,

hung in

agony on a

Roman cross

that took

his respect

and his

dignity and

his life.

It was a

rough strike

of the heel

but I want you

to understand

something today.

It was only a

strike.

It was not

a defeat.

His death

was a strike

but Paul

tells us

what's coming.

Romans

Romans 16:20

chapter 16

verse 20

says the

God of

peace will

soon crush

Satan under

your feet.

I was

recently told

one of the

most horrific

things I've

ever been

told that

if you

chop a

copperhead

snake's head

off that

you need to

bury it because

it'll still

bite you even

with venom.

If that

don't keep

you up at

night I

don't know

what will

but anyway.

But you

know what

that reminds

me of?

It reminds

me of

Satan.

He's running

around like a

chicken with

his head

cut off and

the war's been

won my friend.

He's lost.

Christ defeated

Satan on the

cross and

through the

resurrection and

now he empowers

the Christian.

I told you

last week James

4 and it stuck

with me this

week.

James 4

7 resist him

and he'll

flee from

you.

Resist the

evil one he'll

flee from

you.

1 Corinthians

10 13 tells

us God will

provide a way

out.

Every time

you're tempted

he'll provide

a way out.

And I want

you to hear me

this morning and

I'll close.

I want you to

hang your hat on

this as you

leave.

1 John 4 4

Little children

you're from God

and have overcome

them but he

who is in you

is greater than

he who is in

the world.

Satan is mad

Satan is

manipulative

Satan is

mean but I

want you to

keep it all in

perspective because

he's just a sore

loser.

That's what he

is.

He's just a sore

loser.

He knows he's

lost the war and

so he wants to

win the battles in

your life.

When I was

growing up there

was a

an evangelist

youth evangelist

that rode around

in a custom

band named

Billy Mayo.

He's fighting

rock and roll

music with all

he could.

He's of the

devil.

They were

breaking records

you don't even

know what that

is.

Anyway they're

back but

crushing

cassette tapes

telling all the

stories about how

they wrote these

songs and how

they were but he

said a phrase that

always stuck out in

my mind and it's

true.

somebody's messing

with your mind

and you don't even

know it.

We're in a war

that's already been

won.

The cross of Christ

and the empty

tomb signed the

treaty.

It's done.

And he's still

winning battles in

our lives.

Shame on us.

May we live

victorious for the

Lord Jesus Christ

because he who is

in us is greater

than he who is in

the world.

With every head

bowed and every

eye closed I ask

you today have you

ever given your

heart and life to

the Lord Jesus

Christ?

I didn't ask you

if you was a

member of this

church.

I didn't ask if

everybody thought

you were saved.

I didn't ask you

any of that.

I ask you have you

ever given your

heart and life to

the Lord Jesus

Christ.

Have you ever

said Lord I'm a

sinner.

I need salvation.

Lord I want you to

come into my life

and change me.

Empower me dear

God.

Give me victory in

the midst of the

battles in which I

face.

And if you've never

done that I promise

you today is the day

of salvation.

He'll meet you where

you are and he'll

change your life

forever.

We're going to

stand in a moment

and we're going to

sing and if God's

leading you you just

obey him.

Just do exactly what

he tells you to do.

Maybe you're here

this morning and you

have done that but

you've never publicly

acknowledged that at

all and Jesus by his

example and by his

commission tells us we

follow that with

baptism.

A public proclamation of

what's already happened to

us in our lives.

If you've never been

baptized I encourage you

to come.

Be obedient to God.

It's a first step of

obedience.

You don't do that it'll

hinder your walk with

God.

If you're wondering

what's hindered you

check your baptism.

It makes a difference.

I promise you.

Maybe you're here and

God's leading you to

be part of this church.

You've visited us.

You feel like you're a

part of us.

You feel like God's

leading you.

I'd love to guide you

in that process.

Or maybe you just need

to do business with God

because I'm going to

tell you something.

We're in a battle folks.

We need to give that

battle over to the Lord

and we need to make

commitments before we

leave this room that

we'll keep when we leave

this room.

And you can do that

where you'll stand.

You can do that at this

altar or you can do it

with a pastor praying for

you.

You just obey God

and do exactly what

he'd have you to do.

Lord Jesus I ask right

now that your sweet

spirit will lead us

right now.

Just simply be obedient

to follow you and to

walk out of here stronger

and better than we were

when we came in Father.

In Jesus precious name.

Amen.