Satan is not a red guy with a pitch fork. We understand that he might have been beautiful and possibly the director of music before the fall. He was one of the angels that wanted to take God’s place.

You have probably seen someone being executed that got the privilege of a last meal. This week, we will look at Satan’s last meal in the 20th chapter of Revelation.

And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he should not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. (Rev. 20:1-3)

And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Rev. 20:7-10)

Since we have an enemy, I believe it is important to know the character of our enemy.

1. Satan is a Deceiver

Satan really has no power that you don’t give him. He can’t make you do anything. You have to open the door. Because he can't force you to act, he resorts to deception and tells us things like:

“A little won’t hurt” “God just doesn’t want you to have any fun.” “You are the master of your destiny” “Truth is what YOU think”

Satan deceives us into dissolving our potent Christian walk by confusing us. The message of the Bible and the Gospel is really very simple. It is not hard to understand – it is hard to obey. So, Satan deceives us – muddies the water – tempts us to destroy our testimony. If you are a believer, he can’t take your salvation away; but he can deceive you into living a mediocre, inconsistent, confused, life. He can’t rob your eternal life; but he can make you into a miserable testimony (which keeps others out of heaven).

He’s pretty good at it – watch for him.

2. Satan is a bully

In this passage, it says that Satan began to try to surround the armies of God. It is very similar to how he works in our lives. How does he surround us?

- He gets a multitude of people to say the same thing. That’s how politicians work through the media. But, it also applies to our personal lives
– If enough people say the same thing we tend to believe it. - He convinces people to water down the truth when people say things like, “There are many ways to get to heaven, etc.”
- He tries to puff us up by telling us we can believe what we want, planting the idea that we know more than God. Often a bully will give you a fat head to set you up for the fat lip.

In God’s economy, many times we must stand alone. Often, we will be outnumbered and feel bullied by Satan. We can’t let him win by giving in to the pressure. We have to realize that we may be physically small or unpopular; but we do not have to be a weak Christian. That is a choice we make.

3. Satan is a loser

Satan knows that although he wins some battles, he will ultimately lose the “war.” He only has the power that we give him. He is going to lose and he knows it. He never had the power and the position that He wanted. What he wants is to do as much destruction as possible.

We know, in the end, that he loses. We know that he deceives us and bullies us; yet we take comfort that he will ultimately be defeated – he will lose the war. But, what about the daily battles I have to fight? I’m glad you asked. James tells us:

Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. (James 4:7-10)

1. Resist the Devil

I don’t know how you picture this in your mind, but I picture the “stiff arm.” I was a blocking fullback in football. Many of the people that tried to tackle me were bigger than me. I couldn’t take them head on, so many times I got by them with the old stiff arm. Literally we have to stiff arm (not strong arm) the Devil daily. To apply the stiff arm, you have to be aware that he is coming. You also have to keep your feet under you. Although you are deflecting his blow, you still absorb some of the energy. The last thing you must do is to get on down the road. You have to keep moving. If you relish the victory too long, he may get up and tackle you.

The promise, in this verse, is that he will flee from you. He gives up easy. He may be back tomorrow; but resist him today and he will flee from you. There are several choices. 1. Try to fight him. Did you know that the Bible never tells us to “clank swords” with the Devil? Why? Because he is powerful – it’s not our battle to fight. 2. We could get paralyzed with fear; but we have no reason to fear, if God is on our side. 3. We can avoid and resist him – this is the Biblical solution.

2. Draw Near to God

Did you know that God is not that far from you? Even if you are deeply fallen in sin; God is not that far away. He is waiting for you to draw near. If you don’t have a relationship with Him, He stands and knocks. If you do, He is waiting for you to repent and confess your sins. He WILL draw near to you. Acts 17:27 says that He is “not far from each of us.”

How does this help us fight Satan? I have a few ideas:

- Satan can’t stand the pure Word of God
- Satan can’t withstand the Power of God
- Satan can’t understand the Will of God
- Satan can’t stand long in the Presence of God

When you draw near to God, you drive Satan away.

3. Humble Yourself

God works in a specific way. When we lift ourselves up, He always humbles us. When we humble ourselves, He lifts us up. He always does that – it is His nature. When we approach God in pride, we are doing just what Satan did. God doesn’t want you to get bright enough to tell Him what to do. He wants you to get bright enough to obey. I think the biggest need of the church worldwide is for humility. Although God is not limited, I think we limit Him. I would suggest the most vigorous work being done in most churches is the humbling of the saints. We get prideful and God humbles us – we get mad at Him for that – sometimes we’re sorry – sometimes we get more knowledge and get more prideful --- and on and on it goes.

Why don’t we take the initiative and get humble. We must resist the Devil, we must draw near to God, but we also must get humble.

Karl J. Forehand, 2001