I love that song. That should be the cry of our heart. Oh, Lord, how long? We do not have stepping up with age five to nine. We still have the nurseries, of course, available if your child needs to go out. I think we have somebody watching the one nursery if your child would not stay in there. Then there's other places you can sit with your child back there as well if they are not willing to let you part. Sometimes kids are like that, aren't they? And so there are places back there to take them if you need to take them out. All right, last week we began talking about Satan, his origin and his work. And this week we want to do that again, continuing our series on Bible doctrine. Open your Bibles to the book of Job, if you would. That's where we'll get our first passage that we'll look at in just a moment as we talk about Satan. Before we read a couple of verses and have a word of prayer, just by way of introduction or review from last week, we looked at Satan in regards to how his origin, in that he was made by God. We've seen that from the Scriptures. And sometimes we have questions, well, why would God make the devil or make Satan? And we dealt with that question a little bit. Even though the devil is the way he is, that does not mean in any way that God approves of his sinful actions, for God is of purer eyes than to behold evil. And so the nature of God is not in question there. Satan is also a fallen angel. He is an angel who has fallen, and he took many of the angels with him. and looked at that. We've seen that Satan's fall in Isaiah 14, that he had lifted himself up in pride in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, and he wants to be God. And he wants to be like the Most High. That is his desire. And then we also looked at the fact that the work of Satan and that he is the one that introduced sin into the human family. And we've seen that Satan possesses and controls the world that is opposed to God. But at the same time, God has him on a long leash. And so we talked about that. The next thing we're going to talk about in just a moment, we're going to begin with our next thought. in regards to Satan. We'll take that from Job chapter 1. And we'll just start with a reading of verse 6 and then we'll have a word of prayer. Our first thought we want to have this morning in regards to Satan is how he accuses God's people. Satan accuses God's people. We see this in the book of Job where he comes before the Lord and wants to accuse Job before the Lord. And Job 1.6 says, Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, From where do you come? In today's language we may say, Hey, where you been, Satan? The Lord, of course, knows where he's been. But if you're familiar at all with the account of Job, We find Satan is accusing Job before the Lord. But notice, first of all, if you would, that God is the one that brings up Job. And the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? And knowing, of course, what Satan is going to do. But Satan is very busy in accusing the people of God. And we don't want to be like that. That's one of the things we're going to learn that we need to be applying to our life when we look at the work of Satan. is don't be like that. Don't be like the devil. And anyhow, let's go, Lord, in a word of prayer. Father in heaven, help us as we look at some of these sayings regarding Satan. Help us, Lord, to not be ignorant of his devices and not fall prey to the traps that he sets and not be used of him in any way or be his mouthpiece in any way. Help us, Lord, not to be guilty of the things that He's guilty of, and help us, Lord, to stand in opposition against Him by the Word of God and through faith. Help us, Lord, to not yield to temptation, and help us not to be tempting unto others. Help us, Father, not to be an accuser of the brethren, but help us, Lord, to be an uplifter of the brethren. Help us, Father, to do the very opposite of what He does, to not be a lie-teller, but to be a truth-teller, to not hinder the work of God, but to prosper the work of God. Help us, Father, I pray, to be Your servants and help us not to live in any type of sway unto the evil one. Help us, Lord, as we consider Him today. May it be a benefit and a blessing to Your people that we might truly serve You, our Lord, and our God. In Jesus' name we do pray. And amen. All right, Satan, he accuses God's people. The word devil actually means accuser or slanderer. And so if somebody says you're being a devil, that means you're being an accuser, being a slanderer. That's what he is. Maybe people didn't even realize that's what that word meant. And so when God's people get involved in slander of the saints, they are doing the devil's bidding. That's something we need to realize as God's people, that if we get caught up in slandering the saints of the Lord, then we are doing exactly what the devil would have us to do. He'd lust for us to do that. And so we've got to be careful that we do not do what he would want us to do. Now the Bible says, Paul says this, to not be ignorant of his devices. Speaking of Satan, one of his devices is to try to stir up things among the people of God and to try to get us to slander one another. Satan is seen here in Job as accusing Job before Satan, or before the Lord. In verse 9, Satan answered the Lord and said, Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now stretch out your hand, and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse you to your face. And the Lord said to Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your power. Satan couldn't do it until God gave him that power. But God gives him that power. But He says, only do not lay a hand on his person. So at first, Satan had some liberty there to hurt Job in any way he wanted, but he couldn't touch Job himself personally. If you're familiar with the story of Job at all, Satan really lays it to him and takes away basically everything that he has, and he still doesn't deny God. Satan goes and accuses Job again before the Lord, and then the Lord gave him liberty to actually touch the life of Job, but he could not kill him, and then Job becomes very ill himself. But all that happened to Job, he says this, the Lord gives us and the Lord takes away. And so Job knew that the Lord was still in charge, and we need to realize that too. God does have Satan on a long leash, and listen, he cannot do anything against us without God's permission. But know this, that Satan is an accuser of the people of God. In Revelation chapter 12, we see this in regards to Satan. We're getting close to the end here. We see a description of Satan. Now isn't it true that those who are not saved, maybe you have experienced this from those who are not saved, who do not know the Lord. Maybe you've seen this, that the unbelievers They kind of want Christians to mess up because it somewhat makes them feel better about themselves whenever we do things we shouldn't do and gives them occasion, if you would, to slander. That's what Satan wants us to do. He wants us to mess up, of course. And unbelievers rejoice when followers of Christ sin. As I said, it gives them occasion against them and in their mind against their God. You know, when David sinned with Bathsheba and Uriah, he was told by the prophet Nathan that he gave great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. Satan's always busy, isn't he? Trying to get us to sin and then, of course, accusing us before others and the Lord. But in Revelation 12 and verse 9 it says, 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. 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 accuse him before our God day and night has been cast down. I believe that is the future going to happen, and one day he will be completely cast down. I like this quote by John Robinson. He says this, Satan sometimes slanders God to men as to Eve, sometimes men to God as Job, and continually man to man. You know, Satan loves for us to accuse one another, and so we've got to be careful about that. Whenever we have even faults that we see in one another, we've got to be careful how we handle that. We should pray for one another, encourage one another, and sometimes we have to rebuke one another. But we must be careful about gossip and slander. because we would definitely be doing the bidding of Satan. It's very easy for us to highlight the sins of others while denying the sins of our own. It's very easy for us to discourage one another, to discourage togetherness, to discourage fellowship and unity through slander. And Satan would love for any of us to be like that. Also like what Satan said here, he said, Satan always hates Christian fellowship. It is his policy to keep Christians apart. Anything which can divide saints from one another, he delights in. He attaches far more importance to godly intercourse than we do. Since union is strength, he does his best to promote separation. You know, Satan is a divider, a great divider among the people of God. He wants to divide us so we will not be in unity and in strength. And so I agree with what he said. You know, Satan is a busy person. He accuses God's people. He's always testing, he's hindering, resisting, buffeting, whatever you might say, the people of God. In Luke chapter 22, we're probably very familiar with this, but here we find that Peter himself is, if you would, being used of the devil. Now I do not believe at all that Christians who are born again of the Spirit of God, that they can be demon-possessed. but they can be demon-influenced, and they can be devil-influenced, and they can, not careful, be speaking the devil's words. So we've got to be careful of that. And we've seen this here with Peter in Luke 22 and verse 31, and the Lord said, Simon, Simon, indeed Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat, But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail. And when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren." Remember, Peter earlier had tried to tell Jesus that He should not go to the cross, and no doubt Satan heard those words, didn't he? Satan heard those words. Remember, Jesus looked around at Peter and said, Get behind Me, Satan. But Jesus here gives a warning to Peter in that Satan had desired to sift him as wheat, but He says, but I have prayed for you. Now the desire of Satan is no doubt to kill and to destroy. Peter is the one that tells us later in 1 Peter that Satan walks about as a roaring lion, doing what? Seeking whom he may devour. He loves to destroy. So we see His desire here as well toward Peter. But I'm thankful that Jesus said, but I have prayed for you. And so while I know that's Satan's desire, I also know this, that I have a high priest who prays for me. So I'm not afraid that Satan's going to ultimately destroy me and take my soul to hell or anything like that. I know I'm secure in Christ. I realize that. But I do know this, that even as a believer in Christ, that if I'm not careful, that I can speak the devil's words. and be used of him to hinder and to resist and even hurt the people of God. Of course, I would be sinning and the Lord would need to chasten me, but I'm certain of this, that ultimately I cannot be destroyed and my soul cannot ever be separated from God because of Christ. But Satan is continually testing, hindering, and resisting the people of God. Paul at one point said that he desired to go to Thessalonica, but then he says this, but Satan had hindered him in 1 Thessalonians 2.18. And so he's acknowledging that Satan was against the ministry and his desire to go there at that point. In 2 Corinthians 12, 7, Paul said that a messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him. And that buffet literally means to rap or to beat with the fists, and so he literally felt spiritually beat up by the messenger of Satan. And we can feel like that, can't we? You ever feel like as a child of God, like you're in a spiritual battle? You should feel like you're in a spiritual battle. But you ever feel like you've just gotten beat up spiritually? It's like you don't even know what happens sometimes? I mean, we are in a spiritual warfare. And we can get spiritually exhausted fighting against our sin, fighting against the sin of the world, fighting against temptation. Because Satan is always busy hindering the people of God. George Whitefield said this, he said, We must expect to be tempted by Satan in some degree or another all of our lives, because this life is a continual warfare. We must never expect to have rest from our spiritual adversary, the devil, or to be able to say our combat with him is finished. Our fight with the evil one will continue until we bow our heads and our spirit is removed from our body and is brought into the presence of our dear and precious Savior Jesus Christ. Folks, sometimes I wonder how much of a battle we are in. We are in spiritual warfare, therefore we must take on all of the armor of God. Satan is going to oppose us. as we serve the Lord. And if you're not experiencing the opposing power of Satan in your life, you have to question if you're doing the work of God. I mean, if we think serving the Lord, but if we just choose to serve the Lord, it's all going to be smooth. Folks, that's not how it works. When you choose to serve the Lord with your life, you are inviting a fight from the devil. Because he's going to oppose that. He's going to be against that. I get amazed sometimes. I've seen this enough in the ministry that a church decides to do something for the Lord to spread the gospel ministry, and as soon as some opposition comes, we're like, well, maybe the Lord doesn't want us to do that. Maybe the devil doesn't want us to do that. Maybe that's it. Serving the Lord isn't an easy cakewalk. There's a fight, there's a battle, spiritual warfare. He's against the ministry. He opposes the work of God. And through Christ, of course, we can overcome, but there's going to be opposition. Our next thought is that Satan seeks to oppose and hinder the work of God. And he does this in so many ways. I've changed the font, you might tell a little bit. I hope it's a little better than it has been. But now the Scriptures in red are the ones we'll actually turn to. So I forgot to tell you that. I'm going to turn to Matthew 13. Can you see it a little better today than what you have been able to see it? Yes. Maybe. All right. All right. There we go. Thank you. Appreciate that. Matthew 13, verse 39, this is the interpretation here of Christ in regards to the parable of the tares and the wheat. And Jesus says this in verse 39, He says, The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. But what does He interpret? He's interpreting verse 36 through 39, And He's teaching us here that the devil here is the one who has sowed the bad seed. In verse 36, Jesus teaches the parable of the tares of the field, and He said to them, He who sows a good seed is the Son of man, the field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. And then he says, the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The enemy sows the bad seed. He sows the tares among the wheat. And the illustration is this, when you look back in verse 24 and read about the parable, they see the tares among the wheat and they say, Lord, do you want us to pluck these up, the tares? He says, no, because you're going to end up tearing up the wheat also. Why? Because they look so much the same. Satan loves to confuse things. that which is evil of him to mingle with what is good in such a way to where you cannot discern good and evil." But even more so, I heard this quote, I don't know where it originated from, but spiritual discernment, I seen this one time not too long ago, it says spiritual discernment is not just discerning evil and good, it's discerning good and almost good, or what appears to be good. It was something like that. Listen, Satan is very good at looking good. He uses religious camouflage as part of his tactic. As part of his tactic to oppose and hinder the work of God. And we see that in this parable of the tares and the wheat. The devil is good at deceit. And we have to remember that. In 2 Corinthians 11, if you want to turn there, I said this last week, but we have this image and come from various means, cartoons for one where it shows the devil all red and horns on his head and a pitchfork. I mean, the devil, he just looks like one bad guy. I mean, looking at the devil, you are convinced he's evil. Well, when you read the description in Isaiah or in Ezekiel, you find out he doesn't look like that. He was beautiful. I believe He's the most beautiful angel that God ever created. And so, definitely maybe the horns and a pitchfork maybe describe His nature, but they are not describing His appearance. He loves to appear righteous. He loves to appear as light. In 2 Corinthians chapter 11, And verse 13, it says, For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. These guys are all the time calling themselves apostles, and you're like, where's the Word of God at in their message? I'm kind of missing it here. And no wonder, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. We have assumed that everything that's associated with light must be of God. I mean, I always want to make sure that whenever I hear these testimonies of people who have died and were going toward the light, and then they come back, but then that person has a message that is contrary to the Word of God. Well, it must be true because when they died, they were going toward the light. Listen, if they were truly going toward the light, the Lord Jesus Christ, and God did bring them back, the message they come back with isn't going to be one that's in opposition to the light of God's Word. Satan is very, very deceitful. Loves religious camouflage. I mean, he at one point in time is going to set himself up in a temple in Jerusalem pretending to be God. That's how deceitful he is. We won't turn to 2 Thessalonians, but turn to Mark 4. We're just focusing here on his desire to oppose and hinder the work of God. I know this, every time I preach on the devil, you kind of feel the tension sometimes. He doesn't like that. He's not going to like this message. I don't care. He's not going to like that. He's going to oppose that. He's going to want you to not believe what the Word of God teaches about him. He's going to want you to forget about this message as soon as you go out. In Mark 4 and verse 15, here Jesus is explaining the parable of the sower And in verse 15 he says, And these are the ones, the seeds sown by the wayside, where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. That's part of the work of Satan. He wants to snatch up the Word of God. He wants to take it away from us. He wants to take it away from you. When you're sitting here and preaching the Word of God, he wants you distracted. He wants you thinking about something else. He wants you wishing you were somewhere else. And if that doesn't work when you leave, he wants you to not think about what you heard. He wants to snatch it away. I think you do yourself a great disfavor spiritually speaking whenever you leave the house of God, you've heard the Word of God, and immediately as soon as you get in your car, you're turning on the radio, or you're turning on secular music and all of that. I think it hurts you spiritually. I think you're better off just to leave here and keep it on your mind, keep it on your heart, meditate upon it, muse it in your brain, roll it around, let it germinate, think about it, pray about it, It's so easy when we leave here from the house of God just immediately to dismiss it and say, oh, that was a good service. And we go out, might as well say, hey, that was a good preaching. We go out and it's like it's gone. It's like it's snatched away. That's exactly what He wants you to do. He wants you to quickly forget what you just heard. In that parable, Satan is planting bad seeds among the good for the purpose of infiltration and confusion so that the people of God cannot tell the difference between followers of Christ and followers of Satan. Because the disciples themselves were like, do you want us to tear up the tares with the wheat or tear up the tares? He says, no, you cannot tell the difference. Satan wants us to come to a place in his fight against the kingdom of God to where we cannot even tell a difference between followers of Jesus and followers of Satan. He wants those lines so blurred that we cannot differentiate. That's his mission, that's his job, and that's the way he hinders the work of the Lord as he likes to plant those bad seeds in the kingdom of God. And that's what he does in Matthew. In Mark chapter 4, in that parable, he is seen as seeking to keep the Word of God from staying where it was sown. He wants us to quickly be distracted, to dismiss it, to not let it soak in so that it does not bear fruit. So in all reality, Satan, everything he's doing is to fight against the work of the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we need to involve ourselves in the ministry of the Word of God and of the gospel, because that's what he's fighting against. He's fighting against the good seed. He wants to plant bad seed among the good seed, or He wants to take the good seed out. He's against the Word of God. You want to be in a battle against Satan? Get this Word out there as much as possible. Get it in you and get it out there as much as possible. That's how we do that battle. Taking up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. That's how we do battle. You cannot battle Him on your own in your own strength, but you can take on the whole armor of God and take up the sword of the Word. The Word of God is Satan's greatest enemy. The Word of God is what Jesus quoted whenever He was tempted by Satan. We see Satan as so busy today, the lines between what is Christ and what is not has become more and more confusing. Years ago, things were more black and white, and now it seems like there's more gray than there is black and white. People are indecisive and can't seem to tell from right and wrong. And those lines are getting more blurred and more blurred, I think, as we come to the coming of the Lord. Where evil is called good and good is called evil. It's like we don't even know anymore. And this is Satan's doing. He has moved in among God's people and they can't even identify him. Remember even to the one church there in Revelation, he says, Satan is sitting among you. This is Satan's most dangerous method. is never sitting among us and we don't even realize it. I like what John MacArthur said about this. He said, Satan is most effective in the church when he comes not as an open enemy, but as a false friend. Not when he persecutes the church, but when he joins it. Not when he attacks the pulpit, but when he stands in it. I believe that is so true. Alright, let's further this message here. The sixth way that Satan works is he tempts and snares and leads men into evil. A little bit like the last one, but just a little more clarity here. In Acts 5 and verse 3, we find here that whenever Ananias and Sapphira lie here to Peter, Peter answers him in verse 3, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? You know, Satan will lead us into sin. In 1 Chronicles 21, it says, Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel. Satan provokes to sin. He provokes us, He provokes leadership to sin. Satan loves to lead leadership into sin. It was Satan who came to Eve. It was Him who came to Christ in the wilderness to tempt Him. The Word of God says that the devil put it in the heart of Judas to betray Christ in John 13 too. He's a great deceiver and loves for us to sin. He likes to hide sin in regards to the effects of sin. He wants to lie about sin, how bad it is. Satan tempts people to sin by telling them lies in regard, one, to what is sin. As we just mentioned, evil is good and good is evil. He wants to tell lies so you don't even call things sin anymore. And now we're calling things, sometimes sin, that is not even sin. We get so messed up. He wants to lie to what is sin. He lies to the effects of sin. He wants you to believe that sin won't have any terrible consequences. He lies by encouraging yourself to justify your sin, giving you good excuses on why you can sin or should sin. For every sin, Satan is ready to provide an excuse. He is full of lies in regard to sin. Making people believe that the pleasure of sin will be worth it. That's the lie he wants you to believe. He wants you to believe those moments of pleasure are going to be worth it, that I'll be glad that I did it, that there won't be any effects, or I won't get caught. He wants you to believe all of those lies, because that's how He gets you to sin. John Collins said this, he said, the devil has three ways by which he makes men seek after him. First, commonly, he covers holiness with other names. Secondly, He persuades men that sins are but little. Thirdly, that they may be repented of hereafter. He does that too, doesn't He? Well, you know what, I'll do it, but I'll turn from that later. I'll enjoy it right now, but boy, I'll get right with God later. That's dangerous ground you're walking on right there. Satan loves to get you to sin. And so whenever you tempt others to sin, or whenever you're involved in sin, listen, he is the one that you are seeking after at that moment. I read this somewhere, I guess it was from Spurgeon. Do not give fair names to foul sins. I like that. And we've done that. That's one of the ways that Satan has deceived us into sin, is he likes to give pleasant names to sin. We've changed the names of sin. Gay used to mean happy. When the kids were little, Will, he's not here today, so I can pick on him. Will, I know you're probably listening online, but he loved Barney the Dinosaur. And had a song in there about being gay, about being happy. You can't even, that's all messed up. Can't even use it. We have old songs that I love to sing that had the word gay in them. And we've done it with so many things. Now it's not drunkenness anymore. It's a disease, folks. People can't help it. It's alcoholism. We've made things a disease that are sin. Spurgeon also said, speaking of sin, call them what you will, they will smell no sweeter. And that is true. I read something one time, you know, a rose would not smell as good if it was called a skunk cabbage. And that is true. Now here's something I need you to know this morning, that if you're hearing lost, you need to understand this. Satan is very much against you. He wants you to ignore the message, ignore the gospel, to go on like life is normal, everything's going to be okay, and then it's all going to be alright. He wants you to be filled with excuses for yourself, for your lost condition. And let me tell you what, you believe that lie, let me tell you what, you are blinded right now by Satan. You are blinded. If you think everything's okay with you and you've yet to repent of your sins and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, you are literally blinded by Satan. In Acts chapter 26 and verse 18, Paul is given an account of what Jesus said to him when the Lord arrested him on the road to Damascus. and changed his life. And here was the mission of Paul through the gospel in verse 18 of Acts 26, to open the eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins." Satan does not want you to have that forgiveness of sins. "...and inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me." Paul's ministry was going to be preaching the gospel so that people would be rescued from the power of Satan. In 2 Corinthians 4, we're told that Satan has blinded the minds of them which believed not. One of the greatest lies that Satan tells lost people is that there's plenty of time. Or, hey, I'm pretty good. Or, I'm better than the other guys, so that makes me okay. He will tell you whatever lies it is that you will believe so that you will remain in your sin and blinded to the gospel of Jesus Christ. But praise be to God this morning. I am thankful for this. That the rest of the story is that God can command the light to shine. I'm thankful for that. But at the same time, you need to know that where you're at as a lost person is you are underneath the dominion of Satan, blinded by his power to your sin and to Jesus Christ. You are blinded by that. And I'm thankful that yes, God can make the light shine right now and open the eyes of the blind to see their true condition and to see Jesus Christ. But know this, your current condition is that you are underneath the power and sway of the evil one. In 2 Timothy chapter 2, 2 Timothy 2, we'll move along here. Speaking of the work of Timothy there, And the servant of the Lord, I think speaking specifically to Timothy, the young preacher, he says in 2 Timothy 2 verse 24, he says this, And the servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility, correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. I mean, that's my ministry. I must not quarrel, but I must be gentle, I must be able to teach, patient, humility, but at the same time correcting those who are in opposition. Hoping that God would give you repentance so that you might know the truth, so that you no longer will be underneath the snare of the devil. Snare means he's trapped. You're in his hold. If you're here and lost this morning, you are at the snare of the devil. And so by the grace of God, I plead with you in humility to repent of your sins and to believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The devil is vicious. He's a murderer. He's a hater. He's a destroyer. He's a deceiver. And that's whose side you are on, and that's who you are blinded by. It's interesting, he is all of that, yet we are encouraged to fight him, how? With gentleness. Not with lies, but with truth. With patience and meekness. It's interesting, isn't it? Because the devil comes with all of that bad, and we fight him with all that is good. I am confident of this. I know that God, through His Word, patiently taught, and by His Spirit, can command the light to shine in your darkened heart this morning. I cannot change the heart, but I know that God, through His Word, can command the light to shine. Now I'm going to skip the next thought and go to the end here. The next thought was that he has ability to cause sickness and death. God's given him that. Luke 13, 16, Jesus talks about the woman who had been in bondage to the devil and sickness. God has given him some power there in Acts 10, 38 and Hebrews 2, 14. We know ultimately God's in charge, but God has also given him ability to cause sickness and even death. Isn't that what we see in Job? Sickness and death. And so, he still has that. But I want to get to the end here, because this is the best part, okay? The destiny of Satan. Now, first of all, let me say this. Satan is not now in hell. Hell is not a place where Satan reigns. Hell is not a place where Satan is in charge. Satan is not now in hell. He will be bound, first of all, during the millennium. I believe the millennium is a literal thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ. I do not believe, as many would believe today, among Christians believe that Satan is currently bound. If he's bound, he is doing an awful lot of harm. if he's bound right now. I do not believe that Satan is bound at all right now, only to a certain extent where he can't bring death and those kind of things unless God permits him. He's very much moving around. Peter said he's walking about as a roaring lion, seeking him he may devour. Either he is walking about, seeking him he may devour, or he is bound right now. I believe he's very much walking about. Let's read this in Revelation 20 verse 1 through 10, and then we'll almost be done. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who was the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up. Folks, that's not where he's at. He's not shut up right now. and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more." Are the nations not being deceived right now? Yes, they are. So, we are not in this thousand years. This thousand years is not symbolic. Guess what? It's a thousand years. So, he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished, but after these things, he must be released for a little while. During that thousand years when Christ is going to reign from Jerusalem, I mean, it's going to be good on earth. People are going to really see how good it can be when Jesus Christ is literally ruling and reigning from Jerusalem. Satan's going to be loosed. And I saw thrones, and sat on them, and judgment was coming to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus, and for the word of God, who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until a thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. Now when a thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison, and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth. Gog and Magog together them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are. and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." Listen, some people have a concept that the devil is trying to get you down to hell so that he can inflict pain on you or something. That's not the case at all. Oftentimes people talk about the devil's hell. The only way we can call it the devil's hell is in the sense that that's where his home and final abode is going to be. Hell is not something that the devil made. It is something that God made for the judgment of the devil and his angels and all those who reject the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's God's hell. It's God's punishment. It's God's wrath. But Satan's final abode will be in the lake of fire. I think sometimes we give the devil not enough credit. and that he is very actively deceiving and working. He's very much moving. We forget the spiritual work that he's doing and the principalities and powers at work and all manners of forces. Sometimes we give him too much credit and blame him for things we did. Well, the devil made me do it, you know. We don't take responsibility. We sometimes give him too much power by acting like he cannot be overcome, And yet He has been overcome by the cross of Calvary and the grave where Jesus rose victoriously, and we can resist Him by the strength of the Lord and in the power of His Word. For greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. Sometimes we give Him too much preeminence in hell, as we said, by calling the devil's hell, when in reality hell is God's place of judgment for the devil and all his angels and the followers. I look forward to the day when Satan, and all the evil He has brought into this life will be banished forever. Folks, I understand there's a lot of questions of why did God even make the devil, and why did He allow man to go into sin? We can have a lot of questions. But I know this for certain, when God made everything, when it was all done, He said it was good. And the devil was still able to bring sin into that. And though we have a lot of questions in between, at the very end, Let me tell you what, everything's going to be better than good. It's going to be better than very good. It's going to be gooder than very good. I know that's not proper English. I know I don't always catch my English, okay, but I got that one, okay? But it's going to be wonderful and glorious. And God has worked it all out. Though we don't understand the devil sometimes, and what God has allowed in our life, or other people's life, or why these evil things still happen, and God could stop it if He wanted to. Yes, and He's going to eventually, in His own timetable. And at the very end, God's going to clean it all up. All's going to be very, very, very good and great. for all eternity, and we read in the Word of God that nothing, nothing ever shall ever defile that place. Satan will forever be bound. Sin will never end. No more death. No more sorrow. No more crying. In the end, the devil loses. In the end, righteousness reigns. I'm looking forward to that. I hope you're on the right side this morning. I hope you know Jesus Christ who conquered death, hell, and the grave. That you put your faith and trust in Him. Because I assure you that if you're following after the devil today, still blinded by him, and you die in your sin, you lose for all eternity. And I don't want that for anybody here. But I rejoice in that in the end, as a child of God, We win. We win the battle. They get hard. They get tough. Sometimes we fall down. We get back up. We get beat up. We get buffeted with the fists of Satan and spiritual warfare. We mess up, but we get back up. We continue in the fight, but we're secure through the blood of Jesus Christ, the work of Christ on the cross. In the end, we win. We win. Amen? Amen. Father in heaven, I pray that you'd use this message for your honor and for your glory. Help us not to be, Lord, led away by the tactics of Satan and his devices. Help us not to be ignorant of his devices, but help us to be people of the Word of God. and to take up the Word of God, which is the sword of the Spirit. Help us to fight against the evil one. Help us to encourage one another. Help us to not hinder the work of the gospel, but to be in the work of the gospel. Help us, Lord, to fight, knowing that we are victorious in Christ, for we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us, and greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. And help us to be reminded of Satan's final end. As we look today, we see the deception of the nations and the deception that people are in, calling good bad and bad good. We see that great deception, but in the end all will be clear and all will be made known who you are, what is truth, what is righteousness, and Satan will be gone forever, and we praise you for that. Though we have questions today, we praise you for the truth of the Word and what shall come to pass, even so come. Lord Jesus, I'm tired of the death, the destruction, the devouring, the deceit. And I long for the coming of the true one. I long for him who is full of grace and truth to come. And we pray even so come Lord Jesus. But I pray as well for those that are lost here today. open their eyes that they may see the glorious gospel of Christ who died on the cross for sinners, was buried and rose again. Work in their hearts repentance and draw them to yourself. and give them that eternal life and put them on that path of service to You, their God and King. Help us, Lord, I pray, to serve You today, knowing by faith in the end we win because of Jesus, one for us. In His name we pray, and amen.