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