Know Thine Enemy III: Satan’s Boast
Sermon Review
19 November 2000
Reading: 1 John 4:1-4

The Devil made me do it. I wonder how many times we’ve heard that line…? Yes comedians and drunks might use the line to draw a laugh or excuse their inebriation… but perhaps most of us have said it as well - to excuse a minor indiscretion or cover up some intended mischief.

So today we address the topic of the devil - and in doing so we complete our trilogy on spiritual warfare: this surely must be the most dislocated series ever presented here (we started it in February!). To refresh your memory let me review the three parts of this series: God’s people are spiritually at war in three domains: at war with the flesh, at war with the world, and at war with the devil.

1. War with the flesh

It’s the war that Paul speaks of in Romans 7 - it’s the war against your own fleshly self. How come, says Paul, that the thing I want to do, I don’t do …and the thing I don’t want to do, I do!!! The spiritual nature tells me to do this, but the fleshly nature urges me to do that. So there’s this constant battle going on.

2. War with the world

This is the constant struggle against loving what the world offers and getting completely caught up in earthly things.

1 John (2:16) is very incisive: Stop loving this evil world and all it offers you,…for the world only offers lust for physical pleasure, and lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions…..

How quickly we’ve become a life-style oriented culture, sucked along by a gospel of prosperity and happiness, sucked along by the promises of perfect complexions and perfect hair and perfect risotto-out-of-a-packet. We either stay spiritually tuned to God or we fall for the spiritual barrenness of the world’s philosophies and the world’s promises and the world’s stuff. It’s a constant battle!

(Now if you’ve missed either of those episodes all is not lost - today’s session will still make sense, I hope!. All 3 studies are available both in print and on church website.)

So today we explore the third dimension of spiritual warfare: the dimension where we confront the Devil himself. Perhaps I should refer to him as Satan, because the word Devil seems to have become rather euphemistic. In the Old Testament the word Devil is very strong - it means destroyer (Abbadon in Heb, Apollyon in Gk). These days though, the word Devil is used as a caricature: it describes an almost likeable little cartoon guy with a trident and very chic little horns. Sure, we know he’s a bit roguish and up to mischief and naughty, but so are the Simpsons. Of course, that’s Satan’s first trick: con us into thinking he’s pretty harmless or not even for real.

So today I’ll tend to use the word Satan. It’s widely used in the New Testament and I think it’s got a bit more of a sting to it. The Hebrew word it derives from means adversary or enemy or accuser.

So who is Satan??

The Bible doesn’t really give us much explanation about him or, in fact, his demons (or spirits as they are sometimes referred to). We don’t get much in the way of a theoretical proof of his existence. That doesn’t mean the Bible leaves us in any doubt of his existence: by no means! As you explore the Scriptures, you find that the people who penned them had absolutely no doubt about Satan’s existence: that’s taken for granted. Rather, what we find in Scripture is a veritable catalogue of his activities. Time and time again the Scriptures report on Satan’s dealings with people; his purposes; his tricks and schemes.

So what do we know about him? What are his activities? We know that Satan:

Need I go on? We aren’t dealing with some little cartoon character are we!

Something of the power and influence of Satan can be found from his likenesses. Scripture likens him to a lightning bolt, a roaring lion, a serpent, and a dragon. Satan even disguises himself as an angel of light (i.e. Lucifer). He is variously named Prince of this world, Prince of darkness, The Adversary, the Accuser, the Destroyer, the father of lies. That doesn’t sound like a benign ‘toon character at all!

Satan is not alone: he has colleagues. In fact, he is accompanied by a host of demons, often referred to in the New Testament as evil spirits. In Ephesians Paul refers to them as the Princes and Powers and Rulers of Darkness. Now again, these days with the likes of Caspar and Ghostbusters and so on it’s easy to envisage some caricature of these spirits. The Bible won’t have any of that. The Scriptures reveal some very sobering cases of demon activity and demon-possession:

Need I go on? All these people were in various states of being oppressed by evil spirits, and in all these cases the power of God was found to be greater than the power of the spirits.

Satan and his colleagues are very much alive and well. And they are on about the same business as they always have been: to accuse, to deceive and to lead astray.

That is the spiritual battleground we deal with today. In a way, everybody is familiar with the struggle. It’s the struggle between Good and Evil. After Love, it’s probably the next most important theme in literature. How many books and movies have as their basic plot the struggle between good and evil? Harry Potter, Cinderella, The Swan Princess (you can see I’ve got kids) Sophie Masson’s new book (The Green Prince). Good and Evil fight it out intergalactically as well: Star Wars, Star Trek, and their clones. The problem is, we tend to fictionalise the whole thing. It’s the stuff of stories. There’s no sense of danger or responsibility because Good always wins. Well in the real world folks, it ain’t necessarily so. The battle for our spiritual lives really is a serious matter. Good doesn’t prevail just because a script writer says so.

It appears to me from Scripture that there are two levels on which Satan wages this spiritual warfare. The first is what I might term general conflict and the second is what we might term oppression.

But first, the general conflict.

Any battle usually involves weapons, and Satan has a few important ones we need to be aware of. In General Conflict he uses weapons such as Temptation, Deception, Accusation, and Self condemnation.

Now we’ve explored something of temptation previously in our discussions of the battle with the flesh and with the world. Satan uses a whole raft of them: temptations to pride and vanity; to misuse power or authority to be unforgiving; to lust. I think we know the territory well.

What about deception?

Probably the biggest component in deception is unbelief. It is an easy touch for Satan to simply convince people that he isn’t real. I mean, to the latter 20th century sophisticated empirical mind Satan appears as old-fashioned. He’s an outmoded notion. Us baby-boomers are part of a believe what I see generation. If you can’t touch it or measure it or experimentally verify it, forget it. For many, Satan fits that category.

Keith Green captured that sentiment in a song in the late 70’s - a song called Satan’s Boast, and it’s opening lines are (see end for full transcript):

My job keeps getting easier as time keeps slipping away
I can imitate the brightest light and make your night look just like day
I put some truth in every lie to tickle itching ears
You know, I’m drawing people just like flies cause they like what they hear
I’m gaining power by the hour, they’re falling by the score
It’s getting very simple now cause no-one believes in me any more

Probably for a lot of people that’s true. Satan is a myth, and God - if there ever was one - has given up on us. But it’s interesting to observe the mindset of the western world just subtly changing in the last decade or so. These days we aren’t quite so earthbound or non-spiritual in our outlook. These days there is a tendency to accept the supernatural or to entertain the notion of a spiritual realm. There’s increased interest in astrology, in magic, in earth spirits, in the New Age movement and the like.

The problem is, of course, that the deception is still there. People don’t realise that this new-found spiritual awareness is largely inspired by Satan.

There is the other extreme to unbelief: it is the fearful preoccupation with Satan. This happens when people allow themselves to become more conscious of Satan than God. They worry too much about how awesome Satan is. The deception is pretty obvious: Satan is more awesome than God. And what happens? Victims have no power over Satan’s tempting, and no control over the paranoia with evil. They end up preoccupied with Satan’s power and guile, and they’re stricken with an overwhelming sense of darkness.

Ah but, you say, I’m not deceived by either of those. I don’t fit the unbeliever model, and I’m certainly not the fearful preoccupation type. I’m a Christian and I’ve got a pretty good handle on this Satan stuff.

In that case you are a prime candidate for Satan’s Conventional weapons model.

It goes something like this. First the deception:

Hey man, it’s about time you did something for yourself. This God stuff is just taking up too much time (or);

Hey man, there’s some good in this New Age stuff. People are getting an extra spiritual dimension out of it. You know, the stars and planets and stuff are helping people find themselves (or);

Hey man, you don’t have to pray so much. I mean, what’s the point…if God is so everywhere all the time, then he must know about it already, and anyway, He promises that things are going to work out alright, OK?(or);

Hey man, you take this clean mouth and clean mind thing all a bit too seriously. Don’t be so prudish about it all. You can watch a few of those unmentionable videos if you want. I mean, you’re tough. You won’t be affected by it (or);

Hey man you’re a bit weary. You don’t need to go to small group today or Wednesday night. Have a break. Yeah and you probably deserve a rest next Sunday too…I mean, the preacher gives you two Sunday’s worth every Sunday anyway…

It is not just deceit in isolation that is important here. Look at what happens as soon as you fall for it. Then comes the taunts and accusations:

And on and on it goes: the Master Accuser now has grounds to accuse.

But it doesn’t stop there. Satan’s accusing now leads to self condemnation:

You see the scheme? Deception leads to accusation. Accusation leads to self-condemnation. Condemnation distracts you away from God.

Well of course, there is much more to it, but these are some of the things that might confront us in the typical Conventional weapons encounters with Satan.

The second level of warfare with Satan is more specific. It’s the situation in which people are directly oppressed by the presence of Satan or his evil colleagues.

It is important that I put my position here. I am not suggesting to you that there is an evil spirit under every rock or blade of grass ready to jump out and grab you. I am not suggesting that if you short-changed someone by 50 cents, or you watch Friday night football (!), then you must be possessed by a demon. Not so. Sin is a part of being alive, and even though as God’s children we are called to turn away from sin, we’re far from perfect: it’s going to happen. As far as Godliness goes, St Paul must have been about as good as it gets, and he himself despaired of his sin at times.

Nevertheless, it is a Biblical fact that people are subject to demonic attack. Demonic oppression seems to take a number of forms. Sometimes it starts with an unhealthy fascination with Satan or satanic themes. All too often I see young people feeding their minds on horror fiction, on satanic images, on death and destruction, on music with satanic themes. They begin to be overwhelmed by the stuff. Oppression becomes obsession. It’s all they can think about, and it ends up consuming them. I think you’ll find that the suicide rate amongst young people can be partly blamed on spiritual oppression.

But anyone who is a bit careless with their spiritual guard can fall into spiritual oppression. It might come through careless contact with occult practices. It might come through belligerence. Yeah, I’m saved, but I’m going to keep on doing XXXX.

Sometimes even the most spiritually discerning person might come under Satan’s oppression. It simply might be that Satan has decided to test you to the limit. He’ll bring everything against you that he can possibly get away with: an all-out assault. That’s what happened to Job.

Spiritual oppression is always serious, but it is not to be feared. As with the level of general warfare God can bring victory. And we must move on to that theme: we must consider the positives. And the positives are very simple. Time and time again Scripture affirms that God triumphs over Satan. People who are following God and living in His strength can share that triumph.

Isa 54:17 no weapon formed against you shall prosper

Eph. 6:13 Put on the full armour of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the Devil

James 4:7 Submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you.

I’ve got five tips for you. These are five weapons you should use against Satan. No doubt there are many others (check out Ephesians 6), but here is a start:

1. Stand In God’s Authority And Protection

The first thing to do is to get Satan in perspective. I don’t mean you should underestimate him or think that he’s a spent force. Simply realise that you are God’s child and therefore Satan can’t have victory over you. Put Jesus between you and the works of the Devil. If you are losing a spiritual battle it is only because you are yielding to Satan rather than claiming God’s promises of victory.

2. Don’t Concentrate On Evil

Don’t give the time or the head-space to be thinking about the things of darkness. We don’t need to immerse ourselves in those things. The Scriptures remind us to set our minds on the things above. The things of darkness are for God to deal with. That’s really His battle, not ours.

3. Don’t Gloat That You Can Win Over Satan

Rather, be glad that Satan can’t stand against God. I’m reminded of a Christian group who decided to confront Satan head-on. And they put ads in the newspaper: Satan we refute you and your works, Satan you are defeated. They tackled some of the spiritual problems in town and generally stirred things up spiritually. But unfortunately their crusade fizzled out, and I think it was because they so much relished defeating Satan, they lost sight of who really was the source of their victories. The Scriptures warn about this: Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven (Lk 10:20).

4. Make A Declaration.

Declarations are important. Make a statement that affirms that you are God’s. Make a statement that testifies that you are enjoying the authority and protection of God. What was David’s declaration? As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.

The last part of our reading today would make a great declaration: Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. A declaration is not just words on a plaque on the wall. It is a statement of how you and your family are living before God. It is a statement which is lived out daily. It affirms your place before God and under His protection.

5. Pursue Prayer Aggressively

Pray for protection. Cover your household, your family, your youth group, your small group, your church, your friends with prayer. Every time you step forward for God, Satan will be wanting to throw a spanner in the works. Every time a group of Christians achieves something of spiritual value, Satan will set out to undo it. So pray for protection. Pray that the work of Satan will come to nought.

An pray also for spiritual hotspots, that is, places where Satan is having a fieldday. A friend was telling me that he did some spiritual mapping in his hometown, identifying the strongholds of darkness in the town and mapping them out. My friend prayed for one hotspot for a month…praying that the darkness and oppression on the area would be lifted. And afterwards, some of the people from that part of town came and asked him to pray some more, because during that month they had virtually no problems in the community. They were able to sleep at night. The fighting had quietened down. The women weren’t getting beaten. Find out where the spiritual hotspots are and pray for them.

SO practice these 5 things. These are important weapons you can use to ensure that the you will share in the victory over Satan. But remember, the victory is not really yours. It is the Lord’s.

I'll leave you with some advice from A W Tozer:

The best way to keep the enemy out is to keep Christ in. The sheep need not be terrified by the wolf; they have but to keep close to the Shepherd. It is not the praying sheep whom Satan fears, but the presence of the Shepherd.

Satan’s Boast

My job keeps getting easier as time keeps slipping away
I can imitate the brightest light and make your night look just like day
I put some truth in every lie to tickle itching ears
You know, I’m drawing people just like flies cause they like what they hear
I’m gaining power by the hour, they’re falling by the score
It’s getting very simple now cause no-one believes in me any more

O heaven’s just a state of mind my books read on your shelf
Or have you heard that God is dead? I made that one up myself!
They dabble in magic spells, they get their fortunes read
You know, they heard the truth but turned away and they followed me instead
I used to have to sneak around, but now they just open their doors
You know, no-one’s watching for my tricks, since no-one believes in me any more

Everyone likes a winner, with my help you’re guaranteed to win
Hey man you ain’t no sinner, you’ve got the truth within
And as your life slips by you believe the lie
That you did it on your own
But don’t worry, I’ll be there to help you share
A dark eternal home, a dark eternal home

My job keeps getting easier as day slips into day
The magazines the newspapers print every word I say
This world is just my spinning top, it’s all like child’s play
You know, I dream that it will never stop, but I know it’s not that way
Still my work goes on and on always stronger than before
I’m going to make it dark before the dawn, since no-one believes in me any more

Keith Green

In His Service

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