As Jerry was praying, I was thinking of the purpose of our church is to glorify God. That's why we are here, to glorify God. That's why Satan hates Meadow Creek and churches like Meadow Creek, because we exist to glorify God. Well, Jesus makes constant reference to Satan, to the devil, in John 8. If you'd please open your Bibles to John 8, as we continue walking through the text. Verse by verse. So if Jesus thought the devil was a real person, that's the first obvious thing that we all need to remember is that the devil is real. He's not. I remember growing up and there was a time when every was in the 70s, but every Christmas there would be this Santa Claus movie and I don't know if any of y'all saw this, but there was also this devil character. He had these. hooves in his long tail and. Well, I thought that's what the devil was, but that's not the devil. The devil is a real person, but we're going to talk about this morning who he is. Who is the devil? What is the devil? What does he have to do with us with each one of you? What authority does he have? Well, Jesus had no illusions about who the devil was. He created the devil. He knew that the devil was his enemy. that his enemy had some influence on the earth, but he knew exactly what those limits were. Our understanding of Satan becomes more clear as we understand what Jesus says about him. Job 1 comes into clear context when we hear Jesus talking about Satan in John 8. So we're going to spend some time talking about the devil as Jesus does as well. This is John 8, beginning in verse 39. Would you all please stand in honor of the reading of God's holy and inspired word? John 8, 39. They answered him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you'd be doing the works Abraham did. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You were doing the works your father did. They said to him, we were not born of sexual immorality. We have one father, even God. Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me. For I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father, the devil. Your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not of God. Amen, please be seated. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank you that you have given us your scriptures. You've inspired each word. And each word of All of the texts of scripture is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Lord, you've given us exactly what we need to know about the devil, to know about this great conflict that we are in, and to know how to fight in light of the gospel, in light of Jesus Christ who created him. Lord, we pray that You would open this text to our eyes. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our rock and our Redeemer. Amen. Well, ever since the devil rebelled against God, there's been a cosmic war going on in the spiritual realm. And it affects us. It's a war that we are brought into, we're involved in. But there's a difference. In this war, we have assurance of victory. And we know the devil's strategy. We know how he fights. And we know how we are to fight. We don't fight this battle with swords and guns. We'll see that we fight with spiritual warfare, which is prayer, the Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the proclamation of the Gospel, obedience to God's commands. A love for God and a love for others. We're told that our great adversary is the devil. He's a powerful enemy. We will sing later in Martin Luther's great hymn. Still our ancient foe does seek to work us woe. His craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate. On earth is not his equal. This is biblical truth, and yet, the rest of the hymn talks about his great defeat. in light of Christ. He is already defeated. That's what we can remember when we think of the devil and his work on the earth. He's defeated and his home is in hell. Not now, but it will eventually be his permanent home. When Jesus came to the earth, he came as the devil's creator. So think of that. He condescended to allow Satan to tempt him as the creator. For our good, He allowed Satan to tempt Him. He met the devil on this battlefield to show us how we also are to fight. And we've mentioned before that throughout all of the Old Testament, you rarely see mention of the devil or demons. But when Jesus comes, all of a sudden demons come out of the woodwork. Why? Their enemy is here. Jesus is on the earth. So we see demons throughout the Gospels. And the devil himself in the Gospels. The devil hates Jesus. He hates those who serve Christ. And again and again and again, we see Jesus establishing absolute authority over the devil. So all that to say, when Jesus speaks to these people who hate Him of their father the devil, it's not something that we need to be terrified about. It's not something that we need to be worried about. Maybe if you were like me, you grew up thinking that you had to be nervous about the devil. You had to be very concerned about him because he could get you. Well, it's just a misunderstanding. Do you not know that the Holy Spirit of God lives in you? Saints of God, you have nothing to fear from the devil. Just as Job, you can say. In every circumstance, Holy God, I worship you. Well, we're going to talk about the devil first, about who he is. Secondly, what his character is, what his desires are. And thirdly, those who have the devil as a father. You might have the notion, and maybe you haven't thought through the doctrine of our great adversary, the devil, or the doctrine of spiritual warfare. But you might have the notion that the people who serve the devil are these people you see wearing all black, painting their fingernails black, putting on black eyeliner or whatever. They carry around pentagrams and the satanic verses or something like that. Those are the people that worship the devil. Maybe they kill some small animals in their backyards. Crazy stuff. But Jesus shows that those who serve Satan are actually like you and me. They look like us. Jesus is speaking to devout Jews who have come to the feast to worship God. They traveled all the way to Jerusalem. They opposed Jesus for making truth claims about his identity, his authority and his mission, and their response to him was negative. And Jesus says the reason why you cannot bear the truth. It's because you're of your father, the devil. He challenges their standing with God. They say, we're sons of Abraham. We're sons of God. And he says, no. I know everyone perfectly. You're not Abraham's children. Because you would be rejoicing to see me if you were. You're not God's children because you would love me if you were. You're of your father, the devil. You do the works your father did. Verse 41. You're of your father, the devil, verse 44, and you desire what he desires. All mankind are in these two camps. You're either a servant of God or you're a servant of the devil. Maybe you don't know you're a servant of the devil, but you are if you're not serving God. If you don't have true faith in Jesus Christ. Well, let's talk firstly about who the devil is. According to the scriptures, we're going to go through some scripture and we're going to talk about this text. As well, you're of your father, the devil, he says. The Bible teaches us that the devil is a created being. He's a spiritual being and he was created. There was a time when he didn't exist. And on the sixth day, God created everything and said it was all very good. It was all finished, so many believe that he was part of the created order being created in the first six days of creation. We know He's a fallen angel. We know He's a leader in this host of fallen angels. We know He's called the adversary. Satan is actually just a Hebrew word that means adversary. The Bible gives Satan many other names and titles. Here we see He's called the devil. Jesus also calls him Beelzebub. In Revelation, He's called Apollyon, which means destroyer. Devil, by the way, means accuser. He's called the tempter. In the Lord's Prayer, he's called the evil one. The ruler of this world. The prince of the power of the air. The god of this world. These are just some of the names by which the devil is referred to. You get the idea. He's not on our side. He hates us. So the first point is that Satan was created by God to serve God. He was created by God to serve God. But he grew proud and he fell. He rebelled against God and he took some number of angels with him. Isaiah 14 is often seen in light of Revelation 12, where we hear more clearly what happened in the heavens. But Isaiah 14, 12 to 15 reads, Oh, you have fallen from heaven. Oh, day star, son of dawn, how you are cut down to the ground. You who laid the nations low. 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 to the heights of the clouds and make myself like the most high. but you are brought down to Sheol, the far reaches of the pit." This prophecy was immediately referring to a country that was attacking Israel. But theologians have long since seen the connection, maybe the double prophecy of the demise of Satan as he was cast out of heaven upon his rebellion. Well, in Revelation 12, which we'll look at a little more later, in verses 3 and 4, we see that a third of the stars were swept out of the sky when Satan fell. The great dragon was thrown down in verse 9 of Revelation 12, that ancient serpent who is called the devil, and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, was thrown down to earth and his angels were thrown down with him. This is where many believe that it was a third of the angels who fell with Satan, as a third of the stars are seen to be thrown down from the sky with the great dragon. but it still remains that he was created to serve God. He fell, but he was created by God to serve God. That's the first thing we see about who he is. Secondly, we need to remember that he is a creature. He's a creature, so he has limits. He's not infinite like God. He's not omnipotent. He can't do whatever he wants. As we saw in Job, he can do what God allows him to do and no more. He's not eternal. He has a beginning. And we know that he will have an end in hell. As Luther said, he's God's devil. We see this in Job. He does God's bidding. As many have said before me, he is a devil on a leash. He's powerful. He's more powerful than us, but he's still limited by God. Nothing of His power, though, is related to the omnipotence of God. God is the ultimate. He's infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His power. The devil is not that. Satan cannot match the Almighty God. So He's limited. Thirdly, we see that Satan is not everywhere. He can't be omniscient, but he also can't be omnipresent or omnipotent. He's not everywhere. He's not omnipresent. He can be in one place at a time. God is very different than that, isn't He? God is everywhere. God has the ability to hear every prayer of every person all over the earth without any problem. He manages and governs the entire universe with ease. But Satan is limited. It seems to be he's limited to a place. He doesn't live in hell. That's not his throne. It's not where he rules. Rather, we read in Matthew 25 that hell was created by God for Satan, for the demons, and for those who would reject Him. That's His destiny. With all the humans who reject Christ, Satan and the demons will be there as well. This is the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, Christ said. Well, fourthly, we see not only is he not omnipresent, he's not omniscient. He's very cunning. He's wise. He has a wisdom of sorts, but he does not know everything. He does not know the future. Job is, I mean, everywhere you read of the devil, we see great confidence. He thinks he knows what's going to happen, but he doesn't. He's a good guesser. He observes human nature and he's able to observe and understand what possibly will happen, but he cannot know. What will happen apart from God? He doesn't know your thoughts. He can't get into your brain. He's a created being. He was created to serve God. This is the summary of this first point. He's a spiritual creature and a powerful creature. And we will not speak of Him in a way that is just wrong to speak of Him. But we're not going to make jokes about the devil. We're not going to talk about spitting on the devil or something crazy. He was created a majestic creature. And we respect God's creation and God's purpose on the earth, even so much as the devil is used for God's purposes. But he's on a leash, she's on a timetable. And isn't it helpful to understand that the devil is the God's devil? Doesn't that just give you comfort, doesn't it? There's not some random stuff happening all over the world. This is not some cosmic boxing match where the devil and Jesus are just in the ring duking it out and hopeful that someone might win. No, we know the devil is a creature. He serves God's purposes. He's been given some authority on the earth, but he's on God's leash and God's timetable. And we, God's people, are called to resist Him in prayer and by godly living, shining His lights in this present darkness. And to fight with the gospel and reliance on the Word of God, the proclamation of the Word. So, Jesus isn't intimidated by the devil. Indeed, He's exposing the devil. He's shining light on the devil's darkness. and exposing these people's darkness in their own hearts. Because they reflect His character. They reflect the devil's character. Well, the second point is that Satan is someone with personality. He has a character. Jesus tells us a little bit about the character of the devil. In verse 44, He says, you are of your father, the devil. Well, it seems that the people who follow the devil also take on his character. They may look really good, But ultimately, they want to do their father's desires, the devil's desires. Well, what is this? What does the devil want? Verse 44, he was a murderer from the beginning. He does not stand in the truth. In other words, he can't receive truth. The people that follow him cannot receive truth. They'll never be corrected. Because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character. For Jesus is a liar and the father of lies. So remember, Jesus is here trying to help these people. He's trying to correct them, to bring them to truth, and they just cannot receive it, He says. Why? They follow their father, the devil. They do not stand in truth. There's no truth in Him. There's no truth in the devil. He's a liar and the father of lies. So first we see He's a murderer. Jesus calls Him a murderer from the beginning. No sooner were Adam and Eve out of the garden, than horribly, one of their sons murders another. been overwhelmed by the temptation of the devil. The devil is vicious and destructive. 1 Peter 5 says he's like a roaring lion roaming around seeking whom he may devour. He hates you people who love God. He hates you. He hates your children. He hates your parents. Certainly he hates all image bearers to some degree, but especially those who serve Jesus Christ. And he's a roaring lion. We'll read later in Revelation 12, but He's described as a dragon. He's one who seeks destruction and murder and death. Secondly, Jesus tells us that He's a liar and the father of lies. He's the opposite of truth. But His lies are cunning. Throughout the rest of Scripture, we see that He was able to deceive Adam and Eve in their purity, in their holiness. He's cunning, and he does not stand in the truth. You remember even his temptation of Jesus. He used the Scripture twice to try to deceive Jesus. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11, we shouldn't be surprised at this, speaking of false apostles, false teachers, false prophets. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ, And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it's no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. So he's a liar, but he's also very deceitful and he's cunning in his deceit. Wouldn't it be helpful if he actually did wear the red suit and all of his followers wore red suits with long tails and horns? That would be helpful. but the reality is that the people who follow Him look like you and me. They look like us. Well, thirdly, we see in this that He is an enemy. He's the enemy of Jesus. He's a murderer. He's a liar and deceitful, but He's also an enemy. was confronted directly by the devil. Again, it's a great condescension to allow this creature to tempt him and to talk to him. And yet, he did it for us. He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, Matthew 4 tells us. Again, you see the devil being used by God to tempt Jesus, just as the devil was used by God to test Job. And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed until some opportune time. The devil wanted to destroy Jesus. He wanted to take Jesus' place as God. Interestingly, we also see that in Matthew 16, when Peter has said, no, don't go, Jesus, don't go to Jerusalem and be crucified, that Jesus turned to Peter and said, get thee behind me, Satan. So was the devil in Peter? Was Peter all of a sudden Satan? No, but what he's doing is he's showing that the devil can actually influence good Christian people Or can can be used for Satan's purposes. Do I think Satan entered Peter? No, I don't. But certainly what Peter was saying served Satan's purposes, although Peter maybe didn't understand that at the time. So that's why whenever there's some conflict in your family or some conflict conflict in the church. You don't have to be a tactician in military strategy to see that when there's conflict, if two people are not acting like Christ, then one person, even if he isn't Christ, he's actually serving the purposes of the devil by not showing love, by not being kind, by not acting in the humility of Christ. So I believe that's what Jesus is showing us in Matthew 16, not that Peter was Satan or was serving Satan, but his actions were actually serving the purposes of Satan at that time. Well, he's the enemy of Jesus, so that's not a surprise. So we see the murderer, the liar, the enemy confronting Christ. Well, Jesus also teaches us that he's the enemy of every single Christian and every church. The tactics Satan uses are not new. So this is a challenge for you when you're reading the Old Testament and you see Jesus, or sorry, you see Satan doing something, or you see some conflict and you think to yourself, so there's strategy here. There's a strategy that is being put upon the church or put upon God's people by an adversary. We'll know that this is Satan's strategy. And then look forward into the New Testament, look forward into today, and you'll see the same exact strategies being used against the people of God, against the church of God. It's almost as if there was an overarching strategy. Well, that's because there is. It's about murder, hate, lies, division, destruction. He's a liar, he's deceitful, he's prideful, he's cunning, but he looks like us. He's attractive. His purpose is to bring doubt to God's Word, doubt to God's people, doubt to God's leaders. And he always chooses himself rather than choosing God. These are the characteristics of the devil and the characteristics of those who follow the devil. They're just like him. In verse 39, Jesus says, you do what you've heard from your father. So were they actually following the devil? Were they praying to him at night or something? But he's saying you don't understand. You're actually serving the father, your father, the devil. So you do the works that your father did. Verse 41. They didn't even realize it. Many of them, I'm sure. That they didn't serve God, but they served the devil. Well, let's talk about the devil. The third point, the devil, as he relates to this world and to fallen man, he calls them a few times. These people who are opposed to him Your Father, the devil. Your Father. Well, that implies a powerful bit of doctrine to all of mankind. All mankind have been in bondage to the devil, the scriptures teach us. Ephesians 2 says, all mankind are following the prince of the power of the air and are by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. All mankind are following the devil or they're following Christ. Hebrews 2 verse 14 says, Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself, Christ, likewise partook of the same things He came to us in the flesh, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those through fear of death, who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. So the devil is defeated by Christ and His work on the cross. So as we started out by acknowledging this ruler of the world, this God of this world, Satan, is defeated. But what sense is he the ruler of the world or the God of this world? In the sense that he rules over all anti-God influences in the earth. It's alluded to as Babylon in the book of the Revelation. All the anti-God influences in the world They're subject to the devil. So you look at our culture and you think, why are they so wicked? Why is the government so deceitful? Why is this industry so warped? These are all anti-God influences. And ultimately, the devil is the ruler of them. He's the ruler of this world. The anti-God culture, the anti-God lifestyles, have one ruler and it's the devil. Those who reject Jesus Christ as Lord, serve the devil. Your father, the devil, Jesus said again and again. He's your father, the devil, speaking to these devout Jewish men and women. Well, we know something by the rest of the references to the devil in the Gospel of John. I'm just going to touch some of them. John 12, 31. is the judgment of the world. Speaking of his death and resurrection now is the judgment of this world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out? What does he mean Jesus when he says the ruler of this world will be cast out? It's probably referring to what we read in Revelation 20 of the binding of Jesus or the binding of Satan. It will be no longer allowed to deceive the nations after the death and resurrection of Christ. His powers broken. John 14.30, I will no longer talk to you much, Jesus said, for the ruler of this world is coming. Speaking of his death. But he says he has no claim on me. In other words, his authority is delegated. And it stops with Jesus. Jesus is the one who delegated the authority for the ruler of this world to do what he was going to do. But then Jesus doesn't leave us alone in John 16. He says when the Holy Spirit comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin because they do not believe in Me. Concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you will see Me no longer. And concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. The Holy Spirit living in us does this to the world. It convicts the world. This understanding also gives us great compassion for those who are following the prince of the power of the year. 2 Corinthians 4, and this is a text that is specifically talking about the preaching of the gospel. Paul says, in their case, those who reject the gospel, the God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Well, how are their minds unblinded by the Gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit opening their eyes. So we have hope and compassion for those who are following the devil. But we also understand that those who follow the devil reflect his character. This is throughout the Scriptures as well. Look at 1 John 3. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. For the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. So no one born of God makes a practice of sinning for God's seed abides in him. He cannot keep on sinning because he's been born of God. John's not talking of perfection in the Christian life, but what he's saying is that those who are of God are not going to keep pursuing their sin. Because that's what people of the devil do. Verse 10, by this it is evident who are children of God and who are children of the devil. whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God. The one who does not love, nor is the one who does not love his brother. So you want to see who those who are children of the devil, do they love God? Do they love their brother? Do they love the commandments of God? Do they love obedience to God's commands? Or is this something that hangs over them? And do they love each other? Or are they always backbiting, snipping at each other? Or actively opposing each other? 2 Timothy 2.25 also speaks the same, and this is Paul talking to Pastor Timothy, telling him what he should be like. He's like, Timothy, be like this. He says, The Lord's slave, speaking of pastors, must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring, correcting his opponents with gentleness, God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth. And they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will." So are you someone who... I just heard another pastor talking about this in a sermon I listened to this week. He said, you know, if you constantly find yourself making allowances for yourself and constantly having to explain away your bad actions and your bad behavior and words that you say if you're not patient and able to endure evil and you're not gentle. But if you're always just obnoxious and in your face and divisive. Maybe you actually aren't serving God. Maybe you need to escape from the snare of the devil. Because God's people are full of the fruit of the Spirit. They're full of love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and gentleness and faithfulness and self-control. We see that the devil desires everything opposed to the fruit of the Spirit. That's how you know who the children of the devil are. They follow the course of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the Spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Ephesians 2. Among whom we all once lived, How do the children of the devil walk? In the passions of our flesh. Carrying out the desires of the body and of the mind. In other words, you don't want to do what God wants more than you want to do what you want. This is what a child of the devil does. Ultimately, you just want to do whatever you want. And all people do whatever they want. Well, man cannot escape Satan. These people who follow the devil, they cannot escape Satan's power. A stronger power is required. When they accuse Jesus of casting out demons by Satan, He says, if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, whom do your sons cast them out by? Therefore, they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. And that's exactly what had happened. There was a stronger power, and it was Jesus. Colossians 1, Paul says that Jesus has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins. So it's through the preaching of the Gospel, the receiving of the Gospel by faith, the enlightening of the mind so that you can see and hear and understand the regeneration of your heart, that you are delivered from the domain of darkness and brought into the kingdom of the beloved Son, else you are stuck in darkness. Well, let me conclude with just some words about our warfare as it relates to this text. How do we fight this fight against the enemy? Well, verse 47 of John 8, Jesus says, whoever is of God, here's the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is you are not of God. He goes on to say, if anyone keeps My word, he will not taste death. So certainly these are descriptors of someone who follows after God, but they're also part of our warfare. To hear the Word of God and to keep the Word of God. Revelation 12, speaking of those who conquer the devil. We read that they have conquered Him by the blood of the Lamb, the gospel, the work of Christ, and by the word of their testimony, the truth. Remember, Jesus is telling them they reject the truth. They reject the word of God. They've conquered them by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, for they love not their lives, even unto death. Rather than pursuing the desires of their body and the passions of their flesh, they pursue what God wants. This is how those who enter heaven have conquered by the blood of the Lamb, the word of the testimony, and they love not their lives even unto death. They chose God over their own passions, over their own lives to the point of death. This is a theme of Christ's preaching as well. So the devil's a murderer and a liar and a deceiver. He hates God's people. But how do we fight this battle? How do we fight this battle? Well, as I've already alluded to, we know his game plan. I was reminded of the Battle of Sharpsburg, a Civil War battle. The Southern Army went up into Maryland and McClellan, who was the northern general, knew all of the battle plans of General Lee. How did he know this? Because his battle plans were sent by courier to one of his subordinates, and the courier wrapped the battle plan over a cigar, and the cigar fell out of his pocket onto the road. And someone picked it up and looked at it and thought, this can't be real. This has got to be a spoofer, because it lists everything. So McClellan had the whole plan. He knew exactly what Lee's plans were. He still lost the battle, but he knew everything that McClellan was or that Lee was going to do. In that same way, we also know exactly what Satan's plans are, and we know the end. He's already been defeated. We know the gates of hell cannot prevail against us church. When we pray thy kingdom come, we know that the kingdom of hell will be destroyed. and is constantly being pushed against. The gates of hell will not prevail. We're on the offensive. The devil is doing what he's allowed to do and no more. And we are doing what God has ordained for His church to do. And for each one of us to do and offer His glory. This is our encouragement were to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might to put on the whole armor of God. This is Paul speaking of our spiritual warfare. that we may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. And then he tells us of all the armor of the people of God. So what's he saying? The sword of the Spirit, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation. What is all that? Well, he's telling us that we rest on the accomplished work of Christ. We remember the promises of God and we pray. We're faithful to meet together. We're faithful to listen to the Word of God, to trust in the Holy Spirit's power to protect us, to hedge about us. But we're also watchful, as Peter told the church. Be sober minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist Him firm in your faith. Resist Him firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brothers throughout the world. So we're firm in our faith, and we pray. Even in the Lord's Prayer, which you should be praying every day, we pray, deliver us from the evil one. We need God's help. We're confident we know the end, but we also trust that we need help from God. And God, the Holy Spirit lives in us. James says God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. This is what we do in this conflict. We submit ourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Well, how do you resist the devil? How do you draw near to God? Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. So our resistance of the devil involves the ordinary means of grace, the Word, sacraments, our prayers and our fellowship, but also living godly lives, shining as bright lights in a dark world. So that's you individually. You should be confident, brothers and sisters. Don't be afraid. But also the church. The church in this warfare is real. You remember in Genesis 3.15 when God was speaking to Satan and He said, that someday a seed of the woman will come and you will bruise his heel, but he will bruise your head. Speaking of Christ. Well, Paul at the end of Romans takes that promise and he applies it to the whole church. He says the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. So Satan makes war on the people of God, on the church of God. but we know that He will soon be crushed under our feet. The gates of hell will not prevail against the work of the church. So we need not be looking earthly at the difficulties we have in life or the difficulties of our culture or the difficulties of politics or whatever. Our hope is not in anything on earth. Our hope is in our Savior. Our hope is in heaven. And we understand that this is not a battle against flesh and blood. There's a spiritual battle that is much more significant. Certainly it's fought here with people who breathe and have flesh and blood. But there's a spiritual significance that's far greater. Well, Satan has been bound in so much as he can no longer deceive the nations. Revelation 12 or 20 verse 3, I believe, speaks of this. Satan was thrown into the abyss and locked and sealed over him to keep him from deceiving the nations. So what did this locking and sealing symbolize? It tells us exactly. To keep him from deceiving the nations. And after the resurrection, death and resurrection of Christ, since the first century, the gospel has exploded over the globe. No longer has Satan been able to deceive the nations. The work of the church will continue. It seems until the very end when Satan is allowed again, he's freed from this abyss and he's allowed to deceive the nation once more right before the very end, right before Christ returns. And then after that he's thrown immediately into the lake of fire forever. So you see, we know the plan. We know all that God is going to do as much as we need to anyway. We know that he's defeated. And the church is victorious. The church militant. That's what the reformers called the church. The church militant were the church on earth fighting. Will someday be the church. Victorious. Triumphant. Last scripture I want to read with you, Revelation Chapter 12. It describes this battle between. The church. Would you actually just turn to your scriptures? Revelation 12, last book of the Bible. Look with me at chapter 12. Revelation 12 talks about the coming of the Son of God to the earth. Israel is is pictured as a woman clothed in the sun and the moon under her feet and on her head a crown with 12 stars. This is a picture of Jacob, of Israel, of Abraham. Jesus came from Abraham and then it transitions to seeing the church of God in play. I'll begin reading in verse 7. Disregard verse 13. Let's see, is that where I want to start? Let's start in verse 10. I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of God and the authority of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before our God. They have conquered him by the blood of the lamb, by the word of their testimony, for they love not their lives, even unto death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, you who dwell in them, but woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath because he knows his time is short." Verse 13, And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman who was given the two wings of a great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, times a time and a half. The serpent poured out water like a river out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with the flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed that river. The dragon had poured out from his mouth. Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring on those who keep the commandments of God. who hold to the testimony of Jesus. And He stood on the sand of the sea. So the dragon's not just furious, seeking the destruction of Israel, but with all those who have been grafted in the church of God. Seeking out to make war on all of her offspring. That's us. And those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. That's us. In chapter 14, verse 12, we see here's a call for great endurance of the saints, of those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. It sounds like the same testimony that Christ Himself has been giving these people. They need to be faithful to the words of God and to the words of Jesus. In chapter 19, we read that the saints are granted fine linen Verse 8, this is the righteous deeds of the saints. Chapter 21, verse 7, the one who conquers will have this heritage and I will be his God and he will be my son. This is the ultimate reward for those who are in this battle against the devil. We know that someday we'll be with God forever. So when Jesus says that we are or that those people were of their father, the devil, they did his father's desires, the devil's desires. They didn't listen to Jesus. They didn't love Jesus. They preferred their own way. They cannot stand in truth. We similarly are to hear the words of Christ and to do the works Jesus did to hold to the testimony of Jesus, to to keep the commandments of God. This is our warfare. It's part of our warfare. And we lift up our prayers to the Almighty God for His mercy. Let us pray. Our Father and our God, we thank You. We thank You for Your Word that it gives us wisdom. Gives us practical wisdom. Not only spiritual truth, but truth for this life. As we walk this earth, Lord, we thank You. We thank You that You have opened our eyes to some of Your truth this morning. We pray that we would not be terrified of the devil, but we would be wary. We would be watchful. We would see his work. We would see his his lies and his deceit. We would see the works of the devil and the goals of the devil and the murder and the hate of the devil. And we would understand it for what it is and and not grow weary in doing good. Lord, for our part, may we hear your word and love it. May we hear your word and obey it. Because we love you. For our part, Lord, may we have great confidence in you and your promises that someday you will bring us to be with you where we will be your people and you will be our God. Let us have great confidence in your word where it shows us clearly that the devil is defeated. And that nothing happens apart from your perfect plan. Lord, let us never doubt the Word of God. Let us never doubt Your promises. But let us always have confidence in You and all that You've told us. And be encouraged in the finished work of Jesus Christ for us. For it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Would you please stand and sing with me our hymn of response, number 26.