Your Adversary the Devil, Part 1 | 1 Peter 5:8-9 | Pastor Andrew Coleman | 05/24/26

For many who come to our church for the

first time, they're not used to the

Bible being studied quite like we study

it. And I want to say to you that we

usually study

uh

book by book, verse by verse, so that we

might really hear from God. And so this

morning, that's what we're going to

about to do. We're going to take a look

at a couple of verses of scripture, and

we're going to dive down deep into that.

And this morning, I think it's very

interesting how this passage of

scripture that we're looking at this

morning lines up with where we are in

the calendar.

When I think about this weekend, and I

think about um Memorial Day, and I think

about those who gave their lives for our

country,

they did not just merely give their

lives.

They entered into

terror.

They entered into something called war.

And whether it was because of a roadside

bomb,

as we have often seen in Iraq and

Afghanistan, or whether it was the

the

um

the countryside of Europe, or whether it

was

the seas of the Pacific, there was a

very, very real and terrific war.

And in this world, we have war.

In this world, we have physical war

between geopolitical nations,

one people fighting another people. I

will never forget being on the island of

Malta one time. I was stuck there

waiting um for a group of people to

come. Um

They had been held up because of visas,

and uh we were going to make a film

uh that would help Muslims come to

Christ. And so it was going to be filmed

on Malta. I was the leader of the

project, to some degree the producer of

it. And um so the actors were coming in,

the film crew from Australia was coming

in, and there on the island of Malta I

had a few days by myself, and I remember

it was empty, it was wintertime, nobody

goes to Malta in the wintertime, it's a

summer spot, and um it was it was cold

and rainy, and there was nobody around,

and I went by the tourism office several

times just cuz I was bored. And they had

a little film and the gal said, "Hey,

would you like to see our film on

Malta?" I went in and I sat down, and

you know, Malta is out in the

Mediterranean.

And it was the history of Malta where

one civilization after another

civilization

came and overtook that rock because it

was strategic. It was a place of

resupply, it was a place to hold, it was

a place where they could regroup before

they went out into the And one kingdom

after another So Malta went from

civilization to civilization perhaps

more than just about any other place on

Earth.

And I remember as I sat there and

watched it, I thought, "What a horrible

story."

That one civilization comes along and

says, "Hey, what you have I want.

I'm going to take it, and I'm going to

take it by force.

I will take your country. I will take

your island. I will take your kingdom,

and I will raise armies to do it." Just

so horrible.

The death and the destruction of that

war is a terrible thing.

Um we remember that at Memorial Day, but

when we come to the passage that we're

going to see this morning,

it it kind of lines up perfectly because

it shows us where war really comes from.

It shows us

this tremendous battle that is going on

around our lives all the time. It's a

battle that's being waged right here

in the territory of the United States.

It's a battle that's being waged even in

Hollywood.

It's a battle that's being waged even in

this room.

In our minds and in our hearts. So this

morning as we come to 1 Peter,

the title of the message is your

adversary the devil and this is part one

as we look at this. But let's let's

remember the context. Not all of us have

perfect memory. Not all of us have been

here. Some of you are here for the very

first time. So our church often enjoys

doing a little bit of review. Let's

remember this. First of all,

get your pen and get ready to hear. The

Apostle Peter writes to churches

scattered across the Mediterranean world

like where Malta is.

And they are being all of these

Christians are being persecuted.

Churches that are being persecuted in

the Roman Empire. They're being

persecuted by Romans and they're being

persecuted by unbelieving Jews who are

offended

concerning this claim of the Messiah.

They're being persecuted for their faith

in Jesus. So this letter is to people

who are being persecuted. Number two,

Peter calls Christians to fill it in,

hopeful perseverance in their suffering.

He's not saying your suffering is going

to go away, but he is saying that God

will help you to persevere

for the sake of the gospel and for his

glory through the suffering. Number

three, Peter calls Christians to holy

living in their daily lives.

Christians, just like at that time, just

like at this time, are tempted to live

unholy lives. We could live lives that

are not honoring to God. And he is

calling Christians to remember to honor

the Lord, not live like the pagans

around them. Number three, Peter is

constantly calling them to remember

Christ and his redemptive sacrifice.

Because Jesus is the center of it all.

And so he's calling them to remember

that. So, when we come to 1 Peter

1 Peter 5:8

chapter 5 verses 8 and 9,

we are really wrapping up. He's wrapping

up with some final exhortations. We saw

one of those last time we studied this,

and what he was calling them to was

humble yourselves.

And you know, that's that's what we all

need to be reminded of all the time.

Marcy says, "Amen, Andrew. You need to

be reminded of that all the time."

Humble yourselves before God

and before others.

And we're going to see this morning why

that is so important, and it is very

interesting to me

that as Peter is wrapping this up,

he mentions two things together.

Look at this.

He says, "Humble yourselves therefore

under the mighty hand of God, so that at

the proper time he may exalt you,

casting all of your anxieties upon him

because he cares for you." That's the

first thing he's reminding them. Humble

yourselves, and then look at the next

one.

He says, "Be vigilant." Because of what?

The devil is real, and he is terrible.

Now, the reason I think it's so

interesting that those are together is

because they are opposites.

When you think about humility and the

humility of God, the opposite of that is

the pride

and the arrogance and the evil of Satan.

I mean, pride is at the root of all of

this. Pride is at the root of our sin.

Pride and idolatry go hand in hand

against God, and that's what Satan

represents. In fact, notice this, our

text this morning is this one, 1 Peter

1 Peter 5:8

chapter 5 verses 8 and 9. He says, right

after he says, "Be humble and cast your

cares upon the Lord." Look what he says

in verse 8. "Be sober-minded.

Be watchful." We're going to look at

that next week. Be sober-minded. Be

watchful. This week we're looking at

what's underlined. "Your adversary, the

devil, prowls around like what?" A

roaring lion. A roaring lion.

"Seeking someone to devour."

And then in verse 9 he goes on and he

says, "Resist him,

firm in your faith, knowing that the

same kinds of suffering are being

experienced

by your brothers throughout the world."

So he starts off with be humble and then

he comes to

be aware of the devil.

Be very aware of the devil because he

wants to kill you. Amen. He wants to

destroy

your

life.

So there's a very war There's a very

real war going on.

And as I think about Memorial Day and I

think about how this day is is set aside

for that, I'm thinking about the

spiritual war

that all of us are in, and there are

casualties to it.

And this text is so powerful. Now,

if you've been around here at all, you

know

I really enjoy aviation. I've always

enjoyed aviation.

I I do and I I as a kid growing up, my

dad would take us to watch the airplanes

land at Fort Lauderdale. Has anybody

gone and watch airplanes land before?

Okay, that's kind of a cool thing,

right? Big ones, little ones and

everything else. We would go to air

shows. Anybody been to an air show? We

just had one recently.

Um you know, all these things that you

know, aviation's [clears throat] kind of

a cool thing and I I would because I was

close to my grandfathers

that were born during World War I, I

would often hear all the stories from

the different ages and so this morning I

I just kind of want to walk through a

few things here. World War I aircraft.

It is just kind of amazing thing. Key

instruments in the in the issue of war

in the power of war. Notice some of

these. I mean, here's an actual one from

World War I, a picture taken and we see

all of those and it wouldn't be complete

if we didn't mention in World War I

this one. Does anybody know what that

guy is?

The Red Baron. Some of you are going,

"What in the world is the Red Baron?

That's pizza." No.

The Red Baron was a very real air

fighter, a triplane aircraft

by

a German man

who listen to this, shot down 80

aircraft.

He wouldn't you know, an ace is he's got

five kills. This guy had 80 kills.

And he was shot down and killed when he

was 25 years old.

And so a young man who was a war hero

and but look at how things changed. We

go from

a little airplane that had 110

horsepower

to a P-51 Mustang

or two

um the great British airplane the

Spitfire that

fought the Battle of Britain saving

Britain or um

the Corsair F U

um four. This is an F U four um that was

so instrumental in the Pacific or we get

to the German aircraft. Um some of you

say why in the world are we talking

about this? Well, I want you to see how

things progress in the art of war.

We come to the next generation of

fighter planes. This is a Soviet jet.

And uh some of these were supersonic.

That was supersonic. The great airplane

of Vietnam and the Korean War the uh F-4

Phantom jet most powerful jet. Listen to

this. That jet has 50,000

horsepower.

Do you remember how much horsepower I

said the Red Baron had?

110.

Just think about that. 110 horsepower up

to 150 depending on what year to

50,000 horsepower to the great F-14

Tomcat. And you look at that boat that

tremendous airplane so versatile for the

Navy um the iconic uh Top Gun airplane

to the F-15 Fighting Eagle that was

similar to the F-14 but even a little

more agile to the F-16 Fighting Falcon

to the F/A-18 Super Hornet. All of these

amazing. Now then we come to

a next generation.

And what's very interesting this is the

reason I'm sharing this.

What is that? Some of you say a UFO.

That must be a UFO.

No, that would be an airplane.

That's a B-1 bomber. It's not a fighter

plane but it is a bomber.

And that plane has 120,000

horsepower.

That has twice as much horsepower as a

container ship

that can carry 20,000 containers across

the Atlantic Ocean.

That airplane is very, very different um

than anything that we had seen before.

In fact, here's a B-2 bomber with two

F-117s that were fighter airplanes.

Um and just kind of amazing aircraft.

But, do you know why this plane looks so

different?

The reason these airplanes look so very

different than the vintage airplanes

is cuz they have a very special

capability.

They have a special capability to,

listen to this, to totally avoid

detection.

It's what we call stealth technology.

So, that's why it's has this very, very

sleek shape, very different shape, and

there's these angles on it. All of that

is by design in order to not allow radar

returns to come back to the radar that

sent it. So, it winds up being lost. In

fact, the F-117

this airplane

looks like the size of an orange

to radar up to 300 mi away.

So, it's very confusing for the enemy.

They don't see it. They don't see it

coming. Do you know the reason it's

black?

Because they operate at night.

They come in the dark of night

and they look very, very different. We

could keep going on to the next

generation fighters after that, the

F-22,

um the F-34,

and then even now the announced F-47

um that is going to be um developed.

It's actually in development right now.

But, I want you to compare this

with this.

Is there a little bit of a difference

there?

One was actually painted red.

It It It wasn't really hiding.

But the other one hides, right?

What about this one? B-17.

Loud, slow, big, shows up huge. That

compared to

that.

Friends,

in our lives in America,

we need to understand

that Satan has chosen

the stealth strategy.

He has chosen the strategy to go

undetected.

Other places in the world, not so much.

There's tribes in Africa that are He

shows up every day in various demonic

forms. Everyone believes in demons

because they've seen it. Everyone.

We know people, we know friends, we know

tribes, we know places where everyone

knows

You know where the devil is doubted? The

devil is doubted in the West.

Where he has chosen stealth.

He has chosen to be unseen. He has

chosen to be very quiet.

He has chosen to come undetected.

And so, that is why I show you all of

these airplanes. There's There's

different strategies in war.

And there's different strategies

in spiritual

war. And so, this is why we see I want

you to I want you to go and I want you

to be reminded of this text. Look what

it says. It It is reminding us,

"Be sober.

Be watchful."

And And then he goes on to say, "Your

adversary, the devil, prowls about like

a roaring lion seeking someone to

devour." And so, what I want to take a

few minutes to do this morning is to

recognize the reality of the adversary.

Can you circle that? The reality of the

adversary. Because there's a lot of

people in the world today that doubt

that.

And And the devil has done a few

different things. One of the things that

he's chosen to do is to either be

undetected or to make it a fairy tale.

How does he make it a fairy tale?

Do any of you have a Dirt Devil vacuum

cleaner?

Have you ever seen a Dirt Devil vacuum

cleaner? It's this little red vacuum. We

weren't allowed to have one cuz Dad

said, "That has the devil on it. We're

not going to have that."

Kind of sort of kind of whatever.

But the devil

the devil has chosen to show up with a

little guy with horns and a pitchfork

and make it something laughable.

And say, "Do you believe in that?"

Um you got to be kidding me.

But what's what Peter is reminding us as

part of his final words in this letter

going to churches all over the

Mediterranean world, he's reminding us,

"Look, be sober. Be watchful. Your

adversary, the devil, prowls about like

a roaring lion." What he's saying is,

"The devil is" and fill it in, "the

devil is real."

And

in this modern day of education and

philosophy and everything else, we need

to recognize that that is true.

And we need to recognize how much God's

word deals with this great adversary

that

has

created such a war as we encounter on a

daily basis. Now, I'm going to I'm going

to just switch over here to letting you

see this. Now, what we're part of what

we're going to do this morning, we're

going to study this topic of the devil.

And I'm going to give you a little bit

of what is called a systematic theology

um based upon biblical theology. And the

idea is this,

the scripture says things all the way

through narratively when you when you

read it, but then sometimes it's good to

go and look and see where all the places

in scripture or many of the places in

scripture mention a certain topic. So,

that's called systematic theology. And

so, you're going to really learn

something this morning and I hope that

you see a couple things. One of the

things I hope you'll see is is the

reality of and the evil one of the devil

in the Bible. And so, let's start off

with the names. Let's start off with the

names. This is part of our systematic

theology of this. Notice this, the

various names. The first one is Satan.

Satan. Notice that. And we see him

called Satan in Job. We see him called

Satan in Zechariah and Matthew and in

Revelation. You guys can control the

PowerPoint now.

Satan is This is his actual name that is

used in these passages of scripture. And

this isn't a comprehensive list, but

these are the main ones. Not only Satan,

but what else is he called? What we've

already used, the word devil. He is

called a devil in Matthew chapter 4 and

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

John chapter 8 in Ephesians 6. The devil

John 8 · chapter mention

is is mentioned over and over again. And

then we also see the serpent. The

serpent, we see that at the beginning in

Genesis chapter 3, but we also see it in

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

2 Corinthians referring back to that in

Revelation chapter 12. We keep coming

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

back to that idea of the deceiver in a

serpent. Not only a serpent, but a

fearsome dragon.

We see this in in Revelation

all through Revelation we see the dragon

mentioned referring often to the devil.

Jesus would call him the evil one. So

Jesus used uh the evil one commonly and

um

we also see the tempter.

We see the tempter is used in Matthew

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4 when Jesus is tempted. Jesus

begins his ministry and right when he

begins his ministry at 30 years of age,

we see Satan come to him and it says the

tempter came to him to tempt him.

Not only the tempter, but Zechariah in

Revelation calls him the accuser. The

accuser of the brethren we might say.

The the accuser who seeks to accuse

against

God's work in our lives. The father of

what? The father of lies. He's called

the father of lies. Jesus uses that in

John 8:44.

John 8:44

We also see that he was called a

murderer. For the devil it says has

murdered from the beginning.

And we see that in Genesis 3 when Cain

kills Abel. And in fact, when the

temptation to sin in a way

um there's this picture of murder

because God had said the day that you

sin, the moment you sin, you shall

surely die. This is the temptation

towards sin which would bring about

death. He is the murderer from the

beginning.

He's also called by Jesus the ruler of

this world. You say, "Well, wait a

minute. I thought God is the ruler of

this world." Well, it's talking about

this specific time, this specific place,

this place of the world. He has been

given a leash

and he has a certain power. Now, he's

not the only ruler of this world. God

supremely rules over him, but he has

been given a little bit of time and a

little bit of power.

He's also called the god of this age.

He's not called God. He's called the god

of this age.

And so, the idea is this is a powerful

force that has been given a leash.

He's also called the prince of the power

of the air. You say, "Well, I would

think that that's referring to Jesus."

No, read Ephesians 2. You find out that

that is Paul referring to Satan.

He's called Beelzebub. He's called

Belial. He's called Apollyon

in Revelation chapter 9. So, these are

Revelation 9 · chapter mention

the main ways and what when you look at

this list before you turn the page, when

you just look at this list, look at all

those passages, Old Testament and New

Testament.

The Bible

gives a very clear description of a very

real adversary

that is in the world throughout time.

Well, let's look at some realities about

the origin of Satan.

We can't answer all of them because

there's some things that we don't

understand about the origin of Satan,

but we can look at God's word and we can

know these things. Number one, Satan is

a created being. He's not eternal. That

means that he There was a time when he

didn't exist and then he does exist. So,

he's not like God the Father, God the

Son, and God the Holy Spirit who existed

in all of eternity past, Satan was

created. You say, "Well, that that's

difficult for me to understand. Why

would God do that?" We're not going to

even answer that question because we we

can in some ways, and the main thing

that I would say about that is is that

God has done all things well. God has

never made a mistake.

And in his wisdom, he has hatched a plan

for his glory and believe it or not for

our good.

And so, what we see here is that Satan

was a created being. He was not eternal.

Here's the next one. This will be a

mind-blower for you. Satan was

originally good. How do we know that?

Because Genesis 1:31 says that God's

Genesis 1:31

creation was good.

And on the sixth day, when it was

finished, God's creation was good. All

was good.

But what we see eventually, and this is

referenced in 1 Timothy chapter 3 and

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

Isaiah 14, and we even see it over in

Revelation, that number three, Satan

fell through pride and rebellion.

Through pride and rebellion, Satan fell.

He was an angel that fell.

Number four, Satan sinned before human

sin entered the world. So, something

back there before human sin entered the

world. All we can say is is that

something [snorts] had gone wrong, as so

to speak, in Satan's existence,

um before something went wrong in our

existence. So, he sinned before human

sin entered the world. Number five, some

angels sinned and are under judgment.

So, there was only Satan, but there were

others with him. And we see that

referenced in 2 Peter 2 and in Jude 6.

Also, in Isaiah chapter 14 and Ezekiel

Isaiah 14 · chapter mention

28, it's very interesting. It appears to

refer to two earthly kings,

but the language is so hyperbolic.

And

we look at it and we say, "This is one

of those areas of prophecy, cuz Isaiah

and Ezekiel are proph- prophetic books,

prophetic messages, that it appears that

there's a double prophecy here. It's not

only talking about in Isaiah 14 a king

of Babylon and Ezekiel 28 the king of

Tyre, but listen to this, it is also a

secondary prophecy that is pointing to

Satan." I believe that. I believe that

those passages are saying, "This is what

it looks like in a physical earthly way,

and then we see an overlay of this in a

much bigger picture

of satanic deception and satanic work.

So,

devil's origin, main thing that we need

to recognize there is number one, he

exists. Number two, that God has a plan.

His ways are higher than our ways. His

thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

So far as the heavens are above the

earth are his thoughts higher than our

thoughts. God knows exactly what he's

doing and he does all things well.

And so, in his wisdom, this has

happened. The Satan didn't escape out of

the bottle.

Um and and God was caught unaware. That

is not what happened.

God knows exactly what he's doing.

Notice this.

Major actions of the devil in the Old

Testament.

In Genesis chapter 3, we see that he

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

deceives Eve.

And you could say Adam, too, but this

text is specifically showing us that

Adam,

in part because of his own deficiencies

and his own failures, did not intervene,

did not protect his wife, did not lead

his wife in this,

but Satan deceives Eve, contradicts

God's word, that's what he does when he

deceives her, and he introduces, circle

that word, suspicion toward God. We're

going to see that in just a minute. In

Genesis 3, he deceives Eve. In Job 1 and

2, he accuses Job.

We we see that God says, "Have you

considered my servant Job?"

And Satan says, "Yeah, the only reason

he loves you is because you've blessed

him.

If you take away all of his wealth,

he will not bless you any longer." This

is a conversation between God and Satan.

And God gives Satan permission to touch

Job, to to start dealing with Job.

And when Job still continues to confess

the Lord, he says, "Well, if he if he

loses his health, then that'll be it."

You see, he's accusing Job as being a

fake.

How about 1 Chronicles chapter 21?

1 Chronicles 21 · chapter mention

Satan incites David to count the number

in Israel when he was not to do that.

We see that there was a deception there.

In Zechariah chapter 3, he accuses

Zechariah 3 · chapter mention

Joshua, the high priest, and the Lord

rebukes Satan.

In Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, as we said,

pride,

he attempted exaltation,

and then a fall from high position.

That's where we read about his fall. And

as I said, a double prophecy. Earthly

kings, yes, but grander meaning pointing

to Satan. Study it for yourself. It's

very interesting.

So, the Old Testament themes of

deception,

accusation,

affliction, pride Satan's doing all of

these, opposition to God's people,

Satan's doing that. And attempts, look

at this. What he's really seeking to do

in the Old Testament is to attempt to

corrupt worship.

He wants to interrupt and to corrupt

worship.

And he wants desperately to interrupt

and corrupt faith

or trust in God.

And so, time and time again, he is

seeking to come and to take that away

from God's people. That's the Old

Testament.

Look with me at the New Testament. You

say, "Golly, I didn't realize the devil

was so much in the Bible." How many of

you would say that right now? You're

looking at these and you're just going,

"I'm kind of surprised he's in there

that much." Anybody surprised by that?

Oh, you guys are Bible scholars. Great.

As I study it, I'm serious. I'm sitting

here going, "Oh, wow."

He's here a lot.

Look at Notice this. In Matthew 4, he

tempts Jesus in the wilderness, also

recorded recorded in Luke 4. Matthew 13,

Jesus is giving the parable of the five

swords and he says that the devil comes

and snatches the word.

He corrupts

the gospel from going into the heart. He

snatches the word from their hearts.

And he sows weeds among the wheat.

How about in Luke 22? He enters Judas.

Enters Judas

to betray the Lord.

And even we see Jesus speaking and turns

around and looks at Peter and he says,

"Peter, Satan has [snorts] demanded to

sift you like wheat."

And so we see

this in the heavenlies, a great

involvement

of the devil.

Jesus calls him the liar, the murderer,

the father of lies.

And look at this. In Acts chapter 5,

Acts 5 · chapter mention

there was a guy named Ananias and his

wife Sapphira.

And it says that Satan entered into put

into Ananias' heart

to lie to the church.

And Ananias was struck dead. And

Sapphira was struck dead for their lying

to the church.

Very interesting that that came

from Satan.

Second Corinthians, he has schemes and

designs. They're elaborate. Second

Corinthians 4, he blinds unbelievers to

the gospel.

We'll see that again in just a moment.

In Second Corinthians 11, he deceives,

he disguises himself as an angel of

light.

As an angel of light.

Is this This is a very very serious

business of deception.

That you can be deceived. I can be

deceived

if we are not what Peter says,

sober-minded and watchful.

There's many in this room that have come

to me and said, "I was deceived."

I was deceived when I went down this

road in my life and when I made these

decisions in my life, I was deceived

that this was that this was right when

in fact it was wrong.

I was deceived about this doctrine or

this belief.

I was deceived about this issue in this

condition of my heart.

Because Satan

can say all is well when it's not.

Ephesians chapter 2, he works in the

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

sons of disobedience. Ephesians 6, he

leads spiritual forces of evil. That's

where you are called to put on the

spiritual armor of God. Why? Because

there is a very real devil.

How about 1 Thessalonians? He hinders

gospel ministry. He seeks to come in and

stop the gospel from moving forward. He

wants to destroy. He wants to disrupt

churches. He wants to stop world

missions. He wants to stop evangelism.

He wants to stop discipleship.

He's seeking to

hinder gospel ministry.

And in this text 5:8, he prowls about

like a roaring lion. In Revelation

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12, he is called and this is

kind of a cumulative pentacle type view

of what he does is he accuses believers

and he persecutes the church. He would

destroy it if he could.

Because he hates the worship of God.

In Revelation 20, he is ultimately bound

and he is judged and he is thrown into

the lake of fire.

So his end will be the lake of fire.

Prepared for the devil and his angels

and all of those

who are sons

of disobedience.

So, we want to see this as what it is,

the devil's opposition

to God himself.

That's what it is, the devil's

opposition to God himself. How does

Satan oppose God? Very quickly, number

one, Satan contradicts

what God has said.

When when when we talk about what God

has said, that we mean his word.

Satan always contradicts God's word.

Look at Genesis chapter 3 and verse 1

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

through 5. Here's the first example of

it. We see Satan, the serpent, comes to

Eve in the garden. Look what happens.

Now, the serpent was more crafty than

any of the wild animals the Lord God had

made. He said to the woman, "Did God

really say

you must not eat from any tree in the

garden?" You see what he says does

there? Did he says, "Did God say you

must not eat from any tree in the

garden?" Is that what God said?

No, that's not what he said.

He said, "You're not to eat from

this tree."

So, he starts off lying.

He starts off twisting. He starts off

turning the narrative.

"Did God really say you must not eat

from any tree of the

any tree in the garden?" And the woman

said to him, "We may eat from the trees

in the garden, but God did say you must

not eat from the tree that is in the

middle of the garden, and you must not

touch it." Look what it says.

"Or you will die."

Look at verse four.

"You [snorts] will not certainly die."

The serpent said to the woman.

You see,

number one there,

Satan contradicts what God has said.

Oh, you've got to be kidding me. Yeah,

Pastor Andrew mentioned that thing in

his sermon and everything else, but oh,

come on, man. It's no big deal. I mean,

look, you you know, look at it. It

actually feels good or or you know, you

like that. It tastes good or whatever.

And how can something that feels so

right be so wrong? Come on.

Well, this is just really what I want to

do and it, you know, it makes me happy.

How could it be wrong?

There's all kinds of application to that

in every life here.

Number two, Satan not only contradicts

what God has said, Satan slanders

[snorts]

God's character.

And we see that. Just let your eyes go

back up to where I stopped reading in

verse four. It says, "You will not

certainly die." The serpent said to the

woman. In verse five, look what it says.

"For God knows that when you eat from

it, your eyes will be opened and you

will be like God, knowing good and

evil."

Well, this point we should recognize

that we can't trust anything that he

says, but notice this.

And this isn't on your outline, but

notice the line that is on the next

slide here. Satan infers that God is

holding out on you.

That's what Satan's doing. He's

inferring that God is not going to give

you what you really need or what you

should really have.

Now, you just think about the ludicrous

idea of that. He comes himself and lays

down on a Roman cross and dies in your

place. What will he not give you?

He gives you his head on a platter. He

gives you his life. He gives you his

only son. But Satan wants to convince

you

you're not going to have all you need

and it's cuz God didn't want you to have

it.

That's the oldest lie in the book.

And that's what you tell yourself when

you just start thinking, you know, I'm

making plans for my life and I think I'm

going to go do this and you know, this

and this isn't that bad and then this

other little turn and this other little

turn comes along. Oh, it can't be that,

you know, it's it's probably all right

and then and it and you keep convincing

yourself till you get down roads that

are far from God.

And part of that is

well,

you know,

God can't really mean that.

Um,

it's how we destroy our lives.

Number three,

how does Satan oppose God? Satan seeks

worship for himself.

That's what he wants and we see it in

Matthew chapter four during when Satan

comes tempting Jesus. He says, "Jesus,

let me show you all the kingdoms of the

world. If you'll just bow down and

worship me, I'll give you all the

kingdoms of the world."

Well, first of all, they were not truly

his to give. Now, he is the principal of

the air, he is the god of this age and

that's part of what that means. There

are certain things that Satan can give.

But ultimately, he's saying this to the

creator of all things, the creator of

the universe.

And he desperately wanted Jesus to get

off mission and not do the mission that

the father had given him.

And Satan will say the same thing to

you.

He wants desperately for you to get off

mission from God.

He wants your life to not count for God.

He wants to distract you away from what

God has called you to do in living your

life for him, doing whatever he's called

you to do, living your life for him. He

wants desperately for you to live it for

yourself, to build your own kingdom.

That's what the temptation was.

Come and build your own kingdom.

And ultimately,

you will be, whether you recognize it or

not, worshipping him instead of God.

Number four, Satan opposes Christ's

mission

to rescue God's people from their sin.

That's what we see in Matthew 4. So,

he's seeking worship and he's seeking to

stop Christ's mission.

We see it when Jesus tells the

disciples, "I must go to Jerusalem and

die." And what did Peter say?

"No way, Lord. You can't do that." And

what did Jesus say to Peter when Peter

was saying, "No, you can't go die."

He said, "Get behind me, Satan."

Do you see how this works? Do you see

the Bible fits together like lock and

key?

The whole thing.

>> [sighs]

>> Satan, number five, blinds people to

God's glory.

Satan blinds people to God's glory in

Christ. Second Corinthians chapter 4 is

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

something that's

very important for you to look at. And

you're wondering, "How can people not

see?" I mean, Jim prayed it at the

beginning of this or the in his pastoral

prayer. Jim prayed, "Lord, I don't

understand how

how people can't see. How is it that

people can see the world and they see

the glory of the universe and deny you

as its creator instead choosing to

believe

some very illogical things that this all

came from nothing.

Somehow it started. Okay, fine, physical

matter. How did

something came from something from

nothing?

And then we get down to the chances of

life. How does life come about? There

are glorious glorious interactions with

tremendous scientists that will say to

you at the highest level saying, "No one

is explaining how life came to be.

They're not anywhere close."

I may put one of those on the chat or

excuse me, in the Monday message

tomorrow. I listened to one this week by

the world's top scientists that are

believers. And uh people from from

Edinburgh, people from Oxford, people

from

MIT and Princeton um and uh wonderful

believing um

uh molecular biologists that say,

"The greatest thing that the world has

to say about where life has come from,

they they are

they are magnitudes away from explaining

how life would ever have been started."

Um very interesting to listen to. But he

blinds people So how is it that we're so

blind? Look at 2

2 Corinthians 4:4

Corinthians 4:4. Look what it says. In

their case, the god of this world, so

there's that phrase, the god of this

world

has blinded the minds of the unbelievers

to keep them from seeing and seeing

what? The light of the gospel of the

glory of Christ who is the image of God.

So, one of the things one of the things

that when you're praying for a lost

person

that you love and that you want them so

much to come to faith, one of the things

for you to do is to pray, "Lord God,

I don't know how all this works in the

heavenlies, but I know that you took the

scales that were on Saul's eyes and the

word in Acts tells me that the scales

fell off his eyes and he could

understand the gospel.

And just like you opened his eyes and

just like you opened many others, Lord,

would you open

my friend's eyes?

Lord, you can cause

the blinded eyes to see."

Notice this, number six.

How does Satan oppose God? Number six,

Satan counterfeits truth and

righteousness.

He counterfeits truth and righteousness.

Just like there's counterfeit money that

is fake and it's not real and it has no

value and in fact it's deceptive and

it's part of a scheme, it's part of

fraud. It's fraud. That's what

counterfeit money is. It's fraud.

Look at this, 2 Corinthians chapter 11

2 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

and verse 15 13 through 15. For such men

are what? False prophets, deceitful

working, disguising themselves as

apostles of Christ. Verse 14, "And no

wonder,

for even Satan disguises himself as an

angel of light." So, a disguise, a

counterfeit.

An angel of light.

Verse 15, "So, it is no surprise if his

servants also disguise themselves as

servants of righteousness. Their end

will correspond to their deeds. That

what he's saying is they're going to get

it. They're going to get theirs.

But Satan counterfeits it.

Number seven, finally.

Satan makes war

against God's people.

Satan makes war against God's people.

That means Satan makes war against you

if you are

God's people. Look at Revelation chapter

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

12, and this is really the heart of

Revelation. This is the heart of the

whole thing, and it's this massive

conflict between God and Satan that

winds up

where God prevails ultimately, and Satan

is finally put away. But look with me in

Revelation 12:17. Then the dragon became

Revelation 12:17

furious

with the woman and went off to make war

on what? The rest of her offspring, and

on those who keep the commandments of

God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

Now, there's been a lot of debate over

the years of who is the woman? What is

that talking about? Is that Mary? What

is that? Is that Is that Eve?

Is that Mary? Is it Eve? Is it Is it the

church? We would say we would suggest to

you that it is the bride of Christ, the

church, God's people.

And so, he makes war against the whole

church,

and he makes it And notice this. So, he

makes war against the church, and he

goes off and he makes war against the

rest of her offspring. So, all those who

are are coming

to him.

Those who keep his commandments

and hold to the testimony of who?

Jesus.

This is the beauty of the true

Christian.

And this is

also the curse

of Satan's work against the Christian.

So, a few points as we finalize. Through

Christ, God calls us not to be a

casualty

of this satanic war.

God calls you through Christ to not be a

casualty

of this satanic war.

Because of Christ, circle that, through

Christ. That's the only way to avoid

becoming a casualty of this war.

Because

point number two, the eternal victor,

the eternal victor is

in this conflict, is Christ Jesus.

He wins and rules over this fearsome

adversary

who's roaring like a lion, as Peter

says.

You see, notice here with me, our

rescue,

our fortress, our deliverer, strangely

enough,

is the lamb who was slain.

The lamb who was slain a a lamb is very

different than a lion.

But this is the ways of God. God's ways

are higher than our ways. His thoughts

are higher than our thoughts. He does

things differently than we do. So, our

rescue, our fortress, our deliverer is

the lamb slain by the will of God.

And [snorts] he is raised by the power

of God

all for

the people of God

and the glory of God.

See, this is God's grand and glorious

plan.

So,

friends, when we

study the devil, and I I don't want to

say to the children in this room,

you've heard a sermon today about the

devil.

There's a good and right holy fear that

you should have.

But the one who you should fear more

than the devil

is your loving heavenly father.

When you recognize

that the heavenly father rules

over this evil one

and you respect him and you honor him

and you know him.

You believe in him. You trust in him.

The Bible says

that he is your deliverer.

He is your fortress.

And in fact it says

you have no more to fear.

So

the devil

wants you to either not believe in him

or the devil devil wants you to fear

him.

When God is saying

remember

the victor

over him.

So look at 1 John chapter 3 and verse 8.

1 John 3 · chapter mention

Look what it says.

The reason the Son of God

appeared was to What does it say?

Destroy the works of the devil.

That's the reason he came.

And that's the reason that we are safe

in him. Amen?

You may stand together as we pray.

Father, I pray this morning that what we

have studied would go down deep into our

hearts.

That we would recognize

what Peter is calling us to recognize.

That Lord Satan is real.

He intends to harm us.

He will do all that he can

to that end

if we allow him.

But Lord, I thank you that you've told

us to be vigilant, to be aware,

and that we would trust

in your victory

over sin and over death

and over [music] an adversary

that is against us.

Lord, I pray this morning that Sheridan

Hills would be a more holy church

because we are more aware

of Satan's schemes.

I pray that we would be a people who

don't easily get tripped up and deceived

and and fall into the foolishness of his

traps.

I pray that we would be willing to call

it what it is,

to call him what he is,

a liar and a deceiver,

a murderer from the beginning.

And instead, Lord, that we would one run

to the one

who

calls himself truth

and calls himself salvation.

Father, thank you for your goodness.

Thank you for giving us Christ.

And I pray that we would live and walk

in victory instead of deception

and instead of destruction. In Jesus'

name. Amen. Would you lift up your voice

and sing this morning?