The Conquest of Satan – Part 2

 

John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own

resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

Continuing from the last post, Pastor Kennedy continued his study on the conquest of the devil, he asks: “What does Satan do?  Basically, three things. (1) He is a tempter. He tempts us. He tempted our first parents. Matthew 4:3 tells us: Now when the tempter came to Him (Jesus), he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” How did he tempt them? (2) With alluring lies, for he is a liar and the father of it. No impersonal force or principle can lie. Satan is a tempter and a liar. The first words out of the mouth of Lucifer, the fallen angel Satan, were to cast doubt upon the Word of God. That is the first lie of the devil. His second lie was: “You will not surely die” if you disobey God. So when Adam and Eve believed him, they sinned and fell, plunging the human race into all of the misery and death we have known. If we sin, we shall die.

Revelation 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.”

Thirdly, Satan is not only a tempter and a liar, he is also an accuser. His name, diabolos, the devil, comes from two Greek words – dia, which mean “through”, and bolas, which means “to cast”, as one casts a javelin. He is the accuser of the brethren. He not only accuses us to God, but he tempts us to accuse one another. Whenever we find Christians engaging in accusing their brothers and sisters in Christ, they should be keenly aware that they are doing the devil’s work for him.

Ephesians 6:10-13 “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

There are three things we should not do. First, we should not deny his existence. If we do, we open ourselves to his onslaught. We are not going to put on the full armor of God to protect ourselves from the fiery darts of a myth. Only if we believe Satan exists are we going to prepare ourselves to be protected from him. We should not deny his reality. Secondly, we should not fear him. Satan has “left his stinger” in Christ and those who are His and are in Him cannot be hurt by Satan. God, in speaking of Christ to the serpent in the Garden of Eden, said in Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” We should recognize the devil for who he is: finite, fallen, and finished by Christ.

James 4:7 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Finally, we should recognize and resist him. When you are tempted, whether it be the lust of the flesh or the eyes, whether it be jealousy or hostility, whether it be pride or greed, suddenly you find that it has become a great problem. You know either Satan or one of his minions is near. We have no ability on our own to resist those temptations. Pastor Kennedy says that at that time remember Him who is closer still, even our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives within us. Remember that He who dwells within us is greater than he who is in the world. Therefore, resist him and overcome him. How do we do that? We do it by the power of His blood, by our testimony and by the cross, where Satan was defeated. It is only in the blood of Christ and by the power of Christ that we overcome him. In that glorious name, you will discover that this being will depart. Just that simple.

Dear friend, Christ came to destroy Satan’s works and his person., and He gives us the power of His Cross, His armor, His Word, His blood, and our testimony to those things by which we can resist the devil. Great is this power. It is the conquest of Satan. Use it!

In Christ, Brian