Key verse:
But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us. – 2 Thessalonians 3:6 NKJV
Introduction
No good can come from allowing the devil to ride shotgun. As the song “Shake the Devil Off” said, sooner or later the devil will want to take over and drive. No good can come when the devil is the captain of the ship, and is at the helm driving the ship. Don’t let the devil ride.
Satan’s history
As you can tell, today’s sermon focuses in on the devil. We preachers don’t often focus on the devil, in the right manner. We typically preach about hell, and talk about the devil as the enemy, but we usually leave it there. I feel that if we were to actually tell people who the devil is, they will understand why we say to stay away from him and his ways. We know of Satan as the adversary (enemy) of both God and mankind. However, I want to take a deeper look into Satan’s history so that the enemy can be fully revealed.
Before Satan became known at the adversary of the Lord, he was known as a son of God. You see, in this term, a son of the Lord represents an angel of the Lord – Satan is an angel, a fallen angel. Hints of who Satan was are scattered throughout the Bible, in the books of Isaiah and Ezekiel especially. In Ezekiel 28:12-16, we learn that the Lord considered Satan to be perfect on the day of his creation til his day of iniquity. It is also said, by the Lord, that Satan was an anointed cherub (angelic creature), which shows us his stature and ranking among the other angelic creatures (Ezekiel 28:14).
In Isaiah 14:12-14, we see that the devil has a name – Lucifer. Lucifer is revealed to be the son (angel) of morning. The devil was a beautiful creation! Lucifer, in latin, literally means “light-bearer”. The Hebrew meaning of Lucifer is “bright one”. In other words, Lucifer was known as the angel of light, he was truly a beautiful creation. Satan at a point in time, before the earth and man as we know it, was a loyal and obedient creation of God.
Satan’s fall
At some point in time Satan became very arrogant, very full of himself, and thought that his way was better than the Lord’s way – he became rebellious against God. Satan then raised up an army/following of other angels; in Revelation 12:3-4, we learn that a third of the stars of heaven (angels) are with the red dragon (Satan). Satan led a third of the angels that God created against his and their Creator! Satan thought he could raise himself about God, defeat God, and then become the most high (Isaiah 14:13-14).
The actions that Satan took against the Lord showed his arrogance, his overconfidence, and the pride he had in himself. God is the creator of all things. It is stated plainly in Genesis 1:1 that God created the heavens and the earth; there was nobody else that was a part of the creations – certainly not Satan. Satan was part of the Lord’s creation. To rise up against the Creator and Maker of all things is absolutely foolish. Do you believe that you can overthrow the Creator? Satan believed he could.
This uprising left the Lord with nothing to do but to cast Satan out of heaven. The devil being thrown out of heaven is not a story that is made up by preachers or those who teach. Jesus Christ witnessed Satan be thrown out of heaven and even testified to this event. In Luke 10:18, Jesus said: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” If you learn anything from Satan’s history it should be all about his character. Satan was clearly foolish, arrogant, and even murderous (he’s called the red dragon).
Why follow his lead?
The question I now must ask, after going over Satan’s history, is why would you want to follow after him? There are people who actually sympathize with Satan, why? There are people who actually pride themselves in follow in his way, why? There are people who actually build churches to Satan and then worship him! I cannot understand why anybody would want to follow after Satan! It’s like the blind following a fool. What is Satan going to do for you?
Let me be clear, Satan is the enemy of mankind! Satan does not want to see mankind prosper! This is why Satan was lurking in the garden, he sought to bring man down! Man suffers now because man thought that Satan was telling the truth, while sitting in the passenger seat, but in the end man was lost because of him! I have never known an enemy to help out another enemy so that he could prosper. Have you ever known an enemy help another enemy to prosper?
Don’t let the devil ride! Satan is headed to destruction and the thing is, he knows that he is headed to destruction. Satan has already been defeated by God, when he was tossed out of heaven. He was deafeated again by God when his Son died on the cross, but rose from death with all power in His hands. Satan knows he’s fighting a losing battle, but he wants to go down swinging, and he doesn’t want to be swinging alone. Don’t let Satan ride, don’t let Satan lead you to destruction!
Withdraw yourselves from him
Remove yourselves, especially Christians, from Satan. In our key verse, the apostle Paul, says to withdraw yourselves from every brother that walks disorderly. You should remove yourselves from those that don’t keep to the gospel of Jesus or keep His way. Paul says brother in this verse which is to say you should not be afraid to withdraw yourself away from even family, friends, acquaintances, or even other so called Christians that are not keeping to the way of the Lord.
The devils wants to do nothing but keep up a bunch of mess. Why? Because this distracts people from God’s perfect plan and it keeps us Christians from doing what the Lord wants us to do. Peter called Satan a roaring lion, and Satan himself admits to God that he to and fro in this world. Satan is constantly looking to see who he can take from the Lord! Don’t let the devil ride – withdraw from him!
Christians should learn to discern what is of the Lord and what is of Satan and quickly withdraw themselves from the things of Satan. The Christian life is one that should focus on faith in the Lord and loving one another. We should also study the word and look to spread the good news of our Savior Jesus Christ. Paul said that we should look to lead quiet lives, mind our own business, and work. These are the things that the devil don’t want you to do and will do everything in his power to distract you from doing these things.
Look around at everything that is going on, all of the noise, the fuss, and mess that is going on. With all of the disorder and distraction that is going on, you will find that Christians are caught up in it, or worse, may be causing it. The question I must ask, how does it help God? The disorder, the distraction, does not profit God, yet we are right there in the middle of it all. Withdraw yourself from anything that distracts you from the Lord. Withdraw yourself from anything that distracts you from the word of God. Withdraw yourself from anything that distracts of heaven! Withdraw yourself from disorder and distraction!
Don’t let the devil ride, he will want to drive! The last thing anybody should want is the devil at the wheel! The devil is leading himself, and many others to their destruction. The devil thinks himself to be all powerful, but when tempting Jesus, all he could offer were the kingdoms of this world. Why would you follow somebody that can only offer this world, when Jesus is offering eternity and heaven. Don’t let the devil ride!