VILLAINS OF THE BIBLE
THE SHADY PEOPLE WE LIKE TO DISLIKE
Pastor Jeff Summers
Evangelical Free Church of
WEEK 1 | THE SERPENT
WHO IS THE
SERPENT?
· Jesus, in arguing with a
group of Jews about who is their father:
John
· Paul building an argument about false teachers…
3But I am afraid that just AS EVE WAS DECEIVED BY THE
SERPENT'S CUNNING, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and
pure devotion to Christ. 4For if someone
comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you
receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel
from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough…
12And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to
cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal
with us in the things they boast about. 13For
such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of
Christ. 14And NO WONDER, FOR SATAN HIMSELF
MASQUERADES AS AN ANGEL OF LIGHT. 15It is not
surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.
Their end will be what their actions deserve.
· John describing the vision he had
7And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels
fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8But he was not strong enough, and they lost their
place in heaven. 9The great dragon was hurled
down—THAT ANCIENT SERPENT CALLED THE DEVIL, OR SATAN, WHO LEADS THE WHOLE WORLD
ASTRAY. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
1And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having
the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2He
seized THE DRAGON, THAT ANCIENT SERPENT, WHO IS THE DEVIL, OR SATAN, and bound
him for a thousand years. 3He threw him into
the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, TO KEEP HIM FROM DECEIVING THE
NATIONS anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set
free for a short time.
The Serpent is SATAN .
Who is SATAN?
Satan is the ANCIENT SERPENT.
30Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit,
not mine. 31Now is the time for judgment on
this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32But
I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." 33He said this to show the kind of death he was
going to die.
Satan is the PRINCE OF THIS WORLD.
44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your
father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the
truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native
language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Satan is the FATHER OF LIES.
4The god of this age has blinded the minds of
unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of
Christ, who is the image of God.
Satan is the GOD OF THIS AGE.
Satan is the TEMPTER.
10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
"Now have come the salvation and the power and the
kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers,
who accuses them before our God day and
night,
has been hurled down.
Satan is the ACCUSER.
WHAT WERE
SATAN’S MISTAKES?
His mistakes were PRIDE and FOOLISHNESS (corrupted
wisdom).
Why is he
a villain? His work. How does he work?
Satan LIES (no truth in him),
he DECEIVES (getting others to believe what is not
truth)
And BRINGS DESTRUCTION (ruining lives…leading to
death).
Here are his main weapons:
For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful
man (some translations: LUST OF THE FLESH), the LUST OF HIS EYES and the boasting of what he has and does (some
translations: BOASTFUL PRIDE OF LIFE)—comes
not from the Father but from the world.
WEAPON 1:
LUST OF THE FLESH—PLEASURE
WEAPON 2:
LUST OF THE EYES—POSSESSIONS
WEAPON 3:
BOASTING—PRIDE
We are given a part of the
conversation…probably not the entire thing.
But here we see that the Serpent convinced Eve of three things: That the fruit was…
· good for food (lust of flesh—PLEASURE)
· pleasing to eye (lust of eyes—POSSESSION)
· gaining wisdom (boastful pride of life—PRIDE)
Matthew 4/Luke 4: Jesus
temptations
TEMPTATION
1: Mt 4:3—do what you want (PLEASURES)
TEMPTATION
2: Mt 4:6— test the Lord to see (PRIDE)
TEMPTATION
3: Mt 4:8-9—you can have the world (POSSESSIONS)—same lies he
told Eve
Phil 3:18-19 Paul
describing how some people live—the enemies of the cross of Christ
18For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears,
many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their
destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their
shame. Their mind is on earthly things.
CHARACTERISTIC
1: their god is their stomach
(PLEASURE)
CHARACTERISTIC
2: their glory is in their shame
(PRIDE)
CHARACTERISTIC
3: their mind is on earthly things
(POSSESSIONS)
Satan is not very CREATIVE—but he
is CONSISTENT!
WHAT CAN
WE LEARN?
Don’t Be
Like Him!
Be HUMBLE
1 Peter 5:5— All of you,
clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,
"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble."
Proverbs 16:18—“Pride
goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”
Be WISE
Proverbs 1:7—The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools [a] despise wisdom and discipline.
How to know when he is
working on us
Work Against His Works!
2 Cor 2:8-11 8I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.
9The reason I wrote you was to see if you
would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10If
you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if there was
anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we
are not unaware of his schemes.
LOVE GOD
OBEY GOD’S WORD
FORGIVE OTHERS
14Since the children have flesh and blood, he too
shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds
the power of death—that is, the devil…
TRUST IN THE WORK OF JESUS