FOLLIES AND FAILURES OF THE DEVIL

CHRIST THE ROCK CONGREGATION

SUNDAY JUNE 18^TH 2023

Sermon by Pastor Marc Simeon

THE FOLLY OF THE DEVIL

Isaiah 14:12-17

12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!

 13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north;

 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’

 15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.

 16 “Those who see you will gaze at you, And consider you, saying: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms,

 17 Who made the world as a wilderness And destroyed its cities, Who did not open the house of his prisoners?’

INTRODUCTION

• There are all kinds of follies.
• If we were honest with ourselves, we would admit that we all need mental adjustments.
• A folly could be described as a faulty reasoning.
• Acting on false assumptions
• Adapting to a deviation of the truth.
• Believing and acting on a lie.
• Living in a pseudo or an illusion of reality. Living in one’s own bubble.
• A false self-identification.
• A false point of reference with respect to the world around us.
• Some cults lead people to believe that they are gods.
• What makes them gods, no one knows.
• What did they create? How did they come to existence? What does the future hold, none of them can answer.
• The Jews had a lot of problems with Jesus because of His self-reference as God.
• Joh 10:33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”
• Jesus never stopped to amaze them with the “I am” statements.
• Joh 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
• Joh 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
• Joh 6:48 “I am the bread of life.
• Joh 8:12 ¶ Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
• Joh 10:9 “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
• Joh 10:14 “I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.
• Joh 15:1 ¶ “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
• Jesus’ self-reference always indicated that He was God incarnated.
• For the Jews, it was impossible for God to come live among the human, they accused Jesus of being an impostor.
• Every statement that Jesus made of Himself was backed up by His action.
• Jesus did what only God could do; therefore all His statements were authenticated by his miraculous works.

THE I AM STATEMENTS OF THE DEVIL

• Isa 14:13-14 For you have said in your heart:
• ‘I will ascend into heaven,
• I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
• I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north;
• 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
• I will be like the Most High.’
• While Jesus lived the reality of His statements, including dying on the Cross, rose back to life, and then, Jesus ascended back to heaven where He came from.
• Satan on the contrary beats people over the head to accept his statements as truth.
• We have people believing and calling the devil all kinds of high esteemed names to assist him in his follies.
• The devil fails miserably each time he tries to actualize his follies.

Satan’s failure to dethrone God

• He did try to overtake God and was kicked out of heaven.
• Re 12:7-9 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought,
•  8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.
•  9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Satan’s failure to contaminate the whole human race

• Ge 6:2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
• God sent the flood to wipe them out.
• Ge 6:7-8 So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
•  8 ¶ But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Satan’s failure to prevent the coming of Jesus on Earth

• Mt 2:13-16 ¶ Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”
• 14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt,
• 16 ¶ Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.

Satan’s failure to prevent Jesus’ ministry

• Mt 4:1-8 ¶ Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
• 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.
• 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
• 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'”
• 5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple,
• 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'”
• 7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'”
• 8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
• 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”
• 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'”
• 11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

Satan’s failure to keep Jesus from dying on the cross

• Mt 26:36-39 ¶ Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.”
•  37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.
•  38 Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”
•  39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

Satan’s failure to prevent the resurrection of Jesus

• Mt 27:62-64 On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate,
• 63 saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’
• 64 “Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.”
• Mt 28:2-7 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.
•  3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.
•  4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.
•  5 But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
•  6 “He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
•  7 “And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”

Satan’s failure to prevent the birth of the church.

• Ac 2:1-4 ¶ When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
•  2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
•  3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
•  4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Satan’s continuing failure to annihilate the Church.

• Mt 16:18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

Satan is preparing on future failures against God

• Re 20:7-10 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison
•  8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.
•  9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.
•  10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

CONCLUSION

• The only good thing that can be said about the adversary the devil is that he is not a quitter.
• Each time he loses a battle to God, the next day, he’s already preparing for the rematch.
• Because his heart is seared, he can never repent.
• Pride is the driven character of Satan.
• He prides himself for trying to dethrone God.
• He prides himself for spoiling the whole world.
• He prides himself to cause God to come on earth and died the humiliated and horrific death of the cross.
• He prides himself for rendering the church to become weak.
• He prides himself that the grace of God is trampled under the feet of the potential beneficiaries.
• He prides himself of his pride.
• He will go down with pride.
• He will enter the lake of fire with pride, but, once his glory is removed from him, those whom he had deceived with his pride will ridicule him.
• Isa 14:16 “Those who see you will gaze at you, And consider you, saying: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms,
•  17 Who made the world as a wilderness And destroyed its cities, Who did not open the house of his prisoners?’
• Don’t fall preys to the deceptions of the devil.
• He is a mentally deranged fool who thought he could overtake God while damning the whole world with him.

AMEN!