This post gives the chief names of Satan and explains them while it also provides many examples of his tactics in the lives of Christians and in the church.
Satan’s goal is to oppose God and to keep us from glorifying Him and enjoying Him forever.
James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
List of sermon points prior to mp3 sermon [all emboldening and underscoring and square brackets are mine]:
- God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble
- James takes the Devil’s existence for granted, he is not imaginary
- From Genesis 3 throughout the Bible, Satan is spoken of
- Christ refers to him as the “strong man”
- Paul, in Ephesians 2, calls Satan “the ruler of the power of the air,” who had dominion over the fallen angels
- Peter calls him a “Lion” because he has the power to destroy
- Satan is real, powerful and evil
- He rebelled against God after he was created; enlisted a band of angels to aid him in taking God’s place – they were cast from heaven
- God’s purpose, redemption of fallen mankind, the purpose Satan constantly opposes
- We are urged to resist him and to overcome him [by abiding in God’s word, through the power of God’s Spirit]
- THREE parts of sermon: The Foe; The Fight; The Flight
- The Foe: his titles: Devil = diablos = slanderer: four places in scripture wherein people were called “slanderer:” John 6:70, Judas; 1 Tim 3:11, deacons wives were admonished not to be slanderers; 2 Tim 3:3, to describe the godlessness of the last days; Titus 2:3, that the aged women be holy and not slanderers [Those whose besetting sin is slander, take heed that it is a chief characteristic of Satan]
- Satan: adversary = oppose = one who withstands: as in the book of Job; as in Zechariah with Joshua the high priest; as when Jesus called Peter “Satan” when he opposed the Lord and His mission here
- Serpent: as in Genesis 3:1; as in 2 Corinthians 11:3; as in Revelation 12:9: his ability to craftily dupe men to sin, to rebel against God
- Abaddon or Apollyon: = destruction or destroyer as in Revelation 9
- He is powerful and will stop at nothing to bring about our destruction; he wants to keep us from glorifying God and enjoying Him forever; the very reasons why we were saved, were given the church, the Bible, the gifts…
- God’s word is our guide book, manual for life: believing His word; obeying Him are necessary for glorifying Him
- The Devil’s aim is to have us dishonor God and not enjoy Him. He seeks to divert us from our purpose in this life
- The word of God is the only thing to direct us in how we might glorify and enjoy God
- Satan strives to promote darkness, doubts, and disobedience regarding God’s word, that we might be greatly hindered in the purpose of our lives – real Christianity
- If we are oblivious to that, then we are already duped
- 2 Corinthians 4:4 the god of this world has blinded people to keep them from seeing gospel truth
- Benefits of the gospel expounded; and why Satan hates it and opposes it so vehemently
- Satan’s tactics to promote doubt and disobedience: lying; adding to and misrepresenting God’s word to confuse and misdirect: examples and explanations to clarify these tactics
- Hard thoughts about God are from Satan: examples
- Deception and confusion taught via false teachers is of Satan: scriptures cited and examples given
- Not knowing the Bible gives Satan more influence over you
- “Hath God Said…”
- Antinomianism: since grace abounds, sin much, that more grace might come to you
- What should one obey if not God’s word?
- Another of Satan’s tactics: distracting / diverting us from the study of God’s word and prayer; these are the roots of our spiritual life; without them there will be no spiritual fruit: examples given
Study Recommendations:
This 19 part series on Overcoming the Devil is very difficult to find because he has so many sermons on overcoming something.
For those who might desire to listen to other parts of this series by Rev. John Wagner, the link below is to this sermon, from which you might advance to each subsequent sermon.
To hear more sermons in this series, do the following:
Next to his picture, there is a bar that reads: Series: Overcoming the Devil – 1 of 19 >
Use the arrow after ‘19’ to advance to next sermon and you will stay in this particular series.
https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=111911173720
All sermons are downloadable to your computer, from Sermonaudio.com