Ron Dunn Podcast - The Rise and Fall of Satan

Episode Date: February 4, 2026

In order to detect Stanic nature in our lives we need to understand his footprint. Ron walks us through a passage in Ezekial to understand some of this footprint.

chapter 28 and Isaiah chapter 14. Now, Ezekiel will read first in just a few moments and then the 14th chapter of Isaiah. The Bible makes it very clear that man has an arch enemy and that there is an explanation behind all the problems that we're facing right now. And I really feel sorry for that person who rejects the biblical revelation because for him life is nothing but an enigma. He's never able really to unravel all the tangle webs of his own life if he rejects the revelation of God's Word. And it seems to me to be a very hopeless situation to try to live in this kind of world that we have today without being anchored to the Word of God and going to the Word of God and finding there a reason and an explanation.

for what's happening. And if you cut loose from the anchor of God's word, then you are at the mercy of every false doctrine, every whim, every false philosophy. Your life then becomes oriented to just blind fate. And it is when the person finds his security, his stability in the word of God, that he is able then to face, no matter what this life throws at him, and in the face of all of that, to praise the Lord. And a person who believes the Word of God, there is no situation in which he cannot praise the Lord. Now, I conditioned that statement. I said, if you believe the Word of God, the man, the woman that believes the Word of God, there is absolutely no situation in which you cannot praise the Lord. In the book of Psalms, it says that when the children of Israel believed His word, then they

praise the Lord. When they stopped believing his word, they stopped praising the Lord. Even in the face of death, a Christian who believes the Word of God can praise the Lord, for to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, which is far better. And so what we want to be able to do in these sessions is come to an understanding of the power, the evil power behind the unrest in our own lives and the unrest in our society so that no matter what the devil throws at us, no matter what God allows the devil to put into our lives, we can still in the face of that say praise the Lord. And the reason for that is that praise is the highest expression of faith. You know, it's easy for me to have faith in God when everything is going smoothly. But it's another matter for me to praise God

in the face of adversity and difficulty. And praise is the highest expression of faith. And praise is the highest expression of faith and confidence in God. That's why the Bible says in 1st Thessalonians 518, and everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 520 tells us that one of the first results of being filled with the Spirit is giving thanks under the Father in everything, because our faith is absolutely in God and in His revealed word. So the Bible does revealed to us that we have an arch-enemy, calls him the deceiver, the beast, the slanderer, our adversary, the God of this world, the prince of the power of this world. And there's a very revealing little verse in Ephesians chapter two and the second verse where the apostle says wherein in time past

you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Now what he is, he is, referring to here is the devil. And notice how he describes him. He describes him as the prince of the power of the air. Now there are several Greek words translated air. One means this lower atmosphere, this present, there are three heavens, this present atmosphere, and then the galaxies, and then the third heaven where God dwells. And this first heaven are the lower heaven, which takes in the earthly atmosphere, this is the Greek word that is translated air in this second verse, that Satan is the prince of the power of this atmosphere, of this air. And by the way, it's

interesting to notice that when the Lord Jesus comes, Thessalonian says that he's going to come in the air, he's going to stop in the air, uses the same Greek word here. He's going to stop right there in the devil's territory and do his work. And so when Jesus comes again, he is going to invade the devil's territory. But right? now he is the prince of the power of this atmosphere. Then notice he is the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. Now the children of disobedience are then saved. The spirit that is now working is the devil. The word working is literally energizing. Now that is significant. Paul is saying to us that it is the devil who energizes the lost.

That every inspiration of a lost man to do evil, to think godlessly, to ignore God, to neglect God, or even to live a moral life, but live it religiously instead of spiritually, all of that is inspired and energized by the devil. Where does the world get its energy? Why is the world so successful? Why do godless enterprises prosper? Why do the wicked prosper? Why does the world seem to fare so well in all of its godless exercises and enterprises? Because it is the devil who is behind it. The devil is sponsoring it. The devil is energizing it.

And if I were a lost person that would scare me to death to realize that the energy that I have, to live my daily physical life comes from the devil, that he is really the spirit that is working within me. Notice it doesn't say he's working from the outside, but he's working from within me. And the spirit of Satan, his antagonism towards God, his rejection of Jesus Christ, that spirit works in us and energizes that lost person and plots every, crime inspires every evil deed and lays the strategy for his entire life. Now, one of the primary requisites for waging a war is identifying your enemy. Yesterday, we talked about one way to lose a war was not to show up for it. Another way to lose a war is not to know who you're fighting.

And some of us don't know who we're fighting. We mentioned this yesterday that some of us think we're fighting flesh and blood, but we're not. We're fighting spiritual power. of darkness. So we need to know our enemy. What I want to do this afternoon is to take the scriptures in the Old Testament and some in the New Testament that give us the origin, the character, the nature, and the fall of the devil. We need to understand what makes him tick. I hope it's a time bomb, but we need to understand what makes the devil tick his character, his nature, because he will always act according to his character. The one thing about the devil is he's never out of character. He always is true to his own nature. So if I'm going to be able to detect satanic

activity in my life, then I must know something of his person, of his nature, of his character. Then I'll be able to observe his footprints, and I can avoid his working in my life. So let's look, first of all, in Ezekiel chapter 28, and I'm going to begin reading with, the 11th verse and read through the 17th verse for right now. Now, Ezekiel 28 is a very interesting chapter, and I hope that you'll take the time later to read the first 10 verses. The first 10 verses is a message to the Prince of Tyre. And the Prince of Tyre, we're told probably at the time of Ezekiel was unmaned by the name of Ithabal the Second. And he was ruling at the time that Ezekiel prophesied. And the first 10 verses is a message against the Prince of Tyre, who was a very proud man,

and who thought himself to be God, and who lifted himself up against God, and was the avowed enemy of the people of God. Now, in verse 11 and verse 12, he says, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the King of Tyre. Now, as we read this passage, we're going to see that the things that he is ascribing to this king of Tyre cannot be ascribed to a human being. He's called an anointed cherub, the highest order of angels. So we know that, beginning with verse 12, the prophet now is not speaking to a man. Now notice the significance. First of all, he speaks to the prince of Tyre, who is a very real person, a very real ruler during that day. Then he begins talking to the king of Tyre, a higher authority, a greater power than the Prince of Tyre. Now you'll notice something else when

you take the time to study this whole chapter, that the characteristics of the Prince of Tyre are unusually similar to the characteristics of the King of Tyre. Verse 12, is a lamentation against Lucifer, against the devil, who is the power behind the prince of Tyre, verses 1 through 10. The devil is the power behind the throne, and the devil is active in the affairs of human government, and the significance of the characteristics of the prince

and the king of Tyre being identical is this, that just as the Lord Jesus Christ, when he controls me, He reproduces himself in my life. So when Satan controls a lost person, he reproduces himself, his nature, his characteristics in that person's life. This is why you'll find the similarity between the prince and the king. And this has led some people to believe that the whole passage is speaking to the same person.

But you just have to close your eyes and deafen your ears to what he says about this fellow in verse 12 to believe that he's still talking about a human being. So, the first ten verses, a lamentation against the Prince of Tyre, who is the devil's puppet, and in whom the devil is reproducing his character. Then in verse 12, he takes up a lamentation against the power that is behind him, the power behind the throne, the prince of the power, the spirit that is energizing the Prince of Tyre. So let's begin now with the 12th verse. Son of man take up a lamentation upon the King of Tyre and say unto him,

thus saith the Lord God, thou sealest up the sun full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was thy covering, the sardis, the topaz, the diamond, the burrow, the

onyx, the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, the carbuncle, and gold. The workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherubal. of that covereth, and I have set thee so. Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God.

Thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence and thou hast sinned. Therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God, and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty. Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness. I will cast thee to the ground.

I will lay thee before kings that they may behold thee. Now, first of all, God reveals to us that Satan is a created being. He is a created being. Notice he says in verse 12, the latter part of that verse, in the day that thou was created. Then again in verse 15, thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created. The devil is a created being. Now this means that the devil is not self-existent. He cannot exist apart from the sovereignty of God.

He is not eternal. He does not have the attributes of God. He is a created being. People are constantly asking, well, is the devil on the present? Is the devil omniscient? Is the devil omnipotent? Does he have all power? Does he know all things? Can he be everywhere at once? And the answer has to be no. Those are attributes that belong only to God. The devil is a created being. Now, this means that God had to come. create him. The Bible says that everything was made by Jesus, and if Jesus didn't make it, it hasn't been made. Colossians 116 says that everything, both visible and invisible, was created through the agency of the Son of God. And so, actually, somebody says, where does the devil come from? He came from God. God created the devil. Now, naturally, he didn't create him as the devil, but this anointed cherub came from the hand of God. But not only does it mean, mean that God made him, but it also means, and this is the important thing, that his existence

today is due to the sovereignty, the permissive sovereignty of God. God could destroy him if he wanted to. And the question often comes, why did not God destroy Satan the minute he became Satan? Why has God permitted him to live these thousands of years and to do the work that he's done? And at the close of the message will come to the reasons God has permitted him to be this way. But the devil is not self-existence. His very existence today is dependent upon God. He is a created being. Now, he was created, first of all, perfect. He was created perfect. In the 15th verse, thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created. And then again in the 12th verse, thou seelest up. the sum full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Listen to the amplified translation of that 12th verse.

You are the full measure and pattern of exactness, giving the finishing touches to all that constitutes completeness. He said, you are perfect or you were perfect in all your ways. Everything about this creature, everything about God's creation, was perfect. Thou sealest up the sun of perfection. Now notice he was perfect in wisdom. In the 12th verse, thou sealest up the sum full of wisdom. There was never a wiser creature from the hand of God than Satan. And I want to say he has not lost any of his wisdom.

Now he has perverted that wisdom. He has corrupted that wisdom, but he has lost none of his wisdom. You remember in Genesis chapter 3 when he was tempted, the Bible begins that chapter by saying, now the serpent was more subtle than all the other beasts of the field. Hebrew word subtle means crafty, devious, wily. And isn't it interesting that the devil always acts according to his nature. He always acts according to his character.

He is the wisest of all God's angelic creation. He seals up the sum of wisdom. And when he wants to use an instrument through which to tempt God's creation, He takes the craftiest, the wisest, the most subtle of all of the animal creation, the serpent and enters into him and uses him as the medium of his temptation. He is perfect in wisdom. Notice it doesn't say he's perfect in knowledge. He's perfect in wisdom.

He is not perfect in knowledge. The devil does not know all things. He does not know all things. Only God is perfect in knowledge. and one of the most interesting studies of the Word of God is to see how the devil made a few wrong guesses. The devil doesn't know everything. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 says that

if the princess of this world, referring to Satan and his demons, had known all things they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. And I'm confident that when Satan stood at the cross and observed the son of God dying upon that cross, he thought he had scored a victory. I'm sure he thought he had won. He had heard the prophecies of Jesus

that he would rise again the third day, and I can just imagine Satan and all of his demons of hell pushing their shoulders against that stone, saying, if we can just keep him in for a few more hours, the three days will be up and will of concordy. The devil made a few wrong guesses. He does not know everything. He is not perfect in knowledge.

I do not believe the devil can read your mind and read your thoughts. Now, he has access to your mind, and he's a great psychologist, and he's smart, and he's wise, he knows what makes you tick, he knows how you operate, he knows what'll turn you on and what'll turn you off, he knows what'll make you lose your temper, and he is able to drop thoughts and suggestions into your mind, but I see nowhere in the Word of God where the devil is given the ability to read a person's thoughts, to read a person's mind. I do not believe the devil has that power. I believe that

he would have to be omniscient to be able to read my thoughts. And he does not have that attribute of God. He is perfect in wisdom, but he isn't perfect in knowledge. But not only is he perfect in wisdom, he's also perfect in beauty. In the 12th verse, thou seeth up the sum full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. He was beautiful in sight. That 13th verse describes how Lucifer must have appeared. Thou hast been in Eden. By the way, it's not talking about the Garden of Eden that Adam and Eve were in, but Eden is the personal paradise of God. And it seems that God created for this angelic being a personal paradise. Because when he's in Eden, this is how he looks in Eden, not how he looks in the Garden of Eden that Adam and Eve were in. Thou hast been in Eden, the Garden of God. Every precious stone was thy covering. The

Sardis, Topaz, the diamond, the barrel, the onyx, the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, the carbuckle, and gold. What a dazzling sight he must have been. God says, the only way I can describe how beautiful you were, it's as though you were robed in all the precious gems and stones of creation. You remember when Liberace was on television? And he used to come out in those coats, you know, that had rinds, maybe diamonds, I don't know, but out all of that shimmering stuff on him, you know, just looked so pretty, just looked so beautiful. He wasn't anything to compare with the devil. What a dazzling sight.

Lucifer must have been. And by the way, the word Lucifer means the radiant one or the shining one. He was dazzling, radiant, shining. But notice something. This is something the devil must have forgotten. This is something that you and I often forget. He said, you are beautiful. perfect and beauty, how does he describe the beauty of this angelic creature?

Precious stones, diamonds. But did you know the beauty of a diamond is only a reflected beauty? It has no inherent beauty. The diamond in and of itself cannot be beautiful. It must have light. The diamond only is beautiful and only sparkle as it. it reflects light. And God says, you were beautiful,

but your beauty was simply a reflection of my glory in you. And I suppose, perhaps, Lucifer got the idea that he was beautiful and glorious in and of himself and no longer needed God. But Lucifer is like a diamond, as long as it's in the light, beautiful. glorious, dazzling. But you put it in the dark. And it's just like any other stone. It reflects nothing. It doesn't dazzle. There's no glory. It must have, it must have light in order to reflect its glory.

And so he was perfect in beauty, but he was beautiful only as long as he was in the presence of the light of God. and you need to understand that only as long as you are in the presence of the light of God are you worth anything. That's what the word glory means, by the way, value. And in Romans chapter 3, he says, we have all gone out of our way, we have altogether become what,

unprofitable of no value whatsoever. It is only as you and I walk in the presence of the light, walk in the light as he is in the life, that we have any glory, that we have any value, and that is a reflected value. He's perfect in beauty, beautiful in sight and beautiful in sound. In the latter part of verse 13, he says, The workmanship of thy tablets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou was created. I like what J. Dwight Pentecost says about this verse. The devil, Lucifer, had a built-in pipe organ.

God prepared pipes and tablets in him. Every time he opened his mouth, it was a doxology. Beautiful in sight, beautiful in sound. God is glorified and worshipped and praised by music. Perhaps Lucifer was created for this particular purpose, and the scripture seemed to indicate this, that he was closer to God than any other angelic being, and it seems that God created him,

especially to glorify himself, to glorify God, and he was glorified by his side and by his sound. And every time this angelic being opened his mouth, it was like a magnificent pipe organ playing the doxology to the father, the son, and the spirit. Now you can begin to understand why he calls this in verse 12, a lamentation. You see, a lamentation is a funeral song. It's a sad song. And what God is doing in this passage is sorrowing. over Lucifer.

And you can well imagine, after God had created him so perfect, after God had made him such a dazzling creation, and then Lucifer to rebel and to fall and become corrupted, God takes up a lamentation, a funeral song, a sad song, a song of grief and loss against Lucifer. So, first of all, he is a created being. In the second place, he is a corrupted, being. I tell you what, let's back up a little bit. Before we get to that next point,

there's need to say something else about him. And we'll just take the time to do this, and we may take two days to do this, but we need to get this in. Lucifer was not only created perfect, he was also created powerful. And I think we really need to look into this to understand Lucifer and the devil as he is today. He was created powerful. Look at the 14th verse. He says, thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so. You were upon the holy mountain of God. You have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. That verse indicates the power, the position of this created being. It seems that God set Lucifer in second command over all the universe. Notice he describes him as the

anointed cherub. Now, in the order of angels, the cherub is the highest order. And notice this one is described as the anointed cherub. And he's described the same way again in the 16th verse, the anointed cherub. You know what the word anointed means? It means Messiah. It means Christ. Now, leaving revelation, going to speculation. Some have thought that Lucid, was the archangel of Jesus, just as Michael is the archangel of God, the father, and that perhaps Jesus had an archangel, and his archangel was Lucifer, and that he rebelled. Now, that's speculation. There's nowhere in the Word of God that really substantiates that, but I can see where some might speculate that because he is called the anointed cherub, not just a cherub, but he's a special

cherub. He's a special angelic being, anointed. But it also says he is the anointed cherub that cover up. The word cover up means one who guards are rules. This being was more than likely the prime minister of God. And we've already seen, and we will see later on in the week, that God administers the affairs of the universe through his angels. This is why you have the, uh, the different gradations of angels listed in Colossians 1 and Ephesians, powers, principalities, dominions, thrones. All of these refer to these invisible powers that God has created, and they have different positions and different authorities and different powers.

And the Bible seems to indicate, without any doubt, that God administers the affairs of the universe through his angels. And it seems by this verse that perhaps these, lower angelic beings were under Lucifer, and Lucifer was under only one, and that was God. He was second in command. He was more than likely God's prime minister, because notice it says, thou wast upon the holy mountain of God. The mountain of God is a phrase that symbolizes the center of God's authority and the center of God's government, and he was the only one who was on that holy mountain with God. So he shared with God in an unusual way the government and the authority of the universe.

Thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. All of this indicating that he had a peculiar relationship to God that no other angel shared. So he was created powerful. Now, he has not lost any of his power. He has only lost his position. He still retains his power. What he lost was his perfection and his perfection in beauty and his position, perfect position. But the Bible still seems to indicate throughout the scriptures that he has lost none of his power.

He is still second only to God in power, but he is second to God. Now let's look at the second point. He's not only a created being, he's also a corrupt, being, his fall, the rise and fall of Satan. Now, why did Satan fall? What was his sin? How did Lucifer become the devil? Let's read in Ezekiel chapter 28, verse 15. Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created till iniquity was found in thee. Verse 16, by the multitude of thy merchandise. Now, the word merchandise in the Hebrew means that which passes, through his hands. That which passes through the hands, and probably what the prophet is indicating

here is the privileges that Lucifer had being second to God in authority, and that the authority and the delegation and the administration of the universe, and probably more than likely, the praise that would come from these lesser beings, would pass through the hands of Lucifer onto God. and because he was in this position, all these things passed through his hands onto God, he became lifted up. They have filled the midst of thee with violence and thou hast sinned. Now again in verse 18, thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries. Notice he doesn't say you defile my sanctuaries.

This fellow really had a high position. He even had his, he even had sanctuaries, not one, but he had more than one. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic. So he sinned. All right, what was his sin? I think basically Lucifer did two things. First of all, he became proud of his position. He became proud of his position.

There's a revealing verse over in 1 Timothy, chapter 3 in verse. verse 6, where it's talking about the ordaining of deacons, 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 6, or rather, it's talking about the ordaining of a bishop, of a minister. And he says, he should not be a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Now, remember, we've said that the devil always acts according to his character. He never is out of character, and if you know what his nature is, then you know how he's going to act. and the sin of Lucifer was in the first place he became proud of his perfection. And this is why a young Christian, a novice, should not be placed in a position of authority and leadership in the church.

He will fall into what? The condemnation of the devil. What is the condemnation of the devil? Pride. By the way, great many churches are violating that scriptural command. Now, this is just by the way, and not a part of the message, but a great many churches are violating the plain scriptural commands of the Word of God. A novice is not to be lifted up to that position. He can't take it. He'll be filled with pride. All right, he became proud of his position. Now, rather of his perfection.

Don't miss this. God's gift was the occasion of his sin. And this is the tragedy of Lucifer. His perfection was a gift from God. And it was this gift from God that caused Lucifer to sin and become the devil. Now here is where you began to spot the footprints of Satan in our lives. How many of you, honest now, nobody here but us, honest now, much of your sinfulness

is occasioned by the gifts God has given you. And you think about it. The devil hasn't changed. And you know, the greatest sins come from the greatest gifts. You know what the greatest sin in America is today? The home situation, as far as I'm concerned, the greatest problem, the greatest problem. What is the greatest gift God has ever given to man outside of Jesus Christ? the home.

But how many of us have perverted the home? How many of us here today can stand up and say, I have a spirit-filled home? Instead of the home becoming a training ground in Christianity, it is becoming a spawning ground of rebellion. That's a footprint of the devil. And you watch out. Sometimes the blessings are not really blessings, they're curses.

This is why James says, let the rich man what rejoice in that he has brought low because many times the blessings of life the gifts of god the material and physical and beautiful gifts of god become the occasion of our sin all right he was not only proud of his perfection the second oh by the way let me uh i made myself a note here uh the devil was lifted up with pride because of his appearance he was so beautiful beautiful. Parents do not ever give your children the idea that you love them because of the way they look.

You are sowing seeds of sinfulness in their lives and of disillusionment. Don't give your children the idea that you love them because she's such a pretty girl. Pretiest girl in school. Well, one of these days she's going to meet somebody else prettier than her and now you're not going to love her. Don't give people the idea that you love them because of how they appear.

And we're breeding this into our children, and what we're doing is we're going to let them fall into the condemnation of the devil. All right, that's free. It didn't cost you anything. It's just, by the way. All right, not only was he proud of his perfection, but the second thing he did, he perverted his position. He perverted his position. He was not content to stay where he was. Now we're going to read, that Isaiah 14 passage, and beginning with the 12th verse and reading through the 14th verse. 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? For thou hast said in thine heart, now he's going to give us the five I wills of Lucifer. I will ascend into heaven. That means he wanted to be equal with God.

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. The stars of God is a symbol of the angels of God. Now notice he had a throne. I can't get over the position this fellow had. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. He didn't simply want to be second in command. He wanted to be first in command. He wanted to usurp God's authority over all the angelic host.

Revelation 12.4 says that he took with him a third of the stars. a third of the angels. All right, next he says, I will sit also up on the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. That means he wants to not only control the angels of the universe, he wants to control the affairs of the universe. He wants to control the whole thing.

Verse 14, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. He wants greater glory than even God has. Number five, I will be like the most high. I will be like the most high. He wants to be responsible to no one but God. He wants to be like God. And what did he say to Eve? You do what I say, and you shall become as gods in that Hebrew word is Elohim, the same word that's used to describe the Lord God. You'll be just like God. The devil never changes. And you know, one of the great temptations that the devil levels against us is to be responsible to no one but ourselves. his footprints again. All right, he perverted his position.

Now, you have in Isaiah 14 the tale of two wills. At one time, there was only one will in the universe. That was God's will. And as long as there was only one will in the universe, there was harmony and unity. Disunity, disharmony, came in when a second will

came and opposed the will of God. So there were two wills. Now, listen, as long as there's only one will in your life, there'll be harmony, if that's God's will. When a second will moves into your life, your will, then there's disharmony. You see, Lucifer, like all of us, were created to execute God's will. We become corrupted when we want to exercise self-will. I was created not to exercise my own will, but simply to execute God's will. You know, when God said, I don't want you to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil,

and that's exactly what the devil wanted them to do, why didn't the devil try to get Adam and Eve to rebel at another point? Why did the devil single out that one particular point and want them to rebel against God at that point? eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and you shall be as God's knowing good and evil. It's because God never wanted man to live according to his knowledge of right from wrong. You know, if you're obedient to the will of God,

you don't need to know right from wrong. Did you know that? As long as a man was absolutely submissive to the will of God, he didn't need to know right from wrong. It wasn't necessary for him to know right from wrong. All he needed to know was God's will and then do it. And the devil says, now wait just a minute, Eve, God's withholding something from you,

and you're just a slave to God, and if you'll do what I tell you, you'll be able to make your own decisions. And you know how most of us live today? We do not live in blind faith to the Word of God and the will of God. We live according to our knowledge of good and evil. And so when your pastor stands up on Sunday morning and preaches something, it's you ought to do, you know what you do?

You don't just say, okay, I'll accept the Word of God, I'll do it. You know what you do? you parade that command of God pass the jury of your own knowledge of good and will and if you think if it seems good to you, you'll do it, if it seems evil to you, you won't do it. And our whole world system today is organized on this basis.

We're living according to our knowledge of good and evil and God never intended it to be so. He intended us to simply be submissive to his will. That was our position. Now, very briefly, let me be. wind this up, Lucifer sinned and became the devil because he wouldn't stay in his place. He wouldn't stay in his place. God had placed him in a certain position. Lucifer was not content to stay where God put him. He wanted to pervert to change his position.

Now this is important because here is where you find the footprints of the devil walking all across our land. Same temptation he gave to Eve, don't stay in your place. You're just a creature right now, but if you do what I tell you, you'll become as gods. Over in Jude, verse 9, it says the angels, which kept not their first estate and left their own habitation, talking about the angels that sent. The word habitation there means boundary. You see, God said a boundary for these angels. This is your boundary. This is your place. This is your position. they didn't want to stay there. They wanted to move outside their boundaries.

Now, this is the same temptation the devil gives today. Don't want to stay in your place. God's cheating you. God's not being fair. He doesn't want you to have everything that there is to have. He wants to keep you in your place. You move out of your place. Your teenager ever said,

well, you just don't want me to have any fun. Now, I think you ought to sit down and tell them that that thought is inspired by the devil. You know what? the women's live movement is today? It's inspired by the devil. You know what it is? It's saying women, don't stand the place God created for you. That's inspired by the devil. Don't stay in your place. You know what the student rebellion is today on the campuses? It's inspired by the devil. They don't want to stay in their place. They're not content to be students. They want to be the administration.

And one of the worst things I've ever heard of are some schools now that are letting the students decide, vote on how many days they'll go to school, what subjects they'll take, and what subject they won't take, and then these school leaders stand around and wring their hands and wonder why the students are rebelling. The foolishness of the wisdom of this world. This is why teenagers want to raise their parents, instead of letting the parents raise them. They don't want to stay in their place. They don't want to stay in their place. This is why some deacons want to be a pastor. They don't want to stay in their place. No, you can, you can just see the devil reproducing himself everywhere. And that was his sin. He wouldn't stay in his place. Not content with simply executing God's will.

He wanted to exercise his own will. All right. Last point. Satan's not only a created being, not only a corrupted being, but he is, praise the Lord, a conquered being. He is a conquered being. Verse 15 of Isaiah 14, yet thou shall be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit. They that look, 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 shape the kingdoms? God said, I'm going to cast you down. He says the same thing in Ezekiel 28. I'm going to cast you down. In verse 17 of Ezekiel 28, I will cast thee to the ground. I will lay thee before kings that they may be behold thee. Verse 19, all they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee,

thou shall be a terror and never thou be anymore. And I love those verses in the New Testament. First John 3.8, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. And one of my favorite is Hebrews chapter 2. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death. That is the devil. Colossians 2.15 says that when Jesus died on the cross, he stripped the powers and principalities. He disarmed them, absolutely, completely stripped them of all their power. And in Revelation, chapter 12, verse 11, it says, and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word.

to their testimony. In Revelation 2010, 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. The devil is a conquered being. His conquest is absolute, but it must be appropriated by ye. You see, the devil is bluffing. He's going to try to convince you he is not conquered, that his conquest is not absolute, that his defeat is not final, and if you believe that, then he'll have victory in your life.

I must acknowledge that his conquest is absolute, but also must be appropriated in my life. He's a conquered foe. He's already beat. He's already finished. And I'm so glad that I can announce to him his defeat and call his bluff. Now in closing, why does God permit the devil to do this?

Two reasons. First of all, to demonstrate to the universe the utter futility of trying to live independent from God. God is letting the devil dig his own grave. The devil himself is going to be the final proof that any of God's creatures who try to live independently from him are foolish and are engaged in a futile effort.

To demonstrate to the universe the futility and the foolishness of rebellion against God. Secondly, to demonstrate to the universe his wisdom and his power. Ephesians 2.7 and Ephesians 310. God is allowing the devil to do all that he's doing, to demonstrate to all the universe how wise he is and how powerful he is. You see, God is going to be glorified in all that Satan has ever done. That's why Paul says in Philippians too,

that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow of things in earth and things under the earth and things in heaven. And every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. to the glory of God the Father.