Sermon Outline

Sermon Outline

July 29, 2007 PM

SATAN

TEXT: Revelation 9:1-6 "Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them."

INTRODUCTION:

In chapter 9 the fifth angel sounds his trumpet and the wrath of those from the bottomless pit is poured out upon the earth.
Punishment, torture but not death.
Hell is eternal, on-going misery.
As children of God our battle is with Satan (Ephesians 6:11-12;1Peter 5:8-9).
If we are to successfully combat him, we need to know who he is and what he is about.

I. There are many names by which our enemy is recognized.

A. He is called "Satan" 36 times in the New Testament and "Devil" 22 times.

B.He is also called, "Abaddon, Apollyon, the great Dragon, the old Serpent, the

deceiver of the whole world, accuser of our brethren, adversary, Beelzebub, Belial,

an enemy, the evil one, the father of lies, liar, murderer, god of this world, ruler of

this world, and the tempter.

II. Satan is found in both the old and new testaments.

A. In the first two chapters of the book of Job he is mentioned fourteen times!

B. Since Job is a book on human suffering, this shows Satan's place in suffering.

C. The New Testament shows more fully the malicious nature of Satan.

1) In Matthew 4:1-11 he tried everything he could think of to lead Jesus astray.

2) He was a deadly foe of the apostles (Lk.22:31; 2Cor. 12:7; 1Thess.2:18).

3) He put into the heart of Judas the notion of betraying the Lord (Jno.13:2,27).

4) He filled the heart of Ananias which resulted in his "lie to the Holy Spirit" (Acts

5:3).

D. Satan is a malicious, deceitful enemy. Avoid him, resist him (Jms.4:7), and come to

Christ for safety from the "wiles of the devil."

III. THE ORIGIN OF SATAN:

A. Though the Bible gives no explicit details about the origin of Satan, his origin can

be logically concluded by using what the scriptures do tell us.

B. First of all we can clearly see that the devil is a created being and not eternal deity

equal with God .

1) Deity cannot be restrained. It is all powerful and without limitations (Job.42:2;

Gen.17:1).

2) Satan was restrained and limited on many occasions therefore, he is inferior to deity

(See Job 1:12;2:6; Zech.3:2; Lk. 4:6; 22:31; Jno.10:28; Jms.4:17; Rev.20:10).

3) Since the devil is not eternal deity, he must have been created.

a) All things and beings outside the class of deity are the result of creation (read

Col.1:16).

b) This includes the great host of heavenly angels which were created before the

creation of the world.

c) Job said they were singing and shouting for joy when the earth was created, so

they were obviously created sometime before the earth began (Job 38:6-7).

C. The Bible reveals that all things, as they were originally created,were good(Gen1:31).

1) This means that the being in the Bible known as Satan was not created as an enemy.

2) He must have been created good and later became evil. If he was created good and

then became evil, it is obvious that He fell from this good state at some point.

IV. SATAN: HIS FALL:

A. 1John 3:8 indicates that Satan was the first sinner.

B. Although the Bible is not specific in this regard, there are several indications that a

rebellion, of some sort occured in Heaven at some remote period long ago.

C. Matthew 25:41 tells us that Hell is an "...Everlasting fire prepared for the devil and

his angels."

D. Revelation 12:7-9 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with

the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a

place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that

serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast

to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

E. Notice Job 4:18, "...Against His angels He charges error."

F. All of these passages seem to indicate that Satan was once a good created being who

fell into sin and became God's enemy.

G. There is some question as to whether or not the passages in Jude 6 and 2Peter 2:4 are

talking about Satan and his angels or a completely differrent group. The "fallen

angels" of these passages are kept in bonds reserved for the judgement, while Satan

and his angels were cast tot he earth. "And angels that kept not their own principality,

but left their proper habitation, He hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness

unto the judgement of the great day." Again we see in 2Peter 2:4, God spared not

the angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Hell and committed them to pits

of darkness to be reserved unto Judgement."

H. WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT...LUCIFER

1. It is not uncommon for certain passages in the Bible to be misunderstood by the

masses.

2. One such example of a word being mis-applied is the name Lucifer, found in the

King James version of the Bible, one time, in Isaiah 14:12. "How art thou fallen

from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the

ground, which did weaken the nations!"

4. This passage and the name Lucifer is almost always thought to refer to Satan, but

in reality, it does no such thing! Let us look at the word and the context of the

passage.

Isaiah chapter 14 is a "proverb against the king of Babylon..." (14:3-4).
At the time the prophecy was given, Babylon was a great world power. Her kings were thought to be deity by many. We are given a glimpse of the arrogance of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in Daniel 4:30. "Is this not great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my might and power and for the honor of my majesty?"
While the king was later humbled and came to respect the God of Daniel, this respect was not passed on to his grandson Belshazzar (See Daniel 5:1-30). The kingdom of Babylon and her kings had exalted themselves to the point of thinking they were greater than God and that the greatness of the Babylonian kingdom was the result of their own power and might. It was to these kings that the prophet Isaiah was to speak the words of Isaiah chapter 14.
The term Lucifer is the translation of the Hebrew word "heylel" which means "To shine or to bear light." Satan, the ruler of darkness and sin, is not even being considered in this verse! Babylon was called the "Golden City" because of her wealth and spectacular buildings. The king was considered to be the power behind the great city. "He had exalted his throne above the stars of God" (14:13-14). Yet, in just a few years, the city was completely destroyed and the king was dead (see verse 15).
The passage in Isaiah 14:12-15 refers to the King of Babylon and the fall of his empire. We have allowed ourselves to be mislead about the meaning of this passage. We would do well to emulate the noble Bereans who "...were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find our whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11).

V. SATAN: HIS MISSION

A. What is the goal that Satan is trying to accomplish?

1) Simply put, Satan's mission is to destroy the human race in Hell.

2) He is known as Abaddon in Hebrew and Apollyon in Greek, both of which mean

destruction or destroyer (See Revelation 9:11).

3) He tried to ruin humanity by tempting our Savior into sin but was unsuccessful (See

Matt.4:1-11).

5) He tried to intercept the life-saving message of Jesus by asking God for permission

to destroy the Apostles (Lk.22:31).

B. Though his plans often fail, he still goes about ..."As a roaring lion, seeking whom

he may devour" (1Peter 5:8). .

C. Satan is an angry enemy and who knows that he is doomed to an eternity in Hell

(Matt. .25:41).

D. Therefore, he wants to take as much of mankind with him as he possibly can.

E. His mission is fairly simple and widely understood. But what about how he

accomplishes this mission.

VI. SATAN ;HIS METHODS:

A. Satan's primary tool today is deceit. He delights in blinding the minds of the

unbelieving (2Cor.4:4). He does this by disguise and deceit.

1) He can make sin and its messengers seem as angels of light" (Cor.11:14-15).

2) He is an expert in using lust and greed to win teachers of the Gosepl over to his

side.

3) These men then become false teachers, working for him and misleading all the

ignorant souls they possibly can (2Cor.11:13).

B. When people are inclined not to believe the truth, Satan seizes the opportunity to take

the gospel from their hearts (Lk.8:12).

C. When one has the truth available and refuses to obey it, God allows Satan to

"dillude" their senses so that they can no longer tell the difference between the truth

and the lie (See 2Thess.2:11-12).

D. Many today are practicing vain, worthless religion thinking they are on their way to

Heaven because they have allowed Satan and his messengers to deceive them

(Please read Matt. 7:21-23; 15:9).

E. As Christians we must constantly be on guard "That no advantage may be gained

over us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his devices" (2Cor.2:11).

F. We cannot win the battle alone. We need the help of Jesus Christ.

G. Jesus defeated Satan in Matthew 4:1-11 by answering every challenge with "It is

written."

CONCLUSION:

What about you?
Do you know God's word well enough to answer every challenge

with scripture? Let us ever heed the words of, "But sanctify the Lord

God in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks a

reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." 1Peter 3:15

The angel of the bottomless pit, is alive and well.
He would love to destroy this church.
He would love to destroy you.
Don’t let Him in!