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1:04These thoughts I want to go deep into tonight, and maybe even they're so rich with theology that I'll bring it, I use them as a springboard into collecting and gathering several thoughts, scriptural thoughts, and understanding this rise and fall of Satan's. Power. You know, in Psalm 19:4, talking about the heavens and how God has placed His glory in the heavens and displayed His glory, He says this: In them, the heavens, He's placed a tent for the Sun, S-U-N, which is as a bridegroom coming out of His chamber. It rejoices as a strong man to run His course. Its rising is from one end of the heavens and its circuit to the other end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. The Sun coming up like a champion coming out to run His race, a strong man ready to run his race.

2:23Similar things could be said about the Sun, S-O-N, as it deals with the realm of fallen humanity. And that is what we celebrate this evening with the Incarnation. A strong man, though a child, about to run his race. You know, Satan's power is founded on sin. It's founded. That's his whole empire. He has built a worldwide empire. Upon sin. We know this. 1 John 3:8 says, The one who practices sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the very beginning.

3:13And then John says in 1 John 5:19, we know that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. So it's like from the very beginning, Satan wanted God to abandon this whole enterprise of making man in his image. He hated man from the beginning because he hated God from the beginning, and he still does. That is why, if you're outside of Christ, I can assure you, there is no love that Satan has towards you. He delights in your destruction, and he still does.

3:49So Satan's whole empire is built upon one premise: sin. Now, Jesus came to confront sin. 1 John 3:8 goes on to say, the Son of God appeared for this purpose to destroy the works of the devil. And the King James Version of Hebrews 9:26 says this: He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And so, if you'll think with me tonight of the manger scene as that chamber from which. Our great advocate, the Son, S-O-N, comes forth to face not only his, but our greatest adversary. And that is what we celebrate in the manger. This great champion stepping onto the scene, about to run his course.

4:54And it's in his course that we witness the fall of Satan's power. So I want you to see the rise and fall of Satan's power tonight so that you will allow Jesus Christ to destroy his power over your life. So the rise of Satan's power. We witness the rise of Satan's power in Genesis 3, 1 through 8. Let me read these words to you. Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Indeed, has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden? The woman said to the serpent, From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said you shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die. The serpent said to the woman, You surely will not die. For God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be Opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. When the woman saw the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sowed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Well, it's from this event, we're able to recognize three main branches of Satan's power. Three main branches. Or we can think of them as his implements of destruction. We can think of them as his weapons of warfare.

6:58And it is these weapons that gave rise to his entire empire and his control over humanity. The first implement is his lure. His lure. You know, like a fishing lure. I'm going with the L's tonight, okay? So. But the first element of The Satan's power is his ability to tempt people. He lures people into sin so that he can bring them under God's curse. Genesis 2:16, you remember what God said to Adam, from any tree of the garden you may freely eat, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die. You see, Satan wants to curse mankind, not bless them. Actually, Satan wants God to curse man. He wants to bring man under God's curse. That's what evil does.

8:14You see, Satan knows that sin has God-ordained consequences. And once a person sins, consequences follow that Satan can further use to control people, as he did in the garden. If he can lure people into sin, he controls them. Second implement or power or weapon of Satan's warfare is his lash. His lash. It's like a Roman scourge with a heavy handle, as I can imagine it. He uses the handle to club a person to the ground. And he uses The cords to mercilessly whip and torment.

9:05You see, he uses the guilt of sin to control people by shaming them and then tormenting them. See, Satan knows, as we all know, God is not a liar. He will do exactly as he promised. And so Adam and Eve fled God's presence because they had come under that sentence of death. And Satan used that as a means to control Adam and Eve to further terrorize them. Shame on you. Cover yourself. Your relationship with God is irreparable. Now follow my instructions. Immediately you see Satan gaining mastery. And like the fig leaves, he promises inadequate coverings, such as deny, such as blame somebody else, excuse your sin. But that's his mode. First, he tempts people and then he terrifies people. He uses his lure, then his lash. You see, and all the while that Satan is tempting you to sin in your present, he's shaming you for the sins of your past. That's the way he builds his empire.

10:31The third implement of his destruction is his leash, his leash. The third branch of Satan's power is keeping people away from God. And this is where the name devil comes into play. He slanders God as someone who is vindictive, judgmental, hateful, and unforgiving. And if he can get you to think that's what God is about, you'll never reach out to God. He's got you on a leash. He's got you. And that's the last place he wanted Adam and Eve to go, is to go running to God, looking for help.

11:15He wanted them to hide from God, run, hide. You see, and as long as one stays away from God, they remain under Satan's power. And this is the point of the text I read to you earlier. It's the fear of death that comes into the picture. You see, the fear of death is associated with condemnation. And so Satan's leash or his power to keep people away from God is connected to their fear of death, fear of condemnation. And that's where a whole myriad of false philosophers. Philosophical systems and religious systems come on the scene, but they all act as a leash to set a boundary so that people do not go to God.

12:13So Satan tempts, terrifies, and traps if he wanted to use the T's. And he uses a lure and a lash and a leash as a means to bring people under his power. And that's it. That's what he's doing. And so by such means, Satan became the ruler, as John, as Jesus Himself says in John 14:30, over the kingdoms of this world, as Revelation 11:15 declares. That's the rise of Satan's power. Now I want to talk to you about Satan's fall from power, Satan's fall. You see, when the Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil, he had to first overcome all of Satan's weapons himself, and then he had to equip his people to overcome them as well. And so Satan's fall from power first began in Jesus. You see, for Satan's rule over humanity to fall, it first had to start with one individual, a beachhead, among humanity houses. To be established. You know what a beach head is? You have to take a little territory. You have to get your foot on the continent before you can take over the whole continent.

13:40And so, and that is the manger, this chamber from which our champion first appears, the human spectrum. And as history testifies, he resisted the lure. You see, humanity needed somebody who could withstand temptation to sin against God. And so the first thing that Jesus would have to do in order to topple Satan's kingdom is to resist his lure. And that's exactly what he did. He faced every kind of temptation that Satan can throw at him. So many lures, if you could imagine, just lures flying all around him all the time. I remember one time I was fishing, and I had a hook, and I was putting some bait on it, and I was catching a fish every single time. And then I ran out of whatever it was I was using. And I thought, well, I just got an empty hook. I'll just throw it out there and see what happens. And I lashed on to one of the largest fish. There was just so many fish there that one swimming by, I caught.

14:51And I took him out. I said, look, Mom, I got a hook in the side of this fish. Well, you can think about Christ and his temptation. They were flying all around him throughout his life. And he, all his life, lures of all sorts flashed before Jesus and on all sides, and yet he proved to be sinless, even upon the cross. Second, he endured the lash. You see, humanity needed someone who could pay the penalty on behalf of everyone else. Why? Well, because if there's only one person who's sinless, and if no one else could pay the penalty of the full spectrum of man's sin, guess what? There would remain only one human being, Jesus Christ. And Jesus knew this. He said in John 12, 24, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. His death was necessary to bring forth many.

16:06And so someone, somebody, would have to face all the shame, failure, humiliation, and consequences of humanity's sin. Somebody would have to be able to do so. Only a sinless person could do that. But they would also have to be willing to do so. And that was Jesus Christ. You see, there are some who think that penal substitution is a farce or even unjust. They think it would be wrong to place the burden of humanity's sin upon another person. Except, you know what? We do this all the time. How many parents of you out there have had to pay for the sins of your children?

16:51Maybe it was a speeding ticket. Your child didn't have the money to pay for it, and so you paid the penalty on their behalf. You haven't done something like that? You will. I think we can all identify. How many criminals in our society are released because somebody else posts bond? You see, we live in a world that functions on substitutionary payment. So we shouldn't think it's strange that somebody could pay the penalty for the sins of another. Now, it might seem unjust if Jesus was forced to pay the penalty and not be willing. But if he's willing, listen, who are we? Who are you to tell any parent that they can't spend their capital bailing out somebody they love?

17:55There is no sin involved when a parent pays for a speeding fine on their children. Behalf. There's only mercy and grace. Likewise, there is no sin or any wrongdoing in Jesus facing the penalty for man's sin on their behalf, only mercy and grace. So Jesus resisted the lure, he endured the lash, and he broke the leash. You see, humanity needed someone who would come out from under God's curse and so remove man's fear of death. Well, Jesus rose from the dead. He demonstrated his power over death and showed us that there is one to be feared above death, and he also showed us that there is life with God after death.

18:51And so the great contest between Satan and Jesus culminated on the cross. Speaking of which, Jesus said the following: John 12, 31, Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. John 14, 30, the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me. You see, Satan's weapons proved to be ineffective over Jesus. The fall of Satan's power over humanity began in Jesus with this one individual, but it didn't stop there. You see, Satan's fall from power began in Jesus, but it continues in Jesus' followers. You see, once a beachhead is established, a campaign then can spread across the continent. And believing the gospel, the news, the good news of Christ's victory over Satan, becomes his people's victory. You see, Jesus' sole purpose for coming on the world scene was not just to demonstrate his power, but to share his victory with his people and so raise humanity to the heights that God had ordained for them.

20:15And so, let's look real quickly at the spread of Jesus' victory over Satan. And it moves in the reverse order. It starts with the leash. The gospel breaks Satan's leash. In Hebrews 2, 14, as we just read, through death he rendered powerless him who has the power of death, that is the devil, and might free those who, the fear of death, were subject to slavery all their lives. You see, Christ set his people free from the fear of death. You know, one of the most remarkable statements that's ever been uttered by any human being. Being was these words, destroy this temple, and in three days I'll raise it up. I don't think there's ever been a prophet that's shared, made that kind of prediction. Kill me, and I will come back to life. And what he said came true. And so, you know what that means? He's a true prophet. Everything else he says is true.

21:28And so, on Passover, 30 AD, Jesus actually died for the sins of his people. But the benefits of his death are applied in time when a person believes the gospel. And when a person truly believes the gospel, they realize that there is no more obligation to eternal death. That has been removed. There's a new obligation to live eternally for God's glory. And that is where a new spirit, the spirit of Christ, rises up. And so the resurrection is proof that God has accepted Christ's suffering on behalf of his people, and that there is now, as Romans 8:1 says, there is now no condemnation for sin. Those who are in Christ Jesus. And when a soul takes hold of this truth, there is no more condemnation for me, Satan's power is broken. Because no matter what happens, at the end of the day, I'm in God's good graces.

22:51And so once the fear of condemnation is removed, death can no longer terrorize the conscience. And so the gospel breaks Satan's leash. But the gospel also disarms the lash. Hebrews 9:14 says this: How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? You see, many consciences fixate on their own personal failures or their dead works, to use the, but Christ's blood has the effect of changing our focus from our sin, our shortcomings, to God's love, his grace. You see, the power of shame is removed. Yes, I apply it to myself, I look back, I am indeed ashamed over my past sins. I still feel shame when I sin in my presence, but five things are very different for me now. Number one, I know that I will never be condemned for my sins. Number two, I agree with God regarding my sin and the public humiliation that I deserved for my sin. But number three, I can marvel at Christ's love for me. And so when there's a contest between my sin and God's love, I start seeing my sin, and then I start realizing, wow, his love even goes deeper than that. And now I'm fixated, not so much on my sin as upon the great love that my God has for me. Then, number four, I can deal with my sins truthfully now. I don't have to defend my sins. I don't have to excuse. I don't have to blame others. Nor do I have to keep beating myself up. His sacrifice is sufficient. I am free to repent. I am free to make things right. And I am free to move on in serving the living God.

24:59And number five, fifth thing that's different for me is I am not ashamed of Christ's, his standards, or his death. So my conscience is enraptured with him and not fixated on myself. It's cleansed to move on to serving the living God. You see, a guilty conscience keeps a person from approaching God for help in times of need. And this is exactly what Satan. Didn't want in the garden and doesn't want today. So the gospel breaks the leash. The gospel disarms the lash, but the gospel helps us resist the lure. Helps us resist the lure. Hebrews 2:18, I read it earlier. For since he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. You see, for those in Christ, Satan's power has been reduced to one thing: the lure.

26:08You're free from the leash. You're free from the lash. The only thing you have to deal with now is the lure. Just his ability to tempt you. And he'll tempt you not to believe the things just spoken. He'll tempt you in all kinds of ways. But even with his ability to tempt still in place, we have these promises. 1 Corinthians 10:13, No temptation has overtaken you, but such as common to man. And God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape so that you will be able to endure it. James 4:7 says, Submit, therefore, to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

27:081 John 1:9, what if I sin? It says this, but if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So even in dealing with the lure, we have promises that see us through. You see, Christ wants us to grow in overcoming Satan's lure. And one day, it will all be over. I would love to spend some time reading Revelation 20 to you right now. There's a time when Satan himself will be put away in the lake of fire forever, and so will death. But until then, resist the devil by calling upon Christ to help you. He knows how to help, and he wants you to go to him, no matter what the situation is. You see, Satan built a worldwide empire that was founded on sin.

28:231 John 3:8, the one who practices sin is of the devil. You're growing in a trajectory of sin. You belong to him. You're under his control. For the devil has sinned from the very beginning. But the Son of God appeared for this purpose to destroy the works of the devil. And so Christ destroys the works of the devil by dealing with the very foundation of his empire, sin. That is why in Matthew 1:21, Mary will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. John the Baptist in 1:29 says, in John 1:29, says this, behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

29:14You see, Christ's works struck at the very core of Satan's power. Let me just recap this. Christ's resurrection dealt with God's curse. It broke the power of Satan's leash. We don't fear death anymore. Christ's crucifixion deals with man's guilty conscience. It broke the power of Satan's lash. No more guilty conscience. Christ's mediation deals with man's ongoing temptation. It breaks the power of Satan's lure by helping us. Resist that temptation and finding grace and mercy when we have failed.

30:07But it's the manger that we celebrate. This incarnation is where the world first saw his appearance, and from there, our great advocate came forth to destroy our great adversary. And his light continues to spread through the proclamation of his gospel today. And so we've looked at the rise and the fall of Satan's power. He has done this in the world, and he is willing to do that in your life. Let him do so. Turn to him for help. Confess the ways you've taken in Satan's lies.

31:00Turn away. Come to him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do come before you this evening celebrating and marveling at the work of our great champion, who was born most humble of means, and yet he ran such a beautiful race, our champion, our Savior, our King. Father, we worship Him this morning, I mean, this evening. And Father, we ask that you would continue to expand His dominion in our lives and to continue to decimate the power and Satan over us. Help us to resist, help us to believe the truth, help us to resist His temptations, and lead us in the everlasting way. In Jesus' name, amen.