 Amen. So keep your place in Ezekiel chapter 28. And even when we move around the Bible today this morning, just keep your bookmark in Ezekiel chapter 28. We're going to be coming back and forth to this chapter to talk about the subject that we're going to discuss this morning. So Ezekiel chapter 28, just to give you some context here, God is rebuking an earthly king here. He's rebuking the prince of Tyrus or the king as he's called later in the chapter. And then he kind of gives an explanation of why he's rebuking the king because the king is acting like somebody else. And we see in Ezekiel chapter 28 in verse number 13 through 18, we see a description of Satan in the Bible. And that is one of the most descriptive verses in the Bible about Satan, about who he is. So that's what we're going to talk about this morning. We're going to talk about the idea of Satan. Many people will call him the devil the Bible calls him, Lucifer and other places is his name. So we're going to talk about, you know, what is this person, this being, how does it affect us today? And more importantly, I want to give you some characteristics of Satan this morning so you can recognize his work in this world. Okay because it's very easy to see once you see the characteristics that the Bible points out about this being, it's very easy to see his influence on the world today. So we're going to talk about Satan this morning. You say, wow, that's quite a negative thing to talk about. But look, the Bible talks about this. This is one of the things, this is the thing that is ruining people's lives today, that is sending people to hell today, that is destroying and corrupting God's creation today. So we need to be able to recognize it. All right. So look down at Ezekiel chapter 28. So first of all, who is he? Let's do a little bit of a Bible study and look at who Satan is. Who is Satan? Let's do a Bible study and see who he is, why he is the way he is, what his characteristics are, and then we'll apply that to ourselves this morning. Look at Ezekiel chapter 28 and look at verse number 13. So God is rebuking this king. He's rebuking this king, but then in verse 13, God shifts to someone else. Look what he says in verse 13. He starts talking about Satan himself in verse 13, says, Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was Thy covering, the sardis, the topaz, the diamond, the barrel, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle and the gold, the workmanship of Thy tablets and of Thy pipes was prepared in Thee in the day that Thou was created. So here we see a description of Satan. I'm going to get into the details of this description a little bit later, but looking at just who Satan is, look at verse 14. The Bible says, Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so. So here we see that Satan is a cherub. He's what the Bible calls a cherubim in other places. So you say, and he's not just any cherub, he's the anointed cherub. So he's in some high position of power, and who put him there? God says, I put him there. So this being Satan is an anointed, he's a high level cherub. You say, Pastor Zonski, what in the world is a cherub? Well, turn to Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3. The Bible talks about cherubs and cherubims a lot. It's this heavenly being. You know, many people use the word angel, I think, too broadly. There's many heavenly beings that the Bible talks about. Angel in the Bible is generally just talking about someone that God, or something that God uses as a messenger. Something that God uses to communicate his word to people on earth. Many times in the Bible, even a pastor of a church in Revelation is used as an angel. And it's just meaning, I'm not saying I'm an angel like a halo on my head. I'm saying that a pastor is a messenger of God's word to his congregation. So that's when the Bible says the angel of the church and all the seven churches of Revelation. He's just talking about the messenger, the pastor of that church. But the Bible gives specifics about some creatures, some heavenly beings that are in heaven. And many people would consider them angels as well, but they're beings that are in heaven. Look at Genesis chapter 3 in verse number 24. This is right after the fall of man, after Adam and Eve have eaten from the fruit of the tree that they weren't supposed to eat from. We'll look at that later as well. But look what it says in verse 24. He drives out Adam and Eve from the garden itself and he says, so he drove out the man and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life. So when God kicked man out of the garden of Eden, he puts these cherubims in place to guard the garden so that, you know, men can't get in there again. Turn to Exodus chapter 25. So it's a heavenly being that is created by God. In Exodus chapter 25, when we talk about the Ark of the Covenant, you know, the Ark of the Covenant that was to carry, you know, the testament of God. It was to carry the God's law, you know, the very important Ark of the Covenant. We see the importance of the cherubims in Exodus chapter 25. Look at verse 18. The covering, the lid of the Ark of the Covenant, such an important artifact in the nation of Israel was to have cherubims on it. Look at verse 18. It says, it now shall make two cherubims of gold of beaten work shall thou make them in the two ends of the mercy seat and make one cherubim on one end and the other cherubim on the other end. Even of the mercy seat, you shall make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. So I think from this passage right here, we can assume that the cherubims in heaven were some pretty high, highly ranked servants of the Lord. So God created these beings in heaven to serve him and they were called cherubims. They were so important that they were on top of God's, I mean, the Testament, the Ark of the Testament, as the Bible says. This vessel that carried the Ten Commandments that God gave to the children of Israel. So not only was Satan in Ezekiel chapter 28 one of these cherubims and, you know, the Bible talks about what these cherubims look like, what their faces look like, and all these different things in the Bible. But I mean, the point is this. The point is this, they were high ranking heavenly beings and Satan was the anointed of them. So he was top of the cherubims we can take from Ezekiel chapter 28. So he was a high ranking, you know, I don't know, I can't say for sure that he was the highest ranking cherubim or the highest ranking servant of God, but he was an important cherubim. He was anointed, he was a high ranking servant of the Lord. Go back to Ezekiel chapter 28. So I mean, here's the thing, if you look at Ezekiel chapter 28 and verse 15, you're like, what could have been the problem? This guy was like, you know, top of the cherubims, top of these special servants of the Lord, what went wrong? I mean, what went wrong here? Why is he not still in heaven serving the Lord with the other cherubims? Well, the Bible explains it to us in Ezekiel chapter 28. Look at Ezekiel 28, now look at verse 15. The Bible says, that was perfect in thy ways, from the day that thou was created till iniquity was found in thee. Alright, so the Bible says that he started out good. Okay, so this is proof right here by the way, you know, this is proof against Calvinism by the way. God doesn't just choose people to some people to go to heaven and some people to go to hell. God has always been a God of free will. Even with the cherubims, even with the angels in heaven, they had free will, because it says he started out good. It says that was perfect from the day that thou was created till iniquity was found in thee, till he did something bad, till he went wrong. Okay, look at verse 16. You say, so what could have went wrong? I mean, he was a high ranking servant of the Lord. He's in heaven. He's one of these powerful cherubims. He's the anointed of the cherubims. Look at verse 16. 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. Now look at verse 17. Now verse 17 gives us some idea of how this happened and why this happened. He says, thine heart. Now remember that, you know, here's here's King James Bible lesson, you know how to read the King James Bible is super complicated. The TH's are singular. If I say thine heart is listed up, I'm talking to a single person. Okay, so he's not saying to a nation, to a group of people, to a group of cherubims. He's saying thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty. He's saying, he's saying, so you see how he says thine and thy, he's talking to a specific person. He's talking here to Satan. Okay, it's a parallel to Satan as long as far as so he's talking about the King of Tyrus, which I'll get back there. But now he starts referencing Satan specifically. And what happened to him? He said, thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty. Now has corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness. You see five TH's there. He's talking to a single person. If you would say you and ye, he's talking to a group of people. But this is why you have to have a King James Bible in your hand. So you can understand he's talking to a single person here. And that person he's talking to is Satan. Look what he look what God says he's I will cast thee to the ground. I will lay thee before kings that they may behold thee. He's saying, you got all lifted up. You got all puffed up. You thought you were so beautiful. You were covered and you were this powerful creature. Look, you know why Satan fell? The Bible is telling us here is because of pride. It's because of pride. He thought he was he was better than everyone else in verse 18. Another TH thou has defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities by the iniquity of thy traffic. Therefore I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee. It shall devour thee and I will bring me to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. You know what that means? It says I'm going to bring you down. I'm going to destroy you and all those that go with you. I'm going to destroy them too is what God is saying here. Alright, so we're back to verse 17. So that's that's who Satan is. That's the first question. Just who is Satan? Where did he come from? Look, he was an anointed cherubim. He was anointed servant of God. He was a high ranking. I can't say for certain, but he could have been the highest ranking cherubim. He could have been either the highest ranking servant of God, heavenly creature that served the Lord. And he rebelled because of his pride, because he got so lifted up with his beauty. He was covered in this, you know, this great, you know, garment with all these jewels on it. He had all these different aspects of himself, and he got lifted up. He got prideful. That's a warning for all of us right there. But why did he rebel? Verse 17, because of his pride. Now turn to Isaiah chapter 14. We see more detail that God gives us an Isaiah 14 about why he rebelled. I mean, we can just say from from Ezekiel chapter 28, we can just say he got prideful. And we just end it right there. But Isaiah 14 gives us much more detail. And this detail is important for us to understand the characteristics of Satan, because you will see the same detail in people today, in rulers today, in people throughout history, you will see this exact same detail in false religions today. This is an important characteristic of Satan that we must not miss, because you will see this all around you. Look at Isaiah chapter 14. So we know that he got prideful. Okay, look at Isaiah chapter 14. Verse number 12. Isaiah 14 verse number 12 tells us another name for Satan called Lucifer. Okay, what it says, How art thou fallen from heaven? Oh, Lucifer, son of the morning, how art thou cut down to the ground, which did weakens weak in the nations. So we know, we know from the fall, and we're going to look at the fall a little bit in Genesis chapter three. But we know that God created everything. He created the whole world in Genesis chapter one. He created everything and it was good. So we know when this when did this fall happen? We know what happened somewhere between Genesis chapter one and the beginning of Genesis chapter three. We know that's when Isaiah chapter 14 and verse number 12 happened. So Satan got prideful. He rebelled against against God and he was cut down to the ground. The Bible tells us in Isaiah 14. Look at verse 13. Now the Bible gives us some great detail on what this pride produced in Lucifer's life. He was this powerful servant of God. And look what happened in verse 13. It says for thou has said in my heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I want you to notice how many times the Bible here says I will. I will. I will. I will. So it says like he was powerful but it seems like here he wanted to be more powerful and more powerful. He wanted to have his throne above the stars of God but he gives us even more detail. Look at verse 14. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. And then here's the real problem right here. I will be like the most high. The Bible here is explaining that Satan's pride got to a point where he literally wanted to be a God. He literally wanted to be as powerful as God. He wanted to be like God. This characteristic right here is something that is very important that we recognize because you will see this all around you. So think about this for a second. Here you have this high ranking, you know, super important servant of God in heaven. I mean he's part of something great. He's part of something great. He's not he's not taken out the trash in heaven. He's already something great. But it wasn't good enough for him. He got lifted up with pride. And guess what turned to Revelation chapter 12. This is another important characteristic of Satan. He got lifted up to with pride and he wanted to be equal with God. He wanted to be God. Look at Revelation chapter 12. He said okay, so he got cut down, he got thrown down to the ground, but it's much worse than that because he convinced others to go with him. He convinced others to go with him. Look at Revelation chapter 12. Look at verse number four. The Bible says in his tale, now the Bible often because of the story that we're going to look at in Genesis chapter three, the Bible often calls Satan the dragon or the serpent because of what happened in Genesis chapter three. But look at verse four. It says in his tale drew the third part of the stars of heaven and it cast them to the earth and the dragon. This is a reference to Satan stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born. So the Bible here is saying that a third of the angels, a third of the cherubs went with him, went with Satan. He convinced others to go with him. He said how did he do that? How in the world would he have convinced others to go with him? Turn to Genesis chapter three. It's the same method he used when he talked to Eve in the Garden of Eden. It's the same argument that he gave to man. Look at Genesis chapter three and verse number one. Genesis chapter three and verse number one. Look what the Bible says. It says, now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. Subtle means to be not upfront. If I'm subtle in the Bible, it means I'm going behind someone's back and I'm trying to trick them and I'm trying to deceive them. Subtle means deceptive. To be subtle is never a good thing. It doesn't mean all he's just, you know, we kind of changed the meaning of that word subtlety in the Bible means a deceiver to deceive, to trick. Okay. It says now the serpent. So Satan either possessed this serpent or he, you know, he talked through it or something like that. We don't know exactly how that worked. But the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, ye hath God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, meaning the middle of the garden, God has said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. So God said that, hey, you can eat anything you want except this one tree in the middle. And the certain, the serpent is saying, ye hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. He's just casting a little doubt, just being a little, little subtle. Did God really say that? This is important because the same thing is happening today. And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die. So now he's just lying to her. That's not so subtle anymore. He just lies straight to her at that point. And then look at the method that he used here. For God doth know that in the day he eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened. And what does he say? What does he say? And ye shall be as gods. What does Satan want to be? He wants to be as God. How did he trick Eve, who then convinced Adam? He convinced her, so he's like, don't you want to be like God? Don't you want to be like the most high? This is how he got people to follow him. This is how he got a third of the angels to follow him, a third of the cherubs to follow him. With this idea that you too can be like God. You too can be like God. Look, we see the same thing today. You wonder where some of these religions come from? You wonder where Mormonism comes from? Where it says you can like literally be a God. This is what Mormonism teaches. It says if you do well, look, it's just another workspace religion. It's just another religion teaching that you can work your way into whatever their idea of heaven is. But the moment you can literally become a God. You have your own planet. I mean, it's it gets really silly. But the point is, you can tell it comes from Satan, because it's the exact same philosophy. You can be Hey, become a Mormon, do well in your life. You can be like the most high. Look, that's exactly the philosophy of Satan. That's what he said in Isaiah 14. That's what he said to Eve. You can be as gods. Buddhism is very similar. You can achieve this God like state or whatever you can reach a state of deity, whatever I mean, turn back to Ezekiel chapter 28. What did you know that I mean, look throughout history at all. I mean, just look at the emperors and the leaders and the dictators who have claimed deity. Men that have gone through history with just unchecked power. And they've claimed to be God. I mean, many Roman emperors claim to be God. Alexander the Great claimed deity. All these, you know who else claimed deity? The reason for Ezekiel chapter 28, the King of Tyrus. Look at verse number two. This is the reason that God brings up Satan in Ezekiel chapter 28, because he's rebuking this king. Because what does the king say? The word of the word came into me saying, Son of man, go and say unto the Prince of Tyrus, thus saith the Lord God. He's mad at him. Why? Because thine heart is what? Lifted up. He's lifted up how? He's prideful. What does he think that? Does he think that he's smarter than everybody? Does he think that he's better looking than everybody? Does he think that he has more money than everybody? No. The real problem is this. It says thy heart is lifted up and thou hast said, I am God. Or I am a God. I sit in the seat of God. This is what God is saying in Ezekiel chapter 28. He's rebuking this king. He goes on to tell the king, he's like, you know, are you going to claim your God when like men come and kill you? He's like, you're going to claim deity then? When you're dead? And you're in hell? And then he goes in, he's just rebuking this king. He's like, I'm going to come and I'm going to kill you. And then we'll see if you're a God. And then he goes in, you know, oh, by the way, you know who else? You know the philosophy that you're following? And then he goes right into Satan. And he goes in, he starts talking about how Satan fell from heaven. Why? Because he wanted to be like God. He wanted to be like the most high. Well, get all the people out there. Did you know there's people out there running religions today that literally claim to be Jesus? There's one in the Philippines, I forget his name. But there's a guy who literally claims to be Jesus. Like David Karash from Waco and all that, he claimed to be Jesus. I mean, many people will come in my name, Jesus said. There's all kinds of people that claim to be deity that will continue to claim to be deity. Why? Because it's the philosophy of Satan that they're following. Because what did Satan want? He wanted to be like God. So just remember that whenever you see like, why in the world are these leaders, are these people from history, are these religions teaching that you can become deity, you can become like a God, all this, it's, it's pride, but it's, it's Satan's pride. All pride comes from Satan, by the way. But it's Satan's pride. It's the ultimate pinnacle of pride, thinking that you can become a God yourself. But that's what Satan did. So I mean, now we know who Satan was. We know why he fell from heaven, why God cut him down from heaven, turn to 1 Peter chapter five. Okay, so now like, where's he now? Okay, I get it. He was this high ranking. He was this high ranking, a servant of God. He thought he could be as powerful as God. He thought he could become God himself. God cut him down to heaven. He deceived man in the Garden of Eden. Okay, I get it. Where is he now? That was thousands of years ago. Where is he now? Look at 1 Peter chapter five, in verse number eight. First Peter chapter five, verse number eight. Now, this is where this is going to get seriously relevant for us today. Look at 1 Peter five chapter eight. The Bible says, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary meaning, look, he's against us. Okay, as a saved, look, as a saved believer, if you're saved today, if you have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and trusted only on Jesus, and are saved today, the devil can do nothing to send you to hell. Nothing could ever change the fact that you're going to go to heaven. But he's still your adversary. He could still ruin your life on this earth. He could still fill you with sin. He could still get you to be completely worthless. In this Christian life that you're supposed to be living. It says, be sober. I mean, Peter here is talking to save people. Peter here is talking to people who are going to heaven. He says, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking who he may devour. Look, the Bible says that even though you're saved in, and there's nothing that could ever change the fact that you will eternally be in heaven, you could still be devoured by Satan. And that is Satan's goal today. Look at Job chapter one and verse number seven. Actually, I'll just read it for you. You turn back to Ezekiel chapter 28. But in Job, remember Satan is actually talking to God. But the point is, first Peter five says that the devil's walking around. He's here on earth. And I'll show you how you can see him here on earth as well. In Job chapter one, verse seven and Job chapter two also talks about this. The Bible says that the one said unto Satan, whence comeest thou? The Lord says the Satan, whence means, where did you come from? He's saying, where did you come from? Satan's coming to the Lord. Then Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro on the earth, and walking up and down in it. He's saying, I'm down on earth. And Satan says, God says to Satan, where'd you come from? He's like, I'm down on the earth, walking around down there. That's what I'm doing. He says the same thing in Job chapter two. Now how Satan and God communicate and how often that happens? I have no idea. The Bible doesn't tell us. You know, I don't need to know what the Bible doesn't tell us. But the point of trying to get you to understand is Satan is here. He's on the earth. He's walking around on earth with a third of the cherubs, the servants of God that came with him, that rebelled against the Lord. Go back to Ezekiel chapter 28. Are you there? So look, here's the thing. God is allowing Satan to operate on the earth right now. God is a God of free will. God is a God of free will. So just as we see that God is a God of free will with the servants, with the cherubim themselves, he's also a God of free will with the people on the earth, because he's allowing Satan to operate on this earth. But guess what? Men have a choice to believe the gospel or not. Men have free will as well. Go back to Ezekiel 28. Look at verse 13. So how can we recognize him? What are some characteristics of Satan? He's here on earth. He's operating here. He's going to and fro. He's going all around the earth. I would like to recognize Satan, wouldn't you? I would like to be able to recognize the works of Satan. Well, the Bible gives us some characteristics of Satan. Look at verse 13 again. It says, Dallas been in Eden, the Garden of God. Every precious stone was that covering the sardis, the topaz, the diamonds that goes through all these stones. So he was he was just a raid in all these jewels and all these beautiful pieces of clothing. But then look what it says, and the workmanship of thy tablets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou was created. This verse right here is why people so it says, tablets and pipes means musical instruments. So this is telling us that Satan, when he was in heaven serving the word, he was some sort of musical being. You know, many people will commentate on how that was he was in charge of the music, or he had musical instruments in him in his body, somehow, whatever. But the point is, is that he was a musical being. He was a musical being. He was into beauty. He was into how well he looked. And even in verse 17, it says in one of the reasons he was lifted up is because he was so beautiful. Or he thought, you know, he thought he was so good looking. Now it's corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness. It says, his wisdom was corrupted by the fact that he was a raid so well. Okay, so he was musical. He's vain. He's vain. He's musical. He's obsessed with how things look with beauty with riches with jewels. And he's corrupting what God has made. Look, this is why this way here is why you will see that Satan has such a hold on music and the arts. Look, I mean, is all music bad? Is all art bad? No, but you will see a heavily heavy, heavy satanic influence on both music and the arts. Just look around today. I mean, just think about I mean, just music, just think about music for a second. I mean, this is a sermon series in itself. But you just think about music in the in the 80s and when I grew up and I don't want to date myself. But I mean, you think about like the the red zeppelins and the mega death and blink, what these people have outright just like, just like professed allegiance to Satan. Many of these, many of these musical artists, you think about the most famous people like, like Jimmy Hendrix, do you know that Jimmy Hendrix literally came out and he told people like I'm possessed with some kind of Satan, Satan, demon or something. He's like, I've made a deal. There's several musical artists. You can go look up. They've made they made deals with Satan. Why? Because they wanted more talent and ability. I mean, Jimmy Hendrix died like in his own vomit when he was like 27 years old, but he would just go and just tell people, people around him, his his his girlfriend, whoever he's like I'm possessed with some kind of demon, he would just like come out and just say it. I've made a deal with the devil. Jim Morrison from the doors. Same things like I've just made a deal with Satan. It is they covered up nothing. You know, they were just outright. So this is why you'll see such a heavy satanic influence in music today. And even just just even just forget the outright Satan worship. Just look at just music in general just think of music modern popular music, just pushing sin. All it does is just push sin. And you say, well, does all music see let me give you an example here on how we can see the common characteristics of Satan involved in music today. I grew up, I have many friends who grew up in the city. After I moved to California, many friends grew up in the city, some in the inner city. But I grew up in the middle of nowhere North Dakota, and I grew up on country music. You say all country music. I mean, that's pretty wholesome and fine, right? And I have some friends who look, we don't listen to any of that stuff anymore, but I don't listen to country music anymore. But some of my friends grew up with like hip hop and R&B and all this kind of music. You say those are completely different worlds, right? No, they're exactly the same. They're different tunes, but they're exactly the same because what are they doing? They're pushing sin. They're pushing fornication. They're pushing the objectifying of women. They're pushing, you know, anti-marriage. They're pushing divorce. They're pushing drugs. They're pushing alcohol. Look, that's all it is. I mean, don't go watch music videos, but I'm sure a country music video is just as bad as a hip hop music video. Because it's all pushing sin. Why? Because it's the same person influencing that area. Because Satan's a musical, it's what he knows. Whether he has those instruments in himself, he was just really good at those things. It's what he was an expert at. It's what he was an expert at. The Bible tells us this. This is why you see so much of satanic influence in music. Is music bad though? No, but that's why we sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs here. Because we worship the Lord through music. The Bible says that, you know, the angels in heaven, the cherubims and the seraphims are just constantly just singing praises, holy, holy, holy to God all the time. Music is not bad. It's just music in this world has been influenced by Satan because he's a musical being. So you have to recognize this. It's the same thing with art. I really, I like art. I like art. And I think I kind of like art because like I have no artistic ability. The kids asked me to draw a dog the other day. It was ridiculous. I mean, I couldn't draw. I mean, I am fascinated. There's a gallant verity. I won't mention any names. But like just the things that she can paint, it's just like, I don't think you can learn that. That's something you're born with because it's just amazing. She just paints these amazing nature scenes. And there's a picture of Verity hanging in the entryway that she painted of this beautiful bridge with these flowers and all these things. It's just it's something that I've just been fascinated with because I just don't have that ability. But here's my here's my trick with art. First of all, art is heavily influenced by Satan as well. If one of my kids was like really good at art, I would never encourage them to go into that industry. I'll say, hey, you know, do that as a hobby, start your own business, something like that. But art, just like music, some of it is just outright satanic. I'll give you an example. If you drive, we used to have our church in downtown Fresno, and there's an apartment building in downtown Fresno that had these sculptures on the corners of the building. And it was, I mean, first of all, you must have amazing talent to make these types of sculptures. They were incredibly detailed. And you're just like, how could somebody even picture that and make that sculpture? But the sculptures were these demons. They're literally these demonic demons, like dangling babies over the building. This is in downtown Fresno. And you drive by and you're just like, what kind of sick, twisted individual would come up with something like that? And guess what? It's somebody who's influenced by Satan. That's what it is. Because Satan, he's an artistic being. Same thing with, you know, the Bible tells us in Leviticus 19, in verse number 28, and look, if you have a tattoo, I'm not trying to beat up on you this morning. But the Bible says that we shouldn't, you know, get tattoos, we shouldn't print marks on our bodies. Go to a tattoo parlor and look at the types of things that people tattoo on themselves. Okay, many people may tattoo like a heart or a cross or something like that. But many of us just like very demonic skulls and like just sinister is because Satan has a heavy influence in these vain things of art. Here's my test on art. I like, I like paintings of like, of like Thomas Kincaid and like Terry Redland. I don't know if you guys have ever heard of this, but they paint the people that paint things that God has created. Those are great things. Because what is that doing that's giving glory to God's creation? Right? But any painting or any kind of art that's like twist, I mean, you'll notice like a lot of these, like paintings that go for $100 million. They're just like some distorted person's face. It's like what's God created, but then they distort it. It's like some weird like $100 million. But look, that that's that's demonic influence, because they're taking what God has created. And what does Satan do? He changes it. He changes it. So there's your test right there. So just this is why you'll find art that's just outright satanic. And then you'll find art that is just like twisting God's creation into some weird thing. It's the same thing with music. Some of us just outright satanic like we worship the devil. And then some of us just sins not that bad. Did God really say not to fornicate? Drinking's fun. Look at this video with these people drinking and they're all having fun. You know, nobody's unhealthy and fat and divorced. You know, I mean, look at how fun sin is. Look, that is the same satanic that might be more satanic influence than you know, black Sabbath or whatever, because most people look at mega death and black Sabbath and they're just like, but creeping sin, that's the danger for the Christian right there. You may never go worship Satan, but if Satan can get you drug into sin through this these art, this music, all these things, look, he can wreck your life. He can make you completely unprofitable. But look, it's twisting what God has made. Alright, that's why just like theater, Hollywood, the music industry, the arts, it's all just filled with just reprobates and perverts and twisted things everywhere. Alright, how's it end for him? Turn to Genesis chapter three, turn back to Genesis chapter three. So we're seeing some characteristics of Satan this morning. We're seeing, you know, how he operates. We're seeing why he did what he did. We're seeing some characteristics to look for. Look at Genesis chapter three. Look at verse 14. How's it gonna? How's it gonna be? And how's it gonna end for Satan? Okay. In Genesis chapter three, God curses him. God curses him in Genesis chapter three. Look at verse 14. The Bible says in the word God said, unto the serpent, because thou had done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field, upon thy belly shall thou go, and dush shall thou eat all the days of thy life. Now, God actually literally curses the animal itself here for being part of this. Now I don't know if like, I think maybe this, you know, serpents used to have four legs. I don't know. The Bible doesn't tell us. And then they became the snakes that we know today. But verse 15, the Bible says, now to Satan, he says, and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, it shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel. This is a prophecy on what's going to happen to Satan. And this is actually a prophecy on what Jesus is going to do. Turn to Hebrews chapter two. Hebrews chapter two. See Satan, he has the power of death over people. Before people get saved, Satan has the power of death over people on this earth. But look at Hebrews chapter two, verse 14. And look at what Jesus did here. Jesus changed that. Hebrews chapter two, 14 says, for as much as then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. Jesus, God became a man. That through death, he might destroy him. This is Satan that had the power of death, that is the devil. And deliver them through fear of death, where all their lifetimes subject to bondage. Deliver them through who fear of death, where all their lifetimes subject to bondage. So what the Bible is saying here is that by Jesus coming and becoming a man and dying, and saving people that trust on him, he destroyed Satan's power over man. He destroyed Satan's power over people that trust in Jesus Christ. So Satan has the power of death unto people until salvation is what the Bible here is saying. Now turn to Revelation chapter 20. So God curses him in Genesis chapter three for what he did. And then in Genesis or in Revelation chapter 20, look what the Bible says in verse number one. Revelation, the last book of the Bible, look at verse number one. Revelation chapter 20, look at verse number one. The Bible says, and I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. So who has the key to hell? God does. This is how Jesus' soul could go to hell and come out of hell. It's one of the reasons I believe Jesus' soul did go to hell. Just to show like, you know what? I'm the one with the key. I'm the only one that can go there and come back. It's like if anybody goes to hell, they're done. They're going to be there forever. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid, hold on, look at this, on the dragon, that old serpent, which is what? Which is the devil. This is how we knew that it was Satan in the Garden of Eden, you know, talking to Eve through the serpent. And Satan and bound him a thousand years. God throws him down and cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled. And after that, he must be loosed a little season. So just to explain this, before the millennial reign, God's going to throw the devil in hell. He's going to throw Satan in hell. And this is a fulfillment in Revelation chapter 20. This is a fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 14 and verse 14 where he says, you know what? I'm going to take you down to hell. I'm going to take you down to the hell to the sides of the pit. In Revelation 20, it's called the bottomless pit. Okay, this is hell that's in the center of the earth here. God, after the battle of Armageddon, is going to throw Satan in hell. And he's going to let him out for a little bit. He's going to crush anybody that's following him during the, after the thousand year reign, after the millennial year reign. Then he's going to throw him into the lake of fire. Look, Satan's, he'll be let out, look at verse 7 of Revelation 20. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan should be loosed out of his prison. He's going to let him out for a little bit. And he'll go out to deceive the nations which were in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for battle, to battle. The number of whom is in the sand of the sea. And they went up upon the breadth of the earth and compassed the camp of the saints about and the beloved city. And fire came down from God of heaven and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire in Brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are, so they've already been put in the lake of fire, the beast of the false prophet outside the scope of the sermon, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. So again, even in the millennial reign of Christ, God still allows for he will. That's the only reason for letting Satan out of hell. You're like, why in the world would he put him in hell and then let him out? Because he wants him to lead the people that were following him. I mean, people think of how stupid people are. During the millennial reign of Christ, Satan's in hell, Satan's in hell, and people are still going to follow Satan during the millennial reign, and they're going to attack, you know, the children of God, and God's going to let Satan come out. He's going to destroy them all and throw them all in the lake of fire. That's how it ends. That's how it ends for Satan. Don't you think Satan knows that? He knows that. That's why this stupid philosophy, by the way, look, God created hell. Satan doesn't run hell. He's locked in there. God created hell to judge sinners and to judge Satan, to punish him for eternity. This idea, like you run into people out so many years, like I'd rather be a ruler in hell than a servant in heaven. You're like, I'm like, what in the world are you talking about? That's not real. That's looney tunes. You know, that's looney tunes. God created hell. God has the keys to hell. He literally locks Satan in there. Satan doesn't want to be in there any more than anybody else is going to be there. He's going to be tormented there, you know, the whole time, forever. So the question is this. The Bible tells us how it's going to end for Satan. Okay? Satan knows what the Word of God says. He just twists it. So the question is this, and I've asked myself this question. I don't know if you've ever asked yourself this question. You're like, we know God wins. We know Satan gets put in hell, and then eventually in the lake of fire. Why does he resist? What's he doing? Why is he, like, causing so much trouble? Like, why doesn't he just repent? Why doesn't he just get right with God? What I'm trying to get you to understand is Satan himself is proof of the reprobate doctrine. Why doesn't he get right? Because he can't. Because he's done. That's why. How do I know? How do I know? Because here's how I know. Because the Word of God. Here's how I know. Because Isaiah 14, 14, God is telling Satan, I'm going to throw you in hell, bud. And then in Revelation 20, it's God doing it. So unless the Word of God's wrong, the reprobate doctrine's true. You know what that means? Even if Satan came to God and is like, hey, I'm sorry, God's like, you're done. You're done. You're going to hell. This shows you that Romans chapter one is real. Romans chapter one is primarily talking about the doctrine that Satan took. And Romans chapter one is just talking about these Gentiles, these people on earth that follow what Satan did and they're going to be done too. Go to Romans chapter one. You'll see how it matches. Now that you know all about Satan, you'll see how it matches exactly what Romans chapter one says when God just gives people over. When God's just like when God says to people, you're done. I mean there is a point where people can push God too far. Satan is the example of this. Look at Romans chapter one of verse 21. See Satan, I mean does Satan not believe in God? Of course Satan believes in God. He just didn't trust in him. He rebelled against him. Look at verse 21. It says because when they knew God, they glorified him not as God. See Satan, he didn't glorify God. He wanted to be God. Neither were thankful, but what became what? They became vain just like Satan and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Look at this. And change the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like an incorruptible man into birds four foot of beast and creeping things. What do they do? They changed the glory of God. What did Satan do? Half God said, what does Satan do with all these new Bible versions? He changes what God said. This is why we're King James only. That's why when I preach through all these other versions of the Bible, it's not just random. He specifically changes the gospel. He specifically takes verses out that take, you know, that he changes the truth of God into a lie. Look at verse 25. Who changed the truth of God into a lie? This is what Satan does. He changes, he twists what God. That's why you'll see the artwork. It's a person's face, but it's distorted and weird because he's taken what God created and just changing it. You say, that's nothing wrong with that. Yeah, but it's taking what God did and just distorting it. That's what Satan does. He doesn't make up his own stuff. There's not like a book of Satan. He takes what God says. He says, yeah, God really made that. Maybe he meant this. Maybe you do, you know, you don't need to be, you know, maybe you do need to be baptized to be saved. Maybe you do have to do all these works to be saved, because all he has to do is get you to not believe the real gospel and then you're going with him. You say, why? Why? Why would he do that? Because a bunch of people going to hell is not going to make it any more pleasant for Satan in hell. You know why he doesn't? Because he hates God. He hates the Lord. He hates the Lord. That's why you'll see in the Bible, haters of God. They literally hate the Lord and he's going to try to foil as much of his plan as possible. Because what does the Lord want? The Lord wants all men to be saved. The Lord wants everyone in heaven. Is everyone going to be in heaven? No. Why? Because Satan is convincing them to rebel against God. So he's trying to spoil God's people by making them worthless. He can't send you to hell, folks. If you're saved, you're saved. That's it. You're sealed by the Holy Spirit. It's done. He can ruin your life, though. He can get you into a bunch of garbage and sin that makes your kids go to hell, that makes your kids never ruin the gospel, that makes your kids never come to church, that makes your kids live worthless lives, that may, you know, he can just get you into all kinds of garbage that makes you completely worthless. I can't tell you how many saved people I've met that have ruined their entire lives. I'm sick of seeing it, personally. But guess what? He can also, and by ruining you, by ruining you, you know what he can do? He can keep unsaved people from the truth. Because if he ruins you and gets you out of church and makes you worthless, guess what? You're not going to be walking around telling people how to go to heaven. You know, why is it? Because he hates God. He hates the Lord. He hates God's plan. He hates the fact that Jesus Christ came here and provided a way out for man. For, he was like, what? God came to earth and all these people I have to do is just trust in him. He's like, he hates that, hates it. So he's trying to ruin you. He's trying to ruin you through country music. He's trying to ruin you through sins not that bad. He's trying to wreck your life. He's trying to wreck your marriage. He's trying to wreck everything about you. He can't send you to hell, but he can ruin you on this earth. Don't forget that. Satan is not harmless to you. You've been saved. Thank God you're all sealed here today. If you've trusted on Christ, it's done. But he can still wreck your life. He can still wreck the next generation. Because you know what? Those kids need you. They need you to live a life that's not a hypocritical life. So when you open the Bible to them, they will listen to you. You know what? Then they'll trust. And then they'll pass that on to their kids and their kids and their kids. Turn to Romans chapter 13. But here's really the source. Here's one last thing I want to mention. And how Satan and how he operates really affects us today. Look at Romans chapter 13. What I want to get across to you, the last point I want to make about Satan, is the seriousness, the seriousness of rebellion. The seriousness of rebellion. Because really that's what Satan did is he rebelled against the Lord. It's literally the worst rebellion. And we saw the results of it in Romans 1. We saw the results of it in Isaiah 14 14. We see the results of it in Revelation chapter 20. Look, he's done. He's going to hell. But God has authority structures for us in our life. Look at Romans chapter 13 and verse number one. The Bible says, Let every soul be subject to the higher powers. For there's no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisted the power, resisted the ordinance of God. That they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. Now a lot of people use Romans 13 to be like, you should obey everything the government says no matter what. That's ridiculous. That's a silly elementary, you know, understanding of Romans 13. What Romans 13 is saying is that God has put authority structures in your life to help you. And the Bible says obey the higher powers. So obviously we always obey God rather than man. So the government's telling us go do something wicked. We don't do that. The government's telling us, you know, you can't worship God anymore. It's like, we don't do that because God tells us to do it. So that's what it means the higher powers. But look, everyone has authority structures in their life from your parents to the wife being, you know, submitting to her husband. Everyone has authority structures in their life to a pastor having authority over a congregation. Look, I don't follow you home. But look, this is a pastor led church. This is a pastor led church. I'm responsible for running the church as the Bible says. And that's it. But we are always to obey God. But the point is this. Rebellion is serious. Look at 1 Samuel chapter 15. Satan is going to be constantly trying to break this structure that God has given us. Because that's what he does. He rebels. He is a rebellious being. Look at verse 23. This is what Samuel says to Saul after he has rebelled against the word of the Lord. Look at verse 23. Now this is how serious rebellion is and how serious God takes rebellion. The Bible says for rebellion, look at this. And it also ties rebellion to Satan right here. It says rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Do you see how serious rebellion is in your life? Look, rebellion folks is of Satan. Look, this is how serious rebellion is. If you're raising kids and you have little kids and rebellion starts early in kids. If you have kids that are going up to their mom or their dad and saying no. Look, you know what that is? That is something that should be taken very seriously. And it should be stopped immediately. Why? Because it's rebellion popping its head up. It's rebellion. And rebellion is a serious sin the Bible is saying. So it needs to be taken care of. Look, you don't want to have an 18 year old telling you no. Because it's what you're not going to do anything at that point. You need to shut this stuff down. Look, kids, you need to be respecting your parents. You need to be listening to your parents. You need to be obeying that structure that God put in your life. This is how you get kids that are raised where they can just do whatever they want. They can speak to their parents however they want. And that's how you get people that go into the workforce and they can't even, they can't respect any boss. They can't work for anybody. Have you ever met this person? They just can't have a boss. They can't have anyone in authority over them. Look, that is a life-ruining condition. You can't have anybody that's an authority over you. Look, maybe your boss is foolish. But here's the thing. That's the authority structure that you have there. As long as they're not telling you to go sin and do something wicked, hey, help that foolish person become wiser. That's what you should do as a Christian. Okay? Look, the rebellion is serious. This is wives that are bickering about their husbands all the time. Look, that's serious. That's rebellion. That's rebellion. It's a wicked thing. And here's the thing, folks, and here's another thing you need to realize. Rebellion always wants company. That guy at work that's always talking bad about the boss or talking bad about the company, he always wants company just like Satan wanted company. It's rebellion all the same. You need to run. It's a curse upon a person. Don't let people put that curse upon you. It's a life ruining curse. I mean, people will never have friends that are in rebellion. They just ruin their marriage. If you have rebellious people, it's all over the place. You know what another thing is? Satan is trying to ruin God's authority structures. And you know how these people, they default to Acts chapter one, Acts chapter five, I'm sorry, where Peter says, we have to obey men rather than God. Look, if you default to that on every single authority in your life, like the problem is you. The problem is you, right? Every boss you've ever had, every authority structure you've ever had in your life, you just can't follow it because you're like, I just obey God. It's just like, you know, you've got an authority problem in your life. It's a big deal. Satan is trying to ruin God's structure. Look, you'll see that in art and movies too. You'll see him trying to ruin God's structure. That's what he's trying to do with all this music, just like just preaching fornication and all this music. What's he trying to do? He's trying to ruin marriage, trying to ruin the idea of someone that would be pure going into their marriage. I remember, I won't even mention the name of the movie, but I remember in the mid 90s, there was this movie that came out. And it won all these awards. It was like the best movie in 20 years or something. And the movie, the plot of this movie was this woman who was married to this man. And then she had an affair with this other man, like literally committing adultery with this guy to the point where like her husband is vilified in this movie. Like he's just some bad person or something because he's not, he's trying to get in the way of this relationship. It's crazy. And the guy ends up killing himself. And it's played off as this beautiful love story between this woman having an affair with this guy when her husband kills himself and then he tries, he's trying to save her and she ends up dying. It's like this really sad thing. I'm like, good. I'm not the only one like what? She's an adulterer. But this is the power of Satan through Hollywood right here is they can, they can like invoke these emotions in people to where they're just like, Oh, this is such a beautiful love story. What are you talking about? Like he ruined the marriage and the man killed himself. This is all the story. I hope they both die. I mean, it's just this is the power of Satan. Why? Because he's trying to ruin God's institutions. He's trying to ruin God's structures. We got pulled over. We were fishing yesterday. We got pulled over by a game warden. You know what I don't like? I don't like that the rules of California and for fishing, it's 127 pages long, the fishing right regulations. But you know what? I try to follow them to the best of my ability. I mean, we even we were in the spot yesterday, we're just catching these huge fish. They were like this. They were big. And I was like, those look like this one type of fish. And we can only have five of those. We literally left that spot. Because I didn't want to catch too many of those fish. And then the game warden literally gets in my boat after we're done fishing. And I'm like, sure you can look at my fish. And I show them and I'm like, Hey, we caught five of these because I thought that they were this type of rock fish. And he's like, Oh, no, those are browns. You can have as many of those as you want or you can have 10 of those. I'm like, but the point is, I don't like all the rules, but I'm trying to follow them because they're not against the Bible. Okay, I'm trying to be like, that's an authority structure in my life. It's not against what God says. I'm trying to follow it as best I can. Satan's trying to ruin the authority structures in your life. And he's doing it through art, through music, through all these things where you just like, Oh, that feels like that should know the Bible is what's right. This is why we always have to know what the Bible says. It's not how you feel because music and movies and all these things, they can twist. That's what you've got to watch what your kids are looking at. You got to watch what your kids are watching because it'll change their emotions and they'll start getting into this stuff thinking it's okay. No, they must understand the Bible. You must understand what God's word says, because Satan is just he's walking around here. He's trying to corrupt everybody. He's trying to corrupt you even if you're saved. And he's after your kids too. So that's the reason I preach such a dark sermon this morning on Satan is I want you to recognize this. Look, we're for the next generation here. We're for the kids here. We're for godly Christians here. They're actually what, doing something that they're supposed to be doing with their lives so we can profit the people in this city, in this county, in this world around us. That's what we're supposed to be doing with our lives is being profitable Christians. And this being is trying to stop us. So let's recognize it. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.