WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:04.799 Well, if you were here last Sunday, we started a new series called Resurrected. 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:13.599 We're studying this interesting piece of scripture, Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 through 10, which make a very bold claim that we used to be dead. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:15.519 That we were dead. 00:00:16.079 --> 00:00:17.920 And we've been resurrected. 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:20.320 And so we began exploring this concept last week. 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:23.600 When it says that we were dead, it doesn't mean physically dead, it means spiritually dead. 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:27.519 Think about it in the way that you talk about your phone when it has died, right? 00:00:27.679 --> 00:00:29.280 We all use that verbiage. 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:30.239 My phone is dead. 00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:31.199 What do we mean? 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:32.960 We mean it's physically fine. 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:34.159 Usually that's what we mean. 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:36.399 It's physically fine, but it has no life in it. 00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:38.719 It has no charge, it has no power. 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:41.600 It is unable to do what it's meant to do. 00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:43.759 Its spirit is missing. 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:56.159 And when Ephesians says that we used to be dead, what it's saying is that apart from Jesus, we were not alive spiritually, that we didn't have the power that we need to actually function as we're meant to function. 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:01.679 That we were dead, but the good thing is God has a cure for death and it's called resurrection. 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:07.920 And the claim is that we have been resurrected through Jesus, that we have this new life now that we can live. 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:11.359 And we're going to be exploring what the resurrected life is. 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:13.120 We're just going through Ephesians. 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:13.920 We're going right through it. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:20.640 In a few weeks, we're actually going to get to where Paul the author begins to tell us hey, hey, this is what the resurrected life is defined by. 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:29.200 But before he gets there, he actually does this interesting thing where he spends some time talking about the root cause of spiritual deadness. 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:38.400 He spends some time making sure that we understand what's really behind the deadness that we have experienced, or maybe that we see in the world. 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:43.280 When we look at the world, we see all the problems and the struggles and all the things that make us scratch our head and go, God, are you there? 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:44.239 Are you doing something? 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:48.400 Spiritual deadness would be the cause behind it. 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:52.879 And Paul he takes some time to teach us what's behind spiritual deadness. 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:55.599 And that's what we're going to explore because that's what it says. 00:01:55.840 --> 00:01:58.400 So we're going to go ahead and jump into Ephesians 2. 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:00.879 If you have your Bible, you can turn there, we'll put it on the screens. 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:03.599 If you have our mobile app, all the verses are there attached to the message. 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:04.319 You can take notes. 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:05.280 It's great. 00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:07.920 Ephesians 2, 1 through 2, here's what it says. 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:09.280 Once you were dead. 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:10.400 You remember that time, right? 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:11.280 When you were dead? 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:16.560 Once you were dead, because of your disobedience and your many sins. 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:23.280 You used to live in sin just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil, the commander of the powers in the unseen world. 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:27.360 He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:32.719 Now, if uh if you would have asked me six months ago, hey, it's it's August. 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:39.439 And August just so happens to be a time when a lot of people are kind of coming back from the summer and they're re-engaging and you know there's a lot of momentum and it's exciting. 00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:41.120 Hey, it's it's it's early August. 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:45.280 What do you think about talking about the devil, you know, on a Sunday, early August? 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:46.240 I'd be like, I don't know. 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:49.520 I think maybe that's a Memorial Day topic, you know, something like that. 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:51.199 It's kind of a downer. 00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:55.360 But what we're gonna talk about this morning is Satan. 00:02:55.599 --> 00:02:57.360 Because that's what it talks about. 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:04.159 We're gonna talk about the devil, and I will say this I have had a very difficult time preparing the message this week. 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:06.960 It's been hellish, to be honest with you. 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:10.400 I don't know, couldn't resist. 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:13.919 No, it has been like a devil of a week, though, because I've just been like, I'm done. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:14.719 I'm sorry, I'm done. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:23.840 I just had it's like impossible not to use those puns, but it has been really difficult because usually, for me, like the first draft of the message, if I have a good week, I'll make some changes to it. 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:25.439 There might be, I'm gonna move this around. 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:29.360 Okay, that's not quite right, but it's it's fairly close to draft number one. 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:32.240 I don't even want to tell you guys what draft this is. 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:33.599 It's beyond draft. 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:36.159 It isn't like God help me in a mode. 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:39.599 But I guess that's maybe what we should be praying when we're talking about the devil. 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:46.560 And here's the thing it's kind of a strange concept in the American modern church to talk about Satan. 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:47.360 Really is. 00:03:47.599 --> 00:04:01.199 If you go into most larger modern churches in our country today, you're almost guaranteed to hear very little, if anything, at all about Satan or sin or judgment or or hell or anything like that. 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:03.360 That just doesn't, that just doesn't play well. 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:08.000 You know, that doesn't that doesn't fall on enthusiastic ears, and so we don't talk about it. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:09.599 We don't want to weird people out. 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:24.720 But it's interesting is that you're also very likely to hear little, if anything, about the Holy Spirit, about the power of prayer to heal, about spiritual gifts that God has given us, because that stuff, again, it's sort of like, ah man, I don't know if if that's what we should be talking about. 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:32.480 It might weird some people out, and we don't want to, we don't want to come off as weird, even though the Bible does say we are a peculiar people. 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:34.639 Right? 00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:40.879 So we don't hear this stuff talked about very often in the modern church world that we are part of. 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:43.120 And I've been thinking about why. 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:46.480 I've thought about that a lot over the last few years, to be honest with you. 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:52.959 And our church right now is experiencing a really cool shift where I believe that God is opening us up to what he's doing spiritually more than we have before. 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:54.800 We're starting to see things happen that are just really cool. 00:04:54.959 --> 00:04:57.199 People are coming to know Jesus at like just a ton. 00:04:57.279 --> 00:04:58.959 We have ten people getting baptized next Sunday. 00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:00.160 Like, ten, this is just awesome. 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:02.079 That keeps happening, you know? 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:04.240 It's really, really cool. 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:09.439 And so I believe God is doing this new thing, like the song we just sang. 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:14.079 He's He's pouring new wine on our church and He's opening us up to understanding what's happening spiritually. 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:19.839 But you don't hear a lot about the spiritual stuff in church on Sunday mornings in modern America. 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:20.720 Why? 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:25.519 I think it's in large part because we've done something that Jesus never did. 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:29.439 In our minds, we've separated what's spiritual from what's practical. 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:34.079 And we've decided that if something is really, really spiritual, well, it's not very practical. 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:37.600 And we want to make sure that we're we're giving people something practical, and I believe that. 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:43.600 I think Jesus taught very practically, but Jesus never separated in his mind the spiritual from the practical. 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:48.160 In fact, from Jesus' perspective, what is spiritual is most practical. 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:54.079 Matthew 16, 26, Jesus said, What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but you lose your soul? 00:05:54.240 --> 00:05:57.279 Is anything, is anything worth more than your soul? 00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:00.879 And that's one of those questions that has an assumed answer. 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:04.720 Like he's not actually asking, hey, is there anything you guys can think of that's worth more than your soul? 00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:05.680 And someone's like, Oh, my car. 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:06.959 Oh yeah, good call, good call. 00:06:07.040 --> 00:06:07.199 No. 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:10.560 Like it's like when your parents ask you, or like, do you think I'm stupid? 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:12.399 If you've had a parent, you've heard that question. 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:14.959 You're not supposed to answer that question, right? 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:18.160 And if you do, you're like, no, mom, you're a genius. 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:20.720 Like, and you can't even say that because they'll know you're being sarcastic. 00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:22.720 So it's just an assumed answer. 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:25.199 Is there anything worth more than your soul? 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:25.839 No. 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:33.680 Another way we might we might phrase that question, is there anything more practical to you than your spirit? 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:42.720 If we are spiritual people, if at our core we are spiritual, then what is spiritual is extremely practical. 00:06:43.279 --> 00:07:04.399 And when it comes to the concept of Satan, of the devil, which is what Ephesians 2, 1 and 2 deals with, if we are spiritual, and if we have a spiritual enemy, is it practical for us to know who that is and to know how that enemy operates, to know what that enemy is all about? 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:07.040 I would say, I would say yes. 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:12.800 If you have an enemy, it's probably good for you to know that he exists and to understand what he does. 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:20.000 And so we're talking uh about the devil in part because that's what the scripture we're studying is talking about, but also because this is extremely practical for us. 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:26.240 And honestly, this concept has been missing from the conversation in the American church for too long. 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:27.519 It really, really has. 00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:30.000 And and it will do a little role play. 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:39.199 If you were the devil, and I don't think any of you are, okay, but if you were the devil, would you prefer that people talk about you or not? 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:43.519 Would you prefer to be to be hidden or to be seen? 00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:52.399 So we're gonna we're gonna talk about Satan this morning because whatever you bring to light, it's exposed. 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:55.439 And when darkness is brought to light, it's extinguished. 00:07:56.079 --> 00:07:58.319 This is a really practical conversation. 00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:00.240 And the way we're gonna approach it's really simple. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:01.680 We're gonna answer five questions. 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:03.279 We're gonna do our best to answer five questions. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:05.360 Question number one, is the devil real? 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:07.360 Question number two, who is he? 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:09.439 Question number three, what does he do? 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:11.839 Question number four, what has God done to deal with him? 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:16.959 And question number number five is what do we do to deal with the devil? 00:08:17.519 --> 00:08:19.040 And let's start with the first one. 00:08:19.279 --> 00:08:20.720 Is the devil real? 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:22.000 And the answer to that is very simple. 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:23.279 It depends on who you ask. 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:24.720 It depends on who you ask. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:27.519 You can go poll a lot of people, you're gonna get a lot of different answers. 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:30.319 You're gonna have some people who are gonna say, yes, the devil is real. 00:08:30.399 --> 00:08:33.279 And a lot of people look at those people like they're crazy, like they're nuts. 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:33.840 You know? 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:36.159 Picture popular media, movies, television. 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:42.000 If there's someone on TV who actually believes in the devil or demons, how are they portrayed? 00:08:42.240 --> 00:08:44.480 As a well-educated, intelligent person? 00:08:45.200 --> 00:08:46.879 No, never. 00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:57.039 And as Southerners, this should offend us because it's always someone with this really thick Southern accent that's like, I think there's a devil in them hills, and we're always like, hey, that's not how Southerners are. 00:08:57.279 --> 00:08:58.559 Thank you very much. 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:03.440 And it's like us talking about New Yorkers, like, hey, forget about it, you know, spaghetti. 00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:08.720 Like, I don't need that was Italian, I don't even know what that is, but it's the same thing, it's offensive. 00:09:08.799 --> 00:09:09.200 Stop it. 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:17.919 But number two, it becomes clear, it becomes clear if you if you look at culture that, oh, to believe in Satan and in the devil, that's so silly. 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:19.840 That's so silly, right? 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:22.240 You'll have people that that think that way. 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:31.039 You'll have people that are like, look, we've made up the devil, he's just a symbol for evil, it's just our way of needing to personify the bad things we see in the world and make sense of it. 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:32.720 You'll have this variety of opinions. 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:33.600 So is the devil real? 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:35.440 It depends on who you ask. 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:42.960 But if you were to ask Jesus, and I'm a Jesus follower, so for me personally, his opinion, it it ranks high. 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:43.919 It's at the top. 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:46.000 If you were to ask Jesus, hey Jesus, is Satan real? 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:47.600 He would be like, Absolutely, 100%. 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:52.879 He talked about Satan very, very often, very explicitly. 00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:57.360 Once he was he was having an argument with the Pharisees, the religious leaders of his day. 00:09:57.440 --> 00:10:02.320 They were hypocrites, horrible people, and and Jesus took them to task many times. 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:06.399 In John 8, 44, listen to what he says to the Pharisees. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:10.799 For you are the children of your father, the devil. 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:12.960 And you love to do the evil things he does. 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:14.480 He was a murderer from the beginning. 00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:17.279 He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:22.480 When he lies, it is consistent with his character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:25.919 Does it sound like Jesus is speaking metaphorically here? 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:30.399 Or does it sound like he's describing someone he knows very well? 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:37.759 There's so many times that Jesus talks very, very practically about Satan. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:44.159 Once Jesus was accused by the Pharisees of doing miracles by the power of Satan, actually. 00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:47.360 And the miracles he was doing was he was casting demons out of people. 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:49.840 And we might hear that and be like, oh my gosh, why did I come to church today? 00:10:49.919 --> 00:10:50.559 But like, whatever. 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:52.399 Um, we're gonna talk about that. 00:10:52.559 --> 00:10:55.679 But but he was he was casting demons out of people, and it's crazy. 00:10:55.759 --> 00:11:00.080 And if you read the scriptures and you read the story of Jesus, there's some like intense stuff in there. 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:03.840 And the Pharisees are like, Well, you're only doing that by the power of Satan. 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:05.519 Because they couldn't deny what was happening. 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:09.759 People were being healed and changed and delivered, and all kinds of stuff was happening, and it was obvious. 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:15.919 And so rather than them just say, Well, clearly he's from God, some did say that, but they were like, Well, it's Satan that gives them that power. 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:19.919 And when they said that, Jesus could have said, How could Satan give me this power? 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:21.279 He's not real. 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:25.840 I'm not casting out demons, they don't even exist. 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:31.440 No, what Jesus actually said was, Why would Satan cast out Satan? 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:33.360 That makes no sense. 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:37.200 If Satan's beginning to cast out Satan, that means his kingdom is divided. 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:46.480 So Jesus not only affirms a belief in a being named Satan, called Satan, the devil, whatever word you want to use, but he actually says he has a kingdom. 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:48.240 So again, is is Satan real? 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:51.200 It depends on who you ask, but if you ask Jesus, the answer is yes. 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:57.279 And I know that not all of us here are Jesus followers, and so if you're not a Jesus follower, his opinion won't matter to you as much as it matters to me. 00:11:57.360 --> 00:11:57.919 I get that. 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:00.639 But I would just I would have you think about this for a second. 00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:06.240 Have you ever felt like there's some force in the world that is out to ruin you? 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:16.240 Have you ever felt like it, it's like something is conspiring against me, and it's almost like it is so targeted, it is so perfect, it couldn't just be random. 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:33.679 It's like someone knows your greatest weakness, someone knows every little thing you're susceptible to, and they're making it their point to ruin you, and they pick the absolute worst from your perspective, or best if you're an enemy of someone, the worst possible moment to mess with you. 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:34.960 You ever feel that way? 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:37.840 You might be tempted to believe that you're crazy, you're just making this all up. 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:39.759 Jesus would look at you and he would say, Hey, good news. 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:40.879 You're not nuts. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:42.879 You're not crazy. 00:12:42.960 --> 00:12:49.679 There is, there is a force, there is a conspiracy, there's a conspirateur against you, and that's Satan. 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:52.720 So Jesus says Satan is real. 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:54.240 Well, who is he? 00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:57.600 And here's the deal we we actually don't know a lot about the origin of Satan. 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:09.600 We have a few scriptures that the prophet Ezekiel in the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah, they have some words that they use that sort of paint this picture, but it's kind of poetic and it's not, it's not like clear-cut, like, let me tell you the story of Satan. 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:10.799 It doesn't really do that. 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:14.879 So we don't have all this information we can infer, we can we can sort of draw conclusions. 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:17.200 Don't have time to get into all of that. 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:21.039 What we're actually gonna do though is on Tuesday, we're gonna record a little follow-up podcast. 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:23.759 We do this every once in a while, called the cutting room floor. 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:29.679 Sometimes we'll have a topic that's just it's too big to fit into one Sunday, and we'll we'll have a little director's cut on Tuesday. 00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:33.440 You can listen to it on the app or on our podcast, a website, whatever, and get some more info. 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:38.000 We'll talk about the origin or the theoretical origin of Satan on there. 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:39.759 But we don't know much about his origin. 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:45.200 What we do know, what is stated very clearly in Scripture, is who he is right now. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:50.080 And so let's go ahead and read Ephesians 2, verse 2 again. 00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:56.960 You used to live in sin just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil, the commander of the powers in the unseen world. 00:13:57.120 --> 00:14:01.759 He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:12.799 So it says that Satan is the ruler, the commander of these evil spiritual forces in the unseen world. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:18.399 Q, the southern person on the TV show, going, There's demons in them hills, you know? 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:20.159 Like, seriously? 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:22.159 An unseen world? 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:26.159 Like some unseen world that has that has these forces in it, you know? 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:27.679 The Bible describes some of these forces. 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:30.399 There's an organization to it, there's like rank and file. 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:34.320 Romans, or rather, Ephesians chapter 6 describes it as rulers and authority. 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:37.360 So we see like there's some type of structure there, and there's there's good beings. 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:41.840 We often call those angels, even though sometimes they're they're it's not the best word to use. 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:45.600 Demons, that's what we call the the ones aligned with with Satan. 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:47.120 And there's all these descriptions of them. 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:52.240 We all we also have all these like these myths that we use to picture these things. 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:58.240 Half of the pictures that we have of Satan, of angels, of demons, like they don't come from the Bible at all, at all. 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:03.440 They come from pop culture, they come from fictional writing, from movies, from comic books. 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:07.440 Yeah, like how many of how many of us picture an angel as like a dude with wings? 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:08.240 You know? 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:11.919 There's not one description of an angel like that in the Bible. 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:17.440 There is a description of an angelic being known as a seraphim that has three sets of wings. 00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:25.679 Two of those wings cover its face, two of those wings cover its body, the other two wings are flying, and it's entirely, completely covered with eyeballs. 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:27.840 Yeah. 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:33.039 Who's more excited to go to heaven than you were earlier? 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:35.519 Like I want to see one of those things. 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:36.240 And I'm I just can't wait. 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:38.799 I'm gonna get to heaven, I'm gonna see a serif, I'm gonna say, quit looking at me. 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:39.440 Quit it. 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:40.080 Stop it. 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:42.240 Everywhere I go, looking at me. 00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:49.679 It's funny because in the Bible, whenever people, whenever people encounter an angel, every single time they fall down and they think they've died. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:54.799 And so it's not just like some dude with blonde hair and wings. 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:56.080 We've kind of made that up. 00:15:56.159 --> 00:15:59.200 We do the same thing with demons in our pictures, we do the same thing with Satan. 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:06.000 And sometimes we buy so much into the myth that we've been given that we actually begin to believe it's a myth. 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:10.639 But but scripture's clear, there's an unseen world. 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:15.360 We can't perceive it, but it's there and it exists and it affects our own. 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:16.480 And here's what's really cool. 00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:18.159 If you think that's crazy, consider this. 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:22.320 Recently, a very, very intelligent man named Stephen Hawking passed away. 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:25.919 Stephen Hawking is known as one of the greatest scientific minds in history. 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:32.000 He's one of the most brilliant men, most brilliant scientific people of modern history for sure. 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:41.200 He is a theoretical physicist of complete renown, total genius, like literally one of the most highly regarded scientific minds that we've ever had. 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:48.159 And one of the theories, the scientific theories that Hawking contributed a lot to is this theory called the multiverse. 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:54.879 This is a scientific theory that is backed by physics, that is backed by theoretical physics and equations and things that I don't understand. 00:16:55.039 --> 00:17:03.840 But the idea of the multiverse is that, and again, this is a scientific theory, there are multiple parallel universes that exist, like parallel to our own. 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:05.200 We can't see them. 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:11.200 We might call them alternate dimensions or realities or whatever, but we can't see them, but they exist and may even overlap with our world. 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:17.759 We just don't have the ability to perceive them because we only experience life in a few dimensions that we can perceive. 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:22.240 And that is viewed as like scientific genius, Nobel Prize. 00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:24.000 Wow, that's amazing. 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:28.160 There's multiple dimensions that we can't see that interact with our own and all this kind of stuff. 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:29.119 You guys are so smart. 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:36.480 And then the Bible 2,000 years ago says, hey, there's an unseen world and we we can't see it, but it's there and it exists parallel to ours and it even affects our own. 00:17:36.559 --> 00:17:38.079 And people are like, that is crazy. 00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:39.759 That is crazy. 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:47.359 It's a conversation for a different day, but if you study science, you find that science disagrees with scripture far less than you have been led to believe. 00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:48.400 Far less. 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:50.319 It's a different conversation. 00:17:51.200 --> 00:18:01.920 So we we even have modern scientific theory that backs up this idea that there might be this unseen world, and scripture speaks to it greatly. 00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:10.720 And it says that Satan is the commander of the evil forces in the unseen world. 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:12.960 That's who he is. 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:15.839 Jesus actually took it a step further. 00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:21.200 Jesus actually called Satan the ruler of this world, of our world, what we can perceive. 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:24.720 We see it happen a couple times in scripture in John chapter 12, verse 31. 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:32.640 Jesus says, the time for judging the world, this world has come when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out. 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:34.400 John 14, 30. 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:40.559 Jesus said, I don't have much more time to talk to you because the ruler of this world approaches, he has no power over me. 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:44.960 So Jesus calls Satan the ruler of this world. 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:47.200 And we hear that, and that's kind of like, what? 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:52.720 Like I thought God was the ruler of this world, and he's not, he's the ruler of everything. 00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:54.960 God is the ruler of every world. 00:18:55.119 --> 00:18:55.599 You know? 00:18:55.759 --> 00:19:05.440 Like there's a governor in Georgia, and he's the governor of our state, but but there's an authority greater than him that can supersede him if if need be. 00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:12.000 Okay, but but Jesus actually says that Satan is the ruler of this world. 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:15.599 And I think that for us as believers, that's hard to compute. 00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:19.279 This doesn't quite add up, right? 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:29.359 Because we look at the world sometimes and we feel very disheartened because it seems to us from our perspective sometimes like if there is Satan, if there is a devil, he looks like he's winning sometimes. 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:36.960 And it would be really comforting for us to go, he has no authority here on the earth, he has no power whatsoever, but Jesus says he does. 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:38.880 Jesus was tempted by Satan himself. 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:42.559 The very third temptation, Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the earth. 00:19:42.640 --> 00:19:45.920 Could you offer him all the kings of the earth if you didn't have the authority to do that? 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:54.160 And so we we like to ask ourselves, how in the world would a good God give Satan authority over this world? 00:19:54.319 --> 00:20:02.319 If Satan's real and he's this evil commander of the unseen evil forces in the world, like all this stuff, why in the world would God hand authority of this world to Satan? 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:08.720 And the answer is that God did not hand authority over this world to Satan. 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:10.000 We did. 00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:19.119 If you go back to Genesis chapter 1, very first chapter of the Bible, God creates the earth and then he creates us and he tells us to reign over the earth. 00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:21.119 He gives us dominion. 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:23.519 We were destined to reign. 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:24.799 He gives us dominion. 00:20:24.880 --> 00:20:26.319 He says, govern the earth. 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:29.440 So so he has authority, he extended his authority to us. 00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:31.200 It's like he gave us the keys. 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:37.039 As a child, and some of us are teenagers, maybe we're having this experience now. 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:40.079 You ever have you ever have a parent give you the keys to their car? 00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:42.799 And like, here, take it for a drive? 00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:44.559 Anyone ever have that happen? 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:44.960 Come on. 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:45.440 Remember back? 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:46.799 Your parents gave you the car? 00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:50.640 Anyone ever abuse that privilege? 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:51.759 A little bit? 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:52.559 Yeah. 00:20:54.480 --> 00:21:00.480 So God he hands us the keys, but you only have to read a few more pages to find out what we do with it. 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:01.519 We get tempted. 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:02.799 We're gonna go into that in a few minutes. 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:09.119 We get tempted by Satan, and we end up going with what Satan says we should do. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:13.119 We obey him, and in obeying him, we hand him the keys. 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:16.559 Because here's what here's what happens when you obey someone, what are you doing? 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:19.039 You're you're submitting to them, right? 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:23.359 I spend most of my days trying to get my four children to submit to me. 00:21:23.599 --> 00:21:31.680 It's like this this huge battle, you know, and it's it's intense, and it involves me often physically picking them up and putting them places, you know. 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:36.160 Submit, I can I'm so much bigger than you right now. 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:37.759 Like, do what I say. 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:42.559 Well, when when you obey someone, you submit to them. 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:44.880 When you submit to someone, what are you handing them? 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:48.079 Power, authority. 00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:53.039 And we'll go back again to Ephesians 2, too, because this is kind of hard language. 00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:56.640 This is not the stuff that, like, there's things in the Bible, I'll just be honest, I'm a pastor. 00:21:56.720 --> 00:21:59.759 I believe the Bible, I believe it's the word of God, I believe it's authoritative, I love it, I look at my life. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:03.359 And if it doesn't line up with scripture, I don't go, ooh, scripture's really off on this one. 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:06.880 If my life doesn't line up with scripture, I'm like, oh man, I need to make a change. 00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:09.680 But there's things that I wish weren't in the Bible. 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:13.759 Like, I wish I could have been sitting there with God and being like, hey, God, I have a different way to word that. 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:18.559 If you if you don't mind me offering a suggestion, this will this will play really, really well. 00:22:19.519 --> 00:22:21.599 But here's what he says. 00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:28.799 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil. 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:31.599 We don't like that. 00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:35.680 Oh, that one time I obeyed the devil yesterday. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:40.160 Like we don't we don't like that language, but that's what it uses. 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:44.799 He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:51.119 When we when we ignore God, we need to remember that we're obeying someone else. 00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:54.319 And when you obey someone, you hand them authority. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:23:01.839 So essentially what Jesus is saying is that we as human beings have handed so much authority to Satan that he's like the ruler of this world. 00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:06.640 That we've just time and time again, as people said, here, here's some more authority, here's some more power. 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:08.880 So who is Satan? 00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:11.920 He is the commander of the evil, unseen world. 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:16.319 He is also the ruler of this world because we've handed him the keys. 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:18.799 What does he do? 00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:19.519 Let's talk about that. 00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:20.160 Question three. 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:21.359 What does Satan do? 00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:24.559 Again, this is all this is all under the guise of being practical. 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:26.079 We want to know who our enemy is. 00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:29.200 We want to understand how he operates so we can resist, so we can win. 00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:30.079 Like, are you guys with me? 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:31.359 Are you still with me on this? 00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:32.400 Talking about the devil? 00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:35.119 Okay, because we need to understand what he does. 00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:36.720 What does he do? 00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:39.759 Number one, he hates you. 00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:43.119 He hates you, and you're like, what did I ever do to him? 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:46.160 Well, he hates you because he hates God. 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:48.559 And you look like God. 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:51.759 The Bible said that you were made in the image of God. 00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:55.759 And so you remind Satan of God and he and he hates God. 00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:57.359 And he hates you. 00:23:58.240 --> 00:23:59.839 You're also the beloved of God. 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.640 The Bible says that you were created not to love God, but you were created to be loved by God. 00:24:05.119 --> 00:24:07.119 That we're actually the object of God's love. 00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:08.799 It's like God made the world and it was awesome. 00:24:09.039 --> 00:24:17.039 We look at the stars and we look at the universe and space and we look at mountains and we look at oceans and we're like, wow, it's majestic, it's wonderful, and we marvel at it. 00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:22.319 But of all the things that God created, if you were to ask him, hey, what's your favorite, he'd point to us. 00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:24.799 We are what he loves most. 00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:33.119 And when you hate someone, when you hate someone, it's it's it's not uncommon to hate what they love. 00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:37.119 And so the love of God, in a sense, has kind of put us in the crosshairs. 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:39.359 And Satan hates us. 00:24:39.680 --> 00:24:46.640 And he seeks to destroy us, and he seeks to separate us from our God, from our Father, from the love that God has for us. 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:48.640 And how does he do that? 00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:50.799 Like, what's his approach? 00:24:51.839 --> 00:24:53.839 I'll say this, it's it's not what we might think. 00:24:53.920 --> 00:25:01.359 Again, we've have we have all these like mythological ideas of Satan that have been born from literature, like Dante's Inferno is a classic and some other things like that. 00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:04.240 And they always have Satan kind of the same, right? 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:10.319 Like a big horns coming out of his head, he's red, he's got a tail, it's like he's got hooves, pitchfork, that kind of thing. 00:25:10.640 --> 00:25:14.160 Anyone ever here ever see the 1980s movie Legend that starred Tom Cruise? 00:25:14.319 --> 00:25:15.279 Anyone ever see that movie? 00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:26.720 It's kind of an obscure movie now, but Tim Curry is an actor in that movie uh who's uh he's gotta be a messed up dude because he played Pennywise the Clown in the It TV series that my parents let me watch when I was in the fourth grade. 00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:27.359 Why? 00:25:27.519 --> 00:25:34.960 Uh also he played he played the devil in this movie Legend. 00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:45.680 And if you ever see the movie Legend or just look up a picture of it, it's like intense, and he's got this like huge chin, and he's red, and these gigantic horns, and he's huge and tall, and it's scary. 00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:48.400 And I watched that movie when I was like six, you know? 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:51.519 And then I go to church, and then I'm like the devil, and I'm like, oh my gosh, the devil. 00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:52.799 That's how we picture Satan. 00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:54.319