Supernatural Series: Lucifer

1.) Any of you watch crime shows? CSI? Special Victim’s Unit? Criminal Minds? All of those shows have to do with Criminal Profiling.

Criminal profiling, is a behavioral and investigative tool that is intended to help investigators to profile unknown criminal subjects or offenders. Basically, it’s getting a clear picture of the motives and thought processes of the enemy, or criminal.

Tonight I’d like to do a criminal profile on Satan. Why on earth would I want to do that? Because Satan is real, and he’s after you and I and will not be content until he’s captured our souls. In any battle, it’s important to know your enemy. So this evening, we are going to explore three characteristics of Satan.

First, he is a distracter. Well, where is the harm in that? We all get distracted. In fact, some of you are distracted right now. J But Satan knows that if he can distract you, he can keep you from your true purpose, which has everything to do with God and giving Him glory through your life.

How does Satan distract you? He’ll keep you busy. Too busy putting out fires in your own life to even think about the people around you. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.” Haggai 1:9

Our personal plans and feelings and stuff keep us focused on our own life, rather than the great commission. Satan doesn’t even have to entice you to sin if he can just keep you too busy to be about God’s work.

He will also distract you with temptation. Temptation is tricky, because it is everywhere and you can’t control that. But you can control your reaction to it. What should that reaction be? To FLEE!! Run away, run away!! (monty python blip here?)

Another way to deal with temptation is to pray and ask God to remove it from you. Matthew 6:3 “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Our public enemy number one is who the Bible is referring to as ‘the evil one’. Another verse in 1 Corinthians promises us that God will always provide a way out. Always.

So we now know that Satan is a Distracter, He’s either keeping us busy or tempting us with sin. Be on the lookout for this tactic, it’s probably his sneakiest.

2.) Satan is a deceiver. 2 Corinthians 11:14 says “for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” He pretends to be a good guy. He promises good things; an easier life, no consequences, better opportunities.

He misleads us, misrepresents. Presents false information or information out of context. He’s a big fat liar! Ah, but he’s a sneaky liar. He’s a good liar. And a good liar will mix just enough of the truth into their story that you will buy into it, hook, line and sinker. Do you know what that phrase means? Hook, line, and sinker? It’s fishing phrase. It’s when a fish takes the bait. They swallow everything that the fisherman has put in their path. What happens next? Jerk! The fisherman is tugging that line and hard as the fish may try to swim away, he’s getting reeled in and tossed into the frying pan for supper. Or at the very least, a good chunk of him is getting left on that hook.

It’s the very same for us. Satan feeds us a line. It usually starts with something minor, say, if you cheat on this test no one will know and I’ll just do better in the class. He usually throws in a supporting argument, or a justification. Besides, you’re a really good student anyway, you do fine in your other classes, this teacher is just really unreasonable. And soon enough you’ve compromised yourself. It may not be cheating on a test. It may be lying to your parents. Or shoplifting something minor like a lip gloss or a lighter. It may be dating the guy or girl that your parents explicitly told you not to date. It may be trying that first beer or smoking that first cigarette.

See Satan is a smartypants. He knows that if he can just get you to compromise a little bit the first time, then the second compromise will come easier. Meaning he won’t have to work so hard, and you will let your guard down faster. And soon, you will be compromising so often that you don’t even think about it anymore.

Our youth pastor growing up told us that sin will always take you further than you ever wanted to go.

I have an interesting example for you. How many of you have been bitten by a flea? I’m not saying you have fleas, but maybe you have just been bitten by one. I have. It’s not a huge deal, just a little pinch and it may itch for a bit afterwards, right?

How many of you have heard of the Bubonic Plague? Or the Black Plague? It was responsible for 75 million deaths in the 1600’s. Turns out, the Black Plague was caused by flea bites. The fleas caught the infection from rats, when the rats died, the fleas looked for a new host and gave it to people. 2 out of every 3 people infected from a flea died within four days.

Sin is kind of like that first flea bite. It just seems like a small deal at first. You don’t realize that you’ve infected yourself with something that will ultimately consume you and destroy your life.

The first tiny bite is one of Satan’s favorite tactics. Because he is a deceiver who looks for opportunities to entice you into sin.

3.) The last attribute of Satan I want to discuss with you tonight is that he is a destroyer.

The reality is that Satan’s fate has been decided. God shared his end-game with us all the way back in Genesis 3:15 when he told us that the offspring of man will ‘crush the head’ of the serpant. The serpent is Satan and Jesus is the offspring of man that will crush his head. It is only a matter of time before Satan’s destiny is fulfilled and it is a Lake of Fire. Revelation 20:10 tells us just that: “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

Satan’s promised demise is no surprise to him. He knows his destiny. He sealed his fate long ago. Now he’s just seeing who he can take down in the process. Like that movie, Drag Me to Hell. Rob and I were appalled at that movie, why would anyone want to see it? Because that is what Satan truly is trying to do.

If he’s going to have to suffer hell, he wants you to as well.

So Satan is a destroyer. He is doing his best to drag you along with him on his path of self-destruction. He’s proving the old saying “misery loves company.” Satan longs to make you as miserable as he is.

There is a scripture that paints a very clear picture of Satan’s plan for your life. It is found in 1 Peter 5:8. “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

I had dream about this one time. I dreamt I was swimming in a public pool, early in the morning. It wasn't crowded. I was really enjoying the cool of the morning and the cool water against my skin. Very invigorating. I finished up my swim, climbed out of the pool and walked out of the fenced in pool area towards my car. Right away I felt like something wasn't right. I could see people up in trees, and after a moment I realized the object of their terror - a tremendous hungry lion was out of his cage. I know this because he was dragging a big chain from a collar on his neck, along with a chunk of his iron cage. Of course, he immediately spotted me and I knew I was lion bait. Quickly, I assessed that running wasn't an option (he'd only be playing with his food before he devoured it) so I pulled my towel over my body and huddled on the ground as still as I could. I could feel him approach me, sniffing me out. I was terrified for a moment, at the sound of his pads approaching. I felt the lion open his cavernous mouth and place it over my head, literally encompassing my head is his open jaw. In this moment I was no longer scared, all the Bible stories of lions and salvation downloaded into my brain. I just whispered an internal prayer, telling God if it was my time to go and it was going to be like this, I was ready. But I also told Him I believed He could still save me if He wanted to. We hung there for an eternity, long enough for me to wonder if I had already passed from this life to the next. Then, the lion picked himself up and closed his mouth and walked away, distracted by some other more interesting food perhaps? As soon as he had left the immediate premise, I quickly climbed the nearest tree, which wasn't very tall and probably no trouble for a hungry lion. The rest of my dream was spent debating whether or not I should take the risk of changing trees or running to my car (several hundred yards away) and wondering why no one had called animal control yet. My cell phone was in my car...

I realized when I woke up how the dream was exactly like real life. We just go about our daily lives and forget that Satan is seeking who he may destroy. The reality is, a hungry predator is on the loose looking for it’s next meal. Satan is a destroyer.

Altar:

So how do we counteract the fact that Satan is a distracter, a deceiver, and a destroyer. Is it hopeless for us?

Not at all. Remember Satan’s future? He is fighting a losing battle.

Romans 16:12 “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”

The son of God reigns in your heart. Jesus is with you. He will guide you if you just allow Him. If that weren’t enough, He also sent His Holy Spirit to empower you, and we are going to talk a lot more about that next week.

We can overcome Satan’s accusations by Christ’s blood and the word of God. Reading your word, understanding the battle plan for the fight you are in, that is huge in defense against this enemy. In fact, with an accurate understanding of the battle, you can move from defensive to offensive, where you are actually taking territory back from Satan!

Mark 3:27 says “In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.”

In this scripture Satan is the strong man and the plundering refers to taking back the lost. Armed with scripture and the Holy Spirit, we literally have the authority to reclaim what the devil has taken from us.

So tonight, have you realized that the devil is a distracter, a deceiver and a destroyer? Do you need to kick him to the curb in your own life? Do you need to call out the names of lost loved ones that he has claimed? That is what we are going to do right now.

Divide into small groups. Share together if Satan has been winning the war in your life. Share the names of loved ones that need to be won back to Christ. Pray together over your own lives and the lives of the lost loved ones.