{"id":18270,"date":"2019-08-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-11T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/angelology-007-satanology-03\/"},"modified":"2019-08-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-11T05:00:00","slug":"angelology-007-satanology-03","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/angelology-007-satanology-03\/","title":{"rendered":"Angelology 007 (Satanology 03)"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[71],"series_event":[499],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18270","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-ezekiel","series_event-angelology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Angelology 007 (Satanology 03)","sermon_date":"20190811","sermon_month":"8","sermon_year":"2019","sermon_notes":6955,"sermon_slides":6956,"sermon_mp3":6961,"sermon_id":"81119132697391","series_or_event":499,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":71,"chapter_and_verse":"28:12-17","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nAngelology 7\n\nEzekiel 28:12-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 8-4-2019\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for today and grateful for Your people, grateful for Your church, grateful for Your sacrificial death for us 2,000 years ago and resurrection.\u00a0 And I just pray that the Spirit will be at work this morning illuminating Your truth to Your people and I just ask that we would leave here changed, that\u00a0 You would do something eternal today in our lives, either someone gets saved or someone gets the nourishment that they need or the insight or what have you as the work only Your illuminating spirit can do.\u00a0 So we ask You to do that great work today both in all of our Sunday School\u2019s and in the worship service that follows. We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We lift these things up in Jesus\u2019 name and God\u2019s people said\u2026. Amen!\n\nIf\u00a0 you can locate in\u00a0 your Bible Ezekiel, chapter 28, verse 12, and as you\u2019re turning there Robby Dean of West Houston Bible Church wanted me to advertise something for them.\u00a0 It has to do with Wesley Hunt who\u2019s apparently running for Congress in District Seven and apparently this guy is pretty good, he\u2019s been interviewed on Fox News and things like that, but he writes: \u201cTo better be informed and meet the candidate I invite your men\u201d so I guess this is gender exclusive here as it\u2019s a men\u2019s breakfast, \u201cI invite\u00a0 your men to join us Saturday, August 17, I guess that would be this coming Saturday at West Houston Bible Church, 7:30 a.m. (wow, that\u2019s pretty tough, getting up that early on Saturday) to a men\u2019s breakfast for\u2026 apparently you\u2019re going to have a chance to meet this candidate that\u2019s running for office.\u00a0 If you want more on this I\u2019ve got this little advertisement, I\u2019m just going to put it right here on the table, just come up here and pick that up on your way out and you can get the websites and all that stuff.\u00a0 But that\u2019s a men\u2019s breakfast at West Houston Bible Church next Saturday.\n\nSo speaking of politicians, we\u2019ve been talking about Satan and let\u2019s open our Bibles to Ezekiel 28:12-17. We\u2019re continuing our study on angelology, the doctrine of the angels.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve looked at the good angels and now we\u2019re moving into Satan, we call it Satanology, a high-ranking angel that fell, that\u2019s why he\u2019s looked at under the subject of angelology.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve seen at least three things about Satan: number 1, he clearly exists.\u00a0 A lot of people don\u2019t believe he exists but he does, Old Testament and New Testament.\u00a0 Number 2, he is not an impersonal energy force but he is an actual personage with a personality.\u00a0 We looked at that and how the elements of personhood apply to Satan.\u00a0 And then the last couple of weeks we\u2019ve gone through his various names and titles, so there\u2019s about somewhere between 18-20 names\u00a0 used in the Bible of Satan and those reveal an awful lot about who he is and his character.\u00a0 So we walked through those.\n\nAnd now we kind of come to a section of the study where we\u2019re trying to figure out where did Satan come from exactly?\u00a0 What was his original state and his first sin?\u00a0 I mean, how did Satan become Satan?\u00a0 How did he go from being Lucifer, a beautiful angel, to the devil?\u00a0 And how did he become the great adversary of our souls?\u00a0 And when you get into that subject you only have really two areas of the Bible that deal with this; one is Ezekiel 28:12-17, a passage we\u2019re going to look at today.\u00a0 And the second one is Isaiah 14:12-15.\n\nAnd you have to have somewhere in the Old Testament which talks about Satan\u2019s fall for the simple reason that the Apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy 3:6 concerning the selection of elders in a church, He says they should not be a recent convert, elders, \u201clest they fall into the condemnation of the devil.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0[1 Timothy 3:6, \u201c\u00a0<\/sup>and<\/em> not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.\u201d\u00a0 So Paul, when he writes that, is obviously referring to something that happened in prior revelation that we should be able to look at and document or else that injunction that he makes doesn\u2019t have any historical sense.\n\nThe fall of Satan has to be dealt with somewhere.\u00a0 And so these are\u00a0 your two places in the Bible that give the most light on it.\u00a0 Ezekiel 28, a prophet who wrote during the Babylonian captivity back in the 6th<\/sup> century and then Isaiah the prophet, an earlier prophet, who wrote I think around the 8th<\/sup> century B.C. (roughly).\u00a0 And I\u2019m going to deal with the Ezekiel passage first because I think the Ezekiel passage most people acknowledge is clearer in terms of the fact that it\u2019s talking about Satan.\n\nSo let\u2019s take a look here at Ezekiel chapter 28 and notice, if you will, verses 12-17.\u00a0 \u201cSon of man, take up a lamentation over the King of Tyre and say to him, \u2018Thus says the Lord God,\u00a0 you had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.\u00a0 [13] You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the ruby, the topaz and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald;\u00a0 and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you.\u00a0 On the day that you were created they were prepared.\u00a0 [14]\u00a0 \u00a0<\/sup>\u201cYou were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there<\/em>.\u00a0 You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked in the midst of the stones of fire.\u00a0 [15] \u00a0<\/sup>\u201cYou were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you.\u00a0 [16]\u00a0 \u201cBy the abundance of your trade you were internally filled with violence, and you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God.\u00a0 And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.\u00a0 [17] Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.\u00a0 I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, that they may see you.\u201d\n\nNow a lot of people will look at this and they\u2019ll look at verse 12\u00a0 which says to Ezekiel, God says to Ezekiel, \u201cSon of man, take up a lamentation over the King of Tyre\u201d now Tyre was a king just north of Israel, it\u2019s what today we call modern day Lebanon.\u00a0 And an awful lot of people will look at a verse like that and they\u2019ll say this doesn\u2019t have anything to do with Satan,\u00a0 you\u2019re reading too much into the passage, this is obviously dealing with the King of Tyre.\u00a0 And my response to that is this is what I like to call a Matthew 16:23 moment.\u00a0 Peter, in Matthew 16:23, and the prior verses, made a statement and he told Jesus when He began to announce His death, His coming imminent crucifix\u00adion, he told Jesus You\u2019re not going to go to the cross, You\u2019re not going to die, this will never happen to you.\u00a0 In other words, what Jesus was disclosing didn\u2019t fit Peter\u2019s expectation of what a Messiah is supposed to do.\n\nSo Peter takes Jesus aside, if you can imagine this, and he begins to rebuke Him.\u00a0 How do you rebuke God?\u00a0 Well, that\u2019s what Peter was doing.\u00a0 And you remember how Jesus responded to that?\u00a0 It says Jesus said to him, \u201c\u2018Get behind Me,\u201d who? \u00a0\u201cSatan.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 [Matthew 16:23, \u201cBut He turned and said to Peter, \u201cGet behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God\u2019s interests, but man\u2019s.\u201d]\u00a0 So at that particular point in the conversation, when Jesus makes that statement He was not addressing so much Peter as He was addressing the angelic force behind Peter, motivating Peter\u2019s statement, because it\u2019s always been the agenda of Satan to keep Jesus away from the cross.\u00a0 And so Jesus, sensing that addresses the angelic energy, if you will, behind Peter\u2019s statement.\n\nAnd this happens quite a lot, when you think about it, in the life of Christ, even in the passage we looked at last week, John 8:44 as Jesus was interacting with the Pharisees.\u00a0 Remember what He said over there in John in John 8:44?\u00a0 He says, \u201cYou\u201d speaking to the Pharisees, \u201care of your<\/em> father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature<\/em>, for he is a liar and the father of \u00a0lies.\u201d\u00a0 So Jesus is actually addressing there the satanic inspiration that was motivating the Pharisees.\n\nAnd since this happens quite a bit in the New Testament I think that\u2019s what\u2019s happening in Ezekiel 28.\u00a0 Yes, Ezekiel is talking about the King of Tyre but at some point under divine inspiration Ezekiel is really no longer talking about an earthly king but he\u2019s talking about the spiritual force behind that earthly king.\u00a0 And this should not be surprising because who was Ezekiel\u2019s contemporary?\u00a0 Anybody know, there in Babylon?\u00a0 Daniel, Daniel and Ezekiel are contemporaries.\u00a0 Babylon is that circle to the east, modern day Iraq; it\u2019s where the nation of Israel was, \u00a0three hundred and fifty miles away from the homeland, and they were there for seven years.\n\nAnd if you want to jot down Ezekiel 13:14, and even in our chapter, Ezekiel 28:3 you\u2019ll notice that Ezekiel makes references to Daniel.\u00a0 [Ezekiel 13:14, \u201cSo I will tear down the wall which you plastered over with whitewash and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation is laid bare; and when it falls, you will be consumed in its midst. And you will know that I am the Lord.\u201d\u00a0 Ezekiel 28:3, \u201cBehold, you are wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that is a match for you.\u201d]\u00a0 So Ezekiel knew all about Daniel.\u00a0 Did they know each other personally?\u00a0 We\u2019re not sure but clearly Ezekiel had an awareness of Daniel and who he was and his reputation.\n\nAnd it\u2019s interesting to me that Daniel does the exact same thing in Daniel 10:13 and Daniel 10:20.\u00a0 Daniel addresses or makes us aware of spiritual presences, spiritual forces, fallen angels if you will, behind the kings of Greece and Persia.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see that in Daniel 10:13, Daniel 10:20.\u00a0 [Daniel 10:13, \u201cBut the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.\u201d\u00a0 Daniel 10:20, \u201cThen he said, \u201cDo you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the ]<\/sup>prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince of\u00a0 Greece is about.\u201d]\n\nSo it\u2019s not to me that farfetched that Daniel\u2019s contemporary, Ezekiel, would do the exact same thing.\u00a0 Why do I think Ezekiel is addressing Satan here, or what\u2019s motivating the King of Tyre?\u00a0 Well, it says in verse 13 of the kingdom Tyre, \u201cYou were in Eden,\u201d not I don\u2019t think the King of Tyre was ever in the Garden of Eden; in fact, the Garden of Eden is closed off, isn\u2019t it, through cherubim\u2019s station there preventing people from reentering.\u00a0 It says there in Ezekiel 28:15 that \u201c\u201cYou were blameless in your ways from the day you were created\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Now that can\u2019t fit the King of Tyre because all of us, post Adam\u2019s fall, were born into the world with a sin nature at the point of what?\u00a0 The point of conception.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have to be taught how to sin, it comes naturally to us.\u00a0 Amen!\n\nPsalm 51:5 talks about that sin nature that we inherit at the point of conception, etc.\u00a0 [Psalm 51:5, \u201cBehold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.\u201d]\n\nIf you look at verse 12 of Ezekiel 28 he says, \u201cYou were perfect\u201d and again that can\u2019t be describing a person, a normal king who is tainted by a sin nature.\u00a0 And the dead giveaway really is verse 14 and verse 16 where you\u2019re going to see the word \u201ccherub.\u201d\u00a0 Now we know what a cherub is; a cherub is an angel.\u00a0 The cherubim were stationed, Genesis 3:24 at the entrance of Eden preventing man from entering following the fall.\u00a0 And cherubim, Exodus 25:15-20 are inscribed above the mercy seat according to the building of the tabernacle as Moses followed the instructions of the Lord.\u00a0 So when it says \u201ccherub\u201d there there\u2019s no way it can be talking about a human king.\n\n[Genesis 3:24, \u201cSo He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.\u201d\n\nExodus 25:15-20, \u201cThe poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be removed from it. [16] You shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give you.\u00a0 [17] You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. [18] You shall make two cherubim of gold, make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat. [19] Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim of one piece<\/em> with the mercy seat at its two ends. [20] The cherubim shall have their<\/em> wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings and facing one another; the faces of the cherubim are to be turned<\/em> toward the mercy seat.\u201d]\n\nHe\u2019s obviously addressing the angelic force behind that human king.\u00a0 And so in the process of this address I believe what Ezekiel gives is yes, a lamentation against the King of Tyre but there\u2019s a lot more here than that; it\u2019s sort of what I would call a double reference.\u00a0 It\u2019s a reference to the satanic force behind the king of Tyre and in the process Ezekiel, as he\u2019s writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and receiving this vision he begins to describe exactly how Satan became Satan.\u00a0 How did Satan fall?\u00a0 So this is a key piece of data for us when we\u2019re trying to construct the doctrine of Satan.\n\nHaving said that as an introduction what can we\u2026 and if you agree with me on this that this is the fall of Satan, what do we learn about Satan just from this paragraph?\u00a0 Let\u2019s look at a few things.\u00a0 Number one, Satan is a created being; that\u2019s very important to understand because it says there, \u201cYou were blameless in your ways from the day you were\u201d what? \u201ccreated\u201d Satan is not the creator, Satan is the creation.\u00a0 In fact, it\u2019s interesting to me that in this paragraph the fact that he\u2019s a created being comes out twice.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see it there at the end of verse 13 and you also see it in verse 15 which says, \u201cYou were blameless in your ways from the day you were created\u2026\u201d\u00a0 [Exodus 25:15]\n\nSo with that being said a lot of people get their theology from the movie Rocky, and I\u2019ve used this example before.\u00a0 A lot of people believe in what\u2019s called dualism; dualism is the idea that God has a rival in the universe and so that\u2019s how a lot of people look at the context between God and Satan.\u00a0 They look at it as two sort of equally matched fighters.\u00a0 And just like in the movie Rocky, whether it\u2019s Rocky or Apollo, we don\u2019t know who\u2019s going to win exactly, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re always sitting on the edge of our seats till the end of the movie to see who\u2019s going to win.\u00a0 A lot of people look at that with God and Satan\u2026 we really don\u2019t know if God\u2019s going to pull this one off when the reality of the situation is this isn\u2019t even a contest.\u00a0 This is NO contest!\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because it\u2019s obvious from the fact that Satan is a created being and God is the Creator; God obviously is going to win.\n\nSo the very first thing to understand about Satan is he\u2019s merely a creature and either we ascribe too little to him or we ascribe too much to him. And in dualism we ascribe way too much to him beyond his bounds.\u00a0 The reality of the situation is the only reason Satan is even around right now and God hasn\u2019t banished him to his eternal hell is God is actually using Satan to fulfill God\u2019s purposes on the earth, which is an astounding thing when you think about it, that God can use the motives and the activities of His arch enemy for some sort of good.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the only reason Satan exists.\n\nFor example, Paul struggled with a \u201cthorn in the flesh\u201d that kept him humble.\u00a0 And Paul calls that a thorn in the flesh 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, he calls it a messenger of who?\u00a0 \u201cSatan.\u00a0 So there\u2019s an example where God was actually using Satan to keep Paul humble.\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 12:7-10, \u201cBecause of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me-- to keep me from exalting myself!\u00a0\u00a0 [8] Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.\u00a0 [9] And He has said to me, \"My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.\" Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.\u00a0\u00a0 [10] Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.\u201d]\n\nAnd God does this all of the time throughout Biblical history.\u00a0 He does it today to some extent.\u00a0 If it weren\u2019t for that purpose Satan would have been banished a long time ago.\u00a0 So the mere existence of Satan and his presence on the earth, you shouldn\u2019t mistake that as somehow he\u2019s some kind of equal player to God; there\u2019s no equality here whatsoever.\u00a0 Satan does not have the Omnis, the Omnis are attributes that belong only to God.\u00a0 God has to have certain attributes that only belong to Him or He wouldn\u2019t be what?\u00a0 He wouldn\u2019t be God.\u00a0 So what are the \u201cOmnis\u201d?\u00a0 Omniscience, all knowing.\u00a0 Satan is not all knowing.\u00a0 Omnipotence, all powerful.\u00a0 Satan is not omnipotent.\u00a0 He\u2019s also not omnipresent, everywhere at once.\u00a0 Why do we know that?\u00a0 Because of what it says there in verse 15 and verse 13, on the day you were created.\n\n[Ezekiel 18:13, \u201cYou were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared.\u00a0 Ezekiel 28:15, \u201cYou were blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was found in you.\u201d]\n\nThis is why a third of the angels that fell with Satan become very important to him in the orchestration of his temporary kingdom on the earth.\u00a0 Because he\u2019s not omnipresent he has to work through ambassadors or fallen angels that we call demons.\u00a0 This is why Paul says he was \u201cbuffeted by a messenger of Satan.\u201d\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 12:7, \u201cAnd lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.\u201d KJV]\n\nSo you listen to a lot of Christian talk and they say well I got up this morning and it was a real struggle and my car wouldn\u2019t start and I didn\u2019t have enough gas in the tank and my alarm clock didn\u2019t go off and our case the copy machine wasn\u2019t working right, dah dah dah dah dah, and we say man, Satan is really at work in my life.\u00a0 And I\u2019m not trying to lower anybody but it probably wasn\u2019t Satan bothering you; Satan has probably more important things to do than hassle with me.\u00a0 Paul himself was not buffeted directly by Satan but by a messenger of Satan.\u00a0\u00a0 So Satan has to work through other fallen angels and he has to do that just by virtue of the fact that he\u2019s not omnipresent.\n\nAnd there\u2019s a lot of talk today about the New World Order, the coming one-world government under the antichrist where people are monitored cradle to grave.\u00a0 You see that in Revelation 13:16-18, Daniel 7:23, and you ask yourself why there such a satanic push today.\u00a0 [Daniel 7:23, \u201cThus he said: 'The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it.\u201d Revelation 13:16-18, \u201cAnd he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, [17] and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.\u00a0 [18] Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.\u201d]\n\nI mean, why does Satan want this one-world system so badly.\u00a0 Why does he want the infrastructure in place whereby people can be kept track of cradle to grave.\u00a0 And the answer relates to his finiteness; if he was omnipresent he wouldn\u2019t even need such a system but he needs it to monitor humanity the way he wants to monitor humanity.\u00a0 So we talk about control freaks today, I think Satan probably is the ultimate control freak.\u00a0 And because he wants to be like God (we\u2019ll see that in the Isaiah passage) he tries to pretend he\u2019s omnipresent through the New World Order and different things like that but he actually is not omnipresent.\n\nHe is also not omniscient and so a question is sometimes raised, can Satan read a person\u2019s mind?\u00a0 I\u2019m sort of the persuasion that Satan cannot read a person\u2019s mind because Satan is not omniscient.\u00a0 The one who reads our minds is God who is omniscient.\u00a0 David says that of God in Psalm 139:4, \u201cEven before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it.\u201d\u00a0 So before I speak God knows what I\u2019m going to say.\u00a0 Satan, I don\u2019t think is that way.\u00a0 I think he\u2019s got to wait to watch what I\u2019m going to say to know what\u2019s on my mind and I think that just by virtue of the fact that he\u2019s not omniscient.\u00a0 BUT having said that, don\u2019t think that he doesn\u2019t know you very, very well.\u00a0 I mean, he\u2019s had, depending on how old the human race is, biblically I guess it would be about 6,000 years old, something like that, he\u2019s had 6,000 years of preparation.\u00a0 He knows people very well, he knew your ancestors, your parents, your great grandparents, your great, great grandparents.\u00a0 He knows your basic temperament.\n\nAnd even yourself.\u00a0 How many women would say they knew their husbands\u2026 I know you better than you know yourself. I mean, is that true, do women say that about husbands.\u00a0 No one wants to admit it.\u00a0 My wife\u2026 where is my wife, is she in here\u2026 she says that about me, she says I know what you\u2019re going to do before you do it just because I know you.\u00a0 Now is she omniscient?\u00a0 No, she\u2019s probably close [laughter] but she\u2019s not omniscient.\u00a0 She has no capacity to read my mind but she\u2019s just a student after twenty years of marriage, or behavior, some of it good I think, there\u2019s some good behavior in there, and so she knows basically what I\u2019m going to do before I do it.\u00a0 Well, think of Satan\u2019s ability to do that given his long term track record studying you and studying human history.\u00a0 So just because he\u2019s not omniscient you shouldn\u2019t take that to mean he\u2019s kind of a bubbling idiot, which he is not.\n\nWhat else can we learn here about Satan?\u00a0 Not only is Satan a creature but he originally was an angel and we\u2019ve already seen verse 14, haven\u2019t we?\u00a0 \u201cYou were the anointed cherub,\u201d and then dropping down to verse 16, towards the bottom of the verse, \u201cI have destroyed you, O covering cherub.\u201d\u00a0 As we said before \u201ccherub\u201d\u2026 now in Hebrew if we use the plural cherub we would call them what?\u00a0 \u201cCherubim,\u201d the \u201cim\u201d ending connotes a plurality in Hebrew, just like our \u201cs\u201d at the end of a noun connotes plurality in English.\u00a0 Cherubim, plural, were stationed, Genesis 3:24, outside of Eden with flaming swords preventing them from reentering.\u00a0 [Genesis 3:24, \u201cSo He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.\u201d]\n\nCherubim, Exodus 25:13-20 are inscribed there above the mercy seat to watch, kind of portraying that the angels are watching what was happening on the day of atonement.\u00a0 [Exodus 25:13-20, \u201cYou shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.\u00a0 [14] \u201cYou shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark with them. [15] \u201cThe poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be removed from it. [16] \u201cYou shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give you. [17] \u201cYou shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. [18] \u201cYou shall make two cherubim of gold, make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat. [19] \u201cMake one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim of one piece<\/em> with the mercy seat at its two ends. [20] \u201cThe cherubim shall have their<\/em> wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings and facing one another; the faces of the cherubim are to be turned<\/em> toward the mercy seat.\u201d]\n\nAnd so who was Satan originally?\u00a0 He was one of those guys; he was one of the cherubim.\u00a0 He was one of those angels that, I think in our study in angelology we defined the cherubim as those angels of a special nature that guard God\u2019s holiness.\u00a0 And that\u2019s who Satan was originally prior to his fall.\n\nNow if you continue with his Ezekiel passage it indicates not only He was an angel\u2026 and by the way, let me give you one other verse on Satan being an angel.\u00a0 2 Corinthians 11:14 says Satan comes as a what of light?\u00a0\u00a0 An \u201cangel of light.\u201d\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 11:14, \u201cNo wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.\u201d]\u00a0 So there\u2019s another reference to the fact that he originally was an angel; today we would call him a fallen angel.\u00a0 Not only was he an angel but apparently he was a high ranking variety and you can sort of derive that as you look at verse 14 because it doesn\u2019t just call him a cherub but it calls him an \u201canointed cherub who covers.\u201d\u00a0 [14] \u00a0<\/sup>\u201cYou were the anointed cherub who covers\u2026.] and as you go down to verse 16 it refers to him as a \u201ccovering cherub\u201d.\u00a0 [16] \u201c\u2026And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.\u201d]\u00a0 Now that can communicate a lot of different things.\u00a0 To my mind it communicates that Satan was not just an angel, Satan was not just one of the cherubim but he was originally of the highest order. I\u00a0 sort of get the idea that the angelic system was sort of ranked largely under him; he was like a General, I guess you could say, in the angelic army.\n\nAnd you have this very odd reference to this in Jude 9 concerning the dispute that Michael\u2026 by the way, Michael is no slouch, right?\u00a0 He\u2019s an archangel.\u00a0 Michael and Satan got into an argument, apparently concerning the body of Moses and it says this in Jude 9.\u00a0 \u201cBut Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, \u2018The Lord rebuke you!\u201d\u2019\u00a0 So it\u2019s interesting that even Michael really didn\u2019t want to go toe to toe with the devil; he just simply deposited the devil in God\u2019s hands and said \u201cThe Lord rebuke you!\u201d\u00a0 So if Michael has that sort of respect for Satan it kind of communicates to me that Satan was probably not just an angel but was of the highest order to even command the respect of Michael, an archangel.\n\nAnd this is very important because you\u2026 particularly if you watch so-called Christian television you see a lot of these preachers screaming at Satan, and I\u2019m going to give you a black eye and run you out of town sort of mindset, and all this stuff.\u00a0 And it\u2019s just a poor angelology because they don\u2019t really understand the doctrine of angels because they\u2019re doing things that not even Michael himself would try to pull off.\u00a0 So Satan, I think, was not an angel but he was a powerful angel.\n\nWe also learn that he was not originally sinful; he was created without sin. It says it in verse 15, \u201cYou were blameless in your ways from the day you were created.\u201d\u00a0 So you shouldn\u2019t think that God created Satan\u00a0 as he is; that\u2019s not the case.\u00a0 Just like God didn\u2019t create fallen humanity, He created humanity in their perfection with a choice.\u00a0 That\u2019s sort of the data or information that you get from Satan.\u00a0 By the way, who created the angels?\u00a0 Anybody know?\u00a0 Jesus did!\n\nThat\u2019s the whole point of the Book of Colossians because in Colossae there was something called \u00a0\u00a0the Colossian heresy which was trying to take Jesus and demote Him to an angel.\u00a0 And they had this, what they called this in the Colossian heresy, the ladder of emanations, and here\u2019s God over here and here\u2019s humanity down here and God created an angel and that angel created another angel and another angel and another angel\u00a0 ad infinitum<\/em> all the way down the chain and then finally you\u2019ve got this bottom rung angel close to the human race and that angel apparently created the human race.\u00a0 And they thought that way because of what\u2019s called Gnosticism which taught dualism, that the spiritual world is good and the physical world is evil.\u00a0 And if the physical world is evil how could God create the physical world?\u00a0 And it also tampered with one\u2019s Christology because if the physical world is evil how could Jesus come in a body?\u00a0 And that\u2019s why there\u2019s all these statements in 1 John concerning the fact that we know who the antichrist is, 1 John 4:1-3, who deny Jesus\u2019 coming in the flesh or came in the flesh.\n\nBut this is all an outwork of Gnostic dualism.\u00a0 And so the whole point of the Book of Colossians is to straighten them out on that and to show them that Jesus is not an angel; in fact, Jesus created the angels themselves.\u00a0 They owe their very existence to the ex nihilo<\/em> power of Jesus Christ, the second member of the Trinity. So what verses teach this?\u00a0 Colossians 1:16-17, Hebrews 1:3, and John 1:3 and because Jesus created Satan we know that Satan did not exist with sin originally.\n\n[Colossians 1:16, \u201cFor by Him all things were created, both<\/em> in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities\u2014all things have been created through Him and for Him. [17] \u00a0<\/sup>He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Hebrews 1:3, \u201cAnd He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.\u201d\u00a0 John 1:3, \u201cTherefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. [2] Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. [3] For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.\u201d]\n\nWhat did God say when He created everything in six days?\u00a0 He didn\u2019t just say it was good, Genesis 1:31.\u00a0 He said it was what? \u201cVery good.\u201d\u00a0 [Genesis 1:31, \u201cGod saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good; and there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So if Jesus created Satan, Satan originally was created without sin.\u00a0 And how did he become sinful?\u00a0 Verse 17 explains it, which we\u2019ll hopefully get to in a moment.\n\nSomething else we learn about Satan from the Ezekiel passage is Satan\u2019s beauty.\u00a0 Notice Ezekiel 18 and notice verses 12-13, all those colors that I had a difficult time pronouncing.\u00a0 Verse 12 says, \u201c\u2026 Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty,\u201d and then it talks about, verse 13, \u201cevery precious stone was your covering\u201d and it mentions all of these colors, \u201cruby, topaz, diamonds, jasper, turquoise, emerald, gold I think it mentions.\u00a0 [Ezekiel 28:12, \u201cSon of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, \"You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.\u00a0 [13] You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared.\u201d]\n\nYou get the impression that it was sort of like technicolor, you know, you think of all of the colors of the rainbow being present. And Satan, the way I\u2019m understanding it (I\u2019ll make more reference to this when we get to the Isaiah passage,) but I think he was originally created as what\u2019s called a light bearer.\u00a0 In fact, his name is Lucifer which actually means light bearer.\u00a0\u00a0 And I think he was sort of held up, because we know God is clothed in unapproachable light, right?\u00a0 Many verses talk about that.\u00a0 \u201cGod is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.\u201d\u00a0 [John 1:5, \u201cThis is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.\u201d]\n\nIt\u2019s almost like Satan was held\u00a0 up to refract that glory through many different colors.\u00a0 So Satan\u2019s purpose made sense as long as he was pursuing his purpose of glorifying God.\u00a0 He refracted the beauty of God, the colors of God and this is why Satan even today is described as something very, very beautiful.\u00a0 I made reference already to 2 Corinthians 11:14, Satan coming \u201cas an angel of light.\u201d\u00a0 But let me just read that passage to you if I could.\u00a0 2 Corinthians 11:14-15, \u201cNo wonder, for even the devil disguises himself as an angel of light.\u00a0 [15] \u00a0\u00a0Therefore it\u2019s not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness whose end will be according to their deeds.\u201d\n\nYou know, this Halloween that we have and all of these costumes that are made available in October for all these kids, you know you dress up like the devil and you\u2019ve got a pitchfork and\u00a0 you\u2019ve got red horns and you\u2019ve got a red cape and people look at that and they think that\u2019s what the devil looks like.\u00a0 That\u2019s about as farfetched from what the Bible says as you could possibly get.\u00a0 The best I could tell that whole idea of who Satan is comes from the Middle Ages.\u00a0 There\u2019s not a shred of biblical evidence to corroborate it.\u00a0 Satan is beauty, his original purpose was beauty and that\u2019s why it\u2019s so interesting when you read and watch on television about people having out of body experiences.\n\nI think I\u2019ve shared with you before when I was very\u00a0 young we had a lot of books around our house related to out of body experiences and things of that nature and so I got really interested in this as a very young person.\u00a0 I started to read all the different stories that people that got into automobile accidents and the were taken out of their body and there\u2019s an awful lot of people around giving those kind of testimonies.\n\nBut what was interesting to me, even at a young age, I wasn\u2019t even a Christian or anything, how the stories had a common theme and the common theme went something like this: they were working on me in the operating room and all of a sudden I was out of my body, I was no longer in pain, and I was looking down at the doctors trying to bring me back to life.\u00a0 And I began to say to myself gosh, I wish they wouldn\u2019t try to bring me back to life because I feel so good now, out of my body. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And then I saw this tunnel (have you guys heard this) I saw this tunnel and there was this light at the end of the tunnel and I was so drawn to this light, so I traveled through this tunnel and I heard a voice that said your time is not yet, you\u2019re going to go back into your body but now you have a purpose and your purpose is to preach tolerance and open-mindedness and all religions are right and it doesn\u2019t matter what you believe as long as you\u2019re sincere.\u00a0 And so people had this experience and they go back into their body and they come out of their surgery and they really think that they\u2019ve been spoken to by God.\n\nAnd to be honest with you, if I didn\u2019t have the Bible and I had an experience like that I would probably think the same thing.\u00a0 This is why the Bible is telling us to not go based on experiences; it\u2019s telling us to test the experience, does it conform to Scripture.\u00a0 In this case it doesn\u2019t because if you believe that you\u2019d have to believe God taught a doctrine of salvation totally foreign to what you read in the Bible.\u00a0 And the Bible does not teach everyone is right and wrong and on the same path and we\u2019re all going to get there in our own way.\u00a0 That\u2019s nonsense.\u00a0 If that were true why would Jesus have to die on a cross; there\u2019d be no point.\n\nSo if a person thinks they\u2019ve been spoken to by God in reality they\u2019ve been spoken to by an angel of light, either a demon or Satan himself and because we\u2019re so conditioned to look for the pitchfork and the cape, I mean, it has to be evil, it\u2019s got to feel evil.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 What did Whitney Houston say about this (not that I\u2019m trying to promote that) but there\u2019s a line in one of her songs, \u201chow could it be so wrong if it feels so right.\u201d\u00a0 Now some of\u00a0 you guys need to stop listening to that stuff, and I need to stop listening to that stuff.\u00a0 But that\u2019s how a lot of people are, if it feels right it\u2019s got to be God. And so we don\u2019t really understand angelology, we don\u2019t understand the doctrine of Satan, the beauty of Satan.\n\nAnd what else can we learn here about Satan?\u00a0 We also learn about his intelligence.\u00a0 If you look at verse 12 it says, \u201cSon of Man, take up a lamentation over the King of Tyre, thus says the Lord God, you have the seal of perfection,\u201d look at what it says here, \u201cfull of\u201d what? \u201cwisdom.\u201d\u00a0 Now what is wisdom?\u00a0 Wisdom, in the Greek it\u2019s soph\u00eda<\/em>, \u00a0is divine knowledge rightly applied to life.\u00a0 That\u2019s wisdom.\u00a0 So if you\u2019re a person that walks in wisdom you take the principles of God\u2019s Word and\u00a0 you apply them consistently to your daily life.\u00a0 That\u2019s wisdom.\u00a0 Satan was doing that but guess what?\u00a0 You can\u2019t be full of wisdom unless you have knowledge to apply to life.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 So wisdom itself implies knowledge and because Satan didn\u2019t just have wisdom but was full of wisdom he obviously was full of knowledge which clearly communicates a thought process capacity, an intellect or intelligence.\n\nSo Satan has all these things going for him, but what in the world happened?\u00a0 Verse 17 is what happened.\u00a0 Look at what it says there in verse 17. It says, \u201cYour heart was lifted up because of your beauty,\u201d oh-oh, he got the bighead, \u201cYou corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you.\u201d\u00a0 [Ezekiel 28:17]\u00a0\u00a0 Now once you understand then\u00a0 you understand why Paul says do not put a new convert into a position of authority as an elder in the church lest he fall into the condemnation of Satan.\u00a0 [1 Timothy 3:6, \u201cNo wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.\u201d]\n\nWhat condemnation of Satan?\u00a0 The one that\u2019s described right there in verse 17, because if someone is newly saved and Christian media botches this all the time.\u00a0 A prominent basketball player gets saved, a prominent baseball player gets saved, a prominent musician or something like that gets saved and the Christian world is so excited about this that we jam a microphone in their face and we kind of look to them sort of as a guide and we\u2019re violating the basic principles of the Bible that you\u2019re not supposed to do that because that person, although they may be justified before God has had almost no room for character development, and no room for maturity, and no room for growth.\u00a0 And if you put someone like that into a position of authority and by virtue of their position God starts to use them they\u2019re going to think that the reason the blessing has come is not because of God but because of them.\u00a0 And they\u2019re going to be lifted up with pride and first comes pride and then comes what? Then comes a fall.\n\nThis is exactly what Paul is talking about and that\u2019s why there\u2019s, as you go through the pastoral letters it says don\u2019t appoint a deacon unless he has first been tested. \u00a0[1 Timothy 3:10, \u201cThese men must also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach.\u201d]\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0What does that mean?\u00a0 I think it means until you have time to observe his character.\u00a0\u00a0 And that\u2019s why in 1 Timothy 5, around verse 22, it talks about not laying hands on people too quickly.\u00a0 [1 Timothy 5:22, \u201cDo not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin.?\u2019]\u00a0 And I\u2019ve heard nightmare stories of pastors of churches that are growing too fast; one of them is a friend of mine and the church just imploded primarily because he was laying\u2026 and he told me this, he was laying hands on people too fast.\u00a0 I mean, we\u2019re growing, we\u2019ve got this ministry we\u2019ve done, we\u2019ve got a need\u00a0 here, let\u2019s appoint this person and that person when the reality is the person doesn\u2019t even have the character yet to handle the position.\u00a0 They love Jesus and believe in Jesus and are going to heaven but the reality of the situation is there is no shortcut to spiritual growth.\n\nJustification is in an instant; spiritual growth is a process.\u00a0 And how do you determine if you\u2019re growing?\u00a0 I mean, one Christian grows, one Christian doesn\u2019t, why is that?\u00a0 Because the Christian that\u2019s growing is learning the Bible, but that\u2019s not enough\u2026 I know a lot of really prideful people that know a lot about the Bible.\u00a0 I went to seminary with some of them and I won\u2019t go into details there.\u00a0 But knowledge of the Bible doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re spiritually mature; it\u2019s the amount of time\u00a0 you\u2019ve taken what you know and have applied it by obedience.\u00a0 The more hours that are logged where knowledge is being applied to daily life, that\u2019s how you ascertain whether someone is growing.\u00a0 And those are the people, 1 Timothy 3:1-13, that\u00a0 you put into positions of authority in the church.\u00a0 You do not put someone in the position of authority where you have no knowledge of their level of growth. And with the Christian media and Christian celebrities and all of these kinds of things that we have we violate the principles of God and we wonder why all of our leaders fall and get discredited.\u00a0 This is exactly why!\n\nSo this is what happened to Satan, I mean he had beauty but pride came into his life because of beauty and he fell. And when Paul says, \u201clest he fall into the condemnation of the devil,\u201d that\u2019s what he\u2019s referring to.\u00a0 And what a pattern it is to watch people lifted up with pride and then they fall, Satan being the first case that we have in the Bible where this happened, and as you go through the Bible you\u2019ll see this happening over and over again to people.\u00a0 Nebuchadnezzar one day was kind of strolling around Babylon and basically ignoring what Daniel 2 says, that Babylon only existed because God brought it into existence.\u00a0 Nebuchadnezzar was the King of Babylon and he said is this not the great Babylon that\u2026 I think the pronoun \u201cI\u201d is used three times there, \u201cthat I myself have created by my own power.\u201d\u00a0 And we know what happened to Nebuchadnezzar, the words were still on his tongue and he became an insane person, an animal for seven\u00a0 years.\n\nAnother example of it is Uzziah, 2 Chronicles 16:16, you want to talk about a king that had a good first term?\u00a0 That was Uzziah, I mean, everything was going right until you get to verse 16 and it mentions pride, \u00a0And he went into the temple and did something that only the priest is supposed to do concerning the incense.\u00a0 In other words, he thought the rules were beneath him; the rules apply to everyone else but not me.\u00a0 Once you start thinking that way, beloved, we find ourselves in a lot of trouble; we\u2019re very close to the condemnation of Satan.\u00a0 And so we know what happened to Uzziah, he was smote with leprosy from head to toe and he spent his whole life living in a house as a leper;\u00a0 the condemnation of Satan.\n\nYou go to the New Testament and you have Herod and as he was speaking at Agrippa, the masses were saying \u201cthe voice of God, not of man.\u201d\u00a0 I mean, this guy speaks like a god, and of course an angel of the Lord struck him dead and he was eaten with worms.\u00a0 Acts 12:20-23.\u00a0\u00a0 [Acts 12:20-23, \u201cNow he was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; and with one accord they came to him, and having won over Blastus the king's chamberlain, they were asking for peace, because their country was fed by the king's country.\u00a0 [21] On an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them.\u00a0 [22] \u00a0<\/sup>The people kept crying out, \u201cThe voice of a god and not of a man!\u201d [23] \u00a0<\/sup>And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.\u201d\n\nAnd I think that\u2019s a window into Paul\u2019s thorn in the flesh experience because if there was a guy\u00a0 that could ever be lifted up with pride in life as a servant of God I think it would be Paul.\u00a0 I mean, wouldn\u2019t you be a little prideful if you were taken into the third heaven and shown things or you heard things that people aren\u2019t fit to hear?\u00a0 And you understood certain things that no one else understood?\u00a0 I think he struggled with pride and that\u2019s why God simultaneously gave him a thorn in the flesh which kept him weak and humble and dependent.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s a different way of understanding suffering; sometimes suffering is needed to keep us off our high horse so God can keep using us.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0\u00a0 Because once you go under the condemnation of the devil it\u2019s just that, the condemnation of the devil.\u00a0 That\u2019s why you have there at the very top of the screen Proverbs 16:18, \u201cFirst comes a haughty spirit\u201d or \u201ca haughty spirit precedes destruction.\u201d\u00a0 And then 1 Peter 5:5 says \u201cGod opposes the proud, \u201c you mean there\u2019s certain people that God is opposing?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 \u201cGod opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.\u201d\n\nSo Satan is sort of a prototype of the condemnation of Satan which has plagued many, many people, not just in the Bible but even throughout human history.\u00a0 So this is what happened to Satan; he became the first entry in the hall of the humbled. AND what happened is consequences follow sin like night follows the day.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the deal;\u00a0 you get to pick your sin, I get to pick my sin and so do you.\u00a0 Do you know what you don\u2019t get to pick?\u00a0 You don\u2019t get to pick the consequences.\u00a0 The consequences are determined by forces that are beyond our control.\u00a0 And so Satan, because of this action, this attitude, began to experience certain consequences.\n\nBy the way, if you want some verses on consequences following sin, James 1:14-15, how we\u2019re enticed by our lusts sin ultimately leads to death, Romans 6:23, \u201cthe wages of sin is death.\u201d.\u00a0 [James 1:14-15, \u201cBut each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. [15] \u00a0<\/sup>Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 See, we don\u2019t think about this when we\u2019re sinning, do we?\u00a0 Nobody is thinking about the consequences but biblically consequences follow sin like night follows the day.\u00a0 When David had his affair with Bathsheba I don\u2019t think it was even in his mind of the fact that he\u2019d be deposed, the fact that he would have to lie to cover it up, commit murder to cover it up, he just thought it was a one night stand; he never thought she\u2019d come back and say I\u2019m pregnant and put a whole series of problems into his life.\u00a0 So he picked his sin but he didn\u2019t get to pick the consequences.\n\nGalatians 6:6-9 we reap what we sow, etc.\u00a0 [Galatians 6:6, \u201cThe one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him<\/em>. [7] Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. \u00a0<\/sup>[8] \u00a0<\/sup>For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. [9] Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.\u201d]\n\nSo Satan, as a free moral agent, began to experience consequences, the most of which I can tell have never been reversed.\u00a0 These are consequences that he\u2019s under perpetually.\u00a0 So what are those?\u00a0 Number 1, he lost his position in heaven and he fell.\u00a0 You see that in verses 16-17. \u00a0\u00a0[Ezekiel [16]\u00a0 \u201cBy the abundance of your trade you were internally filled with violence, and you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God.\u00a0 And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.\u00a0 [17] Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.\u00a0 I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, that they may see you.\u201d]\n\nNumber two, his fall does not mean that he has been permanently banished from heaven.\u00a0 He still\u00a0 retains access to heaven, not to worship and serve as he once did as a high ranking angel but rather to communicate and to accuse.\u00a0 You say well how do we know that?\u00a0 Job 1:6, Job 2:1, Zechariah 3:1, Luke 22:31, Revelation 12:7-10.\n\n[Job 1:6, \u201cNow there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and\u00a0 Satan also came among them.\n\nJob 2:1, \u201cAgain there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, \u00a0\u00a0and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord.\n\nZechariah 3:1, \u201cThen he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.\u201d\n\nLuke 22:31, \u201cSimon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission<\/em> to sift you like wheat.\u201d\n\nRevelation 12:7-10, \u201cAnd there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, [8] \u00a0<\/sup>and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. [9] \u00a0<\/sup>And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. [10] \u00a0<\/sup>Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying\u2026\u201d]\n\nIt\u2019s very clear in the Book of Job Satan has access to heaven.\u00a0 He accused Job, Zechariah 3, he stood up to accuse the high priest Joshua.\u00a0 Jesus said to Peter in Luke 22:31, \u00a0\u201c\u201cSimon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission<\/em> to sift you like wheat.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Revelation 12:7-10 calls him the accuser of the brethren.\n\n[Revelation 12:7-10, \u201cAnd there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, [8] and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. [9] And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. [10]\u00a0<\/sup>Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, \u2018Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.\u201d\u2019]\n\nAnd that privilege as far as I can tell doesn\u2019t get removed until halfway through the tribulation period.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve seen that in our study of the Book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 12.\u00a0 So he fell, yes, but retained some access to heaven, not to worship and serve as he once did as a cherub but to communicate and to accuse.\u00a0 So it\u2019s another case where God is allowing Satan to exist to accomplish God\u2019s purposes.\u00a0 Apparently God is working through this communication and accusation.\n\nNumber three, we know that some of the angels fell with him. Verse 14 calls him an \u201canointed cherub who covers.\u201d [You were the anointed cherub who covers<\/u>,<\/strong> And I placed you there<\/em>. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.\u201d]\u00a0 Verse 16 calls him a covering cherub.\n\nSo if he was not just an angel but a lead angel it would stand to reason that many of the angels under his command or his authority also fell with him.\u00a0 And the rest of the Bible corroborates this because it talks in Revelation 12:4 and verses 7-9 how a third of the stars\u2026 the dragon\u2019s tail swept a third of the stars out of heaven. \u00a0And later on in that chapter, verses 7-9 it talks about Michael and his angels and Satan and his angels.\u00a0 Well who are his angels, Satan\u2019s angels?\u00a0 These are the third that originally fell with him.\u00a0 You say well how do you know it was a third?\u00a0 Revelation 12 says that.\u00a0 Is says the dragon swept a third of the stars out of the sky. \u00a0Revelation 12:3-4.\u00a0 Revelation 12:7-9 defines those stars as fallen angels.\n\n[Revelation 12:3-4, \u201cThen another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.\u00a0 [4] \u201cAnd his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Revelation 12:7-9, \u201cAnd there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war,\u00a0 [8]\u00a0 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.\u00a0 [9]\u00a0 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.\u201d]\n\nSo the way it works is two-thirds of the angels are on our side, one-third are on Satan\u2019s side, an actual numerical division is given there in the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 \u00a0This is why in Matthew\u2019s gospel it refers frequently to Satan\u2019s angels.\u00a0 Matthew 25:41, hell was created for the devil and his angels.\u00a0 [Matthew 25:41, \u201cThen He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;\u201d]\u00a0 You\u2019ll see the same thing in Matthew 12:24, Satan and his angels.\u00a0 [Matthew 12:24, \u201cBut when the Pharisees heard this, they said, \"This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.\u201d]\n\nAnd I believe that these third of the angels that fell participated in Satan\u2019s initial sin; it\u2019s not as clear as I would like it to be but I get the impression that when he decided to do this, the fact of pride, he talked or deceived a third into following him.\u00a0 These angels participated in Satan\u2019s initial sin since they would not have sinned subsequently, I mean, we can\u2019t have the fall of the third happen subsequently when they saw the consequences.\u00a0 I mean, why would they go redo something that Satan has suffered consequences for.\u00a0 I\u2019m getting the impression that this all happened at the same time.\u00a0 These angels participated in Satan\u2019s initial sin since they would not have sinned subsequently since they saw the consequences of Satan\u2019s rebellion, AND, Satan and his fallen angels are confirmed in wickedness.\u00a0 That\u2019s why he\u2019s called Belial, nothing redemptive in him.\u00a0 Hell was created for the devil and his angels, Matthew 25:41.\u00a0 [Matthew 25:41, \u201cThen He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;\u201d]\n\nWhen Jesus was on the earth remember what the demons were saying?\u00a0 \u201cHave you come to torture us, Son of God, before the\u201d what? \u201cappointed time.\u201d\u00a0 [Matthew 8:29]\u00a0 The demons have a pretty good understanding of the things; they have a high view of Christ as the Son of God, they believe in the reality of hell, and they believe they\u2019re going there.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a matter of time.\n\nSo be careful about how you use James 2:19. Oh, you guys at Sugar Land Bible Church, you keep saying just believe in Jesus, that\u2019s all you\u2019ve got to do.\u00a0 Well, Satan believes and people\u00a0 will use that to try to attack the gospel of grace. But when you do that you\u2019re mixes apples and oranges.\u00a0 You can\u2019t use that verse for that purpose because the plan of salvation is open to the human race but the plan of salvation is not open to the demons.\u00a0 That\u2019s why they\u2019re trembling.\n\nSo this sort of gives us a mindset into the desperation of Satan.\u00a0 If you and\u00a0 your army are going down what do\u00a0 you think you\u2019re going to try to do?\u00a0 I mean, if I were in his position I would try to take as many people with me as I could.\u00a0 So it shows you how desperate he is, it shows you how serious he is, it shows\u00a0 you our warfare is so significant, because we\u2019re dealing with a foe that\u2019s on his way out, with no hope of turning it around for him.\n\nAnd then one other thing, and we\u2019ll stop with this.\u00a0 This actually is very important.\u00a0 His thought process became darkened.\u00a0 Remember how the paragraph started?\u00a0 \u201cLucifer, full of wisdom.\u201d\u00a0 Look at how it ends, verse 17, \u201cYou corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, you\u2019re dealing with an entity that\u2019s not thinking correctly, that\u2019s not logical because you get this question a lot from people, they say well, doesn\u2019t Satan know he can\u2019t be God? \u00a0\u00a0Well, you\u2019re assuming a lot in that question; you\u2019re assuming that Satan is logical, you\u2019re assuming that he\u2019s rational.\u00a0 Verse 17 is very clear that he\u2019s not rational because his wisdom has been corrupted.\n\nYou know, Adolf Hitler, at the end of his diabolical reign, it is a documented historical fact started wars with countries he could never win, and his own generals tried to talk him out of it\u2026 he did it anyway!\u00a0 You say well why did he do it, it\u2019s not logical?\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t thinking logically, he was thinking by means of pride.\u00a0 His intellect had been corrupted.\u00a0 I\u2019ve used this statistic before in here, see that line and then all of a sudden it drops; those are the SAT scores in the United States.\u00a0 And that line is 1963.\u00a0\u00a0 You say well what happened in 1963, radioactive poisoning?\u00a0 Did a meteor hit our country?\u00a0 No, that was the year the Supreme Court threw the Bible out of the schools.\n\nProverbs 1:7 says \u201cThe fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.\u201d\u00a0 You want to be smart\u2014fear God.\u00a0 You want to be dumb, you want your brain not to work the way it\u2019s supposed to, then reject God.\u00a0 Romans 1:21-22 is very clear that when the human race, and I feel that our country is probably right about there, goes so far that it rejects the obvious, that God exists, and they instead go into all kinds of perversions then God gives them\u00a0 up.\u00a0 It\u2019s sarcasm, God says you gave up on Me, I\u2019m going to give up on you.\u00a0 And He gives them over to what they want to do.\u00a0 Those are some of the most frightening words, really, that I can think of in the whole Bible and I think of the late great\u00a0 United States and all of the total perversion that we are tolerating now, right down to transvestites teaching kids in public school libraries.\n\nAnd we wonder how did we get to this place?\u00a0 Well, we rejected truth and if you reject truth and you give up on God, God gives you over.\u00a0 And what happens is your thought process, it\u2019s right there in Romans 1:21-22, it becomes darkened.\u00a0 Your mind doesn\u2019t word right.\u00a0\u00a0 [Romans 1:21-22, \u201cFor even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. [22] Professing to be wise, they became fools, [23] and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.\u201d]\u00a0 The mind is pouring more money\u2026 oh my goodness, I\u2019m really getting on a terror here and I\u2019m two minutes over, pouring more money into the school system isn\u2019t going to fix anything because the school system is anti-God.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care how much money you\u2019re going to shovel in there you\u2019re going to get the same result because we\u2019ve rejected the most basic principle of Scripture, that \u201cthe fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.\u201d\u00a0 [Proverbs 9:10, \u201cThe fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.\u201d]\n\nSo that is what happened with Satan, his intellect became corrupted and the next time we\u2019re together we\u2019ll be looking at the Isaiah 14 passage, so you might want to read that by way of preparation.\n\nLet\u2019s pray.\u00a0 Father, we\u2019re grateful for today, for all the blessings, even this new floor that we\u2019re on.\u00a0 So we praise you for that.\u00a0 And we just pray you\u2019ll be with us in our church service today as we study Your Word.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name and God\u2019s people said\u2026. Amen!\u00a0\u00a0 Happy intermission.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t