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[0:00] If you have your Bibles, turn to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6, at the end of World War II, there was an unusual period that followed. The bombs had been dropped, Japan had surrendered, a treaty had been signed, and the Pacific was at peace in most places.

[0:22] However, on the islands of the Pacific, there were pockets of battles that were still raging. The outcome of the war had been determined, but some of the Japanese fighting units hadn't heard of that.

[0:36] For those who hadn't heard of it and the opposition, nothing seemed to have changed. The battle was just as real for them. They were still hiding in hopes of conquering through guerrilla warfare.

[0:51] The outcome had been settled, but too many died after the victory. had been obtained. That historic picture is an illustration of what we're experiencing today in the spiritual climate in which we live.

[1:12] Since the death and resurrection of Christ, the war, the spiritual war has been won, but battles continue to be fought. The outcome's settled, yet guerrilla warfare from the enemy continues on, just as real as before, and it's a spiritual war of terror with landmines and booby traps.

[1:34] The enemy will hit you when you do not expect it. It's a full-blown war, but surprisingly, I want you to hear me, it's not with other people. It's not with political parties.

[1:50] It's not with deviant ideologies. All of that stuff is evidence of something much larger, much bigger than that.

[2:00] And I want you to see today what all that's about. I'm going to begin in Ephesians 6, verse 11 through 12, because it's just a statement of what we're dealing with.

[2:20] It says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. This is the verse. For we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

[2:39] I believe that we need to understand this war that we're in. I want you to understand the war where it started. I want you to understand what in the world's going on now and where all this is going.

[2:52] And so to begin that, I want to first look at the origin of Satan. There's no particular passage that tells us the whole story of Satan.

[3:02] However, when you check the landscape of Scripture, it becomes quite clear what is going on. And a great summary of the origin of Satan is in Revelation 12, verse 7 through 9.

[3:17] And it says in Revelation 7 through 9, Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated and there was no longer any place for him in heaven.

[3:30] And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him.

[3:43] So he was an angel. Job chapter 1, verse 6 calls him one of the sons of God, which is a reference to, an Old Testament reference to angels. Jesus referred to him as an angel in Matthew 25, verse 41.

[3:57] And this Scripture tells us that he wanted to replace God in heaven. He caused havoc in heaven wanting to replace God. He wanted to receive all the beauty, all the glory, all the wisdom and power of God.

[4:13] Revelation 12 also tells us kind of cryptically that he took a third of the angels with him and those angels would now be called demons. There's more about that in prophecy in Isaiah chapter 14.

[4:30] And Isaiah chapter 14 in its first audience context speaks of an earthly king, the king of Babylon. But if you know anything about Babylon, you know that Babylon is a symbol of Satan's empire on earth.

[4:45] And the parallel of that cannot be mistaken. As this king's life is described, it becomes a window of this true spiritual force that is behind him.

[5:00] Isaiah chapter 14, verse 12 through 15 says this, Oh, you are fallen from heaven, oh, day star, son of dawn, how you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low.

[5:11] You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God, I will set my throne on high, I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the most high, but you're brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.

[5:35] That's Isaiah speaking of it. Ezekiel speaks of it as well. And Ezekiel's a tough book now. I mean, it is filled with grandiose imagery, detailed and weird kind of prophecies. It's filled with apocalyptic literature, which has a lot of symbolic and image-filled type of writing going on.

[5:54] And I want you to notice what happens when Ezekiel warns the king of Tyre. Tyre was an enemy of Israel, and he warns that king, and I believe you'll quickly see that this king is a mere puppet for the evil one himself.

[6:12] He serves as a window to the true spiritual force behind him. Like much of prophecy, there's, I guess, what you'd call the first audience meaning, which means that he's speaking to the king of Tyre, like Isaiah was speaking to the king of Babylon.

[6:32] But then in an inspirational sense, through the Holy Spirit of God, it speaks to much more than that. There's a then and now in prophecy.

[6:45] Speaks to the audience at the time, and then it continues to speak throughout history. And you see both of those things kind of come together in both of these passages. Ezekiel 28, 12 through 19 says this.

[6:59] Remember, he's talking to a king, but I want you to listen to what he says. Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, thus says the Lord, you were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

[7:12] You'll see that we're talking about Satan here, but the point of that is perfect in beauty. Satan is attractive. Be warned, he's attractive. You were in Eden, the garden of God.

[7:22] Now listen, the king of Tyre was not in Eden, the garden of God, but Satan was. So you see the double parallel there. Every precious stone was your covering, and it goes on to mention nine jewels, I believe, all of which I'm pretty sure are part of that description of heaven that mentions 12 different jewels.

[7:44] So in other words, he's saying he's heavenly. You were anointed guardian cherub. No earthly king is an angel, and a cherub, also called cherubim, which is the plural form of cherub, was the inner circle of angels, those closest to the Father, guarding his holiness.

[8:03] It's the cherubim that are the angel images that were on the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies, the innermost holy chamber of the temple. He goes on to say, I placed you, you were on the holy mountain of God, in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.

[8:22] Zachariah speaks of how God protects us through a wall of fire, and so this is related to that kind of talk. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till unrighteousness was found in you.

[8:34] In the abundance of your trade, you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned. So I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

[8:45] Your heart was proud because of your beauty. You corrupt your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I exposed you before kings to feast their eyes on you by the multitude of your iniquities.

[8:57] In the unrighteousness of your trade, you profane your sanctuaries. So I brought fire out of from your mist. It consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you.

[9:10] All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you. You've come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever. In other words, he was a top angel, one of the cherubim, and placed on the pinnacle among them.

[9:23] He was in the glory of heaven, and he was righteous at first. And then pride took over. Why? Because of his beauty. After pride, violence followed.

[9:36] Sin took over, and God cast him out. Now, listen, if all that seems wild and willy to you, it should, because it is. But it's true. And that's where all this began.

[9:49] But more than just the origin, more than where it all began, I want you to also see what in the world's going on. And that's in the effort of Satan.

[10:01] Because we can see the origins of his efforts here as well, because his efforts are led by pride. We'll just go back to Isaiah chapter 14.

[10:12] It mentions five I wills of Satan in Isaiah 14. I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God. In other words, he wanted to be equal with God.

[10:24] Reach his level. And by the way, stars there, metaphorically, is often spoken of, it often speaks of angels in prophecy. And so what he's saying is, I will ascend to heaven above the other angels of God.

[10:37] He wanted to be equal with God. He goes on to say, I'll set my throne on high. He wanted to be number one. He goes on to say, I want to sit on the mount of assembly. That's the authoritative position.

[10:48] I want to ascend to the heights of the clouds. The clouds represent God's glory. He wanted the glory that only comes to God. He goes on to say, I'll make myself the most high.

[10:59] How obvious is that? That's his goal. He wants to replace God. He wants to receive all the beauty, the glory, the wisdom, the power of God. I'll tell you what his effort is.

[11:12] He wants to dethrone God. Now, he can't take the place of God. He can't defeat God. If he thought he could in his heavenly conflict, he knows better now.

[11:23] The cross changed everything. The war's been won. So now he knows that. So he will try to take the place of God in individual lives. Now, how does he do that?

[11:36] He tries to convince us to be our own God. He tries to convince us to rule our own lives or to be like God. That was his strategy in the garden. Still strategy today.

[11:48] It's all about pride. Every sin, no matter what it is that we involve ourselves in, comes from the base of pride. You know why?

[11:59] Because sin is putting yourself before God. Saying that your judgment is better than God's judgment. It was prideful rebellion that marked his fall and he still prides himself on filling us up with pride and rebelling against God.

[12:14] He wants to dethrone God in our lives. Second, he wants us to think that he's equal with God. Now, I want you to hear me because I'll refer to this often, but I'm not going to talk about it a whole lot.

[12:28] But you'll see it. He is not equal with God. He was created. He was the head angel that rebelled. He is not God's counterpart. When you say, you know, I feel God on this shoulder and Satan on it and they both tell me I don't know what it is.

[12:43] They're not equal. They're not equal. God is omnipotent. It means he's all-powerful. God's omniscient. It means he's all-knowing. God's infinite.

[12:54] He's limitless. Satan knows a lot, but he don't know all. He has power, but he's not like God. He's not limitless. God put limitations on him.

[13:05] As a matter of fact, the book of Job tells us about the limitations that God puts on him because we see Satan ask God to prove that Job is a fake. He asked him if he could prove it and God allowed him to disrupt the world of Job but told him, don't touch his health.

[13:23] And so Job endured horror, horror, the worst nightmare you can imagine. But he didn't get sick and he held fast to his faith in the Lord and Satan came back to God.

[13:37] Job tells us this. Satan came back to God and said, let me hit his health and if I hit his health, he'll turn his back on you. And so God let him hit his health. He became very sick and Job stayed, just stayed faithful.

[13:51] He proved he was faithful. Now, let me just say, I don't know why God allows Satan to do what he does. I don't understand it.

[14:02] I don't. But this I know that you can rest in. God uses our struggles to build our faith.

[14:13] If you never had a struggle, you'd never build faith. God uses our struggles to build faith. Second thing is, nothing comes that God has not allowed.

[14:31] Now, there's a lot we don't understand. And by the way, if you're one that says, you know, when I get to heaven, I'm going to ask God, I don't think you are.

[14:46] I don't think you will. I think you'll be so amazed in his presence that your questions will be answered. You'll see it all in a different light.

[14:57] You can beg to differ, you've got a right to be wrong. But I don't think you'll ask. Nothing comes that God has not allowed. Satan is not an equal counterpart.

[15:12] Job teaches us he had to ask. He had to ask to do anything. In other words, he's on a leash firmly held by the hand of God. So he wants to dethrone God.

[15:25] He wants us to think that he's equal with God. But he also wants to corrupt us. And I'll share with you more about how he will in coming days, but I just want you to see the origin of this.

[15:36] In Ezekiel 28, verse 16, he says, by the multitude of your iniquities and the unrighteousness of your trade, you profaned your sanctuaries. Now let's think about this a minute. Your sanctuaries.

[15:48] What is his sanctuaries? Well, listen, I know what we call this room, but I want to be clear about something. This is not a sanctuary in a scriptural sense. Because scripture tells us if you're a child of God, you are a temple of the Holy Spirit.

[16:05] That's in 1 Corinthians 6, 19. Because God dwells in us, we're sanctuaries in the Lord. And Satan prides himself on profaning us.

[16:17] The significance of this building is that the saints of God, that God lives within, come together for one purpose, and that's to uplift the name of Christ, where two or three or more are gathered in his name.

[16:32] There he is in the midst of it. But listen, we didn't come into this room to get in the presence of God. If you're a child of God, he came in with you. And so we have the opportunity to worship with him alone.

[16:45] We also have the opportunity to do corporately. Both of them are scriptural. Both of them are required by God. Now, but understand, let's take it a step further. If Christians are sanctuaries, temples of the Holy Spirit of God, what are those people housing that don't have Christ?

[17:07] The devil is having a way profaning his sanctuaries. And his effort is not aimed at us. It's aimed at Christ.

[17:19] I've told you that before, but I want you to get that. It's aimed at Christ. And if people can be hindered from coming to Christ, Satan wins a battle. If Christians are hindered from walking with Christ, Satan wins a battle.

[17:30] He's lost the war. Let's just make sure we win the battles. Because he'll war on us as long as he can. You need to understand where it began, the origin of Satan.

[17:45] You need to understand what in the world's going on now, the efforts of Satan. But I also want you to see where all this is going. And that's the ruin of Satan. Let's go back to Ezekiel 28 again.

[17:58] He prophesies of what's going to happen. He says, By the multitude of your iniquities and the unrighteousness of your trade, you profane your sanctuary. So I brought fire from out of your mist. It consumed you, and I turned you to the ashes on the earth inside of all who saw you.

[18:14] What this speaks of is the future demise of Satan as if it's already happened because friend is settled. Satan's already defeated, and he knows it.

[18:25] I want you to understand what's going on. I want you to think about something for a minute, okay? If your team is playing a sport, it's football season, so forgive my football illustrations, but I lean on them pretty heavy, okay?

[18:44] Your team is winning, and the losing team gets tired of losing, and they get angry about it. And they realize they're not going to win. There's no way they can come back.

[18:57] An old boy's been running on them all night, and they're tired of that. Some old boy's been hitting on them all night, and they're tired of that. And so that coach grabs some scrub by the shoulder and says, listen, you see that kid out there?

[19:08] Knock him out. Take him out now. Go in there and get him out of the game. Grab somebody else. Get him. Get him out of the game. That ain't the way you play the game.

[19:19] That's dirty, and it's wrong, and that's not the way you play the game. That's exactly what Satan's doing now. That's exactly what he's doing. He just wants to take you out.

[19:31] That's what he wants to do. Just not make, if you're a child of God, he wants to not make you productive for the Lord. And if you can just sit on the sideline for the rest of your life, he can't take your salvation, but you're not going to tell anybody else about it.

[19:49] You're not going to live it out before others. God's not going to use you to reach others. And so he's, he's one half his battle with you because he can't have his soul. So he'll just try his best to take your life and what it's for for the Lord.

[20:04] And if you're here this morning and there's never been a time when you've asked the Lord Jesus to forgive you of your sins, to come into your life and to change you and to save you, I want you to know all that hell don't want you to do it.

[20:17] And they'll fight you for everything they can because they want you so. They're not after you, they're after Christ. They want to make him look bad so if they can keep you from committing your life to Christ, Christian, if they can keep you from committing your life to Christ, then they've won the battle.

[20:32] And all they're doing is just sending dirty players out to just make a mess until the game's over. That's all, that's all they're doing. So it's not a game. This is what Jesus said.

[20:44] And I just hope and pray because as I was preaching this a little while ago, it just, it just all came to light while I was standing here. So I'm going to try to be a hold of myself. But John 10, 10 says this.

[20:55] I want you to listen to what Christ says. The thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I've come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.

[21:07] Killing, stealing and destroying is what Satan does. So what happens when difficulty comes and people start looting stores or what happens when they just walk in a store, a mass burglary in the middle of the day and just start yanking iPhones off the shelf and just taking them out and people just watching them do it, just taking what's not theirs and just do what they want to do.

[21:44] That's the evil ones what that is. That's the evil one. What about when people just want to burn something down or paint all over a monument or do whatever? Why in the world?

[21:55] What about their cause? It ain't got nothing to do with their cause. It's the evil one doing that mess. What about when there's a drive-by?

[22:06] What about when somebody takes a pop shot at somebody? A closet coward that shoots when nobody sees. What's that? That's the evil one.

[22:17] That's what he's doing. He wants to steal and kill and to destroy. We need to understand, folks, our battle's not against flesh and blood. It's the evil one.

[22:28] And he's raised his head and we've become so self-confident and so prideful that I believe I'm off script and it's dangerous.

[22:44] I believe God's lifting his hand on America. He's dropping his hedge of protection and let us live with what we live with. And there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

[22:58] Check that out in Kings. See how that went for him. Okay? I'm telling you the evil one is at work killing and stealing and destroying as much as he possibly can because he knows his demise is coming so let's just make a mess of it.

[23:16] This is also explained in the curses in the Garden of Eden. The ancient serpent as Revelation 12 calls him lied to Eve and Adam and Eve into sin and led Adam and Eve into sin and in that he was cursed and our present battle with the enemy was mentioned.

[23:34] In Genesis chapter 3 verse 15 it says I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. That is a prophecy of the carnage of the war that began when Satan was cast out of heaven and like so much of prophecy it's a two-fold prophecy.

[23:56] It speaks of the battles that began the day between humanity and Satan and it speaks of the conclusion of the war through the cross as well as through the events that are still to come.

[24:10] With this sin will come enmity between man and serpent. Enmity is a deep-seated ill will an ongoing battle of hatred is what that's talking about and that is talking about humans and serpents.

[24:27] Okay? To me that's the first meaning. I ate them. But much more importantly than that this speaks of the war of the offspring of woman and the evil one.

[24:42] Now I want to be clear about something. Satan has no offspring. He did not create the demons. He's not equal with God.

[24:53] He didn't create anything. They were angels remember and now they're fallen angels. We call them demons. They influence people into being sinners and then they became the children of the influence of the evil one.

[25:08] And Satan and his army work hard to draw us and to draw all as far away from God as possible. Satan is to use the term used here. He is biting at our heels and we too often are poisoned by it.

[25:23] Satan has way too much influence on our lives. He wins way too many battles in our lives but he knows and this may be why he wears us down so that he will not win the war.

[25:34] He knows that. He'll bruise us. He'll scar us. He'll wound us. He'll strike our heel. However, the passage is much bigger than that because it also speaks of messianic prophecy.

[25:45] It speaks of what Christ will do and it's kind of odd the way it says it here because when it says in between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring offspring, that word for offspring means seed.

[25:58] Literally in the Hebrew it is seed and normally in scripture offspring or literally seed speaks of a man.

[26:10] Abraham's offspring is often spoken of and it's his seed. That's the word that's used. The man provides the seed, the woman, the egg but here it says the seed of a woman.

[26:25] Why is that? This is a prophecy of the virgin born Christ. There was no seed of a man in the virgin born Christ.

[26:39] This is the first prophetic proclamation of the gospel is what this is. Satan's efforts are rough on us but it's not near as strong and rough as it was on Christ.

[26:53] He was hated by religious leaders. He was mocked by those that followed him days earlier. He was nearly beaten to death, hung in agony on a Roman cross that took his respect and his dignity and his life.

[27:05] It was a rough strike of the heel but I want you to understand something today. It was only a strike. It was not a defeat. His death was a strike but Paul tells us what's coming.

[27:22] Romans chapter 16 verse 20 says the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. I was recently told one of the most horrific things I've ever been told that if you chop a copperhead snake's head off that you need to bury it because it'll still bite you even with venom.

[27:42] If that don't keep you up at night I don't know what will but anyway. But you know what that reminds me of? It reminds me of Satan. He's running around like a chicken with his head cut off and the war's been won my friend.

[27:57] He's lost. Christ defeated Satan on the cross and through the resurrection and now he empowers the Christian. I told you last week James 4 and it stuck with me this week.

[28:09] James 4 7 resist him and he'll flee from you. Resist the evil one he'll flee from you. 1 Corinthians 10 13 tells us God will provide a way out. Every time you're tempted he'll provide a way out.

[28:22] And I want you to hear me this morning and I'll close. I want you to hang your hat on this as you leave. 1 John 4 4 Little children you're from God and have overcome them but he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

[28:39] Satan is mad Satan is manipulative Satan is mean but I want you to keep it all in perspective because he's just a sore loser.

[28:51] That's what he is. He's just a sore loser. He knows he's lost the war and so he wants to win the battles in your life. When I was growing up there was a an evangelist youth evangelist that rode around in a custom band named Billy Mayo.

[29:13] He's fighting rock and roll music with all he could. He's of the devil. They were breaking records you don't even know what that is. Anyway they're back but crushing cassette tapes telling all the stories about how they wrote these songs and how they were but he said a phrase that always stuck out in my mind and it's true.

[29:33] somebody's messing with your mind and you don't even know it. We're in a war that's already been won.

[29:51] The cross of Christ and the empty tomb signed the treaty. It's done. And he's still winning battles in our lives.

[30:02] Shame on us. May we live victorious for the Lord Jesus Christ because he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world.

[30:16] With every head bowed and every eye closed I ask you today have you ever given your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? I didn't ask you if you was a member of this church. I didn't ask if everybody thought you were saved.

[30:28] I didn't ask you any of that. I ask you have you ever given your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you ever said Lord I'm a sinner. I need salvation. Lord I want you to come into my life and change me.

[30:41] Empower me dear God. Give me victory in the midst of the battles in which I face. And if you've never done that I promise you today is the day of salvation. He'll meet you where you are and he'll change your life forever.

[30:52] We're going to stand in a moment and we're going to sing and if God's leading you you just obey him. Just do exactly what he tells you to do. Maybe you're here this morning and you have done that but you've never publicly acknowledged that at all and Jesus by his example and by his commission tells us we follow that with baptism.

[31:09] A public proclamation of what's already happened to us in our lives. If you've never been baptized I encourage you to come. Be obedient to God. It's a first step of obedience.

[31:19] You don't do that it'll hinder your walk with God. If you're wondering what's hindered you check your baptism. It makes a difference. I promise you. Maybe you're here and God's leading you to be part of this church.

[31:30] You've visited us. You feel like you're a part of us. You feel like God's leading you. I'd love to guide you in that process. Or maybe you just need to do business with God because I'm going to tell you something. We're in a battle folks.

[31:44] We need to give that battle over to the Lord and we need to make commitments before we leave this room that we'll keep when we leave this room. And you can do that where you'll stand. You can do that at this altar or you can do it with a pastor praying for you.

[31:56] You just obey God and do exactly what he'd have you to do. Lord Jesus I ask right now that your sweet spirit will lead us right now. Just simply be obedient to follow you and to walk out of here stronger and better than we were when we came in Father.

[32:10]  In Jesus precious name. Amen.