Satan

Methods and Power

Review Satan, the adversary

A fallen spiritual being (most likely a cherub) Pride (in beauty, authority, power) was the initial sin

that caused him to be cast out of heaven He is not divine or eternal He is evil because he chose not to be good

Introduction Almost everyone has heard the excuse, “the devil

made me do it” Can the devil “make” someone do something? What is the devil trying to achieve? How does he try to reach his goal? What methods are available to him?

Goal People often picture Satan as a ruler in hell and his

goal is to add subjects to his realm Rev 20:10

The devil will be tormented in hell, just like all others who end up there

He is not a ruler there, he will have no power there If he is not looking for subjects in hell, what is he

seeking? Some think it is “misery loves company”, but is that

reasonable? What other goal might he have?

Keep the question in mind while we look at Satan's power and methods

Methods Gen 3:1-6

Uses lies and deception But he did not force Eve or Adam to sin

Used Eve's own desires against her Temptation

James 1:13-15 Desires By themselves are natural Many can be fulfilled in lawful ways But a desire for something unlawful or unlawfully

fulfilled, is where temptation starts When given into it is sin And sin results in death (spiritual separation from

God)

Methods So Satan acts by offering us what we want but know

we shouldn't have He tempts us, but the temptation is really our own He might lie or deceive us into believing that what we

desire is not really wrong Job 1 and 2

More direct action against someone requires special permission from God

Presumably Satan had tried before to put temptation in Job's way without success

Job 1:10 – complains about a hedge around Job, which implies he had attempted to get through the hedge

Methods Matt 4:2-4

Jesus was hungry Satan tempted Him to meet His desire for food ( a

natural, lawful desire) by commanding the stones to change to bread

Jesus had that power (John 2:1-11, water to wine) Why wasn't it lawful here?

Jesus used His power to confirm His teaching and His authority

The devil already knew who Jesus was, so the use of power would simply be pride or self-will (things that had tempted Satan)

Methods Matt 4:5-7

On a corner of the temple, Satan tempts Jesus by offering a way to show everyone who He was

Lots of people would see Him jump They would see the angels catch Him and set Him

down unharmed Satan even throws in a scripture to “prove” his theory

Jesus knows that is not the plan for how people would come to know Him and believe in Him

A desire to be seen (pride) and accepted would be the temptation (maybe like Satan's pride in his own beauty and splendor)

Methods Matt 4:8-10

Satan offered a way to achieve Jesus' ends (to be king of kings) by different means

The desire would be self-preservation Jesus wouldn't need to suffer and die and would still

have pwer over the kingdoms The means to that end were clearly unlawful

Methods Satan's methods haven't changed

He offers us what our physical bodies desire He appeals to our pride or self-will or vanity He tells us it is okay by misusing scripture He tells us the “ends justify the means” He tells us that life or freedom from suffering are

better than any alternative 1 Jn 2:15-17

Power As we have already noted, Satan's power does have

limitations He acts through lies, deceit and temptation

He even deceives nations (Rev 20:7-8) Though God can, and has at times, taken that ability

away from him (Rev 20:1-3) Deceiving nations would not be much more than an

extension of all other deceit Those actions lead people to commit sin

Satan did not make them sin, they chose to sin He does not even have the ability to tempt beyond our

ability to escape (1 Cor 10:13)

Goal If all Satan is doing is getting people to sin, then why

is he doing that? Zech 3:1-4

Satan accuses people of sin He does so before God

1 Pet 5:8 Seeking destruction of Christians

Rev 12:4-5 Sought to destroy Christ from birth until ascension

Rev 12:13 Sought to destroy the church

Rev 12:17 Seeks to destroy Christians

Goal In summary, he is, and has been, seeking to disrupt

the plan of God 1 Cor 2:6-8

If he had understood the plan of God, he would not have let Christ be crucified

Yet he must know he can't defeat God, so why continue to seek to disrupt the plan of God? Spite? Misery loves company? Vengeance? Hurt God by hurting His people Or maybe just self-preservation . . .

As long as he keeps people sinning, God may continue to wait for them to repent (2 Pet 3:9)

Conclusion Satan, the tempter and accuser, seeks to destroy

Christians What the motive behind that goal is, we don't know for

sure But we do know the methods, he uses

Lies and deceit and our own desires To lead us to sin Which leaves us spiritually dead 1 Cor 15:56

Dying in sin is when death stings 1 Cor 15:57

But God has given us the way out of Satan's trap