I Peter 5:8,9 - Be Sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

I. How will Satan gain control of the entire world, or why would people allow him to get control?

This has been given to him by God.

Isaiah 14:12-14 - Satan's rise to power. Satan desired to sit in God's throne which is located in the empty place in the north. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

Luke 4:5-8, God will never allow Satan to sit in His throne, but He has given Satan a throne which will be over this entire world. And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

II Thess 2:4, One of these days, Satan will give to his man, the Antichrist, the power to sit on this throne. The reign will last 3½ years, which will be a very black time for this earth. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Rev. 20:10, at the end of this 3½ year reign of Satan, he will be removed from his throne and cast into the Lake of Fire. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Men will come to the place of wanting Satan to reign over them more than they want Christ to reign over them.

Example - (Parable of the pounds) Luke 19:14 - But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.

John 18:38-40 - Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all. 39 But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the Passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? 40 Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. There seems to be more wickedness and corruption and evil doings in our world today than ever before. Every time you read the newspaper there are so many articles of violence. Every time you turn on the television most of the programs are of a wicked, lustful, sinful nature.

I believe the reason for this wickedness today is that we are living in the last days and the devil is putting forth a special effort to do everything he can to hinder souls from being saved and hinder the saved from living for the Lord.

II Thess 2:7, Satan is already working. "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way." This can be clearly seen in Revelation 13:1-3, which describes the Anti-Christ kingdom as revealed in Daniel in the kingdoms of Babylon, Medes and Persians, Greece and Rome. The Anti-Christ kingdom develops slowly over time, and the time for the full revelation of Satan’s kingdom is very near at hand.

The Bible says Satan is the prince and power of the air. Eph. 2:2.

The devil is mad at God from the time he was kicked out of heaven unto this earth. He will do everything he can to disrupt the work that God loves, the work of his church, Christian families, of individual Christians. We need to be aware of our enemy, Satan. We need to do as our text says and be on guard every day.

These things are accepted today, when 20 years ago they were not accepted: abortion, homosexuals, adultery, fornication, divorce, drinking, smoking, cursing, swearing, etc.;. This is the work of Satan.

Don't ever forget that Satan is a very real person. He doesn't have a body as you and I have, but he puts his influence into our bodies as we let him. John 13:27, And after the sop, Satan entered into him. This is talking about Judas (a lost man, who became demon possessed) when he betrayed the Lord. Satan used Judas. He is a very real person. Saved people cannot be demon possessed, but Satan can fill our heart – see Acts 5:3.

How will Satan work in the minds of men to get them to follow him.

He must change times and laws - Daniel 7:25 - And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. Part of Satan’s plan is to get people to think differently about sin and the everyday things of their lives.

The work ethic.

Some 20 or 30 years ago, workers wanted a fair days wage for a fair days pay. Many still want this today, but many want more pay and less production.

Some 40 years ago, nobody wanted on welfare, today many people see welfare as a way to get money without having to work for it.

Some 30 years ago, being on the public dole was a thing of shame, but today, many people want this money.

Morals.

Some 20 or 30 years ago, having a baby out of wedlock was a shame. Today, however, many people congratulate those having babies out of wedlock.

Some 20 or 30 years ago, divorce was a shame, but today it is almost expected that people will divorce.

The family.

Some 20 or 30 years ago, the family (husband, wife and children) was the most important unit of our society.

Today the family is called almost anything. A man and woman living together without marriage is called a family. (It used to be called "shacking up".) Two men or two women living together as homosexuals is called a family. (It used to be called an abomination.) People who work together are called a family. (It used to be called a work unit.) People to do almost anything together are called a family.

An Angel of Light. II Cor. 11:13-14 - For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Satan’s temptations do not appear as temptations, but as opportunities.

Satan doesn’t appear to men as evil, but as good.

Satan doesn’t appear to men as a red creature with horns and a pitchfork, with the smell of brimstone on him.

If he appeared like that, nobody would follow him.

The apostle Paul warns against false prophets and false teachers, who do not tell the truth nor warn you of the consequences of sin, but try to say that everything is relevant, that it is sin only if we think it is sin.

Satan never shows the true consequences of sin and rebellion against God, but always shows the pleasures of sin.

Can you imagine advertising cigarette smoking by showing people with cancer, emphysema, or heart problems?

Can you imagine advertising beer and whiskey by showing broken homes, a drunk in the gutter, a car wreck where blood and beer are mixed together in the same pool?

Sin is always portrayed by sophisticated, educated, "with-it" young people who are enjoying themselves.

Tempts. James 1:14 - But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. We are tempted when we are drawn away of our own lusts and enticed. It is very true that we are tempted of our own lusts, but we must also understand that Satan uses things to cause our lusts to be "activated".

One of the tricks of Satan is to tempt humans to rebel against God, to follow the desires and lusts of their body, showing the pleasures of sin, but never the consequences of sin. Satan makes people think they are very wise to use their intelligence to work out problems, instead of using faith, what God says in His Bible.

Satan makes people think they are old fashioned and dumb (not up-to-date) if they believe the Bible is true and they find answers to daily dilemmas in the Bible.

He can never get the spirit of a saved person, so he always works on our bodies.

He works on us only when we try to obey God. Jesus began His temptation only after He was baptized.

Christ was led of the Spirit into the wilderness. Christ will never tempt us, but he may put us into a place where He will allow Satan to tempt us. Refer to Job.

Satan will always put his greatest temptations before us when we are physically weakest.

Satan will tempt us in three main ways.

Under confidence.

Over confidence.

Other confidence.

The only way you can defeat Satan is by the Word of God.

This is what Christ said.

Evil Thoughts. Evil thoughts do not appear to us as evil thoughts, but as good ideas, particularly our good ideas.

The only way we can tell whether our ideas are really good ideas is to check with God’s Word -- the Bible. Evil thoughts are thoughts that are against God’s commandments.

The devil is the author of all evil thoughts that go into our heads and hearts. The devil put the thought into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus. John 13:2, The devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Jesus. Judas was lost and Satan put the thought into his heart, Judas actually became "demon possessed". Judas actually thought it was a good idea to betray Christ, and besides that, he would come out with 30 pieces of silver for himself. Doesn’t this sound like many "modern" religions, and many "modern" people who use religion as a rung on the ladder of success?

If you are saved, Satan can still put evil thoughts into your head. See Acts 5:3, Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? If you think you can go ahead a do that thing that Satan suggests, you are deceiving yourself. Ananias and Sapphira were going to serve God and make money on the side.

Takes Advantage. We must be on guard against the devil every day lest he lead us into a situation where he will go off and leave us holding the bag. As Paul said, Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. II Cor. 2:11.

What is a device of Satan? It is whatever Satan can use to his advantage in order to accomplish his purpose.

Some of Satan’s devices.

II Cor. 11:3 - Satan tempted Eve and can tempt us. Satan showed Eve the "good" side of sin.

I Chronicles 21 - Satan stood up and tempted David to number Israel. He should have known better and we should know better than to sin and try to hide it.

I Cor. 7:5 - Satan can tempt with adultery if a married couple doesn’t come together.

Eph. 6:11 - Put on the whole armour of God so we will be able to fight against Satan.

The only way Satan can get an advantage of us is if we are ignorant of his devices.

The only place we can go to discover Satan’s devices is the Bible.

If the church at Corinth didn’t forgive the man who had sinned and asked forgiveness, then Satan would hurt them.

If they had bitterness remaining in them, they are the ones who are hurt.

When bitterness develops, there is a continual remembering of the evil.

In a church, there are often people who come together to worship, who don’t even like each other. Matthew 5:21-26 speaks of people coming to worship with hate in their hearts. First get it right with God, then God will bless your worship.

Hinders. I Thess. 2:18, Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us. How wonderful it would be to see the work of God grow and prosper, but Satan is doing all he can do to stop it and cause his work to increase.

Satan used the principle of substitution. He substitutes man’s ideas and methods of church growth for God’s ideas and methods of church growth.

These ideas will be gimmicks. I will guarantee you that if you get people to come to church by using gimmicks, you will have to continue the gimmicks to get them to continue coming. Just as soon as the gimmicks stop, the people will stop coming.

If you get people to come to church because they hear the preaching of God’s Word, they will continue coming as long as God’s Word is being preached.

But Satan is going to do everything he can to hinder that from happening. He will put a chip on somebody's shoulder, or give somebody a little malicious gossip to spread, or cause two brethren to fall out over some little minor thing to hinder the work of the Lord.

Luke 11:52 - The lawyers hindered folks from entering the kingdom.

I Peter 3:7 - The husband’s prayer will be hindered if the relationship with his wife is not right.

Accuses. Rev. 12:10, For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. The devil is a liar and the father of lies and he likes to tell lies on people. The only way he can do this is to get people to tell lies on other people. He puts thoughts into our mind and heart and stirs them up and causes people to accuse one another of things that are not right or some little difference. We know the devil is an accuser for he accuses the Lord's people even before the Lord. Satan will never cause a person to accuse himself of his own wickedness. Let us not do Satan’s job for him.

Matthew 12:10 - The Pharisees wanted to accuse Christ of healing the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath.

I Tim. 3:3 - A sign of the last days is that there will be many false accusers.

Romans 2:15 - Sinners will either accuse or excuse their sinfulness.

Deceives. Rev. 12:9, And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him

Through logic, through humanistic persuasion.

What is so absolutely amazing is that after 1,000 years of perfect peach on earth while Christ reigns from Jerusalem, Satan is turned loose and immediately gathers a vast multitude together to fight against Christ and His Kingdom.

Matthew 24:11, 24 - Many false prophets shall arise in the last days and deceive many. Eph. 5:6 - Let no man deceive you. II Tim. 3:13 - Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Romans 7:11 - Sin deceived Paul.

I Cor. 3:18 - Let no man deceive himself. Gal. 6:3 - If a man thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

I Cor. 6:9 - Do not be deceived, wicked people shall not enter into the Kingdom of God.

Gal. 6:7 - Be not deceived, whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.

James 1:22 - "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."

Desires to have you. Yes, the devil would like to wreck and ruin your life. The devil would like to keep the lost as his own and drag them to the fires of hell with him. Satan knows he can't get the souls of the saved, but he certainly desires to destroy their lives and any good influence they might have on others.

Jesus even warned Peter in Luke 22:31, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not."

When wheat is sifted, the only thing left is the kernel.

Satan wanted all of Peter, so the only thing left of Peter would be the kernel of his soul, which would go to heaven, but his life would be wasted.

Conclusion.

His end. Cast into the Lake of Fire. Rev. 20;10, And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.

It may seem like Satan has done a lot of things when we look at what has happened in this world. Satan will reign over this world from a throne set up in Jerusalem. Millions and millions of people will think he is the grandness of all. But his end is not quite so glamorous.

Is. 14:15-17, Yet thou shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?

B. The way of victory. I John 5:4, For whosoever is born of God overcometh the world, even our faith. I John 4:4, Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than He that is in the world.

IV. Satan doesn’t have to have the victory over us.

Praise God we have a savior.

We have a savior who conquered sin, the grave, and was victorious over Satan.

He did not submit to Satan's temptations, or Satan's wiles, but our savior lived a perfect life because He was victorious over Satan and through faith in Him, we also will be victorious over Satan.

Jesus made the perfect sacrifice for sinners who would repent and place their faith in Him, and trust Him as their Personal Savior.

When we are saved, He comes to live within our heart, and gives us the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit to help us live a victorious life for Jesus.

B. Be sure your faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Be sure you are saved by His grace, His marvelous sacrifice, sacrificial death, proven by His resurrection from the dead that we have a savior who is stronger, wiser than our enemy, Satan. Be on guard!!