SATAN, OUR ENEMY I. INTRODUCTION- - Amazon S3

1 SATAN, OUR ENEMY . Mark 3:27 No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.. I. INTRODUCTION- a. If Satan attacked and tempted Jesus then Christians can be sure . that Satan will attack and tempt us. b. Before we were saved we did not know it but Satan was in control of our lives. c. We thought we were free we had no idea we were actually in bondage to Satan and to sin. d. Satan was the strong man who had control of our life. e. But when we turned from our sin and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ the stronger man Jesus set us free from our bondage to Satan and sin. f. Now as Christians we freely and gladly live our lives in submission to the Lordship of Christ. g. But just because Christians have been set free from Satan's control.

2 Does not mean that Satan is through with us. h. Satan hates God and he hates Christians while Satan cannot steal the true believer's salvation Satan will do everything he can to cause Christians to fail and fall. i. Here is a disturbing truth many Christians are unaware that they are the target of Satan who is determined to see them fail and fall as Christians. j. We have all heard it before but we need to hear it again in this world for all the joys and all the blessings of being a Christian of being a follower of Jesus Christ and there are many it is also true that the Christian life is not a playground it is a battleground. k. Today I want to put every Christian here on high spiritual alert. l. You are a target of the ultimate and the first terrorist Satan himself and you need to be aware of the weapons and strategies that Satan will use to try to get you to fail and fall.

3 M. And by the way if you are a Christian you can't hide from Satan no matter how insignificant you may consider yourself to be as a Christian Satan hates you and he is gunning for you. II. THE REALITY OF SATAN- a. A recent survey of Christians showed that only 35 percent of believers surveyed believed that Satan is a real being. b. The rest believe either that Satan is a symbol of evil or they do not know what to believe about the devil. c. Those Christians need to read and believe their Bible because the Bible makes it clear Satan is not a myth he is not a symbol of evil Satan is a real being. d. The Bible says that before Satan became Satan he was an archangel a good angel a holy angel a very important and very powerful angel created by God to serve Him and oversee His throne and his name was Lucifer. e.

4 But there came a time when Lucifer became filled with pride over his position and power. f. And he decided to lead an angelic rebellion against God he wanted to overthrow God and take His place. g. When his rebellion failed Lucifer and the angels that followed him were cast out of Heaven. h. That is when Lucifer became Satan and the angels who followed him became his demons. i. Since that time Satan and his demons have opposed God and all who follow Him. III. FACTS ABOUT SATAN- a. Let me give you some quick facts about Satan #1, Satan is supernatural but he is not divine Satan is not the evil opposite of God. b. Satan is powerful but he is limited in his power Satan is knowledgeable but he is not all knowing. c. Satan and his many demons can cover a lot of territory but unlike God Satan is not omnipresent he cannot be everywhere at once.

5 D. Satan is brilliant, deceitful and cunning but he is also a full-blown idiot because only an idiot could think that he could defeat God. e. Satan is also evil to the core. f. Listen to the verbs that the Bible uses to describe Satan's activities . the Bible says Satan beguiles, seduces, opposes, resists, deceives, sows terror, hinders, buffets, tempts, persecutes, blasphemes, destroys, steals and kills. g. The Bible uses no edifying words to describe Satan's activities . Satan is pure evil. h. #2, While Satan controls those who are lost and holds them in bondage he can only work in the life of the believer if we allow him to. i. Believers have been bought with a price we have been set free from Satan's bondage by the power of Christ we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. j. The only way Satan can work in the life of the believer is if we allow him to if we fail to be diligent in prayer if we fail to daily walk in the Spirit if we fail to daily put on the armor of God so that we can stand against the wiles, strategies and attacks of Satan.

6 K. #3, Satan's fate is certain and sealed when Jesus Christ came into the world Satan threw everything he had against the Son of God. l. He tried to kill the baby Jesus by destroying all the baby boys in Bethlehem He tried to keep Jesus from completely obeying the Father during the 40 days in the wilderness all through Jesus'. ministry He tried to destroy Jesus at the hands of His opponents He prompted Judas to betray Jesus into the hands of men who would execute Him under false charges of blaspheme and sedition He tried to get the Roman soldiers to murder Jesus by scourging when Satan finally realized what was happening on the cross through the mouths of evil men he tempted Jesus to come down from the cross before His saving work was finished and when Jesus died Satan tried to prevent His resurrection with a detachment of soldiers and a clay seal!

7 M. But Satan lost on the cross Jesus died for the sins of the world . on the cross Jesus defeated Satan, sin and death on the cross Jesus made it possible for men, women, boys and girls to be set free from Satan's bondage and sin's penalty and when Jesus arose from the dead Satan's fate was sealed. n. The Bible says that one day Satan will be cast in the Lake of Fire for all eternity. o. There is no drama between who will win between Satan or God . though battles are still being fought the war is over Satan will be destroyed. p. #4, Though Satan's fate is sealed he refuses to admit defeat he refuses to give up Satan still thinks he can defeat God. q. Satan is busier today than he has ever been he knows the time is drawing nearer for the end times and the final battle against God if Satan is going down he is going down swinging.

8 R. Today spiritual warfare is becoming more intense Satan is becoming bolder and more open and overt with his temptations and evil. s. Today Satan is more determined than ever to keep the lost, lost and he is more determined than ever to attack God's people. t. If you are a Christian you are on Satan's hit list. u. The Bible describes Satan as a serpent who is trying to deceive God's people a bird who is trying to rob God's harvest a wolf who is trying to defeat God's flock a lion who is trying to devour God's children and as a dragon who is trying to defeat God's Son and destroy God's church. IV. SATAN'S STRATEGIES- a. How does Satan attack Christians?.. #1, He will attack us overtly and openly Satan will attack you with open old fashioned temptation. b. He will tempt Christians to lie, cheat, steal to lust, commit adultery, to look at pornography to be angry, to gossip and hurt others.

9 C. As Satan meet Jesus in the wilderness and openly tempted Him to sin often Satan will meet the believer openly and tempt us to sin. d. And let me warn you of something that you already know Satan loves to ambush Christians with these open temptations he loves to bring these temptations into our life out of the blue. e. That is why it is important that believers begin each day with prayer, worship and reading the Bible which prepares us to meet and be ready for the temptations we will face that day. f. King David did not go up on the roof of his palace looking to be tempted but boom there it was and he was not ready. g. #2, Not only will Satan tempt us openly he will also tempt us deceitfully. h. Satan is an expert at leading Christians into sin and Christians don't even know it is happening. i. I recently read a devotion which imagined Satan addressing a worldwide convention of demons and promising them victory in the lives of believers if they will faithfully do the following twelve things.

10 J. Listen to these 12 things and see if they sound familiar #1, Keep believers overly busy with the nonessentials of life #2, Tempt them to overspend and go into debt #3, Make them work long hours to maintain empty lifestyles #4, Discourage them from spending time with their spouses and family #5, Overstimulate their minds with television and computers so that they can't hear God speaking to them #6, Fill their lives with I-Pads, I-Phones, books, newspapers, magazines, television, dvds and other stuff so they have no time for Bible reading #7, Flood their mailboxes with sweepstakes, promotions and get-rich-quick schemes; keep them chasing material things #8, Put glamorous models on TV and on magazine covers to keep them focused on outward appearances; that way they will be dissatisfied with themselves and their mates #9, Make sure couples are too exhausted to be together which will make it easier to tempt them to look elsewhere #10, Emphasize santa and the Easter bunny; that way you'll divert them from the real meaning of the holidays #11, Involve them in "good" causes so they won't have time for "eternal" ones #12, Make them self-sufficient Keep them so busy working in their own strength that they'll never know the joy of God's power working through them.